This being my second vegetable garden to include more than tomatoes, I
>anticipated a plentiful crop and imagined drying and canning tons of foods
>planted, tended, and harvested by me alone. It must have been a dream. I had
>a section of what I thought at first were pumpkin plants. I dutifully
>transplanted them to spread them out. Initially I put them in among the corn
>because my mom said pumpkins will grow up the stalks and do well that way.
>Then I remembered that the pumpkin seeds I had bought were the extremely
>large jack-o-lantern kind. Re-transplanted them so they wouldn't pull the
>corn over. Didn't matter in the end since my ever-helpful 3-year-old twin
>boys yanked up all but 4 corn stalks along with the carrots. When the
>"pumpkin"plants got a few inches tall I thought they were cucumbers,
>thinking that my boys had spread some of the seeds in a spot I didn't
>notice. Hmm, they grew and got fruit on them that almost looked like
>watermelon. Watermelon?? I didn't buy watermelon seeds! Must have been the
>compost. Then a texture developed that was unmistakebly canteloupe. Ah-ha!
>Definitely the compost. I had a lovely compost bin full of several years
>worth of food and yard scraps. We must have eaten a ton (give or take a few
>pounds) of canteloupe during that time, so that's where those seeds came
>from. So my pumpkin-cucumber-watermelon-canteloupes are doing great. Nice
>looking fruit. I love canteloupe. Then along come my boys. They brutally
>tore off 10 or so of the melons and tossed them in the compost bin. As I
>inspected them there, I also discovered they had picked probably 30
>very-green tomatoes. Next year I'm building a fence around my garden.
Build a fence around the twins! Gads, the damage done by squirrels, deer, rabbits, and birds pales in comparison. Any chance of getting them interested in the magic of growing plants (and the joys of
*completely ripe* fruits and veg)?My 'compost surprise' this year is several healthy-looking potato plants. I doubt there'll be much production, as it's quite late in the season. Cantaloupe *does* seem to love a compost pile.