Crazy Time in the Garden

Yes, it’s that time of year, when the winter squashes roam wildly through the yard, weaving in and out, over and under, around and sometimes through anything in their path.

Last year our jungle was further back in the yard, but this year Bill planted the squash all along the fence.  And last year they grew toward the center of the yard, in a southeasterly direction.  This time they’re growing southwesterly. 

Take a look at the front-most vine in the picture above – that one’s looking both ways and is about to head across the driveway. 

Oh, and then there’s this guy…

Squash meets rose.

There’s a rose plant near the gate, and this squash vine, rather than go around the base of it, climbed up and through.  You can see some of the vine hooked over a rose branch in the picture above. 

I love stuff like that.

Here’s the other side of the fence.  This is where a lot of the strawberries grew earlier in the season.  Now it’s mostly squash, with some dill near the front.  Oh, and driveway side of the fence, besides, of course, squash, we’ve got rutabagas and dill…plus tomatoes and basil in the buckets.

Bill’s checking for pickling cucumbers.  We got several this morning – you can see on of them by his right leg.  In this square garden we’ve also got a zucchini plant, some kind of tomato, and melons.  We are holding our breath, but it looks like we may get more than one melon this year.  Very exciting.

Look, there’s one now!  Shhhhh!  Don’t frighten it!

And here’s a tomatillo blossom.  Yay!  Another of my favorites.  And this one is special, because it’s a purple tomatillo plant.  We’re growing both – green and purple – this year.  I’ve read the purple ones are less tart than the green ones.  I’ll let you know.  I mainly just wanted them because hey, purple tomatillos!

A bit of morning sunlight on some morning glory vines. 

Little squash near the wood-chopping area…

Another little squash climbing past the wood chips.

Didn’t know this one was here, right beside the fence.

It seems to be doing well.

And, finally, besides the pickling cucumbers, we’re growing some regular old long slicing-for-salads variety.  We’ve harvested a few so far.  They’re kind of slender.

And this one…well, apparently it isn’t content to be like all the other cucumbers…

I love crazy time.

Oh, and though it’s in the 90s and humid, we’re still thinking warmth – for the winter.  Here’s the wood pile Bill’s been working on.  So far.  It’s not finished.  But it’s mostly finished.

Those pieces in the front are funky, knotted, and difficult to stack.  I think there are more at the other end.  These, also, if I’m remembering correctly, are greener than the rest of the wood, so they’d be used last, if at all, this winter.

Anyway, that’s it for today. 

How does your garden grow?  It is crazy time where you are?     

Comments

[RoseAnn]

This is my absolute favorite time of year! We let our 5-year old niece plant a few things in our garden this year and she's now understanding why we planted her pumpkin so far from everything else...that thing is taking over!

The biggest trouble we're having this year is squirrels nibbling on our drip irrigation lines. I was advised to try spreading grated Irish Spring soap but that didn't have much impact. Now we're getting desparate and thinking of a live trap and relocating them. :(

[Judith]

As usual your garden looks awesome. We either have too much heat, not enough water or a torrential downpour that causes mold to start. We also need to start thinking about firewood, thanks for the reminder.

[laura]

it's crazy time in my garden too. i planted my cukes too close together and put in some trellis stuff for them to grow up, but they didn't really like that and are growing up and over each other plus into the path (toward the fence, toward a raised bed and toward the other path). they also seem to like the zucchini. :-)

gardens are bliss though...
blessings
~*~

[Pamela L.]

I love your garden photos... We didn't plant anything this year, time just got away from us. We do get a csa box every week.