New words and the questioning mind

 I love listening to questions from people who really want to know the answer.  These are the folks that once the question is asked, will explore and read and question until they have a satisfactory answer.  Then they ask again. 

While walking the other day, I wondered why certain things are considered more beautiful that others.  I also wondered why there seemed to be a lot of spirals found in nature.  Think about it: rose petals attach to the flower's center in a spiral pattern.  Even something as mundane as a head of lettuce has leaves that attach to the core following a spiral.

Brace yourself.  We're going into the deep end of the pool.

First: the word of the day: fibonacci. The short version: Back around 1200 AD, an Italian mathematician named Leonardo Pisano discovered a sequence that begins with 0 and 1 which is thought of as the 'golden arrangement' found in nature.  Each successive number is made from the sum of the last 2 numbers, like in the sequence, e.g. 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 etc.  As the numbers go up, the space between the last number also increases forming a spiral.  oh, and Fibonacci?  That was his nickname.  It's actually Italian for Son of Bonacci (his dad).

For of those of you who love math or would like to know how all this works out, there are articles published online that work it all out.
So, obviously, human beings don't look much like seashells, but the Fibonacci also applies to us.  Look at your hand.  Think of the fingernail as a unit = 1.  The bone making up the tip of your finger (distal phalanx) would be equal to 2.  The part next to it (middle phalanx) would be equal to 3.  The part nearest the palm (proximal phalanx) is equal to 5.  and so on.  It is the proportions and balance that contribute to what we describe as beautiful.  To read more, I like Boston University's Fibonacci Sequence site.  Always nice to have a little fun when learning something new.

Playing with your vegetables

Now that the weather has warmed, the cucumbers are taking off, sending their feelers and tendrils off in all directions.  Rather than pulling cucumbers out of the nearby tomato plants, I train them to grow up a piece of fence panel set upright where they are planted.
There are two ways to do this:
The Easy way: gently pick up the vine and weave it in and out of the fence panel gaps, wrapping the curling tendrils about the cross wires.  The tendrils are those little thin curly bits that shoot off the stem.
The fun way:
Cucumber tendrils are thigmonastic.  Like a Venus flytrap, although not as fast, they move when touched or disturbed.  (To read more, check out Wikipedia.)

First choose a vine to be trained with a nice long tendril.

Lay the tendril across the wire it is to wrap itself to and gently tap it so that the tendril softly bounces against the wire.  Within a minute or two the tendril will start to bend, then wrap itself around the support.

There are small hairs on the tendril that will hold it in place while it gets a firmer grip.  In about an hour, provided that it remains undisturbed, the plant will have a sound hold.

Pretty cool stuff, huh?  Squash, cucumbers, and all sorts of other closely related plants can be trained in this fashion.  Sometimes gardening is more than just grubbing about in the mud.  Have a little quiet fun.  Enjoy those little discoveries.

Berries of summer

Like many folks around here, My Happy Acres has a wide variety of berries available in their due season. 

Strawberry season was essentially done by the fourth of July however blueberry and raspberry seasons are just now gearing up.  We lost a number of our blueberry bushes to the cottontail rabbits so this next week we'll be taking a little time out to put the remaining ones into protective enclosures.  These baskets will need to be positioned far enough away from the main plant that the bunnies can't reach it and tall enough to also discourage the deer from nibbling. 

The raspberries are looking very good this year.  We did a little bit of pruning last year and have been rewarded with lovely red clusters this year.  Unlike some varieties, our raspberries have a full, sweet flavor that go nicely in salads, desserts, or consumed right off the bush.  Think about getting a little extra this summer and freeze them up to enjoy while the cold winter winds blow.