Gardening by Accident

Cantaloupe in Western Washington? Purely accidental.

Time for blog posting seemed as fleeting this summer as the sun breaks for which my blog is named, and I apologize. I do have an excuse: we're moving. Part of the reason has to do with the burgeoning growth in our yard and garden. We can't keep up with it any longer.

I've written before about our funny garden, with peas and potatoes and all sorts of growing things sprouting from every available cranny in our tiny back yard. This summer of our final garden we've found great entertainment in watching what our plants were up to.

The cantaloupe vine above sprouted next to the dahlia patch alongside the driveway. Perhaps the seed was in the compost we added, or maybe a crow dropped a stolen piece of fruit there. At first we thought we might have cucumbers, but as the fruits grew round and hard and baseball-sized, we realized a visitor from warmer climates had found our hot summer to its liking. The cantaloup on the right is nearly ripe, though it should be more the size of the rocks edging the drive.

The three photos below are a species of solanaceae, belong to the nightshade family. These have pretty lavender-blue blossoms which last only a day and then form papery, green and purple lanterns that hold the next  year's seeds. (I didn't realize when I planted some in pots last year that I would find solanaceae this year in the oddest places.

When I pulled some spent petunias from this pot, I found these miniature solanaceaes,  each complete with a tiny dried lantern.

This plant, a more normal size, came up under the blueberry bush.

This one, still growing, came up just as the sweet peas finished. Compare the size of the leaves above the hat to those in the previous picture.

What do you do when you can't use all the zucchini? Let it grow!