Last year, I said that I would never grow a pumpkin vine in my vegetable garden again….

We did get a single pumpkin, but I was not prepared at how much the pumpkin vine grew inside and outside of my garden.

Now before you say that I should have read how large a pumpkin vine grows before I planted one – I did read how big they can become.

However, it is something to read it on paper and another thing entirely to see it happening in your own garden. I wrote about it last year – “Escapee From the Garden”

So this year, I kept my word.  I did not plant any pumpkins.

Instead, I decided to plant two bird house gourd vines….

Now I almost wish that I had pumpkin vines instead 😉

Although my bird house gourd vines are rooted in my vegetable garden, most of them are growing outside of its confines.

I decided to plant bird house after I saw them when I visited Amish country in Pennsylvania last year.  They were perfect for making bird houses out of and I couldn’t wait to try it out.  

Right now, I have at least 4 gourds growing, but there may be many more.  It is hard to tell with all of the vines and leaves covering them up.

Each week, I am kept busy removing the seeking tendrils of the bird house gourd vines from my cucumber plant cages as well as from my bush beans.

I do enjoy watching this plant grow and I will probably grow it next year, but not in vegetable garden.  I will have to look for a bare area where it can grow to its heart’s content.

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Have any of you had any experience growing pumpkins or gourds?  Did your vines grow all over your garden?  Or perhaps, you paid attention to the directions on the seed packet and placed your vines in a spot with more space 😉