From One Radish to Two Cukes
I was weeding yesterday, the day before, and the day before. I was IN the dirt! I was happy to see some flowers on my cucumber plants. So how can it be that today, I found these two cucumbers, a long green Asian cucumber and a short, plump Mini-White Cucumber, both fully grown and ready to be plucked?
Did they grow overnight, just because I cleared out the weeds, and made room for growth? Did the corn gluten pre-emergent herbicide I spread actually serve as growth hormone? Look at them! How can it be? Wow!
I always say I’m going to set up a tripod with a camera and watch how a vegetable can grow overnight from NOTHING to a vegetable this size! If you go to my About Page, you will see the cucumber I grew at the end of summer last year. It was NOT a zucchini, it was a cuke! I had to take it to my pickleball friends and show them I could use it as a pickleball paddle!
Now the fun really begins. I have 12 tomato plants, and they are all heirloom varieties. I am intrigued by the black cherry tomato plants I am trying this year. They are currently half black and half yellow – not ready yet, but I am giddy thinking how they how they will taste! My 96 year-old Uncle Al, who gives me most of my gardening advice, mailed me several seeds to try, so I’m excited to report back to him on his specialties. I’ve reaped a few green beans, but not enough to cook, so I eat them raw in my salad. Simply wonderful.
The next two weeks will be splendid. People wonder why I don’t like to go on vacation in the summertime. This is why. I truly enjoy watching my garden grow. And hey, when North Dakota summers are beautiful, unlike our cold winters, why would I want to go anywhere else?
