Pumpkins and Procrastination

Alas, I've been away from this blog for much too long. Busy with work, family, band, etc. No excuses though, I haven't felt much like writing but today I do. There's been so much change and progress within the confines of my humble garden planters that I would feel remiss not to clue my 1 follower in.

New Item 1: Pumpkins! I'm sure I'm slaughtering the quote but I've heard other gardeners say, "If you want to be a successful gardener, grow pumpkins." I can see now how this is true despite initially having my doubts. When I first got the starts in (By the way thank you Jacob for being my pumpkin starts hook-up) they went limp immediately. By day two and a couple of watering sessions, they had perked up considerably. Fast forward 3 weeks later and the five original vines have tripled in area and have huge hand sized leaves. Each vine is showing a couple of pumpkins but I figure I'm going to try to limit them to one per. (Free free to advise me on this) My only real concern is where I'm going to direct the quickly growing vines. One wants to go right over the strawberry patch while another is running into clover and catnip with nowhere else to really go. I'll have to come up with something soon.

New Item 2: The Strawberries are Here! Yes, they're a little stunted (I may have been a bit bold by letting the patch go for 3 years without transplanting), yes, they're a little misshapen but they're delicious and they're plentiful. The squirrels and birds have left them alone and very few have been eaten by slugs or bugs. I'm happy as can be with the progress of my strawberry patch. Strawberry shortcake updates soon to come.

New Item 3: Bees really love catnip flowers. I tell you what, if you're a bee keeper or have an orchard that requires pollination, you may want to consider planting this stuff. My new guilty pleasure is sitting in a lawn chair near the mint and watching the bees go happily from flower to flower. I never would have figured myself for much of an insect watcher but now I'm hooked. I'm glad also that the bees seem to tolerate me. I've always been one to keep pretty calm and collected around potential danger in the form of pin pricks, they'll buzz by me from time to time, occasionally landing on my arm. I enjoy their presence, it smacks of a healthy garden. I treat the bees and spiders with as much respect as I can. They are after all the caretakers of my garden and likely a big reason that the squirrels have remained at bay.

New Item 4: Zucchini! (Isn't that a fun word to say) Everybody say it now, Zucchini! Feel better? I inherited some starts from my neighbor and like the pumpkins (at first) they've gone completely flaccid. At any rate, I hope they regain their vigor, I'd love to have some fried Zucchini later in the summer. Zucchini, flaccid, regain vigor; sounds like the trimmings of a good frat boy joke...

Pictures will be coming soon folks. I hope all of your endeavors and personal gardens are healthy and happy ones.