![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/IMG_0099.jpg\" "\\"Garlic,")
<\/a>Troops deployed at Smith<\/p><\/div>\n
A platoon of tomatoes has bivouacked thickly in their quadrant of Smith, transforming their sector from tidy garden to dense jungle in only a few weeks.\u00a0 Push the branches aside to see loads of green bomblets, ordinance preparing itself to be catapulted, explosions of sweet summer tomato goodness.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Massed tomato troop camp visible on the left, across from corn artillery<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Tomato bombs being prepared for launch (or dinner)<\/p><\/div>\n
Butternut squash vine reconnaissance troops infiltrate the corn, the carrot and garlic patches, and even spill out into the paths within and outside the plot.\u00a0 I think every single seed I planted did well, and since I thinned none out, Smith is being steadily, stealthily overrun with a unit of expansive green squash vines.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Squash vines infiltrate, a multi-pronged attack<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Low lying, camouflaged squash<\/p><\/div>\n
The elite artillery unit, the corn, is erecting ever taller rocket launchers loaded with three or four missiles each, ears filled with sweet, sweet kernels, cluster munitions we can all appreciate.\u00a0 They are backed up by the 34th Airborne unit, a dozen or more volunteer sunflowers, some soaring ten, eleven, twelve feet into the air, topped with golden bursts of flower.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Swelling with sweetness<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Volunteer sunflower in a corn stalk frame<\/p><\/div>\n
Other volunteer troops, pole beans, are a lush and welcome addition to this green onslaught.\u00a0 Last year, I enlisted these vining climbers, carefully planned their deployment, set them in ranks, only for them to be bean beetle cannon fodder.\u00a0 We ate not one, not a single pole bean in 2010.\u00a0 They gave their lives to the beetles, so the bush beans, those dependable foot soldiers and heavy producers, might live.\u00a0 This year, I decided against either pole or bush beans in Smith to deny the beetles any more ground at least in my plot.\u00a0 Somehow, what few of the climbing beans reached maturity (and which I ignored), fell on\u00a0 fertile soil, next to a pepper plant and among the sunflowers and corn.\u00a0 Already this year, these viney volunteer troops, have flown under the beetles radars to produce at least four meals’ worth of beans.\u00a0 Gratifying to this general to see advances in the field I neither planned nor paid for.<\/p>\n
Squads of pepper plants, Anaheim, Jalapeno, chile, sweet green and pepperocini, work feverishly behind the front lines, producing small but very potent ordinance, each ready to explode with zesty flavor.<\/p>\n
<\/a>A red lightning bolt in a sea of green<\/p><\/div>\n
Surrounding and among the vegetables, flower performers lift the troops’ morale.\u00a0 Dwarf sunflowers, bachelor buttons, cosmos, marigolds and castor bean plants brighten their small corners of the garden, adding splashes of color, orange, red, pink, purple to the otherwise green scene.<\/p>\n
In some ways, the garden could end now and I would be satisfied.\u00a0 My third year gardening Smith is so far the best yet.\u00a0 If everything survives the heat, I will reap a tremendous harvest of tomatoes, peppers, squash, corn and even sweet potatoes, a latecomer to the garden also growing very well.\u00a0 For sure, I have already reaped a great deal of joy and wonderment at the green explosion I’ve detonated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mid-July, 2011 Smith gives me joy right now.\u00a0 Plants explode from its surface for many reasons.\u00a0 We’ve had a few good soaking rains over the last days, always excellent.\u00a0 One good rain is better than two or three manual waterings.\u00a0 … Continue reading