The State of the Garden

Attack of the Giant Pattypans!

The verdict is in: chicken poop makes fine fertilizer. So, maybe that fact has already been established but I am beginning to fear going into my garden each day. I dropped the ball on a few things this year, not planting some varieties that I normally do. Other things I tried hard to improve on: I planted things farther apart, because I have the bad habit of squeezing in 'one more tomato plant.' I ruthlessly pulled out 99% of the volunteers (sniff, sniff) that I normally have a hard time pulling. Yet despite the additional room, things became a jungle very quickly. The little pumpkins James planted have now taken over the garden and into the front yard. The one volunteer squash near the chicken coop that I left out of curiosity has turned into a massive beast. It is a butternut by the way, and there are quite a few big squash ripening as we speak. Glad I left it there! All the excess foliage does make for a difficult time harvesting stuff, and those darn squash grow to be the size of flying saucers overnight! I shouldn't complain though, we've been eating lots of good food and passing some on to friends and neighbors. I have yet to start leaving squash in people's unattended cars, but it might come to that...

P.S. I think we are around 160 pounds so far. I might crack 300 this year!