Signs of Life
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Seedlings are the most optimistic things, don’t you think? They awaken some longing that I think I last felt as an elementary schooler as I headed home with my tiny pine tree on Arbor Day. These wee ones are Buttercup Squash. Please don’t ask me where I plan to plant even one of them, because I hear that they’re likely to take over my little garden patch. I wonder if I could train them to grow up a clothesline? I could have green squash bobbing in the breeze like lumpy paper lanterns…
This is a gorgeous picture. One year, we had a volunteer squash seedling in our compost pile. We planted on our front lawn, not thinking it would produce much. Lo and behold, it became the talk of the neighborhood! Like James and the Giant Peach, it just kept growing, and everyone wanted to know what this amazing massive plant was. When the blossoms started coming, we waited anxiously to know if we would have six hundred thousand zucchinis or pumpkins or what. When the summer ended, we had sixteen beautiful butternut squashes that we ate all winter!
What a great story Eliza! And an unexpected treat from the compost.
When I grow squash in the garden, I grow them on a trellis. The only problem is that butternut can get heavy...and so it’s recommended that you net each fruit and tie to the trellis, too. I’ve done it and it’s not a huge pain. Just something extra to deal with.