Nuts and Bolts

My Mistake

There hasn't been much to report on in a while. Things just keep getting bigger and bigger. I'm really enjoying watching my plants grow so successfully--much better than I had expected for a first attempt. I guess the soil here is forgiving.

It turns out that the butternut plant that was growing so fast last month is actually a sunflower! It's nearly as tall as me now (about 5 feet) and I think I can see the beginnings of a flower peeking through.


However, I do have a lovely baby butternut squash peeking out from between the leaves lying along the ground of an actual butternut plant, as well.

Tall Lettuce??

I also learned about bolting this week. Apparently once some plants believe they have reached maturity, they grow really tall and fast so they can spread their seeds. The cilantro started growing upward really fast with tiny leaves and then sprouted tiny white flowers. But I'm going to leave it be so I can harvest the seeds for corriander. (Mmm.. chai tea... :) )

My lettuce is also really tall! I just thought it was something the variety did, but my taste buds disagree. Last night I made a beautiful salad with the leaves from my 3' tall lettuce plants and it was so bitter we couldn't eat it. *sigh* I read that it has something to do with the hormones the plants release when they bolt. I may try planting some more. There seems to be a debate on some of the forums I checked about whether you can actually grow good lettuce during the summer heat or not. Let's see what happens, shall we?