Thursday, January 08, 2009

Hidden gems in the garden

With our new home we inherited a rundown garden. We were surprised to see tomatoes, onions, strawberries, corn and more trying to hang on in the cold of November. It looked like the last owner, once she sold the house, let everything go. And go it did! Tomatillo's were running rampant in the garden, the yard and up on the fence. Tomatoes had escaped their cages and wandered aimlessly. Corn sat on the stalks, rotting away. After some rain pushed down weeds, we found waterlogged onions and squash oozing in random locations.

Yesterday, my Grandma visited and helped me pull out all the corn stalks. We tried pulling them back in November but the earth was too dry and the corn wasn't ready to let go. Thankfully, the rain has since loosened the soil and it was easy for us to yank them all up. It wasn't until then that we were finally able to see all these gorgeous looking partially decomposed tomatillo husks laying on the ground. It's amazing they've held up this long through rain, snow, sleet, hail and frost.

Their texture is beautiful and haunting. I couldn't wait to take photos of them today between rain showers.



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