Woke up early this morning, as I do every morning in the summer. The kitties following me from the bed to the door to let Rose out. They rub around my feet as I make breakfast, purring softly, begging me to sit down. With my coffee cup in hand I walked out onto the 'bedroom' deck (home of the container garden), my bathrobe pockets stuffed with qtips, plant markers, a sharpie, some twine, and a pair of scissors. It feels wonderful to dig in the garden early in the morning, feel the cool soil under my fingertips. The first blooms of my yellow neck squash are showing and that means its time for some high quality plant sex action. If you did not know, squash have both male flowers and female flowers. Only the female flowers produce the fruit, but they can only do so with the pollen of the male flower. While nature has developed this system to use birds, butterflies, and bees as the pollinators, my garden needs a little help. While I have planted bird and bug friendly flowers around the property, they simply do not come to the deck often enough to help my squash plants 'get it on'. So, there I am with a qtip in hand, jabbing the male flower, then delicately stroking the inside of the female flower. I repeat the process a few times on each flower (having some difficulty with the male ones releasing enough pollen) all the while the cats are overseeing the operation from their perch inside the door. I feel silly, and repeat the process again.
In the main garden there is some growth from the lettuce bed. Little sprouts stick up in cute little lines across the 'cut and come again' area, and the one of the cucumbers on the edge is beginning to flower. The tomatoes have all grown at least two inches, their tops now lashed to the frame. The marigolds I planted yesterday evening have brought a welcome splash of color in the middle of everything, along with the earlier planted dahlia.
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