A Corny Story

…And the rains came. And the corn fell down again. Part of it did anyway. The corn that was planted by itself in the ground fell down. The corn that was planted in raised beds with pole beans and squash did not. It seems that the vines from the squash and beans held the corn up.

Finally there are some little tomatoes. Saturday there were three, about the size of a sugar pea. Today (Monday) there are many and the first ones are about the size of a garbanzo bean. There are cucumbers about the size of my thumb and most amazing of all. There is a spaghetti squash about the size of a small egg.

The grape vines are very young, so not a lot of grapes are expected. Last year there were a few and the birds ate them before they even got ripe. This year there are at least 5 bunches. We have been saving the net bags that citrus comes in and I made little bags to guard the grapes. The little bags are red/orange. I hope they don’t attract the birds even more than the grapes do.

My neighbor finally put his leaves on the street yesterday. I beat the garbage man to enough of them to finish mulching the garden. The bed where the potatoes were planted and only 7 came up have been filling with grass. They got filled to the rim with leaves this morning. The potatoes are still there. They had already been mounded with leaves and dirt. They are piled a little higher now. By the time the potatoes come off in July, there will be enough reserve compost to fill at least one of the beds with compost.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/