The garden changes overnight, it seems. Here it is, in all its tangled glory:
Yesterday, the absurd zucchini plant began encroaching on the eggplants’ area. Well, let’s just say that it already had begun encroaching, but by yesterday, it had become more threatening. By today, zucchini leaves nearly covered the middle of the three eggplants, and the one at the edge of the garden, which already grew itself to the side, then up again, in an effort to dodge zucchini shade, was once again in complete shade.
To the left is a picture of the chaotic life of the middle eggplant, pre-trimming. For those unfamiliar with these plants, in the lower left corner is the cucumber, which has most certainly made a more-than-full recovery. In the dead center of the picture, you’ll see some thin little stems. That’s the eggplant. Really. The rest is the zucchini.
After I took that, Steve went out to take a look, and I asked whether he thought it would be OK to cut off some of the zucchini leaves. It’s not like there would be a shortage, and some of the top ones are so big they shade the lower leaves anyway. How can that possibly be good for photosynthesis?
Inspired by Don of An Iowa Garden, I present to you a sense of the size of these leaves. I am not a woman with dainty little hands. What I should have done was laid my head on a leaf so you could see they are, in fact, bigger than my head. No hyperbole, no problem.
Steve said he’s already been trimming back a few of the leaves, and it obviously isn’t hurting the plant. He cut back some of the ones that were causing the most shade in the surrounding area, and tied up some more of the plant with sliced-up plastic bags, our ever-so-chic nod toward recycling and plant care, all at the same time. Hopefully the eggplant will now get its fair share of sun.
on Jul 1st, 2006 at 8:22 pm
on Jul 13th, 2006 at 5:42 am
[...] I stood there, peering into the plant, certain that there had to be one whose blossom was wilting. Sure enough, when I pulled aside one of the giant zucchini leaves, there it was. A perfect, small, baby zucchini, with a blossom so rotted that dozens of tiny bugs swirled around it in a happy cloud. [...]
on Jul 29th, 2006 at 12:52 am
Thanks for the pictures and especially for the one with your hand for comparison. I just discovered some odd, bristly, huge-leafed plants near our deck. Was discussing with my husband whether they were the weeds that completely took over my neighbor’s yard. Then noticed the squash or zucchini type blossoms, neither of which I planted. Haven’t actually seen a zuke plant for years though, so wasn’t sure. Sure looks like yours…Best guess: we flung a slice that dropped off the grill into the side yard, and voila!
on Jul 29th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Supergirl, that’s excellent — having some inadvertent squash or zuke is not a bad thing at all. Plus, what better way to employ food that has fallen off the grill? :-) Keep me posted on whether it produces or not — I’m definitely interested to hear more!