Tales of a novice gardener
This being my second vegetable garden to include more than tomatoes, I
anticipated a plentiful crop and imagined drying and canning tons of foods planted, tended, and harvested by me alone. It must have been a dream. I had a section of what I thought at first were pumpkin plants. I dutifully transplanted them to spread them out. Initially I put them in among the corn because my mom said pumpkins will grow up the stalks and do well that way. Then I remembered that the pumpkin seeds I had bought were the extremely large jack-o-lantern kind. Re-transplanted them so they wouldn't pull the corn over. Didn't matter in the end since my ever-helpful 3-year-old twin boys yanked up all but 4 corn stalks along with the carrots. When the "pumpkin"plants got a few inches tall I thought they were cucumbers, thinking that my boys had spread some of the seeds in a spot I didn't notice. Hmm, they grew and got fruit on them that almost looked like watermelon. Watermelon?? I didn't buy watermelon seeds! Must have been the compost. Then a texture developed that was unmistakebly canteloupe. Ah-ha! Definitely the compost. I had a lovely compost bin full of several years worth of food and yard scraps. We must have eaten a ton (give or take a few pounds) of canteloupe during that time, so that's where those seeds came from. So my pumpkin-cucumber-watermelon-canteloupes are doing great. Nice looking fruit. I love canteloupe. Then along come my boys. They brutally tore off 10 or so of the melons and tossed them in the compost bin. As I inspected them there, I also discovered they had picked probably 30 very-green tomatoes. Next year I'm building a fence around my garden. Oh, did I tell you my beets didn't grow at all? I do have yummy tomatoes, the ones that are allowed to ripen. Off to read more of my organic gardening book. I'm going to master this gardening stuff one of these years. Leslie |
Tales of a novice gardener
On Sun, 7 Sep 2003 03:16:15 -0700, "Leslie"
wrote: This being my second vegetable garden to include more than tomatoes, I anticipated a plentiful crop and imagined drying and canning tons of foods planted, tended, and harvested by me alone. It must have been a dream. I had a section of what I thought at first were pumpkin plants. I dutifully transplanted them to spread them out. Initially I put them in among the corn because my mom said pumpkins will grow up the stalks and do well that way. Then I remembered that the pumpkin seeds I had bought were the extremely large jack-o-lantern kind. Re-transplanted them so they wouldn't pull the corn over. Didn't matter in the end since my ever-helpful 3-year-old twin boys yanked up all but 4 corn stalks along with the carrots. When the "pumpkin"plants got a few inches tall I thought they were cucumbers, thinking that my boys had spread some of the seeds in a spot I didn't notice. Hmm, they grew and got fruit on them that almost looked like watermelon. Watermelon?? I didn't buy watermelon seeds! Must have been the compost. Then a texture developed that was unmistakebly canteloupe. Ah-ha! Definitely the compost. I had a lovely compost bin full of several years worth of food and yard scraps. We must have eaten a ton (give or take a few pounds) of canteloupe during that time, so that's where those seeds came from. So my pumpkin-cucumber-watermelon-canteloupes are doing great. Nice looking fruit. I love canteloupe. Then along come my boys. They brutally tore off 10 or so of the melons and tossed them in the compost bin. As I inspected them there, I also discovered they had picked probably 30 very-green tomatoes. Next year I'm building a fence around my garden. Build a fence around the twins! Gads, the damage done by squirrels, deer, rabbits, and birds pales in comparison. Any chance of getting them interested in the magic of growing plants (and the joys of *completely ripe* fruits and veg)? My 'compost surprise' this year is several healthy-looking potato plants. I doubt there'll be much production, as it's quite late in the season. Cantaloupe *does* seem to love a compost pile. |
Tales of a novice gardener
"Frogleg" wrote in message ... On Sun, 7 Sep 2003 03:16:15 -0700, "Leslie" wrote: This being my second vegetable garden to include more than tomatoes, I anticipated a plentiful crop and imagined drying and canning tons of foods planted, tended, and harvested by me alone. It must have been a dream. I had a section of what I thought at first were pumpkin plants. I dutifully transplanted them to spread them out. Initially I put them in among the corn because my mom said pumpkins will grow up the stalks and do well that way. Then I remembered that the pumpkin seeds I had bought were the extremely large jack-o-lantern kind. Re-transplanted them so they wouldn't pull the corn over. Didn't matter in the end since my ever-helpful 3-year-old twin boys yanked up all but 4 corn stalks along with the carrots. When the "pumpkin"plants got a few inches tall I thought they were cucumbers, thinking that my boys had spread some of the seeds in a spot I didn't notice. Hmm, they grew and got fruit on them that almost looked like watermelon. Watermelon?? I didn't buy watermelon seeds! Must have been the compost. Then a texture developed that was unmistakebly canteloupe. Ah-ha! Definitely the compost. I had a lovely compost bin full of several years worth of food and yard scraps. We must have eaten a ton (give or take a few pounds) of canteloupe during that time, so that's where those seeds came from. So my pumpkin-cucumber-watermelon-canteloupes are doing great. Nice looking fruit. I love canteloupe. Then along come my boys. They brutally tore off 10 or so of the melons and tossed them in the compost bin. As I inspected them there, I also discovered they had picked probably 30 very-green tomatoes. Next year I'm building a fence around my garden. Build a fence around the twins! Good idea! Last year wasn't as bad, though they did pick tomatoes. I thought, surely they'll not do this kind of damage when they're older. I was wrong. Gads, the damage done by squirrels, deer, rabbits, and birds pales in comparison. Any chance of getting them interested in the magic of growing plants (and the joys of *completely ripe* fruits and veg)? They love helping me plant things. Sometimes I regret showing them how though, since they dug up a bunch of marigolds that were in my garden and transplanted them to another area. My 'compost surprise' this year is several healthy-looking potato plants. I doubt there'll be much production, as it's quite late in the season. Cantaloupe *does* seem to love a compost pile. My mom always had volunteer plants growing in her garden. I guess it's just kind of a nice surprise if you get something that actually produces. Leslie |
Tales of a novice gardener
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Tales of a novice gardener
too funny! thanks for the chuckle.
mixter "Leslie" wrote in message ... This being my second vegetable garden to include more than tomatoes, I anticipated a plentiful crop and imagined drying and canning tons of foods planted, tended, and harvested by me alone. It must have been a dream. I had a section of what I thought at first were pumpkin plants. I dutifully transplanted them to spread them out. Initially I put them in among the corn because my mom said pumpkins will grow up the stalks and do well that way. Then I remembered that the pumpkin seeds I had bought were the extremely large jack-o-lantern kind. Re-transplanted them so they wouldn't pull the corn over. Didn't matter in the end since my ever-helpful 3-year-old twin boys yanked up all but 4 corn stalks along with the carrots. When the "pumpkin"plants got a few inches tall I thought they were cucumbers, thinking that my boys had spread some of the seeds in a spot I didn't notice. Hmm, they grew and got fruit on them that almost looked like watermelon. Watermelon?? I didn't buy watermelon seeds! Must have been the compost. Then a texture developed that was unmistakebly canteloupe. Ah-ha! Definitely the compost. I had a lovely compost bin full of several years worth of food and yard scraps. We must have eaten a ton (give or take a few pounds) of canteloupe during that time, so that's where those seeds came from. So my pumpkin-cucumber-watermelon-canteloupes are doing great. Nice looking fruit. I love canteloupe. Then along come my boys. They brutally tore off 10 or so of the melons and tossed them in the compost bin. As I inspected them there, I also discovered they had picked probably 30 very-green tomatoes. Next year I'm building a fence around my garden. Oh, did I tell you my beets didn't grow at all? I do have yummy tomatoes, the ones that are allowed to ripen. Off to read more of my organic gardening book. I'm going to master this gardening stuff one of these years. Leslie |
Tales of a novice gardener
"mixter" wrote in message ... too funny! thanks for the chuckle. Glad I could give you a laugh! I, OTOH, was not laughing when most of this happened. Now I am, but definitely some other words were forming on my lips instead of "Ha Ha." ;-) Leslie mixter "Leslie" wrote in message ... This being my second vegetable garden to include more than tomatoes, I anticipated a plentiful crop and imagined drying and canning tons of foods planted, tended, and harvested by me alone. It must have been a dream. I had a section of what I thought at first were pumpkin plants. I dutifully transplanted them to spread them out. Initially I put them in among the corn because my mom said pumpkins will grow up the stalks and do well that way. Then I remembered that the pumpkin seeds I had bought were the extremely large jack-o-lantern kind. Re-transplanted them so they wouldn't pull the corn over. Didn't matter in the end since my ever-helpful 3-year-old twin boys yanked up all but 4 corn stalks along with the carrots. When the "pumpkin"plants got a few inches tall I thought they were cucumbers, thinking that my boys had spread some of the seeds in a spot I didn't notice. Hmm, they grew and got fruit on them that almost looked like watermelon. Watermelon?? I didn't buy watermelon seeds! Must have been the compost. Then a texture developed that was unmistakebly canteloupe. Ah-ha! Definitely the compost. I had a lovely compost bin full of several years worth of food and yard scraps. We must have eaten a ton (give or take a few pounds) of canteloupe during that time, so that's where those seeds came from. So my pumpkin-cucumber-watermelon-canteloupes are doing great. Nice looking fruit. I love canteloupe. Then along come my boys. They brutally tore off 10 or so of the melons and tossed them in the compost bin. As I inspected them there, I also discovered they had picked probably 30 very-green tomatoes. Next year I'm building a fence around my garden. Oh, did I tell you my beets didn't grow at all? I do have yummy tomatoes, the ones that are allowed to ripen. Off to read more of my organic gardening book. I'm going to master this gardening stuff one of these years. Leslie |
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