I planted three vegetables in April: spinach, zucchini and
pumpkin. The spinach was the first to begin producing edibles, but lasted only two
weeks before it bolted and became flowery and inedible. The zucchini seed I planted straight into the
ground did the best, producing a bushel of healthy zucchinis. The zucchini seeds I coddled in pots before
transplanting into the ground did not do as well. By the end of August, however, all the
zucchini plants died from a strange fungal infection. Which, I believe, has spread to the pumpkin.
The pumpkin seed I started in a pot and transplanted is the
only remaining survivor. Although infected in places, it has not given up! The pumpkin
is a vine plant. Amazingly, the single seed turned into a sixty foot vine. This one plant stretches from the back yard, around the corner of the house, into the side
yard and is continuing to expand exponentially on top of a bush.
The pumpkin vine keeps trying to produce pumpkins,
but when the fruit reach the size of a golf ball, a strange fungus begins to grow
inside and the would-be pumpkins turn yellow and fall off.
But there is hope! On top of the bush, away from the damp ground, there is one
pumpkin to be that is currently the size
of my fist! If it survives, I will need
to find a square of plywood to place underneath it, as the bush will surely not
be able to support the weight of a full-grown pumpkin. Check it out in the video above.
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