"A blog is to a writer what a canvas is to an artist." ~ Colleen Redman

My Kind of Car Wash

colleenincorn.pngMy kind of car wash is the rain. It saves me from having to pay to get my car washed and from using the hose on my corn.
Recently, I tried to unravel our green garden hose from the hook that it hangs on, but it was attached to my rake by a vine, and I had to pull hard to free it. This made me suspect that Virginia’s drought might be over. I haven’t watered my garden once this summer, which is a stark contrast from a couple of years ago when it was so dry that I watered it with buckets of used bath water.
My corn is over 7 feet tall with up to 3 ears of corn on each stalk, but it hasn’t always been this way. Look what happens when corn doesn’t get enough fertilizer or rain…

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dirt poor
poverty stricken soil
makes corn with missing teeth
a yellow bucked grin
so many mouths to feed
a tassel thinning cob
in a dried up crooked husk
stands in over-crowded rows
on bow-legged stalks
a mob of disappointment
gets a hosed down torrent
gets a hand-out pittance
for their dirt poor crop

6 Responses | Add your Own

  • 1 Sherry:

    I wish I could try some of your corn. I love corn. Remember our corn dinners? Have you had any yet??

  • 2 Lu:

    wow colleen…that is a great looking garden…if i posted a picture of mine…you would laugh… 🙂

  • 3 kenju:

    GREAT garden shot! I’ll take a bushel of corn, okay? My garden consists of 2 tomato plants – and combined – they have a total oof only ONE tomato!!

  • 4 kenju:

    GREAT garden shot! I’ll take a bushel of corn, okay? My garden consists of 2 tomato plants – and combined – they have a total of only ONE tomato!!

  • 5 Elissa Malcohn:

    Marvelous! It had been Mary’s idea for us to grow corn in our community garden plot in Cambridge. The plants languished until one of the neighborhood dogs pooped nearby. I don’t use fecal fertilizer because of the pathogens, but in the case of the corn I figured we had nothing to lose — I mashed the poop with soil, spread it around the corn, and voila! Ever since then we’ve used dilute urine (which is generally sterile) as our magic elixir for crops.

  • 6 Wendy:

    I was musing about my own garden. I did an internet search for “wild violets along a garden path.” Your site picture shows a beautiful homemade cake with violets, so I investigated. I have enjoyed looking at your garden pictures and reading the accompanying stories. Thank you. I hope your garden and your happiness continues, now that it is Spring 2007.
    I have numerous wild violets and I love them so, they line a pathway to my flower garden. I am so tickled by them, not only because of their beauty, but because they freely roam in my garden at will. I think of them as my Spirit Flowers.
    Nature’s beauty and bounty – What a Delight and a Blessing. Thank you for sharing. Have a WONDERFUL YEAR!

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