What is this?

If my girls were younger, this would make for a great science lesson over the summer.

I have no idea what is growing in my garden, most likely either watermelon or pumpkin but I honestly don't know yet. One friend suggested that it might be zucchini, yellow squash, or cucumbers, but that seems unlikely to me, unless the seeds were carried by a bird. Earlier in the year, Bob and a friend emptied the good compost out of the bin and put it in the garden. Later, I spread it out and these two plants started growing. Actually they could be different things, a watermelon and a pumpkin. I don't think they are squash or cukes since I'm not sure how the seeds would have gotten in the compost. The most likely thing, actually, is pumpkin. We usually throw our pumpkins in there after Halloween is over.

Oh, the lessons I could teach with this. We could learn about compost, what it is and how it's made, about worms and heat and water and how they all interact to make good dirt. We could learn about seeds, the parts of a growing plant (cotyledons, anyone?), disease, how much water and sun they need, how long it takes for a plant to grow enough to set fruit and how long that has to grow to be ready to pick. I'm sure there's more we could learn, like what to do with whatever it is that's growing in my backyard. Is it something to eat? How do we cook it? Is it a pumpkin that we can carve? If it actually was squash or cucumber, we could talk about how birds transport seeds and the role they play in the ecosystem.

Alas, my girls are teens now and I'm probably the only one who is curious about what's growing. They've both been busy this summer, Sweet Pea has only been home on the weekends, Rosie Jane has been busy golfing, babysitting, seeing friends, and more. Like I said, this would have made a great science lesson if they were younger.