When you garden in a small space, you have to get creative. I've carefully budgeted where to plant the veggies I plan to feed my toddler twins, incorporating a lot of containers. True, I could plant a lot more veggies if I hadn't already planted a bunch of perennial shrubs and flowers, but I'm definitely not willing to part with those. Besides, perennials can help divert pests from food crops.

Here are the veggies I've planted so far (some with the twins' "help"), and where:

March 31--Three different types of tomatoes (early girl hybrid, sweetie, and beefsteak) started indoors in long wooden planters. I've since moved the planters out back in the gravel driveway.

April 14--Alaska (wilt resistant) peas and cucumber (straight eight), planted directly outdoors in a small spot between a wiegela bush and some aggressively growing mums.

April 28--Lettuce (salad bowl) and spinach (bloomsdale, long standing) in a patch between the deck, path, and beebalm. Beans (tendergreen improved, bush) in a patch between the deck, path, and an echinacea plant. Radish (sparkler) and mustard leaf(Florida broad leaf) in a ring around another echinacea plant. A duke blueberry bush (vaccinium 'Duke') right next to the fence.

May 5--Zucchini (raven and elite hybrid) and soy beans under the double cherry tree. Sweet corn (silver queen, hybrid) in a tiny spot between the mums and the giant lilies. Scarlet runner bean in a planter on the deck.

May 12--Lettuce (butterhead), spinach bloomsdale, (long standing), Japanese eggplant (ichiban), pepper pimiento (sweet banana), tomato (better bush hybrid and husky cherry red hybrid) all in planters on the deck.

May 19--Regular black eggplant, red, green, and yellow peppers (for the Sicilian caponata I plan to cook for the twins), broccoli (green goliath) spinach (harmony hybrid), radish (French breakfast), squash (acorn and crookneck), and basil, tarragon, marjoram, and sage - all in planter on the deck.

When I shared this list with father, a veteran gardener, he was incredulous. "Where are you putting all that?" he wanted to know. He's got practically half a mountain slope for a backyard, and doesn't plant even a fraction of that number of vegetables. I've got a 15' X 16' patch of dirt in a steamy D.C. alley.

"My God, Bridget, don't you know squash plants can grow 20 feet long?" he asked next.

Oops. No, I didn't.

With my limited space, I figured I might run into some plant crowding and need to do some culling. I didn't bargain for 20-foot vines. But that's exactly where they're headed—they've elbowed past the rudbeckia and soybeans, and are taking over the garden path. When you walk past, they smack you in the face.

My father had another concern about my limited gardening space: cross-pollination, which is when two different but somewhat related plant species get their pollen mixed up and produce wacky fruit. "It might be possible with cucumbers and squash growing that close together," my father said. Could he be right? Anyone got any guesses?

Well, time will tell. And who knows, maybe my toddlers will like squcumbers.