Veggies 3 (and other Edibles!)

Cantalope, 8 squeezed in this photo, couldn't fit them all. "Honey Rock" started from seed in the house this spring.

Have you eaten any of the 'lopes yet?

I don't eat "Lopes".....DH did with Vanilla Ice Cream in the middle. He said it was wonderful, i'll take his word for it. DS, DGD, and one DD eats them. I refuse to be one of those people who won't grow something thing just because they don't like it. If there is someone in the house who likes it.......I grow it. I enjoy gardening and all the challenges that go with it except for maybe the spiders! LOL

And bees?

The bee's have an import job, they just need to learn to build thier homes else where besides my garden!

Mine have not learned that lesson yet. And they don't seem to care that I'm allergic either!

I have had an interesting experience with growing cucumbers up a wire cage, versus on the ground. . . the three Parks Whopper Improved Hybrid plants that I have vining along the ground are producing more and larger cukes than the three Whoppers that I have trained up a tomato-cage. I do use black plastic mulch on the ground--it this warmer?--and I have also wondered whether it's because the Whoppers are so heavy that they don't like being trellised.
It's all a mystery to me, the original newbie to veggie gardening?

Here both the watermelon and cukes prefer the ground but one cuke is climbing the mesh that's supposed to only serve as a cover for the tomato section and it's the healthiest cuke out there. The watermelon that's escaping over the fence preferred climbing that wire to what we offered it. Sometimes I think they do have brains.

Cukes were a disappointment. Got a few good ones at first and then the plant turned yellow, then died. At the flower phase, I did see lots of bugs inside the blooms. Didn't see them last year, my first with cukes.

Cukes were all ripped out today, happily. They were just too wild. Try Park's Whopper next year, Victor.

Thanks - I will.

I read cukes can be a late season crop, so I planted a couple of seeds along with my lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower. All have sprouted!

anita, i think that the cukes are too sensitive to cold and cool to plant now. the rest is fine, they like the cool weather. but why not try! you may discover something and you are in zone 6 so you have a longer season than here in VT!

Great - let's hope for the very best. They should grow fast.

Squash anyone?? I am gonna be swimming in squash before these babies are done!

Nice Celeste! Anyone grow citrus in a pot? My Mandarin Tangerines have had fruits for months now but they are staying green! Can't remember how long it took to ripen in other years.

Victor - my Meyer Lemon needs a lot of sun for the fruit to ripen. Is your tangerine getting enough direct sunlight? I put mine outside during the summer to let it get enough sunlight. Since the Meyers bloom all year, it is more difficult in winter in zone 5 to get the fruit to ripen.

Yes - full sun. Thanks.

2007 My 4th year (bigger this year) having a garden. I want to thank my husband. With out him, I would not have reaped the reawards I did this year. Even though - I grew everything from seed, planted, watered and weeded ( I did not rotortill) I kept it up as good as I could. He helped me to learn to tie and to stake and other things. With out him I would have a dead forrest.

And last but not least:

To all you NE Gardners. You people have it all. Your a Star in my eyes, you made me shine with the garden.

CYA tomorrow ; ) Sherrie

Wow, thanks for the Garden Awards speech Sherrie! All seriousness aside, it's been nice sharing your trials and tribs. Weren't you very upset once in the Spring? You did fine. I'd like to see more photos. Good night.

The red line is where the garden ends.....the rest is on my lawn and it's making it difficult to keep neat!!

These and the ones from a previous post are the culprits for the mess on the lawn.

I had to move squash vines to find my watermelon. Found 5 in all, there could be more but it's a jungle in there!!

The famous hand showing the size of the squash that are not even ripe yet.

Victor - since full sun can't be the issue, how about a citrus fertilizer? Not sure what else could be the tangerine's issue - unless it is potbound. I know the fertilizer has to have some good micro-nutrients in it for our grove in Fla. to give good fruit. We have our trees down there fertilized once in early spring and then in September. The fruit is wonderful...My patio Meyer is a bit more challenging than those in the ground.

I finally have ripe tomatoes at last! The Marianna's Peace are large and bright pink, but not yet as sweet as they should be, and the Russian yellow Azoychkas are plentiful!! Many are still green. My pumpkin is looking decent and the honeydews are there......I'm not sure when to pick them, so I'm just guessing that the vine should die first. The cool night (42 forecasted) tonight should sweeten up the melons.

It's probably potbound and I planned to re-pot in the Fall. However, I doubt that would prevent ripening. I would think it would prevent fruiting. I did fertilize, though with a general organic one, not one specifically for citrus. Thanks.

Pixie, Rainbow mix is what I grow, from Park seed. They came in very early this year, I've been eating them for a month. I like to give the purple ones, they get a lot of comments.
My sweet potato vines are looking good, hope to get some nice fat yams from them. Here is a pair of flowers I noticed as I was watering them this morning.
Andy P

Lovely!

Not a speech, just the truth.

Andy, those are beautiful!!!!

Andy, ditto Celeste! Gorgeous!

Those are sweet potato flowers? That makes regular potato flowers sooooo boring!

Is anyone familiar with a type of pumpkin that is bright yellow and perfectly smooth?? I planted it from seed, but can't find the packet of seeds. It is about 12 inches in diameter at the moment, a sunny yellow like a squash, perfectly round and no "ribs" at all. I haven't seen one like this, and since I haven't planted many pumpkins due to garden space limitations, I'm not sure just what this one is. The plant is robust and still flowering (I pinched off several flowers so this one would grow bigger), and I don't know if the ribs develop later or whether this is just strange........Help! Thanks!
Louise

DS GF eating the fruits of our labor...finally! This watermelon was so sweet!!

Nice! I love watermelon but the stuff in the store is horrible. How big an area does it take over?

Not much since those darn squash got pushy!

Lots of space, Victor!

That watermelon looks yummy, Celeste! I haven't done any for a couple of years.....I think I'll try some next year. I'm still waiting to figure out when to pick my honeydews.......any ideas?

I think it's that thumping thing but you'd probably do better asking in the produce section of your supermarket.

I had the same problem with the question of WHEN to pick those watermelons. Thumped; looked sagacious; but had no idea what I was actually supposed to be hearing. Went to the produce section and breathed and thumped on the watermelons there, for comparison. Couldn't tell. Finally fell back on something I read about ripeness: look for a yellow patch on the area that rested on the ground. This seemed to do the trick, since the w-melons turned out to be ripe!
Victor, my watermelon vines spread out some, but nothing like the cucumbers!!