Magical(?) Mornings
To say that I am not a morning person is an understatement. I don’t like waking up any earlier than is absolutely necessary, pushing the snooze button on my alarm is an automatic reflex, and I especially don’t like being awaken by someone, or something, else. Once awake, my synapses do not readily fire up, I am unable to easily form sentences or answer questions requiring more than a grunting yes/no response. Other people’s children might reminisce about the fun times jumping on their parent’s beds to wake them up or snuggling with them to watch Saturday morning cartoons; my children swap stories about the strategies they used to avoid waking me up and/or the horrors of what happened if they did. Good times.
There is one thing that I do enjoy in the morning and that is wandering around my garden. Morning time in the garden is magical. The heat of the day has not yet hit. The plants have been watered and the dewy, cool, smell of fresh, moist soil hits my nose. This is the time that I check the plants for any overnight pests and look to see how things are growing.
The morning is a great time to check the squash. The blossoms are open in the morning, making it optimal for pollinators to do their thing. Sometimes, though, beautiful squash blossoms will form, but the squash won’t bear fruit. Although the blossoms are edible, that’s not the primary reason for planting squash. The usual causes of non-fruiting squash are:
- The blossoms are the first set and male; it is typical for the male blossoms not to produce fruit
- Squash only pollinates within its own species
- Plant pollination is not airborne
- Squash favors well-drained soils for best production
- Squash is a warm weather plant
Next up, Sexing Squash (no mood music required)
