By Georgia Osten
Back in November of 2012, Addyson entrusted me with her pumpkin seed, so I brought it home with me from North Carolina, telling her I’d plant it for her in my big over-sized garden. When the family visited in April, I had just begun to plant a few things in my garden, but I had waited until Addyson could be here to plant her own pumpkin seed. We started some little plant cups out on the deck with really good dirt and I let her start some okra seeds for me at the same time. She watered them diligently, sometimes 3 to 4 times a day. Yep, they got plenty of water.
I’ll be darned if they didn’t start sprouting in less than 5 days. When anyone would come over, Addyson would proudly go over to the baby plants and pull them out of the dirt, “see, they’re growing,” and she would carefully replant them. Finally, after the family had gone back to North Carolina, the plants were ready to be transplanted out in the big garden. Vines, vines everywhere! Which were cucumbers, which were squash, which were pumpkins? Oh dear, I sure couldn’t tell them apart and I couldn’t remember what I had planted where.
When the family came back for their early Summer vacation, Addyson brought me a book: Strega Nona’s Harvest. It’s from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and it’s written by an Italian named Tomi dePaola. Strega Nona was very organized and labeled everything in her garden … no chance of confusion. Big Anthony, on the other hand was a total slob, throwing seeds in willy nilly, with no clue what would come up where. With Addyson’s help, I will become more organized in my Fall Garden. But come October, we will pick her pumpkin, no doubt where this vine is now, and we’ll send it to her for Halloween. Molto bene!
Arrivederci, buonanotte – good-bye, good night.
GO’s Sand Bucket is only one beach bum’s journal of life at the beach, probably something each of you can relate to. Please feel free to email me with your thoughts, visions and/or feelings of just exactly what the beach means to you.
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