First Planting

Today was clear and cooll this morning; clouds are now moving in. I finally was able to plant my pumpkins. They are in a sunny place, with a sinister Halloween fence surrounding them and a happy wooden Jack O'Lantern spike to protect them and to indicate their location. Last year, they pumpkins did not come up in our ravine. Two years in a row were fine, but we had to fight the animals for them. I think the deer population beat us to it last year. They didn't grow on our sunny slope, either, though the gourds did. They have good soil, and it is always a good idea to rotate the soil anyway.

I have moonflowers, gourds, and my annuals left. We have a shabby chic garden, and my next door neighbor and I share plants, tools, fertilizers and garden ornaments. I am fond of my little garden, and have several plants that are cuttings from home, or from apartment gardens I had in college. Sharing cuttings this way is an economical method for adding to one's garden and for promoting flower growth. Two years in a row, I had annuals come up as perrenials; after I dumpt the dirt from the plot two autumns ago, my pansies apparently took root and came up again in the spring. Then, my poor husband mowed them over thinking they were weeds.

This year, when they sprang up again, my neighbor and I marked them with a garden spike and built a cairn of little stones around the pansies. they bloomed yellow with purple centers this year and are just great.

Tip: we like to use coffee grounds, either the free packets some Starbucks give away, or our own, to fertilize the plants. Happy Gardening, and I'd appreciate some tips on strawberries; mine are really going to town this year!