Like crazy, that’s how. Like a bullfrog’s throat during mating season.
It’s actually kind of crazy and very intimidating. Here’s what things currently look like.
That’s our tomato tree. It’s not really a plant anymore. It’s a tree. I think I saw a bird building a nest in it and some woodpeckers chipping away at it’s bark. It was actually on it’s side when my fellow farmer-for-life XFE got home today. The weight of the thing is far to heavy and wild for the meager metal tomato cage we bought to contain it. It was actually leaning over onto the zucchini plant on it’s left. But don’t feel too bad for the zucchini plant.
That’s the other side of the zucchini plant. If you squint and look very, very closely, you’ll see a poor basil plant straining to escape the zucchini’s suffocating leaves.
For a little perspective, let’s look back to late April when we finished our backyard and planted stuff.
Look at that tiny little tomato tree! And that tiny green speck in the middle? That would be the zucchini. It was, literally, two tiny leaves. I was afraid it was going to die. I thought it might drown. I went out and talked to it every evening, urging my little zucchini underdog to grow big and strong. Oh how naive I was. Just look at how small it was compared to the basil just to the left! Today:
Shit is taking over and us couple of city folk are in no way prepared. Seriously. We’re afraid of our zucchini plant. It’s kinda aggressive.
And there are blossoms.
Don’t even get me started on the two peppers we planted.
In the Great Pepper Olympics of 2013, the Cubans (cubanos on the left) are smoking the Mexicans (jalapenos on the right).
Here’s how things looked over Memorial Day, which, let’s remember, was about 2 weeks ago.
Another view. I mean, it’s not like we’ve never grown anything….we’ve grown tomatoes before, along with assorted herbs and a few peppers, but this year’s early crop results are not like any we’ve ever seen. It’s doubly frustrating because we don’t have any veggies big enough to eat…..yet. But if size is any indication, we’re going to be smothered in zucchini, buried in tomatoes, and strangled by mint.
Let’s get back to the tomatoes though.
Crazy fertile backyard. If XFE and I disappear, someone check under the zucchini plant.