Revenge of the Pumpkins

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I thought I had killed the pumpkins?  Well, not only did I not kill the pumpkins, but they came back even stronger.  Stronger, in fact, to mount their own attack.  We went to Albany last weekend.  Before we left, there was a lot of talk about the need to stake the pumpkins and cucumbers, but we were all talk.  I suspected, however, that the pumpkins were moving in for the kill.  Although their tendrils had wound frighteningly close to the tomatoes, I dismissed my fears as gardener's anxiety and drove away.

When we returned on Sunday, the tomatoes had been dragged to the ground.  Jamie claims that they simply popped out of the tee pees of stakes we set up for them.  I hold firmly to the belief that the pumpkins sneaked their wily hands over and tried to pull the tomatoes under.  I steadfastly believe the cucumbers were implicated.  Today, Jamie staked the tomatoes with tomato towers from Gardeners Supply Company and set out to "weed" the cucumbers.  He vowed to reduce the cucumbers by the half we should have weeded them a month ago.  When I returned home, however, Jamie informed me that he was unable to pull out any cucumbers because they had wound around each other so tightly it was impossible to tell where one ended and another began.  

All fears of horticulturcide aside, I pulled in to the driveway after work to see Duncan gesturing wildly at the garden and trying to tell me something VERY important.  As I got closer, I heard that we have pumpkin babies and at least one tomato baby.  As Jamie tried to explain the futility of "weeding" cucumbers, he discovered that they are also covered with babies.  Duncan's fascination and enthusiasm were the highlight of my gardening summer.  As for the pumpkins, they are SUPPOSED to be small, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.