The Squash of My Labors.
Yes, that is right, I am eating my very own squash. That I grew (ahem, excuse me)... we grew together. I got it in my head that I needed a summer project and that a box garden was in order. "Small box garden" you're thinking, right? Nooooo, I couldn't let it be quite that easy. So forty 6x8's, piles of screws and about 500 lbs of top soil later, Casa de mattLandia now has a Jardin de mattLandia.
My squash is literally exploding. Who knew that Squash plants were so big, or that each plant could throw off so much squash? On deck, I've got 4 different varieties of tomatos cooking. Further out, I've got canteloupe, watermelon, snow peas, radish, carrots, pumpkins and corn. Jury is still out on whether they'll actually throw off fruit, but as of today my garden was not in vain.
Pass the salt and pepper. I have some buttery goodness steaming on my plate.
Here is a short photo editorial on The Great Box Garden Build Off.
#1 - The 'Before' Photo.
#2 - Construction begins. It took the box awhile to take shape. It also took awhile for me to wrap my head around how much dirt it would take to fill it.
#3 - I took a break between completing the north side of the garden and the south side. Figured Ithere was no rush to get the south side (pictured) completed, since filling the north side with dirt quicky going from 'no big deal' to 'seriously gross miscalculation on the DIY meter'.
#4 - The help. Although I initially thought I could Chuck Norris my way through the build, the project would have ended in garden tragedy if these two knuckle-heads hadn't helped me see it through. With Squash, I salute thee!
#5 - Slowly, something other than weeds starts to take form. This is about 5 week or so after finishing the north side of the garden. About this time, I finally finished ferrying enough bags of top soil in the rockin' Hyundai Elantra to fill up the south side. Yet again, the Elantra GT goes where no Elantra has gone before.
#6 - At about week 7, the squash literally explodes. The leaves are huge, the blossoms are plentiful, and squash literally starts overflowing.
#7 - The moment of truth. A bit like circumcising a friend I suppose. "Really, this will only hurt for a minute!" Buen Provecho!
Comments
Buen trabajo mi pana!
Cuando es la comelona de vegetales? Tiramos vegetales a la parrila, vegetales asados, vegetales a la vinagreta, vegetales a la fra-diablo, you tell me!
Posted by: El Guapo | June 21, 2006 10:06 AM
Alright then.
Matt. I am overjoyed that someone else my age has discovered the joy of gardening. I planted my first garden last summer and had a tremendous yield which gave me the courage to go totally nuts this summer. So far my tomatoes are waist high with green fruit dangling and my one squash is about to start producing. My cucumbers are spreading and all eight of my bell pepper plants are just beginning to really take off.
Oh yeah, one thing I learned about squash is to not let them get too big, otherwise the plant thinks that it's done growing. Circumcise them at about 9-12 inches...no more or your yeild will be greatly reduced.
I never thought that I'd see the day when I'd be so excited to talk about gardening.
Posted by: patatomic | June 22, 2006 01:31 AM
Pat, I think we have crossed an invisible boundary of sorts, into vegetable-love land. There is no turning back.
Guillo, viva la comelona! Ojalo tu moto estara funcianando. Comeremos y despues a los motos!
Posted by: Matt | June 22, 2006 11:03 AM