Gardening

So, this year is my trial run for my garden, since I've never had a garden before and don't really know much about growing veggies and such. So far I've learned:
1. Plants grow a lot bigger than I thought they would (especially squash)
2. Birds like to eat my plants. A lot.
3. Cucumbers don't come from watermelon plants
4. Plants like water. A lot.
5. Don't plant a squash plant against the back wall with no way to reach it without stepping on all the other plants.
6. Frogs like my garden.

I noticed this guy today hiding among the leaves. His name is Herbie.

So, I planted cucumbers back a long while ago, like maybe in the fall. Or maybe February or so (in Arizona planting season is early since we have a two week long winter). The birds ate all the seedlings once they got to a couple of inches. So I tried again. And it happened again. So I tried watermelon. They kept growing. There were 3 or 4 plants that seemed pretty sturdy. So I thinned them to two, like the package said. And a while later I commented to Jacob about how I thought it was wierd that the two watermelon plants had different kinds of leaves. Then a week or two ago I noticed how the leaves looked like the squash leaves a little, only smaller. So today I found this lovely cucumber growing on my "watermelon" plant that was apparently a cucumber plant. Surprise!

Also, note the really big squash. Mmmmm.

And here's one of Rachel's latest favorites-being in our back yard (on the swing, in the grass, or eating dirt, she likes it all).