Experienced gardeners will laugh at my ignorance, but I’ve never seen a squash grow. Now that I have, I realize squash must be related to kudzu. You check progress and then, while you look away, it grows another inch.

I’m not complaining, mind you. Amanda and I love squash. But I must admit, it’s a little unnerving to see Little Shop of Horrors re-enacted in your vegetable garden.

As you may remember, we followed the instructions to the letter when we Planted Our First Garden. We even carefully built a mound of earth and planted several seeds in the middle of each mound, even though we had no idea why we were doing so. We planted two buttercup squash, two crookneck squash, two zucchini, and two cucumbers.

We should have run for cover. The okra is looking a little anemic, although we’re hopeful it will come into its own as the season continues. The tomatoes are doing well, the corn and beans are coming on,  the bell pepper is fruitful, and even the strawberry is thriving. The squash, though, is simply taking over the garden.

This first pic is a full-on shot of one of the squash plants. I wish I had included something to show its size; simply trust me if you will to tell you that it’s about 24″ high and about 36″ in diameter. We planted tomatoes directly north of it, and they’re now sending fearful memos to each other about it.

This second photo shows the young immature squash pod. This was supposed to be a much larger buttercup squash, so I’m not sure whether we just got the wrong seed or whether what you see here is destined to get larger later. We shall watch it carefully to see what direction it takes.

We do not yet see any sign that the cucumber is fruiting; we’re not smart enough at this point to know whether that’s a bad sign.