I trim up my okra at the bottom and have had squash and zucchini around it in the past. Two okra plants makes enough okra for me and the wife to have all winter long, eating it once every other week. But we were bad at picking okra in the past and wasted some of them. One because they just grow really fast, one day it might not be ready, but the next day might grow so much that they become hard. If they are on the edge, heed on the side of just taking a smaller one. I usually just blanch them, cut them and roll them in corn meal and freeze on a pan, they seem to taste great. I am new to the Square foot method of gardening and trying it out this year, so in the past I have had more room in-between them, but our okra plants last year grow to almost 5.5 feet before it got too cold, so I would think if you kept them trimmed up at the bottom you will have no problems. But I am no expert, so if it doesnt work, I will be in your same shoes ;D

Thanks wvubeerman, I am with you. I am just gonna do it!

Just popping in to say thanks for this post... I need to find more space for 3 more okra plants (going to do 7 total... I cook with it a lot!) was thinking about whether I can squeeze it in with my cantelope and watermelon which I have given a lot of real estate... I'm just gonna do it and see.

It is a great companion planting idea. The squash will shade the ground around the okra an conserve water. My father gardened in Texas and used that method. He planted acorn squash and and okra if the same hill of dirt. His hills were about 1 foot in diameter with the squash on one side and the okra on the other. During the early growing seasom he would keep the dirt mounded around the plants. He irrigated the garden around the hills much like a continuous figure 8. The suach helped protect the soil from the blazing sun. He also used ground leaf mulch aroung the hills.