Monday, July 25, 2011

What is growing out of my compost!?

I never thought I was very successful composting in my backyard. I would diligently throw all the fruit and vegetable scraps into the compost, turn it once in awhile, but nothing would happen.

Well, something is definitely happening now!

What the heck is it???

Please share your comments and ideas.


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1 comment:

  1. CarolynJuly 25, 2011 at 9:53 PM

    Hi Sandy! The plant growing in your compost is a curcurbit. That's the latin name for the cuke/zuke/squash/melon family. Since those plants can all be cross-pollinated by bees, the plant could be any combo of those. They often pop up in compost piles--I have one too. I fondly call it my squampkin plant. Some years it's a clear variety, like a butternut or a pumpkin or cuke. And sometimes it is in between.

    Seed manufacturers use cages covering different varieties of plants on given days to ensure that the bees only pollinate plants of the exact same type. Gardeners who want to save "true" seeds of a certain curcurbit crop can do the same thing at home by pretending to be a bee...

    Start by picking a male flower ("normal" stem). Next, find a female flower (stem, just under the bud, has a bump which is a small fruit) of the same kind of plant which hasn't opened yet. It's fine if the flowers are from the very same plant. Gently open it and manually rub the yellow pollen dust from the stamen of the male flower onto the inside of the female flower--I think it is the ovary? Not sure. Anyway, once you've done that, tape the female flower shut so bees cannot get in there with pollen from another plant's flower. Mark the fruit with a ribbon or something so you know which one you pollinated. When it is ripe, leave it on the vine until it is nearly falling off. That's when the seeds are mature. Then you can harvest them from the fruit, dry them, and wait until next spring to plant. It's a good idea to do this with several fruits in case critters eat one or you harvest it by accident.

    Happy squampkin watching!
    Thanks for all your great work, Carolyn

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