Land of the giants

I stopped by my friend Jan's house to snap a photo of her gigantic amaranth, which is quite appropriately called "Golden Giant."

These all came up from seeds that last year's plants dropped. She asked her husband to whack off the top of the amaranth this weekend, before it scatters a kazillion seeds all over her garden. It does make a lovely pole for the morning glory to climb.

I also snapped a photo of her kale, which could easily be mistaken for elephant ears. Except the leaves are probably larger than most elephants' ears. My kale, which is planted in a semi-shady area, is about 18 inches tall. Hers is easily three feet tall. 

Last, but not least, I took one last photo of the amaranth, along with the tomatoes, which are also climbing on the amaranth.The tomato plants are more than five feet tall. She's picked a few tomatoes that are almost as big as footballs. 

What is the secret to Jan's gardening success? Her space has sunshine all day, every day. Her garden gets watered automatically twice a day, at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. for seven minutes. (Oh, for an automatic watering system!)

She also added about five yards of compost to her gardening beds in the spring.