Even when things go awry in my garden, I find myself being constantly pleased and amazed.

This week, I had three very nice tomatoes approaching ripeness. They were not large, but Donna and I prefer to grow organic vegetables, so we don’t expect great size. We’re looking for taste and nutrients minus the toxins.

And then one morning, my tomatoes were gone. Some critter came into my fence and stole two of my tomatoes one night. Then the next night, he came and got the other one.

He didn’t eat them on the spot, but took them away to eat elsewhere, which makes me think it was a raccoon. A turtle would have eaten them in the garden, and so might a rabbit, I think. But those sneaky little raccoons will carry them off into the woods and probably wash them before they eat.

Also, a squash that was close to picking had a chunk chewed out of the side. My coon friend found out that squashes are too hard to pick, so he just had a little snack before carting off my tomatoes.

So far, the successes are outnumbering the problems, but the problems are taking up much more time.

My squash crop has been very small, but almost adequate. I got huge, beautiful plants with lots of blooms and some squash, but then the leaves started turning yellow and the stems started to rot. The output has dropped to two or three squashes per week.

I read somewhere that those are signs of root rot, and my son, Alex, went to work and found a treatment for root rot on the Internet. He says vinegar and baking soda will help the problem, so we’re going to give it a try.

One good thing about gardening is that it involves the whole family. Even those who don’t like to dig in the dirt with the gnats generally like to eat what comes out of the garden.

We had a strange problem for a while. We were growing something we could not identify.

The plants looked like squash plants, but the fruit was round and yellow. I thought it was pattypan squash, but Donna assured me we didn’t plant any pattypan squash.

As they matured, they looked like tiny pumpkins and were hard as a rock. And then it dawned on Donna. Those are ornamental pumpkins, completely inedible.

But wait. I didn’t plant anything inedible in my garden. But even though it might be convoluted, Donna has an explanation for everything.

It turns out that she once bought seeds for ornamental pumpkins, but decided not to plant them and threw them out in the yard. This year, they came up, and not being exactly sure what they were, she decided to fill in a couple of gaps in my row of watermelons.

So, come fall, we’re ready to decorate.

Like I said, you are always amazed with a garden. The other day I sampled the first jalapeñ¯ °í°°eppers from our plant. It cleared my sinuses, and I told Donna it was surely too hot to use, but I found out they calm down a little when you cook with them.

I read recently that just looking at a garden lowers blood pressure and creates a relaxation response and I believe it.

Correspondent Steve Burtt can be reached at sburtt@bellsouth.net or at (228) 872-7726.

source : www.gulflive.com