Gardening for Giants
There are all sorts of specialized pursuits in the world of gardening that capture the imagination of this or that sub-section of the gardening population. Marie Iannotti has recently blogged about one such pursuit: gardening for giants. To name just a few others that immediately come to mind:
Many folks with a general interest in landscaping dabble in such pursuits from time to time. But gardening for giants is most often encountered as a passion specifically among vegetable growers. We all know the neighbor who can't stop bragging about that giant tomato, right? Consult this article from About's Gardening Guide to learn all the tricks about gardening for giants.
Not that the gardener's quest for giants is always limited to food products, though. Once upon a time, I was fanatically devoted to growing hard-shell gourds. Types like the "bushel" gourd, in particular, are quite capable of becoming giants, under the right conditions. One summer, I had a pair on the same gourd vine that each weighed in at 65 pounds when all was said and done. It was so much fun to watch their girth increase, noticeably, week by week. But my "giants" paled in comparison to the gourds I saw entered for competition at the Ohio Gourd Show....
Comments
I am especially fond of the trumpet vine photo. I didn’t know they attracted hummingbirds. I might need to look into that one more.
Thanks, Becky. One caveat, though, about trumpet vines: they’re very invasive. If you grow them, you need to really keep ahead of them.