Leaping...finally!

No, not really. That's not our flax. Our flax looks like this.

Little rows of soldiers dancing in the breeze. They've grown so much in the last two weeks and are now about 8" tall! It will take another three months or so until it flowers and can be harvested my pulling it out of the ground, roots and all.

What else is going on in the garden? Well, we planted dent corn on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend - May 24. Look at what we have now. I think every kernel sprouted even though it has been very dry. Maybe it was because the three kewpie babies are guarding the corn.

Next up, we have our artichoke plants. We started with four, but we may be down to three if one doesn't rally back. The healthy ones have great spiky new leaves. Please excuse the weeds and the dry ground. The weeds have been eradicated and the thirsty plants have been very well watered. OH! With the watering of the plants, we have had two great downpours in the last 24 hours. Of course........

Our asparagus is coming along well, also. 5 out of the 7 plants seem to be doing well. Tiny skinny spikes are shooting up from them. Those spikes are pushing nutrients down to the roots for the few couple of years.

We also planted sweet potatoes when we planted the corn. 16 sweet potato plants went in the ground and 16 sweet potato plants are alive! They are a bit hard to see because they blend so well into the ground, but here is half of them. In September, we will see what is going on under the mounds of soil that we planted them in. Homegrown sweet potatoes are delicious!

Our pea plants have begun to flower. I will need to get something for them to climb soon so they don't fall over on the ground. Again, please excuse the weeds.......moving on now....

Next up is our lettuce, radishes, and beets. Hmmm, I forgot to take a picture of the radishes. It was time to harvest a few, too.

We also replanted our beans since the previous batch did not sprout at all.

And here is the garden weeded and watered, ready for yesterday's downpour.

To add to the mystery of the three kewpie babies, we also had lollipops left in the garden! Food for the garden? Or perhaps for the kewpie babies? Whatever they were for, we are grateful to have the gifts. They have given us good luck because plants are taking root, seeds sprouting, and others are leaping in their growth.

In a way, it's very fitting that there are three kewpie babies. There is an old Native American story about the Three Sisters who couldn't be more different from each other. Each tribe seems to have their own version of it. In one version, they bicker constantly as to who is the best. In another tale, they help each other as they live and grow. One was tall, straight, and graceful with yellow hair. The second wanders to and fro. The third is a baby in green that crawls on the ground.

In this version, the oldest represents corn stalks, tall and straight with yellow hair and will feed the family through the winter. The second sister is a bean plant, which wiggles and wanders up poles and corn stalks for support. The pods can be dried to save for winter storage. The youngest sister is pumpkin or winter squash. The very large green leaves stay close to the ground, covering the roots of the other plants and conserving water. The pumpkins are harvested and also put in winter storage. In this way, each helps the other out and cannot do well on her own.

Here is link to a couple of the versions.

Oh, that reminds me....I have to plant the pumpkin seeds.......