This year we added new soil from our compost bin to the garden.  And this sprouted, so I left it to see what it might turn out to be.  
 

Let's talk about composting.  We take vegetable scraps from the kitchen, and put them in a wire cage outside.  The cage is in the shade, fairly close to the kitchen for convenience.  Next to the compost bin is another wire cage filled with leaves raked up from the yard.  Every time I add scraps to the compost I add a layer of dry leaves on top.  That's the plan:  wet, dry, wet, dry.   And after a few years we have new soil to add to the garden.  And it's FREE!!!

 

Just a few rules:  No meat, no dairy, no weeds with seeds.  We put in eggshells, coffee grounds, vegetable scraps, chicken bones (after we make stock), tea bags, the trash from cooking our Halloween pumpkins.  Hahaha!!!  That's where this beautiful pumpkin came from:  the compost bin!!!

 

I'm so glad it planted itself next to the post that holds up the cucumbers.  I don't know how much it weighs, but it's bigger than a basketball, and I'm guessing 10 - 15 pounds.  There are a couple more, still green.  This one has just started to turn orange.

 

This year's garden is making me SO happy.  We're growing things that we haven't grown in years!!!!  Wait til you see the...............

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!