Home > The Diaries > (38)

The Diaries

One year, three months and four days out: What a pot grower grows when he can't grow pot

Previous | End

To all,

Here's my 180 foot gourd caterpillar, winding from one end to the other in my Garden, passing from one side to the other about halfway down. I'm standing next to the large gourd vines -- a mid-section -- gourds that have enormous leaves and small, symmetrical, white flowers. Some large gourds will weigh 30-35 pounds when green, so I am constantly adding more bamboo support to hold the critter up. At the front and back portions, the "long green worm" is covered with small decorative gourds, all flowering with a similar yellow fluted shape, but producing a dozen different sizes, forms and colors of the late summer. The final 60 feet, which you can't see, has a mid-rib of sugar pumpkins framed with two kinds of sweet potatoes. Purple-tinted leaves on one side, monochrome green on the other. This bed is Garden-wide, which is to say, about 50 feet.

In this picture, I am standing to show the height of the caterpillar, which undulates from about seven to over ten feet tall. There is approximately 15 feet between each set of metal posts, PVC main ribs and bamboo supports. It is a writhing mass of well-supported life, colorful and strong inside and out, winding its way through the Garden. For the first time ever. But certainly not for the last. I'll give the gourds and the pumpkins away on October 4. Y'all come.

The second picture is a bucket of bounty that some friends picked in just ten minutes in the Garden. I've fed about 15 families twice a week with It's bounty.

So enjoy the pictures -- this is a nice time to be in my deep hollow, filled with the fast shadows and the hum of bumblebees and hummingbirds. Enjoy. Once again, y'all come. Bernie .

Previous | End