Next Season Has Started

I piled up some layers for my lasagna garden bed for next season. Now I just have to let Mother Nature do her thing for the next few months until planting time in the spring.

Mystery Squash Enter And Sign In Please

Planted a few mystery squash seeds earlier this year and only one of them sprouted. It has grown into quite a large plant on its lasagna bed and it looks as though the fruits are all of the dumpling squash variety. I can't wait to try them and see what they taste like.

Did I Mention...?

It's been a very good year for pickled summer squash.

Tomato Finale

The average first frost date for our fair city is October 13th. We've managed to dodge that this year, but if the prognosticators of the weather are correct we'll have frost overnight in a couple of days. So these are probably the last vine ripened tomatoes of this growing season. Maybe one of these days I'll have the resources to grow fresh veggies year-round. Until then, like most people, I'll just have to make do with what I have.

Mutant Squash: The Next Generation

Last year I planted seeds from a bush delicata squash that produced large, ovoid shaped winter squash that looked nothing like a bush delicata should. This year I planted some seeds from those oddly shaped squash and this has been one of the results. I really can't believe how little they resemble the shape of their squash parent. And I can't help wondering how they will taste.

Bargain Bin Bounty

I've been planting summer squash for over a decade now, but I've never seen plants that are as consistently robust and prolific as the ones I've grown this year from these seeds I purchased at the end of last season in one of those 10-packets-for-a-dollar sales. It just goes to show that you never know where your greatest bounty will come from.

Summer Me, Winter Me

I was assured by the info on the seed packs that the summer squash on the left and the winter squash on the right were both of a type that occupied a "compact" environment. So I planted them both in the same modest sized lasagna bed. After a month and a half of growth, they don't seem so compact do they?

This Week In Squash

It has been one of those years where Mother Nature has decided to keep us all guessing. First, there was the tug of war between Spring and Winter that lasted far longer than it should have. Then we had a similar situation between Spring and Summer. And then, there has been the rain, lots of it! All in all it has been a season to remember as far as the weather is concerned. 

So I put things into the garden and crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. The first of the summer squash are now here and once they start coming, they come fast. I'm glad to have them and hope my plant can stay healthy for at least another month. If Mother Nature cooperates, of course.

All In Good Time

Thanks to a summer that has been far cooler and wetter than normal, the melons in the garden have taken their own sweet time(pun intended) to grow and ripen. However, as the old saying goes, good things come to those who wait. And it has been well worth the wait. I thought the lack of ninety degree days and sunshine would have an adverse effect on the taste of this season's crop. I was wrong. These are some of the sweetest melons I've ever grown. My only complaint is that there might have been more of them to harvest if the weather had been more cooperative. Well, in the immortal words of Mick Jagger, "You can't always get what you want." But thankfully, I can truly say I'm happy with what nature provided despite adverse conditions.

Race To The Frost Line

Normally, we don't get frost here until the middle of October. However, nothing has been normal about this growing season, which started late because it was cooler than normal thru May and into June. And now it's been cooler in September than it should be on average. It will be a real race to see if my butternut squash plant will mature before Jack Frost makes his appearance. I've got my fingers and toes crossed!

Attack Of The Mystery Squash

Last year, I saved some seeds from a bush delicata squash. I planted several of them this year and put out three plants. Two of the plants have developed along normal lines, but the third has produced what you see in the photo above. If you compare these squash to average bush delicata, you see they are quite different in appearance.

I have sent this photo to different sites on the web and many people have suggested that it is a patty pan type of squash. However, I've never planted patty pan squash and this squash doesn't really have the scalloped shape so common for patty pan. Besides, how could a patty pan seed get into the delicata seeds I collected? I've never planted the patty pan type nor have I ever borrowed any patty pan seeds from another gardener. So I have a mystery on my hands. And I have begun to wonder.

Could this be some sort of strange, mutant, Audrey Rose squash? Is it just the vanguard of an invading army of alien squash sent to take over the gardens of Earth? Or is it something even more sinister? Will the bulbous fruits grow so large that they will produce pseudo-humans who will move among us and infiltrate our society? Is the end of life as we know it at hand? Stay tuned to this blog to find out.

Ode To A Melon

Oh wonderful sight,
Oh most excellent orb,
Oh fruit of delight,
Oh sweet succulent gourd,
Born of earth and water and light
You are a true child of the vine.
And I must wait.
Until the date,
Nature makes your taste full and divine.