Before I moved to Santa Cruz and started making my road treks back to San Diego through the agricultural communities of the Central Coast, I had no idea what an artichoke plant looked like. I'm not a big fan of artichokes in general, so I didn't have a lot of curiosity about them. (Though recently have found myself addicted to the Artichoke hummus that "The Hummus Guy" sells at the Campbell Farmer's Market on Sundays.) It took a few times driving through my first year up here before I finally asked someone what that funny looking plant all over the side of the freeway was. I should have figured it out myself, driving through Castroville, the Artichoke captial, and seeing signs for the Artichoke festival. While I'm not growing an artichoke plant, we've got quite a few in the garden, and it's neat to finally get an up close look at it. Since I can recall many friends coming to visit me and commenting on the silly looking plant, I thought I'd share it here for those who haven't experienced one before!
(Not my Zucchini)
Before I saw some pictures of someone else's garden last season, I had no idea what a squash plant looked like, I just knew I liked it and bought a lot of it. It was a warm-up veggie for me, as I tried to eat healthier as I got older. Earlier this year when we saw squash blossoms at the Farmer's Market, I couldn't tell you how they grew on the plant however. I've learned a lot in the last few months though. I now can tell you that there are male and female flowers on squash and cucumber plants, and I can identify them by gender at a quick glance. I also now know that zucchini can get HUGE. I even commented on another lady exiting the garden a few weeks ago, thinking no way could mine end up that big - and I ended up with my very own baby bicep! (Zucchini bread, here we come!) It's been neat to walk through the garden and see all the different squash types and how they grow, and how much they produce.
Do you know how your favorite fruits, vegetables and grains grow? Was there something you saw that it took you a while to figure out? Was there something you saw growing that surprised you when you found out what it was? What is something you realize you may not know how it grows?
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