Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Wild Pumpkins Have Invaded My Garden

There are two mystery vines growing in our garden. I thought they were muskmelon and left them because they are so easy to grow. Well, the vines didn't look quite right. The leaves were too big for melon and the vines were too thick. Then one of the monkeys touched the a vine and said it had stickers. They did have spiny vines, not really stickers, but definitely prickly. There were plenty of male flowers, but I had not seen any fruit yet. The things are about eight feet long and I have had to train the vines to keep them out of the pathways. I finally found a female flower and I think we have pumpkins. I have never successfully grown a pumpkin, so we will have to see what happens. Once again, my garden has gone wild. I don't have the heart to pull them out. They are going to get huge and my garden is tiny. Wish me luck.

Oh, btw, we don't spray here. If a bug has to be disposed of it is done by hand. We prefer to let biodiversity balance the bug situation. Wisdom of the Trowel has an awesome beneficial bug post. Check it out.