I know my son hacked my cocozelle in half and it grew back pretty quickly.

I am sorry about what happened. I would be pissed as well.

Ooh, that is not good...

Rjinga, I don't know if the squash will recover. I hope it does. I do understand how upsetting something like this can be though. In first grade we started tomatoes and sunflowers from seed as a learning project. I transplanted them for my grandmother exactly where she said they would grow best. My cousin mowed her yard, and cut down the sunflowers AND the tomato vines. That was 51 years ago, and every time I see him, I remember the tomatoes and sunflowers :~). He's a good man, an award winning retired teacher who worked with special needs children and I love him. But I still remember. Gardeners are funny like that I guess, and apparently it starts early :-)

Did he chop back more than a third of the plant? If so and he's a smoker, I'd stuff match heads into his cigarettes.

JUST KIDDING! (no I'm not)

Growing food with grass that gets cut is tough. I expanded my garden to my front year this year. I jut trim around it and let the grass grow up around the veg.

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update and pictures: still no appology, and here's the damage, before and after pictures.

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When my wife saw this she said "I'd kill him ". So am glad that I know better than to do this sort of thing, but then I am a gardener and know what it is like to have something like this happen to me.

When I scrolled from pic 1 to pic 2, my jaw dropped! What was he thinking? I know how you feel, several years ago when I was doing vouluteer work for the Master Gardener program, we re-designed a Five Senses Garden for a local school for deaf and blind. At the end we all took home things that were left. The orginal garden had been done back in the 60's by a famous landscape designer. I had 8 roots from 50 yrs old peonys. Every year hubby, son mowed them down, no matter how many times I said don't mow here. I only have 2 left that are trying to make it and I think the tree guy killed those.

Does he have a ride on thing, as my husband nearly did the same thing yesterday and only "woke up" just in time, so he moved the butternut vines out of the way, that said I don't understand why your hubby wouldn't apologize, even if it was "passively" deliberate as, in oh I can't bothered to go round this, and anyway it will grow back, kind of way, but don't stew, my husband through away a game my parents had and we used to play as a family, at holidays and vacation time, because our children got it a bit wet and he couldn't find one of the little men, it has many happy memories, and not only that because money was tight, and part of the game involved betting on what score you would achieve, so we wrote in pencil on the special little sheets, and they would erase them for use again, so they are covered in mine and my brothers childish handwriting and my parents who are deceased! but when he realized what this stupid game meant to me, he went out to the trash, unfortunately, it was unworkable by then, he offered to get me a new one on e-bay (well old I don't think its made anymore) but at the time I thought this was missing the point of the memories and physical presents of my parents writing, this was about 3 weeks ago and the initial anger and sorrow have gone and I have also realized writing this, that yes getting another game is a good idea, as I enjoyed the game for itself and the time I spent happily with my parents, my 7 year old self wasn't thinking of hand writing, and a connection with the past, so I will get another game and start some new memories in a couple of year with my own children.
OHHH I am so zen.... but the edjit (idiot) needs to apologize, whatever his thought or lack of thought process was at the time, it the right thing to do.
PS haven't admitted to hubby I have thrown away his juggling sticks as our kids used them in an exciting game of bad guys, and 2 ended up in the road and got run over...EEK! the sticks that is! not children :)

I took one look at those pictures and the first thing that came to mind is "I'd Kill Him!!" ...then I brought my hubby over to look at the pictures and told him ..."if you ever did this I'd kill you"...LOL....even he was pretty shocked by the photos.
That said, I bet your hubby is just too embarrassed to apologize...or like my oldest daughter,too stubborn!

I'll be keeping a good thought for your poor shredded plant.

Obviously you need to get even.

Is there something of his that you can cut in half?

; )

Didn't Lorena Bobbit go to jail for that? Still a consideration though. LOL

rjinga, I hope the vine is showing signs of recovery. I showed the pics to my DH and he said, "If I did that to your plants, I'd be sleeping in the driveway with all of my worldly possessions piled up around me."

Not only does your DH owe you an apology, but I think he needs to enlarge your beds, add compost, turn over, and add nice borders and a few hours of community service for next year (i.e. weeding). If he cannot get out of the way of your plants, then he needs to get your plants out of his way. (P.S. it looks like he may be cutting the grass too short as well.)

keepitlow, is that a spaghetti squash? I am growing them for the first time this year and they got all tangled up with my pumpkins. I wasn't sure what I was growing, to be honest. Sometime between planting the seeds and the heat of summer, the plants took over. Do your neighbors also garden in their front yards? Do they mind your gardens? They are very neat and tidy. I'd love to do the same thing but worry about the neighbors' reactions so I just squish veg right in with the landscaping.

PAM

the squash season should be coming to an end soon, anyway.

squash/gourds/pumpkins vines can run up to 100 feet.I know my gourds do. So youR husband (call him hubby!?) probably put up with this for months and got it up to his ears and then said to himselt: I am sick and tired of this, I cannot take it no more.arrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Remember, everybody has the need to vent one way or the other(grin!)
THIS POST SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. CALL IT HUMOR.

Thanks for all the words of support and understanding. Well a half baked appology finally came after 2 days of silence. He asked me "what can I do to make you like me again" seriously, are men that thick? I of course posed the question back to him and said "what do you suppose you should do to make me like you again" He responded, well maybe appologize? DUH... and then I told him he better explain to me why he did such a hateful thing.

So the response was (not in exact order of admission) that 1. it was in his way and he did not like it there and he could not PUSH the PUSH mower(not a riding mower) in a straight line with it sticking out so far...and 2. He thought (incorrectly) that he heard me say that it was a volunteer plant, so more or less like a weed. Well the half baked part of all of this is that just a week earlier, when he was out mowing AND I saw him in time, I sternly warned him to MOW AROUND MY PLANT. and he did.

so of course I asked him what could have changed from one week to the next, since I had made special care to warn him NOT TO DAMAGE MY PLANT last week? 3. He admitted that he knew I'd be mad, but he also figured it would grow back and he didn't expect me to be this mad. Later in the conversation he said it was a misunderstanding and that I was over doing it and that if he knew I had deliberately planted it there he would not have cut it down. To that I responded, HAD YOU SIMPLY ASKED ME THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO MISUNDERSTANDING AT ALL.

So we didn't really get far. He doesn't get it. I think the bottom line was answer number one. It was in his way and he really didn't care. And even admitting that he knew I'd be mad was the admission of error. So for what it was worth to him, he had his way and figured, it was only a plant and that I would get over it.

Oh and slowly the plant is dying. One part of it looks ok, but I doubt it will last long. so I'll probably be pulling it up soon.

non gardening, clueless men suck.

What a childish and disrespectful thing to do. Big baby. Sounds like the AH needs a hobby to occupy himself.

Hm. Dig up the bricks along the edge of the bed where the squash is. Then where the squash was growing over the lawn, dig out every last bit of lawn grass from the spot where hubby mowed the squash vine down. Add compost and other amendments so you have a nice new RAISED BED to plant things in. Edge the new raised bed with the bricks or with LARGE STONES that the mower can't run over.

Buy some REALLY EXPENSIVE plants and plant them in the new raised bed where the squash was growing over the (now dug up) lawn. Take hubby with you when you buy them so he KNOWS they are outrageously expensive (let him complain about the price -- if he doesn't complain, you aren't spending enough and you should look for something more expensive). Make sure he understands that any of the new VERY EXPENSIVE plants that get mowed down will be promptly replaced by identical very expensive plants or something even more expensive. These are not weeds you're growing here. If you can't afford expensive, plant something that has thorns -- the bigger, the better. And NO MORE STRAIGHT LINES. Why should a garden look like a military parade ground? Straight lines look yucky in a garden.

"How big were you going to let it get?" AS BIG AS YOU WANT.
"You'll get over it?" Yeah, when you can have fresh HOMEGROWN patty pan squash again.
Put up a little sign in your new raised bed: "Planted in memory of my squash."

fenceline - too funny.

Well, it is obvious to me why he did it. Clearly, from looking at the photo's, you can see that the squash was killing the grass!!

And another thing, there is no law against WOMEN driving lawn mowers in Georgia. I'm just sayin'... ; - )

Fencline, that's hilarious and perfect! Especially "Planted in memory of my squash." LOL

Rjinga, I love your white kitcat by the way. :-)

Rjinga,

i hope yu and your hubby can make peace.

if you have water sprouts on any of the remaining vines the plant will recover if i can over come the shock.

i might suggest you get the hubby to build you a trellis to use next year for you pancake squash.

any plant i take vertical seams to have less disease and is far easier to harvest. it also is a great space saver.

when i figure out how to send photos i will show what i have done.

this year i have a 12 pound Crenshaw melon on a trellis about 3' above the ground.

one year i have a 15-20 pound butternut 4' above the ground.

try it you will like it and you get your hubby to help.

Dean

I vote for Fencline's answer. Claim that much garden space and more with a raised bed. In memory of your squash. perfect.

Here's a link for a company I've used for memorial stones. Of course, I bet they've never done a squash before.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Stone Memorial

rjinga says:non gardening, clueless men suck.
Not only men but dont let me stop you.

I had to share this with my DH...he is out of town but I sent it to his email. Wanted him to know there are other wives out there that react much as I do when he weed-eats a treasured plants he thought it was a weed! I don't let him weed any longer...he pulled up a vine I planted for the butterfly larvae, I paid $12 for it!

Blessings to you and your hubby. We did away with all the lawn and just have veggie and flower beds...DH loves this since we were able to give away our noisy, stinky mower. I'm currently working on getting it where he does not need a weedeater!

Peggy

Wow, sad before and after photos. If hubby can't be trusted to show some respect for you hard garden work, then either you cut the grass or put up a fence to keep the hubby out of your area.

"keepitlow, is that a spaghetti squash? I am growing them for the first time this year and they got all tangled up with my pumpkins. I wasn't sure what I was growing, to be honest. Sometime between planting the seeds and the heat of summer, the plants took over. Do your neighbors also garden in their front yards? Do they mind your gardens? They are very neat and tidy. I'd love to do the same thing but worry about the neighbors' reactions so I just squish veg right in with the landscaping. PAM"

No, it an underdeveloped banana squash.

Regarding neighbors? Let your house serve you, don't worry about the neighbors controlling your life. If it is legal, do as you please.

Sounds a little passive/aggressive to me. I fix those people with a golf club.

Now that all else has been said, i have quite a few squash varieties and melons growing out into the grasses in our large kitchen garden. When it is time to mow (my DH does most of the mowing) i go out and gently lift the ends of the vines and toss them onto the plant center, when i can...with very little breakage, the lawn can be mowed where the vines had layed. I also do this with my sweet potato patch. If you like, they do lift back and forth without much problem. It doesn't take but a minute to lift them aside for the mowing man, and i do not lose those long vines at all. He still can have his perfect mowing jog then!!
Good luck,
Glad

keep it low, LOVE your answer, shovel in hand, I am turning over new beds this afternoon so they'll be ready for spring. Thanks for your input. (holly, I'll keep the golf clubs handy, too...)
PAM

I think you should divorce him. And then charge him with intentional infliction of emotional distress. But then, maybe that's why I'm still single. . . . At the very least, destroy something he loves and then sleep with his best friend. I mean, c'mon, this is your garden we're talking about!!

If you can afford it, I think buying expensive plants next year, in memory of your squash is perfect! My husband has mowed over a few plants, but to be fair, they were small and I had not weeded around them this spring...did I mention they were really small? LOL One speedwell he mowed over came up half pink and half purple, while the non-mowed one was all purple. Very cool!

My husband is not a gardener, but tries to help by weed whacking around the larger plants and mowing around the beds...but not too close. He moved my pumpkin that was growing out into the lawn, so he wouldn't mow over it. He didn't know about the tendrils, but it seems to be okay :)

It sounds like your husband might be a little jealous of the time/money you're spending on the garden. Have you asked him if he resents your squash??? Maybe he needs more quality time.... Seriously, if you tell him that he can make it up to you, by hauling a couple of truckloads of manure into the garden, I bet he doesn't make that mistake again!

Well, did your DH like eating the squash?(said the little red hen)
If the plant is, indeed dying off, you might go out and buy his LEAST favorite vege and say "well, we would have had squash...........if it hadn't been cut down, but NOW we have to have---------(fill in the blank) instead!
Just a thought! NT

Oh, Rjinga! I'm so sorry. My jaw dropped at the before and after pics, too. Bless your heart.

I would definitely do what Fenceline suggested!
From Smilies

Then let it go. To make it easier to do that, think "Well, now he can't kill me I ever damage something of his."

Unless he does this sort of thing often. In that case, maybe marriage counseling? My ex used to do things like this. One of the worst ~ Years ago, after being tired of tripping on hoses laying all over the garden, I spent all day one day digging trenches and laying pvc pipe water lines to every raised bed in my 40'x50' veggie plot. Just when I was about half an hour from finishing it and turning on the water, he came out to "help", bringing his bobcat tractor into the garden to "build me a new bed". Yeah, you can see where this is going... This wasn't the only time he'd done something like this, hence why he's my ex. Sometimes I wonder if marriage counseling would have helped. I kind of doubt it since there were more problems than this (actually this sort of thing was a symptom of his much bigger problems).

Good luck to you. I sincerely hope this is an isolated incident (or one of only a very small few over the years), that he didn't do it out of any sort of passive aggressiveness or malice, and is just finding it hard to understand that it really is that big of a deal to you. (I'd bet that now, even if he doesn't understand why it is, he knows it is. ;)

***Obviously you need to get even.

Is there something of his that you can cut in half?

****

LOL! I think it's a Mars/Venus thing. At least with men who don't garden. My husband is not exactly a "regular guy," and he has me watering what's left of the sad potted herbs "because they are living things" even though we won't use them now because once I saw the squirrels constantly rifling through them and probably pooping in them, all I could think of is getting squirrel tapeworms or something...

Still, I never expected he'd be so obsessed with our tiny urban lawn. What is that, a man thing? He's so proud of how healthy it is using no chemicals whatsoever and really puts some work into it. I think if our squashes were encroaching on "his lawn," he might do something drastic...!