Question about vine type vegetables

[reneeleann]

I love to landscape as a hobby, but when my 7 year old son decided he wanted his own garden I realized just how lost I was. We decided to do a raised bed due to space. We are so excited about this venture and we I think the raised beds will give some vertical interest to break up an otherwise 60' long fence line. We are going to build three raised beds next to each other (2x3x3, 3x12x3, 2x3x3) and then a 7' long area next to them for perrenials like berry bushes. This garden will also be right next to our butterfly garden so we will make sure to plant some extra herbs for butterfly larvea.

We plan on building the beds next payday and I am currently making the plans for types of vegetables we will be planting. Can I plant watermelon, zuchini, and cucumbers in a raised bed or will these be better incorporated into a flat area, possibly under the perrinials?

If it helps we are zone 8 (Austin, TX) and this will be in full sun. We are planning on creating some sort of shade cloth that we can pull down to shade plants if they need it during our excruciating summers. My yard is all sun or no sun. Gotta love it. We prefer to have these type of plants in the raised beds if possible since my dogs love plants!

[Toil]

I plant squash vines on the edge and direct them along the outsides.

I love doing that. So yes you can.

[gixxerific]

For the cuc's and zucchini you could try to trellis them in some fashion. to keep them up instead of all over. I have had good luck trellising Cucumbers. Even just a fold out tomato cage run in a straight line will work. The fence could work well to your advantage too. I have my garden against a fence and use it as much as I can. It not only gets the plants up where they will get more sun but also more airflow reducing certain disease.

[garden5]

You can also look for bush varieties of normally vine-type species if you are short on space or just don't want to deal with vines.

Here are two:

[url=https://www.sustainableseedco.com/table-king-bush-acorn-squash-seed.html]Bush Acorn Squash[/url]

[url=https://www.territorialseed.com/product/1118/91]Bush Butternut Squash[/url] OK, so this one really isn't "butternut squash," but I have heard that the taste is similar (it was intended to be a sweet potato substitute ).

Good luck with your garden.[/url]

[reneeleann]

Thank you everyone. I would love to drape the vines off the side, but also like the idea of using the fence. That will continue to add verticle interest and utilize the space to its fullest.