Highest Form of Thought?

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought;

and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”

G.K. Chesterton

Last night, a gardening thought came to me: I need to pick the rest of the melons. It is better to have a partially ripe melon picked that can sit on someone's counter to ripen than one that is ripe and has been chewed by a little critter. So, that's the end of the melons for this year.

Winter squash are starting to ripen too.

Even though we picked vegetables yesterday, all of these tomatoes ripened overnight. Or, maybe I was just blind yesterday. I think the tomato plants are putting all of their energy into ripening to get ahead of our resident virus....

.... which I think is verticillium. Can you see the blackened leaves? We've been dealing with this virus since 2008.

The spot where the melons were this year was cleaned up and the "green manure" crop of rye grass was planted in that area. I hope those seeds germinate soon so they can have some meaningful growth before frost. And, I hope that a flock of swamp sparrows does not swoop in and eat them all.

We've got some serious fungal growth throughout the gardens...

... and in the woods. Isn't this a BEAUTY? Look at its trunk.

There were around 20 of these, newly popped up in the woods....

... and this interesting, slimy one.

Walking around to the front of the house, my little experiment is coming along nicely. They'll probably be ready to pick for the food bank in 2 weeks.

It takes many things to go right in order to get a decent crop, any crop.

• good seeds

• adequate and timely rains

• lots of nutrition

• plenty of sunshine, but not too much

The 2026 growing season started out poorly with a cool, wet spring. Summer brought us timely rains and flowers that often finish blooming in late July are still blooming mid-September.

Yesterday, we installed our Thanksgiving Pumpkin.

I am happy. And, my happiness has been doubled by wonder.