Photo below - now for the sweet potatoes - as you can tell that the foliage is really beginning to get out of control now. As the vines grow out into the yard, I just lay them on top of the initial growth forcing them inward, if you will. Some left over roof shingles are put down as a mulch of sorts - which keeps the ends of the vines from penetrating the native soil. I anticipate a really nice harvest toward the end of September, and will video the harvest, of course!
Photo below - here's an updated photo of the watermelon plants that replaced the corn a while back. As the vines spill out into the yard, i'm forcing them to run along the roof shingles so I can still mow/trim around this gardening structure. Needless to say, these are the only melons in the garden that won't be trellised....
Photo below - pretty good fruitset has occured already, too! While this little fella is doing a good balancing act on the edge of the swc right now, something different will need to be done later to make sure it doesn't fall and get damaged. Man, getting a head start by planting seeds in containers sure did gain alot of time, and will allow me to get in 2 different crops this year for these swc's.....I like succession plantings of stuff....
Photo below - here's my little butternut squash that is hopefully gonna continue to grow bigger. We love these things, and any harvest at all is greatly appreciated at this point. A friend at work that has a traditional garden has ten hills of butternut squash planted, and i'm sure he'll have plenty to give away if mine don't do too well. 10 hills...that's alot!
In other news, the harvest continues to be abundant. We've been eating squash, okra, green beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers from the garden - and I even made 5 quarts of pickles last weekend. With all of the tomatoes coming in now, salsa will probably be next.
Speaking of tomatoes, do you know when a Neves Azorean Red tomato is not red when fully ripe? Answer: When it's an Amana Orange instead. Hehe....What a complete surprise! I knew that one of the plants at the end of the big box looked stockier than the other, but didn't know any different until now.
They somehow got mixed up as transplants, and i'm really glad it happened. Since all of my Amana Orange transplants died in early spring, I thought it would be next year before I giot to see what one was like. Nope!
Also, the squashbugs have arrived!!!! Oh, I must've killed 10 in one evening, and destroyed a couple of egg clusters too. Now, life isn't so boring in the garden. Hehe..."we're there"....
The squirrel is still taking it to the tomatoes next to the woods, and EG has been on the hunt for the last 2 evenings with a loaded 12 gauge shotgun. It'll eventually show up - then BOOM! Heh. Shoot, I ain't playin'...........
Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
15 comments:
Oooh...flame thrower. I vote flame thrower.
Those melons look fantastic!
The canteloupe I planted is loaded with blooms and it is growing like wildfire up the trellis. The watermelon and cucumbers though seem to be failures. I hope you will do a post about when the best time is for planting fall and winter crops!
Great idea with the shingles at the edge of your beds. And, what luck getting the orange tomato you thought you thought you'd have to skip this year. I love gardening surprises like that.
Looks good :) The bugs have arrived in my garden as well, but manageable.
Keep up the awesome work!@
Everything looks amazing and that melon is huge.... I can't believe you are already pickling....I'm envious : )
oooh, the melon looks great! Hope it tastes great too!
Oh...your garden looks so so good. I miss mine. Word from the house sitter is...it's growing like mad. She harvested 20 lbs of tomatoes since we left!
You better get those critters :)
ribbit - I wish I had one right now!
Phillip - hmm...that's weird, cucumbers are much easier to grow than cantaloupe. Keep an eye out for transplants at the big box stores - that'll tell ya when it's time for the fall crops.
gardener - thanks
Urban Hydro - unfortunately, bugs are just something that have to be dealt with in my garden.
Susan - thanks. I'll pickle some more stuff this weekend.
meemsnyc - thanks. I hope it's good, too!
Robin - thanks. I'm trying my best with the squirrels and bugs!
12 gauge, huh? That ought to do it.
I love all the sweet potato vines. And the melons! I am sure you will have several winners from your crop.
I'm completely jealous of your watermelons! And the sweet potatoes. I wish we had the heat for those. . .I'm going to try them another year.
I hope you got the extra support kind of hoses for your melons. Looks like you'll need them!
Wow that watermelon is getting big! How do you know when to pick it?
Would love to see the ripe fruit of your Amana Orange tomato plant!
Those darn squirrels! Hope you get 'em! One year back home in MA... squirrels ate all of our ripe raspberries! grumble... grumble...
The melons (and the plants) look great! I'm jealous about the butternut squash. We have 6-8 plants trellised and they bloom male flowers profusely but I've seen only 2 female flowers this entire season and neither of the fruit set... And it's not a pollination problem - bees galore visit those blooms every morning.
Those melons are looking good! Just saw a recipe for Watermelon Limeaid, it looked really good! Looks like you will have alot more sweet potatoes this year, the plants look very healthy. If you want to get those squirrels put down some bird seed and they will be there in no time. Kinda like their last meal... :-)
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