Ed in Nebraska: Surprises & Didn't Plants....

First, you may be wondering what didn't plants are. They are plants that you didn't plant, myabe last year, but not this year. This growing season was pretty mixed up here in Nebraska. At least in my backyard. We had a late spring frost, a neighbor became seriously ill, and I went to Texas for a couple of weeks so I could enjoy there drought.

My garden suffered. I mean REALLY suffered. In fact, it was pretty much non-existent. However, my rototilling apparently kicked into overdrive a few cantaloupe plants. Last year, I had minimal success with my cantaloupes. They were small, delicious, but scarce. Without replanting this year, I ended up with more and bigger cantaloupes. AND, I still have some growing.

This one is about softball size, but most of the ones I've picked have been twice this size (by volume, not diameter).

Here's another one.

I also have some didn't plant tomatoes, but no pictures yet since they are still green.

And speaking of green, here's a nice shot of some peppers, although I am not sure what kind they are since I planted a package of variety peppers.

Now, I did intentionally plant some cucumbers in our small patio planter just outside the back door. They did fairly well (picked 3 cucumbers yesterday, for instance). The strange thing about cucumbers is that one can pick all to be seen and then one or two days later it's "Whoa, where did that come from?"

My wife asked me to come sit outside on that little patio and had me scan the fence. As I sat there thinking that something was wrong with the fence that my very kind son-in-law, Tornado Tim, built for us last year. As I looked back and forth, I saw it.

There it was--standing on the top rail of the fence. It had sent a clinging, twisting tendril onto a tree branch. A cucumber grew where I hadn't looked!

Now I ask you, "Did that make me smile?"