2017 Harvest
Greetings to all.
This weekend Aunt Chelle drove down from Fort Collins to watch Xavier. Mom and Dad needed a getaway, and Steamboat Springs called to us.
The afternoon, when Chelle arrived, grew overcast. Xavier's garden patch had seen its better days. Time to harvest most of what it grew for him. Before jumping in the car and heading to the mountains, we spent some time helping Xavier bring in his bounty. We wanted some time with him before we left.
We targeted the pumpkins first. Twenty were ready and five will be ready in a few weeks if the weather holds. The stems proved too tough for Xavier's strength; Mom stepped in to assist.
In all my years of growing pumpkins, I have never seen vines so fecund. Many of the pumpkins weigh over twenty pounds. Snails (which plagued our gardens this year) covered the bottoms of all of the pumpkins. Fortunately, they did little damage. We flicked them into the street, then brought the gourds onto the patio.
After the pumpkins, Xavier helped with the butternut and spaghetti squash. However, he did not have the same exuberance in harvesting them.
All in all an extraordinarily productive garden this year. Who knew the soil a forty-five year old Blue Spruce tree had grown in would make so fertile a planting area for gourds? The pumpkin vines are still producing flowers and fruit; we're likely to get five or six more pumpkins this year.
The squash survived the plague of snails also, and there are many more of each kind left to harvest. The vines supporting these, however, have all but died back.
We moved the squash and the corn stalks from Rebecca's garden onto the patio with the pumpkins. Rebecca and Xavier have plans to use many of these in decorating the front yard for October.
The day's harvesting finished, Rebecca and I left Xavier in the very capable care of his Aunt Chelle and headed to Steamboat Springs. Xavier spent the rest of the weekend not feeling prideful over his harvest, but pining for his parents so far away.