paigegillum
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What a mess! Help me out!

So I planted a whole lot of seeds a while back. My boyfriend and his roommate decided to build a little enclosure for the plants and planted them and his intentions were so sweet but he did not write where he planted what and it is an extremely cramped, overgrown mess. This is my first go at a vegetable garden so I have no idea what anything is at this point and what I should take out of the enclosure. Please help with identifying plants and with what I should take out! From what I remember (they threw out the paper o had it all written down on) there is tomatoes, basil, pumpkins, watermelon, cucumbers, squash, carrots, and peppers. Thank you so much!
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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

First two photos are cucumbers. Cucumbers are harvested immature while the seeds are still soft. Green fruit is almost but not too late to harvest. Yellow one has completely matured and need to be removed immediately so the plant doesn't think its job is done. The seeds from the yellow fruit can be washed and dried for planting again next year, or if you live in a southern state where frost won't come until November or later, you might be able to succession plant for another crop. You might notice a Melon-like fragrance from the yellow fruit, although the flesh will be watery. Cucumber is related to melons. Sometimes you can put the mature cucumber flesh in soups and such and eat them.

It would be helpful to build a trellis in the back of the bed for the cucumbers to climb on to free up some space on the ground. I just build some for my cucumbers and melons if you want to take a look in my garden progress thread.

The finger-like leaves are watermelon. The rounded leaves in the front might be the pumpkin though at first I thought that was a cantaloupe type melon....

Weak fragile seedlings like carrots and basils might have been overwhelmed. Carrot also needs extra care to germinate sometimes. It is possible they are struggling somewhere under all those vines.

Tomatoes and peppers are typically started early indoors and direct seeding is not recommended since it takes them a long time to grow and mature.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I found one tomato circled in red and one or possibly two basils circled in white.

The big one in the front right is definitely basil. The little one peeking out is not in focus and I can't tell for sure.
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jal_ut
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Omigosh, that little box is about enough room for one cucumber plant. You might find a couple of cucumber plants to save and rip the rest out.

The other option is to give it some water and sunshine and see what it does. Have fun!

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rainbowgardener
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Yes, that is WAY too much stuff for that little box. The tomato has been crowded out and it is too late to save it. The larger basil in the front might do ok if you dig it out (with some of the soil around it) and put it in its own pot.

Cucumbers and especially melons and pumpkins are HUGE plants. There might be room to grow one or two if they can trail out of the box over the lawn (and I mean at least ten feet of lawn).

ButterflyLady29
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Put an 8 foot tall t-post on each of the long ends of the bed (outside of the back corners) and attach some pea netting or tie string around the posts, going from one side to the other, wrapping it around each post a couple times and pull the string tight. This makes a simple trellis which will hold your cucumber vines off the ground. You can see the fruit better and this gives the vines room to grow without letting them spread on the lawn.



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