Every season on the farm there are things that are frustrating and other things that seem effortless. This season I am so frustrated with the winter squash and pumpkin plants or lack there of. Last year’s all I did was prep the soil and plant the winter squash and pumpkins seeds and everything was bountiful and lush.
This season I do the same thing and the result is a plant here, one or two over there; the opposite of a lush pumpkin patch. So I have replanted the rows, some even two times. But the result continues to be the same. I have done my best to act like a detective and uncover the problem. I have found the occasional seed hull so I believe one of the suspects has a fluffy tail, I think the grey squirrels are digging up the seeds and having a snack before they germinate. I have also noticed on the wee seedlings that do germinate a lot of scars from some jerk of an insect. But the plants that do survive only a few are vigorous, the others are just puttering along, it is oh so frustrating!
As I walk away from that frustrating part of the field I enter the bushy bean plants whose seeds were simply planted and watered then, bam super healthy bean stalks appeared. I know in reality that the effortless aspect is the result of years of experience, skill, and just luck. But one’s mind has a way of focusing all its energy on the piece that’s not right.