Halloween Garden: Update 3
June 18th, 2010 by John Wolfe“Good things from the garden. Garden in the valley. Valley of the Jolly Green Giant.” — For some reason that old Green Giant jingle popped into my head a few days ago while tending to the garden, and it’s been stuck there ever since.
My own personal version of that jingle, tailor made to fit my gardening experience, would probably go like this: “Good things from the garden. Garden on a desert sandhill. Desert sandhill of the somewhat tall white boy.” 
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June 18th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Hey John;
Looking good. We’ll make a farmboy of you yet! Next year, I can see you doing a total Halloween garden with a scarecrow and creepy black gourds and such. Very cool! Keep it up, buddy!
June 18th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
So, no outrageously huge pumpkins this year John? Everything is looking good especially the tomatoes. My friend had trouble with the birds attacking their veggies and had to put a net over their garden. It appears that you are not having that problem, at least I hope not.
June 18th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Looking good, John. How has the rain fall been over there? Does being in a desert-like area cause more troubles with gardening? I imagine it is, but your plants are looking great nonetheless.
June 19th, 2010 at 5:58 am
My oh My John, how your garden DOES grow
Everything looks amazing sweetie, your doing an excellent job!! Not sure what your worry was about because everything looks great to me.
WOW, that must have been some heavy duty wind to have your corn continually tip to one side, yikes! Good news is though, everyone looks healthy, strong and a beautiful green color. Your tomato plants also look really good, even the little guy-he’s holding his own and what an adorable tiny tomato on there……awwww
Your lettuce is booming dude!!!! Whoa! Your garden is coming along nicely John, no need to fret my friend, all looks good from where I’m sitting and clearly your doing an awesome job!
Thank you for posting this and doing the before photos as it tends to make quite the impact visually when you show the garden NOW! Just wait a few more months when all you see is garden and NO dirt
I feel like I’m watching your baby grow, thank you for sharing this with us all.
June 19th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
autumnforest,
I didn’t know they had black gourds–awesome! Camile sent me some pumpkin tree seeds (they’re related to peppers and produce small, pumpkin shaped veggies). So, after getting my feet wet this year, I’ll definitely be planting her seeds and will try expanding into even more Halloween-related garden items for next year.
Julie,
Thanks! Nah, I won’t be growing any record breakers this year.
My grandparents have a similar problem with birds going after their cherry tree and they too have used a net to cover the tree. Thankfully the birds around here haven’t developed a relationship with my garden.
Dr. Necropolis,
Thank you, I appreciate it. Since starting the tomatoes back in April, we’ve only had one “storm” that sprinkled a few drops on everything. Rainfall accumulation has been zero for the last two months and all the garden’s water has been coming from my kinked up hose in the backyard… those kinks tick me off.
I’m not sure if this desert climate is more problematic than other climates, but it does mean you have to be out there on a daily basis with the garden due to lack of rainfall. That doesn’t bother me, however, cause I so enjoy tending to it. Also, the soil is probably far inferior here than in most other locations, so I added a combination of twelve bags of mulch and garden soil to my sand. After Halloween/our first couple of freezes, I’m going to take the leaves from my yard haunt display and mix them into the soil to enrich it even further.
Goldie,
Thanks, my friend! Yeah, the wind whips through the side yard and bends the stalks over for several minutes at a time. It’s done it so often that the corn is getting trained to lean in that direction.
What I love about the little Roma tomato is the fact it’s already sort of oblong-shaped just like the Roma tomatoes I buy in the store! It’s so cool to see everything grow and develop. I’ve found the lettuce loves daily watering. I’ve had to back off on watering some of the other plants daily, but the Romaine thrives on it. It does wilt a little in the afternoon sun, but perks right back up when the shadow from the house casts over it again.
Thanks for the awesome feedback. Being that I’m colorblind and inexperienced at gardening, it’s always nice to hear from you and everyone else about the look and texture of the veggies, that way I know everything is looking good.
June 19th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
“Desert sandhill of the somewhat tall white boy.” Somewhat tall white boy?!? That absolutely cracked me up!!! Your garden looks wonderful!! Well done!!
::says quietly to herself ‘somewhat tall white boy’ and giggles!::
June 19th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
LOL! I’m glad you liked that one. I bet you’ll never see a Green Giant product again without thinking of my version of their jingle.
Thanks so much for your feedback about the garden, Camile!
June 19th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
If I’m ever feeling blue while grocery shopping I’ll just take a detour through the canned veggie aisle and thinking of you and your improved commercial jingle lyrics will brighten my day up in a huge way!! heeheee! If you really want to send me into giggle fits you could post a video of you singing it…. please-oh-please???? With sugar on top???
I’ve often referred to myself as a tall, skinny white chick but I had never heard anyone else say anything akin to that until today so it really struck me as extra funny! lol!
I didn’t know you are color blind. That’s fascinating to me. If you don’t mind me asking, is yours protanomaly, deuteranomaly or tritanomaly? Your Halloween work is so beautifully saturated with color I never would have guessed! I’m doubly in awe now!!
June 21st, 2010 at 4:04 pm
I worked in a grocery store for almost ten-years, and used to have a lot of alternate jingles up my sleeve. After being bombarded by products week-in and week-out and putting up with management’s B.S., you tend to get a little hostile towards the supermarket environment, so I coped by making fun of a lot of the items on store shelves with my co-workers.
If I posted a vid of me singing, that would really ruin your appetite when it came time to shop!
I’ve never had my color blindness officially diagnosed, so I’m not sure which category I fit into. However, I say I’m color blind, but in actuality I can see color, I just can’t usually identify it.
Thanks for what you said about my Halloween work!
June 22nd, 2010 at 10:39 am
I work in a grocery! I am going to quit when I am done with school (or sooner) I am going on two years now and am already sick of it. Many people with color blindness don’t realize they have it. How do you explain to someone that the shade they call red isn’t the red everyone else sees? Most men with blue eyes have some degree of color blindness due to the dominance of cones over rods in the iris. I have no idea the color of your eyes, but the most common form of color blindness is red/green.
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:41 pm
I’m sure you can relate to the grocery mentality when it comes to making jokes then, Ethan. Though we worked extremely hard on the graveyard shift (stocking), we also cut loose with a ton of practical jokes on one another. There’s something about locking four or five guys in a store for six to eight hour shifts that breeds a whole lot of juvenile behavior! I wish you the best in leaving your current job.
You’re absolutely right, for those of us who are color blind, color seems to be very subjective. My eyes are brown, but there was another member of my family who was color blind too, and he did have blue eyes.