An Unexpected Oasis...

 

One morning, along my route to one of our garages (notice the red and white sculpture that is in front of it) during my workday, i ran across a fairly large vegetable garden. .....Wait.....VEGETABLE GARDEN?! What's THAT doing in the middle of Downtown Toledo?

Walking through the mulched walkways across the garden, i saw cabbage, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, even Sunflowers and Marigolds around the border.  

 

 Located in completely direct sun (which is what veggies love) in one of our hottest summers we've had in a while, everything still looked healthy, clean and well watered.

 Rounding a corner, I ran across a sign - oh-oh, probably says, "NO TRESPASSING - OR WE LET THE HOUNDS LOOSE!"

  

 ...But that was NOT what the sign said. It was cute and friendly and even informed me I could TAKE something if i wanted to! What an awesome surprise on a mundane work day!

So thank you to the United Way and Toledo GROWS, and if no one else appreciates your efforts, i really do! i already have harvested a couple of tomatoes from it (i may have to prune a few of those large squash leaves to cast, too), and plan to use part of my lunch hour one day to pull a few weeds in appreciation =-)



The Rant Of Summer

Yes, for years the breeders have been making sweet corn more and more sugary, but i never thought it was necessary in the first place.  i loved sweet corn since i was a child, and while i do like the "new" varieties a LITTLE better, they are almost too sweet at times. So, breeder guys, it's OK to stop now!

What i really want is a sweet corn plant that bears multiple ears! i know corn plants are extremely heavy feeders and that one huge stalk is there only to produce that one lonesome ear of corn (sometimes two), but that really needs to be addressed, especially for us home gardeners who don't have room for a FIELD of corn! So there it is.

 "Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it,

is to produce five eared corn plants. As always, should you or any member of your I.M. Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds."

"Mmmmmm....cornnnnn..." Did i sound like Homer Simpson?

 

Now, the breeders had a great idea when they worked on seedless watermelon!  

Hey! Let's scare the kids!

i had my complaints about that too, especially in the transitional years, when, oh sure, the hard black seeds were gone, but thousands of tiny immature seeds took their place, the kind that were impossible to eat around or spit out!

They would advertise that those seeds were so tiny and soft that you wouldn't know you were eating them, but unfortunately, some of us DID. i would say that just in the past two seasons, i finally have eaten an actual SEEDLESS watermelon! Ahhh, my life is complete.

....Oh, 'cept for that CORN business....!