Grandmother Bloggers Know Best. Period.

I am beginning to realize that anything worth knowing can be found on a blog written by a grandmother. This rich source of reliable and straight-forward information has never disappointed me. One example is last week's desperate search to identify alien-looking nodules that began to appear on our pumpkin vines as they matured. I did recognize newly sprouted  little "curlicues" that accompanied them. Those are supposed to be there. I have seen them gracing pumpkins on illustrated Thanksgiving Day cards! But what the heck are those extra little knobs that are definitely not leaf clusters? Could they possibly be flower buds? Surely there are educational sites that would enlighten and assure me that, indeed, our vines are crawling down the correct path to a healthy fall harvest........




Typed in "stages of pumpkin growth." Nothing. Well, not unless you want to count the agriculture site that advised me to approach my plants at dawn and force them to pollinate one another using a paint brush. Eww! That just doesn't sound ethical to me! I would never do that to our pumpkins! Isn't that what God made bees for?

And then I remembered. Grandma blogs! One I follow and visit regularly is the sweet and simply told journey through life of "Grandma Kc" and her beloved granddaughter, Amara. Several years ago that happy little pair attempted to grow pumpkins in a large garden pot. The Summer of the Pumpkins is richly illustrated with striking close up photos of plants at various stages. Finally! The exact scientific info I needed! On a grandma blog! But wait! There's more! The Summer of the Sunflowers followed that post, because sadly, "pickable pumpkins" were never meant to be for grandma and Amara. God had other plans for them. Instead, they were blessed beyond their wildest expectations with a robust crop of sunflowers so huge and aggressive that grandpa described them in a follow up comment as "creepy!" (Yes, these are fun people!) Feast your eyes on the gorgeous photos of these flowers as they grow up, up and away and become tall enough to peer inside the house while the "creeped out" gardeners hide deep within and wonder what they unleashed by plunking those fertile seeds beneath the soil! Wow! That is gardening success I sincerely admire!

Thank you, Grandma Kc! Now I know that what we coaxed forth are pumpkin blossoms. They began to burst open yesterday and the kids enjoyed examining them through magnifying lenses today. I have also handed grandpa a sunflower seed packet and asked him to plant them for us. Nothing yet, but it will be interesting to see what happens. Maybe the final score will be pumpkins for us and sunflowers for Amara!



Are YOU a grandma?
Because, if you are, I think you're very smart!