Hinckley Garden

The Hinckley garden is a little overgrown at the moment. That’s what I get for planting so many squashes and vines. I’ve got two summer squash plants — one regular green zucchini, and then one that’s producing the above. I thought it was a regular yellow squash/zucchini plant, but this is what I’m getting. I haven’t sliced into one yet to see what they’re like (I just picked the one in the photo this evening). This website seems to think it’s a Friulano Wrinkled.

I got another surprise in the form of a winter squash vine. The bright yellow thing is supposed to be a pumpkin. Pipe up if you know of any pumpkin varieties that start out yellow like this — I’ve only ever seen them begin green, turning orange as they ripen. My first thought was spaghetti squash, but even those start out a very pale green. I’m okay with having a mystery squash (so long as it tastes nice), but it’ll be tricky to know what they’re ready to pick if I have no idea what they are! I DO know that that’s a little butternut squash in the upper corner of the photo.

And yep, here’s how overgrown the garden is. It’s also pretty weedy at the moment; weeds are far more tenacious up here than they are in the cities. My usual tactic is to plant things close together, so they’ll choke out the weeds, and that’s working to a certain extent (most of what you can see is vegetable foliage, with sunflowers in the front), but I still need to do some weed-tearin’.

I picked two ripe tomatoes today (heirloom Olpalkas, a sauce variety), but both had blossom-end rot. Bah! Disappointing, but it still seems early for ripe tomatoes, so I can’t complain. All four of my broccoli plants have already grown their crowns (and I’ve consumed most of that), and I’ve got cucumbers, watermelons, and bell peppers that will be ready sooner or later. Not bad for a first-year garden! (The first year in Hinckley, that is.)