The Learn Page November 2022

We’d been staring at the butternut squash plants most days, wondering when the frenzy of greenery that was spreading across the vegetable patch was going to produce some fruit. Nearly every morning for the past couple of months, I’ve been taking a quiet walk round the back of the house to check, and admittedly getting a bit bored of waiting. We’d pretty much stopped looking at the other bits and pieces we’d planted because these things just keep growing and growing, but still no sign of bearing anything apart from leaves.

That was when something caught my eye under the leaves of the pumpkin plant…

It was about the size of an apple when we noticed it, peeking through the greenery a week or two ago, and has been steadily growing since – I’d say it’s about the size of a coconut at the moment. This is in spite of a few weeks of torrential rain on and off, which I think might explain the mottled marks down the front of the pumpkin. But still, the lesson for me was that while I was busy willing the butternut squash plants to produce, I’d overlooked the unassuming and non-attention-demanding pumpkin.

The pumpkin will probably be the largest vegetable we produce (as long as the Wild Atlantic weather doesn’t finish it off!), yet I’d say it’s one of the lowest-maintenance ones we’ve had.

The learning for me? It’s not always the things that demand most of the attention that bear fruit, nor is it the ones that seem to be growing the fastest. I need to not neglect those things I’ve sown – be they business connections, creative ideas or ways to make things work better – that aren’t taking up the biggest part of my time and energy while I’m focussing on the loud and urgent, day-to-day tasks.

Is there anything in your life that’s taking up more of your attention than it should be and causing you to neglect some of the less dramatic but more productive areas? I know I need to be spending more time on actually promoting and selling services than I am on networking and attending events at the moment. Let me know what’s your “butternut squash” (?!?) either in the comments or privately by email if you prefer…and just to finish, here are three pictures of the flowers these humble vegetables put out before the actual veggies grow – aren’t they amazing?

One’s a pumpkin flower, one’s a radish flower and one’s the flower from a rocket plant. See if you can tell which is which!

Until next time, let's keep learning...