Cucs and My Kids

One of my hobbies is gardening.
Looking back over my life I can see that the outdoors and dirt under my nails has really always been something I've enjoyed. As a kid I remember digging in the dirt and smelling that smell of soft, damp soil; the feel of it under my tiny chewed up nails and the beauty of the sight of a nicely dug dirt hole has always made my insides warm and happy.

My success at gardening has not been as healthy as my love for the soil.

A young mother and wife making my home in New Hampshire proved fatal to my gardening skills; chances are if I planted it, it died. Even my inside house plants struggled to see the light, or watering, from another day.
Then,
I moved to Florida.
I went from... zone 4...to... zone 9!
I lived here in sunny, sub-tropical zone 9 for a good 2 years before I realized my brown thumb was turning green. When we bought our house I made a decision to chuck all the old, barely living house plants I'd carried with me all over the east coast; then a few weeks later I noticed those old house plants growing, and growing and growing, with no help at all. They just sat on the rich fertile ground and grew. The Florida sun and rain was what they needed.

This year I planted cucumbers for the first time. I planted from seed and before I knew it 10 plants were ready for the ground. I cleared a small garden not far from the house and put about half there and the other half I put in the ground under a farm table that sits in my front courtyard.

Long story short, the plants in the garden died and the plants in the courtyard survived! And boy have they survived.

Cucs are interesting. If you've never grown them before they come out of nowhere. One day I'll check and have 3-4 little ones and by the next day I count 10, oh wait 11, no there are 12.

It actually made me think of my kids, how much like cucumbers they are.

For instance:

I leave the room with 2 of them sitting on the sofa, when I return 15 minutes later there are 8 of them!

-or-

When I water them in the morning they are just little cucs sitting at my kitchen counter, I turn my back to grab the OJ and all of a sudden they are near full grown!

So far I have gotten 6 good healthy cucumbers and 4 yucky ones. I've eaten plain cucs in vinegar and made the Greek dish Tzatziki. This weekend with what looks like another 3-4 cucs ready for the picking I hope/plan/pray/maybe will try my hand at pickling some of these here cucs??

Wish me luck on that one.

So that is my gardening story for today. I think it would be neat to one day trade my cucs for eggs or fresh homegrown beef or chicken, until then I'll stick with growing tons of a vegetable that, besides Steve and I, no other person in the house, resident or not, likes to eat!!

Peace, love and veggies!

-Michelle