Wednesday, August 8, 2012

My Zucchini's Crookneck Squash Memorial

"Magnificent green umbrellas of..."

No.  Maybe I could say,

"Brilliant living emerald shades..."

Nah, scratch that, too.

"Broad-leaf foliage, vibrantly reaching..."

Oh, heck.  I'll just say it in plain words.

The crookneck squash planted in memorial to my fallen zucchini is thriving in its pot!

thriving crookneck squash in container

Huh.  That wasn't too hard.  Perhaps I should've just said that to begin with!

That's my daughter's hand beside the squash leaves.  I'd make the claim that it's there for scale, but it was really just a case of her moving into the picture at the last moment.  She's pretty excited about it, too!

I've discovered that I really love growing squash.  The huge leaves seem to create a reaction that sends waves of electricity through my body.  I don't know why I find large leaves so exciting, but I can't deny the feeling.

Perhaps it has to do with my love of fairies, and my need to envision a fantastic and fictional world in my mind.  One of those leaves could create a fabulous umbrella or hat, after all.  For that matter, an entire dress could be constructed out of one or two of them!

But I digress.

The crookneck squash is thriving in its container.  The leaf directly below my daughter's hand is somewhere around 6 inches wide.  The leaves won't be as huge as the rhubarb leaves at my grandma's house, granted, but they're large enough to make me truly happy.

Not only that, but there are a few buds already that look an awful lot like flower buds!  Could I soon be getting some yellow splashes of color to accent this already glorious plant?

I sure hope so!

Only time will tell, and there's always the chance that this crookneck squash could go the way of my zucchini...

zucchini headstone.  RIP
Remember this?
I don't think so, though.  Since I'm doing container gardening with this squash, I'll have a much more even flow of moisture.  Root rot is much less likely to occur.  I've also used a large amount of grass as mulch, so I shouldn't have to worry about evaporation from the topsoil.  Well, not much evaporation, anyway.

I did plant the seeds at the very tail end of the recommended seed sowing dates, so there's a chance I could run into problems with that, but we'll just have to wait and see.  In the end, no matter what the result is, I think I'll be happy.  My crookneck planting in celebration of the brief life of my zucchini has already brought me joy.

Ahhh, the catharsis of beautiful green leaves...


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