8 The Beauty of Being Old (Not elderly. Elderly sounds as if we might get over it. That we might ease our way back to being middle-aged. No way. We’re OLD. And proud of it!)

This year we were away during seed planting time. When we arrived home, there was a sale going on at the Greenhouse. I had intended to keep purchases down to about fifteen dollars. But when I planted the wee seedlings in our 4 by 8 foot garden box, I saw there was room for more. So I bought more.

Our lettuce plants grew into two of the biggest, firmest heads ever. And we feasted several times on the broccoli heads. Now, new clumps of delicious greenery are popping up on the stalks of these feisty plants. Although wounded, they are in survival mode.

Good thing too, because there appears to be a war going on in my garden box.

Towering above the brocolli plants, the brussels sprouts stand staidly rooted in the soil. Sprouts are forming along the trunks, but are not yet ready to eat. They are prepared to stand ground against the enemy.

The problem is that most of the other vegetables I planted were ones I had never grown before. I think there’s a pumpkin or two and several spaghetti squash. We love spaghetti squash and have often purchased it from the store. But these plants are growing into a large, very agressive lot. Their branches and tendrils stretch across the entire neighborhood. They are spreading so thickly I fear for the safety of the smaller veggies.

My tumbler tomato has already given up. The invasive tendrils have it completely entwined in a stranglehood. I did a frantic search and finally found my green pepper plant crouching in the shadows. Amazingly, a nice pepper was flourishing upon it.

The scary question is what’s next in the turmoil? Each of these gangling stalks have bulbous entities on them. At the rate they are growing, we will soon have a garden box full of huge colourful bowling balls that won’t fit in the fridge.

Oh why did I not plant the usual carrots, beets and onions? They behave themselves!