Garden Update 19 2011

Oh, oh, oh, oh!

I knew there was a reason I insisted on caging those peppers! They needed to be caged so they could support the weight of the tree branch that was going to fall on them later in the season. There was method to my madness. Fortunately there was no real damage to the plants other than  the bruise the satellite watermelon plant  got when I removed the tree branch and didn't move it far enough over. I wasn't thinking.

On to the update:

The tomatoes are doing well. The variety that seems the most bothered by blossom end rot is still really bothered by it, but not all the fruits are in the same condition. I started to water more so I am hopeing that the condition will resolve itself soon. On the upside the other varieties haven't been touched by it so there is hope and if a variety have to be the sacrificial lambs, well I don't really like tomatoes anyway and there is only so much sauce I can store.

I volunteer to store as many watermelons as want to grow! Baby watermelon is now about the size of a small kiddie soccer ball. There is another baby I just found and I have practiced watermelon husbandry on two others, results yet unknown.

This is the watermelon in the satellite bed. It is doing phenomenally well and hosts one of my husbandry experiments. I did bruise the tips of this taking out the limb - doing so, to my horror, I squished a fetal melon.


The peppers, thankfully, do not need me to pretend I am a horticultural fertility doctor.

I think three of the peppers haven't started yet, but they are all trying. I blame shade thrown by the toms and the trellis. Speaking of the trellis...

 The green bean vines have become so heavy that they were slowing pulling the trellis over. The wires are not my favorite solution - that would involve something that does not get in my way when I am watering or patrolling for baby melons. I can deal with the inconvenience if they keep the trellis upright.

Look! baby green beans! Finally!

 Much more advanced bush beans in the front. I ate a handful of these with dinner the other night.

The green bean tee-pee is still perking along. No blooms as yet.

I pulled the potaotos earlier than I had planned but as it turned out I should have taken them out earlier. In the first batch I had only one spud that was eaten and or rotted, in this batch I found five good sized spuds that were hollowed out and wet. I had the smallest spuds  steamed with dinner the other night and they were heavenly. The tomaotoes are going to be lovely in my future sauce.