Hillbilly Garden

If you know me, you know that I do not have a green thumb. What little bit I do know about plants and gardening, I have learned over the last ten years, or so, from friends, neighbors, and family who have given me tidbits along the way. I continue my quest to learn, hoping to learn to love gardening (the way I am trying to love broccoli), but the truth is, I just don't. I love the final product, I love picking the vegetables and fruits off the plant, I love the beauty of the flowers, but I just don't love the process. I often wish I were one of those people who "just loves to be outside in the garden". However, I do want my kids to know how to work with plants, and there is something so womanly to me about putting up vegetables and knowing that I did that work to take care of my family...maybe a little glimpse of that elusive Proverbs 31 woman?

Well, since we have returned from Georgia, we have had a gardening experience that I am still laughing hysterically about! In our front yard at the end of the driveway, is the cutest flowerbed in the corner facing the house. When we moved here it was full of mums and some brown sticking-straight-up-stuff that was so autumn-like and beautiful. This spring, we have enjoyed seeing what would sprout up out of the ground. (During your first year in a house, it is always a surprise!) We kept watching that little area and some pretty flowers have been coming up....yellow ones that I don't know the name of, and some other ones that are going to be pretty, they just haven't bloomed.

Right before we left for Georgia, we were doing a once-over in the yard and noticed, as we were pulling some weeds, an interesting plant growing right in the middle of the bed. It didn't look like a weed, but it didn't look like it was going to be one of the other beautiful flowers....so we left it.

(I am already laughing as I write this.)

When we returned home, that plant right in the middle had gotten really, really big. Jeff commented that it kind of looked like squash, but I laughed and said, "That can't be squash. Why in the world would Carrie (the owner of this house) plant a squash right in the middle of this pretty flower bed?" I guess, at this point, it should have occurred to me that squash is not perennial, and that if it were squash, we would have been the ones to plant it. In that case, it couldn't be squash, because we sure hadn't planted any.

Or had we?

About thirty minutes after we arrived home from Georgia, two of our Life Action friends stopped by the house. As we stood in the driveway talking, Beth, one of my sweet southern friends form Mississippi, pointed to our mystery plant and said, "Oh, look. You're growing yourself a pumpkin."

Say what?

"Actually," she continued, "It looks ike you are growing some squash, or something, too. The leaves are two different sizes."

All of a sudden, it hit me. Do you remember this picture I took this past Fall, right after we moved into this house?

We had just been to the pumpkin patch that day to buy a pretty assortment of pumpkins, squash, and gourds to make our front yard festive.

Well, in this climate, that assortment stayed pretty a really long time. So I left it. I left it so long, in fact, that I forgot about it. The snow came and went, and once it melted, there was no sign of any of it, and I never gave it another thought.

It did not forget about us.

You guessed it....it seems we are growing pumpkins and gourds right in our front yard, final proof that the southern hillbillies have moved to town! Of course, our nature-loving, tree-hugging, wallerin'-in-the-dirt girls can't wait, and would not hear of us pulling it up! They are SO EXCITED about growing their own pumpkins! (Carrie, I am really sorry. I promise we will clean it all out when it's done.)

Here is the "mystery plant" the day we returned from Georgia.

 Here it is this morning....nearly twice the size.

Check out the size of those leaves! If the size of a leaf determines the size of a plant, the way a puppy's feet determines the size of the dog, we are in trouble. I don't know if we have enough yard for this!

We already have the beginnings of a plant....gourd? pumpkin? squash?

It looks like it is getting ready to stretch out a little more. I am a little scared.

I guess I am just thankful I didn't leave the Indian corn outside.

We will keep you updated on the progress of the Bryant Hillbilly Garden.

In the meantime, here is the garden we planted on purpose.

Nice, don't you think?

Have a blessed day!
Jeannie