Last spring when Ann posted the information about growing plants in bales of straw, I was pretty interested - so just to see if it would work, Ron got me two bales of straw. I roughed up the middle area, and put lots of composted soil in and when things got warmer, planted seeds of zucchini and yellow crookneck squash. Germination was extremely slow - When only one zucchini plant (probably enough) came up, I put in more seeds. Now, plants are growing, but they are behind. We'll see what kind of production I get. The zucchini are a bush variety, but if the yellow crookneck really grow, I'll add a trellis on one side of the bales.
I bought this tomato plant solely on its name - "Box Car Willy". When I lived in Powell, there was a town character who roamed around town with that name. I had to see if this plant would be more productive. It is very lush, but is not producing many blossoms, and until I took this picture, I thought there were no tomatoes. However, if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see that there is one tiny tomato hiding in the bush. Another Find Waldo. Success????
And last, but not least, the sunflower is busy following the sun. Eight years ago, I planted two wonderful rows of exotic sunflowers of all kinds. There were chocolate ones, gold ones, orange ones, short ones, and 7-foot tall ones, and I loved them. However, when fall came and Ron had to clean them out, he swore that never again could I grow crops of sunflowers. He had to take the ax to some of the thick stems. However, in the intervening years, there are always one or two volunteers in what has shrunk to a tiny garden, and just to prove that he is a little sentimental, he allowed this one to prosper. It smiles on our day.
