A pumpkin has sprouted from my compost. I am not surprised since I planted many seeds in there. The dry weather may have kept the compost from providing enough moisture to keep them all going. Some people water their compost in dry weather, since that keeps the decomposition more active.
I will start watering the pumpkin, because it will be fun to watch it climb out of the compost and trail across the ground.
The fence garden has warty gourd vines and pumpkins growing on it. The gourds are already forming. Pole beans have climbed the fence, using graceful tendrils, bloomed and started fruiting. The pumpkins and gourds use larger supports since they have more weight to support.
Unfortunately, my neighbor's gate adjoins our fence, so the climbing plants are wrapping themselves around the gate too, the only way to access the yard for mowing. I am picturing the mowers' dismay when green vines are impeding the gate. But they can tear the vines, which grow back soon enough. The gate will be de-vine.
Our helper complained of weeds in the roses. "Where did we go wrong?" I suggested that we left too much room in the newspaper layer for the witchgrass to grow through. But weed seeds can also land on top of the mulch and grow in the sunshine, rain, and watering.
"Everyone would be a gardener if there were no weeds," I solemnly declared. He trimmed while I pulled witchgrass, devilish stuff but easy to grab. The only problem is finding the end of it. I will dump the pile of witchgrass in a corner of the sunny garden, where crabgrass is rampant. Some trimming and extra shade will suppress it the crabgrass.
Those who want to burn weeds with fire are going to set something ablaze sooner or later. Weed seeds are in the air and soil at all times. The best approach to weeds is to kill off noxious weeds like poison ivy and re-purpose the rest.
I found some beautiful specimens of pigweed last night. I showed them to our helper before I composted them. "They are edible and have good nutrition," I said helpfully. He responded, "I will rely on groceries, until the apocalypse. I can eat pigweed then." The name does not help.
There is a good title - Apocalypse Gardening Book - Nutritious Weeds for the Discerning. Free Supplement - How To Treat Poison Ivy.
Our lawn and rose garden looked great when we were done. Our neighbor with the viney gate was not being visited by her crew, so we mowed her front lawn too.
My friends are sending me photos of exotic sites and natural wonders they are visiting for their vacation trips. I am glad for that, since I get to see the same sites for free. But I find plenty of natural wonders in the backyard and rose garden.
Gardeners get endless pleasure from seeing how quickly a little labor is turned into food, flowers, enough to enjoy and to share. We took Sunday's flowers to the gardening neighbor. His wife is crazy about roses. Mrs. Ichabod handed the vase to him and said, "Your wife might like a few roses. She might guess where they came from." He grinned. We had large purple roses, an orange rose, and several magenta Knock Out roses in the base.
Bees are working the roses, sunflowers, and gourd flowers. That made me think of the night pollinators. They work on colorless but perfumed flowers. In the starlight and moonlight, there is no color to rely on, so these creatures focus on aroma. Besides, the white flowers show up better in dim light. Who worked that out, I wonder? Did the plants have a convention and vote to go AM or PM? If so, the animals, like bats, had to know where they were welcome to browse and transfer pollen.
Creation declares itself at every step of gardening. Mulching and composting do their work according to principles established by the Creating Word. Nothing was created apart from Him - John 1.
 |
| The warty gourd clan is valuable for cornucopia displays. Later the dry seeds inside make good noise-makers. |
