Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Two impressive performers

Now, it's a bit early to get excited about yields or anything like that but I wanted to call out two crops which have really astounded me with the speed in which they have flourished.

The first is no surprise and one I've been marveling at for a few weeks now: pumpkins. Have a look at these shots from 11 June, exactly a month ago, and this past weekend. It really is incredible how quickly they can go from seed to this. They have really taken over a huge section of the garden (they have 60 square feet to themselves) and would grow beyond if I let them. I'm hoping that they continue to do well and, more importantly, that I have room to support all of the pumpkins that they will produce. Next year I'm going to have to make a vining structure for them to climb.

Almost as impressive are my pole beans. These are your standard stringbeans -- well, not quite standard, I planted three different colors: green, white and purple. Once again, here is a before shot from 11 June and an updated photo from this past weekend. These guys have really taken to their environment and have managed to climb well beyond the top of their teepee. There's another 3 feet of vine at least draped off of the top of the tower, I bet they would climb another four feet if I had a structure tall enough. They have now flowered and I'm hoping to see some beans unfurling on them soon.

So I may have jinxed myself with all of this crowing, but it's been so amazing to see these huge and vibrant plants emerge from tiny seeds.

2 comments:

Stunned Donor said...

This is what makes veggie gardening so fun. I have some Hubbard Squash that have put out runners at the rate of a foot a day and my pumpkins just went into overdrive and are invading their corner of the yard nicely.

Jeph said...

My rumbo pumpkins are starting to get out of control! The vines have to be at least 5-6 feet long by now, and one's crawled over to the cucumber trellis and up it, faster than the cucumbers are doing, and they're right at the trellis' base!