In the picture above, clockwise from the top: tansy (large pot), shasta daisy ‘sunny side up’, viola, passionflower, yarrow, goldenrod

This afternoon I finally got out to the garden to do some clean up and to decide once and for all what plants are coming with me when we move and what plants are staying behind. I am trying to be very disciplined with myself and not take transplants and cuttings of everything. This is not an easy task for me as I tend to get very attached to my plants. For example, I have had the same oregano plant, chives, and mint for nearly 10 years now! Some plants are easier than others to dig a bit up and take with you.

hollyhock in flower

I am willing myself to take mostly seeds and only a few transplants. I’ve gathered seeds of hollyhocks, chamomile, calendula, and some other favorites. I decided to dig up a few of my dye garden plants such as goldenrod, madder, and tansy. I just couldn’t part with them entirely.

I dug up this pretty little viola and potted it up. It was just too pretty for me to leave behind.

this sweet little viola is self-sown

Although both can get weedy when it comes to self-sowing, I still have to take some seeds from my borage and Queen Anne’s lace. I just love them too much to not grow them in the new garden.

borage in flower

It may self-sow like crazy but the bees love borage. Because of this I always plant some by my tomatoes.

Queen Anne’s lace seeds

I still need to dig up just a few more plants before the big move. I am also wanting to take some Egyptian walking onions with me as well as some of my French tarragon that has been with me through four moves.

I get excited when I think about starting over with a new garden but as I went through this garden today I could not help but feel a little bit sad. So much of one’s heart and soul go into raising a garden. It is very hard not to get extremely attached.

My old compost pile has got to be one of the healthiest spots in the garden as these next few pictures will show. Everything posted here today was photographed just this morning.

Here is our Mystery Squash as we are wrapping up the second week of July. Getting quite big don’t you agree? I am pretty sure this big and beautiful plant is a pumpkin just waiting to show itself.

The old compost pile almost looks like I designed and planted it. It is looking so pretty these days. The above picture cut it off but at the back of the old pile is a volunteered sunflower and in the picture below you can see it is not too far away from blooming.

The first flower on the self-sown bachelor buttons bloomed yesterday. I was hoping for one of the pink ones that bloomed in the herb garden last year but this one is pretty too and covered in buds as the picture shows.

The borage is still pumping out flowers and buds and I just love this photo below. It is like sailing a sea of borage.

The volunteered cilantro has already bolted. Last year I did not catch the seeds from my cilantro fast enough and this year it has self-sown all over the place. I was pleasantly surprised by this too. My rabbits love it and have been enjoying it for the past few weeks.

Finally, I have saved the best for last. While photographing all of the above blooms I noticed a honeybee hovering around the Mystery Squash. Today the Mystery Squash has two male flowers in bloom as well as one female flower. I got an up close and personal view of this honeybee going into the male flowers and then coming out all covered in pollen before heading on over to the female flower. It was so interesting to watch too because while in the female flower the honeybee sort of just wandered around the base of the flower not even seeming to notice that the pollen all over its back was performing something magical.

I took so many shots of this moment and decided to combine them into this little clip for below.

These next two pictures show just how covered in pollen that little bee was.

Thanks to that little bee I will hopefully be able to show a tiny pumpkin forming next week!

Update # 3

It has been so much fun hearing and reading about everyone’s past and present experiences with squashes coming up unexpectedly in their compost. Who knew that this was such a common occurrence!

The growth on the Mystery Squash slowed down just a little bit since the last update. I can’t say the same for the borage growing all around it though. I think I just might have to thin some of it out! My intention was to leave everything alone and let it fend for itself but the borage is taking over.

The flower buds on our Mystery Squash have grown some since last week and I am sure it won’t be long before this mystery plant will be flowering. Hopefully all that borage in bloom will help draw the bees to the Mystery Squash’s flowers.

I am rather convinced now that this mystery vegetable is either a pattypan type squash or maybe even a butternut. But I still really have no idea. I also remain baffled as to how the seed got in compost pile in the first place.

Maybe by next week’s update it will have a flower opening. Until then I am left to guess some more.