So this is the first year we've really had a garden. We planned and dug the beds last fall, and then this past spring we planted countless shrubs and perennials and annuals as well as a few trees. Anyway, I've always loved pumpkins and wanted to try growing them. The only place that gets full sun all day with enough room for pumpkin plants is in the feature bed in the front garden. After much deliberation we decided to go for it. How big could these plants get right? In this bed we already had a red jade crabapple, 3 sprieas and 5 daylilies, as well as some portulaca intermingled. We 8 planted the pumpkin plants around the edges of the bed and as they grew have removed 4 to make space. I've hacked away crazy amounts of the vines to try and keep things somewhat orderly and so far it's been interesting. We've got 20 or so pumpkins at the moment most of them about the size of softballs. These plants have definitely taken away from the order and composition of the garden,(My dad thinks they've ruined it... just for this summer though, he's asked me a couple of times, "This was just an experiment right, you're not going to grow those out there again are you?") Despite all of this, it has been fun to watch them grow and the leaves do have a sort of tropical feel to them which is nice. Best of all, our kids will get to carve home-grown pumpkins for halloween. If anyone is interested in seeing a photo, let me know and I'll post some. (I actually haven't taken any yet).