It's Coming

In a fit of "I-know-I'm-going-to-regret-this-later," I've started giving the garden Miracle Grow plant food. Except the zucchini. I am an optimist, but I'm not stupid. I'm checking that sucker daily because I know how zucchini works--one minute you don't have any and you turn around and you have massive veggie lifeboats. No plant food for that thing.

Speaking of squash....and I've hesitated to mention this because it will reinforce my reputation as a slow, slow learner...there was an incident with the winter squash. It really wasn't my fault, though. I definitely wanted 2 pumpkins and one butternut squash because we have really come to love pumpkin and butternut squash, and I bought a pressure canner earlier this year, so the I will be able to can pumpkin, which will make them more convenient. So, I planted three hills in a side part of the yard--2 pumpkin, 1 butternut squash. I waited--nothing. I soaked some seeds in water overnight and tried again--nothing. I bought a butternut squash plant from the store--it promptly died. In sheer frustration (which is always a bad place to be), I bought 4 seed packets--sugar pumpkin, butternut squash, Hubbard squash and buttercup squash--soaked a whole bunch of seeds for 36 hours, and planted. Now the good news is, we know my neighbors will take squash if left out on the front step. The bad news is, I have no less than seven winter squash plants growing right now. And in case you're wondering why I don't just thin them out, I was so angry that I soaked them ALL TOGETHER, and don't have a clue which is which and I would genuinely like to have one of each. So......

Luckily, there are some great squash cookbooks at the library. And perhaps canned pumpkin would make nice Christmas gifts....and birthday gifts.....and wedding gifts.....