Collier Cucumbers and how the garden grows....

Gardens are not made by singing 'Oh, how beautiful,' and sitting in the shade.-- Rudyard Kipling

I spent some time today tying cucumber vines up on their trellis.  Some found their way there all alone, but many were escaping across the ground.  Someone needs to come up with a nifty little circle clippy thing that can hold vines up, give them enough room to continue growing, and are reusable. I'm just tying them...its a lot of work.  

I picked the first little cucumber today.  Its a Collier, an heirloom type with an interesting history.  This variety was given to a family in Tennessee in 1910 by migrants who were traveling through. It was saved by this family until the 1950s when their entire crop failed. It was believed that it was lost until the next spring when one plant came up from the seed planted the year before. It was donated to the Seed Savers vault in 1989.
Whew...I'm feeling the responsibility!






I'm so happy about the way these pumpkin plants all came up from the saved seeds from last year. They are looking so healthy.  This first one is the Cinderella Pumpkin.

Next is the Porcelein Doll Pumpkin.  I'm not seeing any fruit on them yet, but I'm keeping watch!





I'm picking the salad mix, which came up like crazy, but most of this mix seems to be arugula.  I really can NOT stand arugula...it's so HOT! SPICEY! and NASTY.  I'm having to pick it out and its going right back into the compost pile.

The Teddy Bear sunflowers are blooming, and they are so pretty. The plants are so short, about 1 foot tall. I was surprised by that.

And the bean are finally starting to take hold of the netting on the bean tee-pee! I'm feeling better about them.