Just In Time

Cindy finally uprooted the Wild Cucumbers we had sprouted from the seeds some critter had stashed in one corner of the raised vegetable bed.

Wild Cucumber Uprooted

It looks like we were just in time; the root on this thing is enormous for the size of the plant.  It's pretty clear that the plant puts most of its energy into building the fibrous root before the leaves sprout, but once it gets the root going, the plant grows at an incredible rate.

Since we identified the plant, we've seen others growing up through a dead tree in the neighbor's yard, and also seen it climbing up our Lemonadeberry shrubs behind our hedge.  There must be a huge root somewhere out there in the canyon.

When Cindy mentioned this to some of her Master Gardener friends yesterday, they couldn't believe that we had intentionally sprouted seeds without knowing what the plant was.  Won't do that again, but at least we sprouted them in containers and kept it from establishing that root in the ground.

It's pretty clear that this plant could challenge both the Eugenia and the Thunbergia for world domination.