Pumkin and water melon are taking over my garden !!!

[joann]

I bought my grandson some Jiffey watermelon and pumkin seeds at Lowes. I gave him a row in my garden. 5 of the 8 watermelon seeds and 2 of the 3 pumpkin seeds grew. Now they are taking over my garden.
they growing over my sugar snap peas. I making a chicken wire fench for the pea today so that they grow up not on the grown.

I keep pulling the vines to grow away from the interior rows but they keep moving back. I was thinking about boxing off(with leftover t11) the Pumkins and water melon so that they are forced to grow out side of the garden. Will that work? My grandson is proud of his plants and i would hate to have to remove them.

My cuc are doing the same thing. They are on the other side of my peas I cann't seems to get the to grow on twine and wood fench. should i ty to box them off, too. My rows r a foot apart.

Any ideas?

 

[Beekissed]

I read somewhere that one could let them grow about 6-8 ft. and then cut them off and let side tendrils only grow about a foot and cut them off. Said that the fruit doesn't grow out that far anyway. I've never tried it but I plan to trellis some and let the others grow into the corn.

Anyone care to tell us if this will work??

 

[Tutter]

Hi, Joann!

It sounds to me like the melons and pumpkins are planted in such a way that they are moving towards the sun. That's going to make them hard to convince to change directions.

One thing I've done is put a pipe in the ground and re-route, but I have a feeling yours are going to be more stubborn.

You can try putting small pieces of wood in the ground, like lath, not too tall, and moving the vine over, then tying it to the wood. When it grows and heads towards your rows again, adjust it.

It will be more effort than just letting them do as they wish, but I think it will allow you to both keep your plants safe, and your grandson's garden intact.

Good luck!