We have a number of squash plants growing in the garden, including Pumpkins, Spaghetti Squash, Courgettes and the curvy “Trombocino” (I think). I have never actually seen the climbing variants of squash in their fullness, or watched the progress of their growth. Commonly grown courgettes tend to stay in a relatively small area, but the Pumpkin particularly seems to delight in spreading out everywhere.
Now the pumpkins were placed in an area I have only cleared this year, and the job hasn’t been done that thoroughly so weeds are sprouting up very quickly. However, the pumpkin does not have trouble working its way through clumps of grass and nettles.
When the pumpkin plant grows new shoots, it puts out a few tendril-like growths that seem to be like “feelers” for anything that might be in the area. When these tendrils reach another plant, or part of a frame, they coil up like springs and hang on tightly. In this way the plant will almost climb over a patch of nettles (for example) by hanging on to them, forging ahead through the obstacle. Our plants are even climbing up the hedge now in their insatiable quest to command a mighty realm in the garden.
It gets to the point where it is actually quite awkward to weed around them, but I am curious to see exactly how much area the plants will try to cover. The only case where one of the plants might be restrained is where it is reaching out towards the Romanesco cauliflower plants. On the other hand, there is also a pumpkin plant in the middle of the corn, and they seem to get on without much trouble.
It is certainly one of the pleasures of growing food to get to know the actual plants that produce the things you eat, and observe the way in which they grow, and if you look at your plants regularly enough, you can almost perceive their growing as an almost conscious behaviour. I am reminded of some of the time-lapse photography in David Attenboough’s The Private Life of Plants, particularly the example of the Bramble (which was apparently in the first programme).
