First watermelon
Finally my internet connection problem has been resolved. Back to my garden story.
The most exciting development is the arrival of the first watermelon.
Isn’t it beautiful? It’s been followed by two more very tiny watermelons. These are Moon and Stars watermelons, an exotic, organic heirloom melon.
Here are the tomatoes and corn:
About a month ago I thinned out the corn, removing about half of the stalks 
after reading that overcrowding is the number one reason home gardeners have less success with corn than expected. Overcrowding is alleged to lead to a field of nubbins. This year all the tomato plants are doing well. I like to think it’s due the incredible effort it was to dig up and work sand/compost into all that atrocious clay soil. And what a difference good soil prep makes. Last year, with minimal soil modifcation I was plagued by cutworms and earwigs. This year, hardly any pests.
Here’s a pic of the entire yard:
Compare that with the bare yard in an earlier post. Although the pumpkins are growing faster than anything else, taking over the yard like the blob, they have yet to set fruit. What on earth do they want? We’re even pollinating for them.
Back to the real garden pests:
Try gardening with three of these. Thankfully I’ve found Liquid Fence with egg putresence and garlic. Mmmm… It works wonderfully. When we first let Ed out with Fred and Lucy Ed and Fred spent weeks trying to kill each other. It was so sad to watch. Fred had a large open scratch on his side. Ed had numerous bite marks on his back. Fred was constantly on alert and scared. Only Lucy stayed relaxed. Now they’ve worked out their differences and all hang out together.
Sometimes we have three rabbits, several cats plus the ever-present birds - a real backyard wildlife sanctuary. At least that’s how I see it.
