That pleasant little bed in my backyard is overflowing with life! And we were worried nothing would come of it because it was too shady. Not so.
As it turns out, we have more than we bargained for. For Halloween last year, Dilmun Hill (the student-run organic farm on campus) held pumpkin carving as an activity on the Ag Quad. It ended up raining so there were pumpkins left over and I took one to be festive. Then I ended up with some gourds that were leftover from a catering event to add to the house decor. Naturally, the end came for them as they started to go bad and my roommates made me dispose of their stinking carcasses, which I did by throwing them in the backyard. So of course the seeds planted themselves and we ended up with several pumpkin/gourd volunteers! They've gone wild, taking over the area near the little bean bed as you can see above. We've tried to train one of them to prevent it from growing into the beans (left). Regardless of whether they produce fruit or not, they're still beautiful plants and are providing a distraction for the cucumber beetles that destroyed our zucchini plant. See the next post for more details on that battle.
The tomatoes have flowered and are starting to develop beautiful fruit... lots of them. Turns out I probably should have pruned a little bit more than I did, but once the branches start to get flowers, it's pretty difficult to deny them their fruit! As you can see, they've grown pretty out of control. Out and above the cages, taller than me, at least 40 flowers on the cherry. We're going to be buried in tomatoes pretty soon. Time to start looking up salsa and pasta sauce recipes!
As it turns out, we have more than we bargained for. For Halloween last year, Dilmun Hill (the student-run organic farm on campus) held pumpkin carving as an activity on the Ag Quad. It ended up raining so there were pumpkins left over and I took one to be festive. Then I ended up with some gourds that were leftover from a catering event to add to the house decor. Naturally, the end came for them as they started to go bad and my roommates made me dispose of their stinking carcasses, which I did by throwing them in the backyard. So of course the seeds planted themselves and we ended up with several pumpkin/gourd volunteers! They've gone wild, taking over the area near the little bean bed as you can see above. We've tried to train one of them to prevent it from growing into the beans (left). Regardless of whether they produce fruit or not, they're still beautiful plants and are providing a distraction for the cucumber beetles that destroyed our zucchini plant. See the next post for more details on that battle.
The tomatoes have flowered and are starting to develop beautiful fruit... lots of them. Turns out I probably should have pruned a little bit more than I did, but once the branches start to get flowers, it's pretty difficult to deny them their fruit! As you can see, they've grown pretty out of control. Out and above the cages, taller than me, at least 40 flowers on the cherry. We're going to be buried in tomatoes pretty soon. Time to start looking up salsa and pasta sauce recipes!
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