Squash or grass? Which is more important in a backyard?

My mom gave me a gigantic hubbard squash last fall. The squash was so big that I had to split it with an ax and a wedge. Half of it filled my oven when I cooked it. I froze it in ice cube trays and little plastic containers and used it to thicken soup, added it to sauces and threw it in casseroles.

It had very few seeds, but I saved them so I could plant them this spring. I planted hubbard squash in the middle of this 8 X 8 bed, and planted sweet potatoes in all four corners.

My mom warned me that the bed would probably be a little crowded.

Did I listen to my mother? Of course not.

Three of the sweet potatoes died, but since I used my own compost, tomatillos are now growing in their space. I also had marigolds, zinnias and at least one tomato plant re-seed themselves from last year or spring up from the compost. My surviving sweet potato is getting crowded by the squash and the marigolds.

The squash refuses to stay in the box. Since the only squash I've found so far on the gigantic, sprawling squash plant is in the grass rather than the planter box, I've asked my husband to not mow or trim too close to the planter. It makes him cranky, but so far, he hasn't cut off the trailing vines. 

 I'm wondering in what universe I would need more than one giganto hubbard squash to get us through the winter.

Over the years, I've read recipes for squash blossoms, but have never tried to cook them.  I think this will be the year for deep-fried squash blossoms. 
 

I do have a lot of them.