Friday, May 11, 2007

From a little seed....

When I was young my parents were quite the gardeners. And I loved "helping" in their garden. Mostly I just liked looking at the fruits and vegetables on the plants.
So I have planted my own garden this year. I just had a small planter area in the corner of our yard that I used, but I think it's big enough for my first garden. I've planted corn (which isn't growing very well because it's in the shade almost ALL day), peppers, zuccini, watermelon, cantelope and garlic.
I've even done my own totally organic compost instead of using fertilizers and miracle grow. (That's been an experience in itself!)

The peppers and garlic aren't growing-sadly enough, I wanted to be able to make entirely HOME MADE salsa. Oh well, next year.
But I'm so in awe again just watching the plants grow! The watermelon plants have these little feeler thingies that grow out of the end of the plants that just feel for things to wrap themself around! It's so crazy.
In this picture here is a canteloupe blossom, but also if you look close you can see the finger thingies from the watermelon plant have wrapped around the canteloupe plant. I hope it's not a problem as melons start to grow!

Here's an up close picture of what the finger thingies look like.

I have to say that the watermelon plants are my favorite so far. Not only because it's going to produce my most favorite food ever, (I ate a WHOLE watermelon yesterday despite my body telling me to stop because I was going to explode) but because the leaves have a pretty cut to them. They're not just smooth edged but are scalloped, and because it crawls.

But right now the most developed is my zuccini. Look, you can actually see baby zuccinis on the plant! Aren't they so cute!?! And I love the color of the orange blossoms at the ends of them. I'm really gaining such a better appreciation for nature and how it works. I also like that Gwen likes to be my little gardener helper. I can't wait for her to eat the fruits of our labor.....literally!!! :)

5 comments:

Summer Adams said...

How fun! I'm so jealous, I can't wait to garden but scared that I'll find slithering creatures. You're such a modern-day pioneer woman. That rocks. Ok, so my mom planted watermelon next to cantaloupe some years back and they tasted like each other. Kind of funny :) I wonder how they'll turn out. Keep us updated!

IronLawGirl said...

That is super funny! I can't wait to see how the melons turn into waterloupe! :)

Layton Clan said...

Kristen, that is so great that you and Gwen can do that together. I can't wait to have a little bit of earth to sink my toes into, and really garden. The only think I hate is when mud get's under my fingernails, but I think I can overcome that fear...

Jennifer said...

Amazing! I have a hard time keeping dumb little flowers alive... I wouldn't even know what to do with fruits and vegetables...

whitney said...

that is so cool that you are doing that! yeah, i definitely DO NOT have a green thumb as you must have. i've had a couple of house plants before and they always die. what i would really like to do, though, is have an herb garden in my kitchen so i can have fresh herbs for cooking. i hope your fruit and veggies turn out yummy. :)