Frankenfruit

As we announced in our last post, we're expecting a new addition to the family (a human this time, not another petson).  This summer happened to be the hottest on record, so pair that with the joys of pregnancy, and I basically became a moleperson for the summer, living underground (in the basement) and only venturing outside to dart to and fro my car to drag myself to work.  Thankfully, over the past few weeks, the temperatures have begun to drop and yesterday was the official start of fall.  I have been able to emerge from my air conditioned cocoon and enjoy the outdoors once more.  I can't tell you how great it has been to get out and not feel like an ant about to explode underneath a sociopathic kid's magnifying glass.

One of my first orders of business was to take inventory on the status of our Weed Forest and see what all I had missed over the excruciatingly long summer.  All in all, nothing too extraordinarily exciting, except for the Frankenfruit.  John built our compost pile a few months after we moved in and really, we haven't been the best composters.  One strange benefit we've reaped, however, is the fountain of life it provides to undead plants.  We've thrown a number of plants in there we assumed to be dead, only to find them revived and flourishing in the pile.  I'm not exactly sure what that says about our gardening abilities, but hey, at least some lives have been spared.

Anyways, on my journey around the yard, I noticed a large vine was growing out of the compost pile.  I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it has the markings of a gourd-like plant.  We have large leaves, the vine, little curly sprouts, and small yellow flowers.  After a week or so of observation, I noticed a small fruit had begun to grow.  Now, I'd say it's about the size of an egg and has a smaller little buddy nearby.  Still not sure what they'll grow up to be, but based on our compost contributions, I'd say a cantaloupe, some sort of squash, or maybe a pumpkin grown from last year's Halloween decor.

This is the larger fruit.  We had to cut a bit of the chicken wire away and lower him down into the pile before its weight became too much and it snapped off the vine.

Here's the newer, smaller fruit.  I like his fuzz.

The vine has started growing across the back of the pile and down onto the ground.  There are quite a number of little flowers, so hopefully more fruits will be on the way!

So, I'm oddly excited about these guys and I'm hoping they can power through and grow into whatever they're supposed to be.  Makes me feel a little better about slacking on adding a vegetable garden again.