Mini Sugar, Baby!

I picked the small watermelon from the container. It was easy to cut open and it had a sweet aroma when I cut it in half. The aroma wafted into my nose and I knew it was going to be good. I started cutting into it and had a piece. Delicious! I think I actually waited too long to pick it because I had to cut off a few overly ripe pieces but I got a nice sized bowl of watermelon. 

Smaller of the two container watermelons 

Cut in half.

My sizable bowl of container watermelon, it was so nice and sweet. 

Melons, Finally!

For the last week or so it's been tomatoes and nothing more. At this point I think 20lbs are going to go to waste which is not what I wanted. All of the references said not to go to big but I can say Patch was the perfect size even with the extra containers. Potagar may have been too big with too many tomato plants for our own good. 

Anyway after days and days of just tomatoes and some growth of the other plants but not much because its been unseasonably cool, first rainy, then hot, now cool. This summer has been the worst for a garden but like I was saying after many days of nothing to report I picked a watermelon. It wasn't as big as it should have been but it was ripe and sweet. Pretty awesome coming from a container. 

Getting Ready For Fall

Now that the summer is winding down and things are starting to put out less fruit we are thinking of what we'd like to grow during the fall. My plans for the fall are broccoli, blueberries, cauliflower, and some other favorites. What are your fall garden plans? 

Garden Fall

Fell down the stairs...

After going out in the garden to check on things and harvest whatever was harvestable I took off my garden clothes an shoes and put on my slippers but I didn't put the backs on. I went upstairs to sort my goods into brown bags and the fruit bowl. I gabbed the brown bags I was going to keep for myself and started heading downstairs. I got to the first landing by the sun room door took my first step onto the first basement step and my foot slipped out from under me. Rather than squash my tomatoes I tore up my arm. That's how much I love my "babies" apparently. My right arm is swollen and scratch and my left arm has one scratch and an elbow scrape. We have so many tomatoes I should have let them get squashed but they were the Lemon Boys that everyone including my Mom loves. I'd gathered those for her so I couldn't let them go. 

My harvest of tomatoes, chili peppers, basil, and a cucumber. The 3 lemon boys I wanted to save over my "neck." 

Bowl of our goods collected over the last few days, not the lemons although I so wish. Pretty huh? 

Not the largest but the most painful and swollen of the injuries I sustained. 

Harvesting

The sweet potatoes are finally flowering. They produce beautiful purple flowers that fall off when the potatoes are ready. They open in the morning and close at night. 

Medium cantaloupe hanging on the trellis about 3.5 feet off the ground. The skin is changing slowly, not like the container melons that changed overnight.

Large cantaloupe hanging about one foot off the ground. Skin changing. 

Eggplants of all different shapes and sizes. 

Our first red bell pepper. It has, obviously, yet to turn red but its very exciting to get even one considering that the tomatoes overthrew that box. 

Ready for harvest chili pepper (transferred to PM bed from container). The transfer has done them well we have at least 4 other peppers turning red. 

My full harvest for today; lemon boys, jalapeños, cucumber, tomato-berries, super sweet 100's, and chili pepper.

Summer Virus

Sick...

I have had a pretty serious stomach  virus and head cold for the last few days. It's going around so be careful. I haven't been able to get out into the garden much but yesterday the 4th and one of the better days I went out for a few minutes to check on things and I ended up picking some jalapeño peppers. I gave them to my mom along with a brown paper bag full of large multi colored tomatoes. She's going to make a traditional Honduran  dish called Chimole. It's a cooked tomato salsa-type dish used as a dressing on carne asada and other grilled meats. I can't eat spicy because of my acid reflux but she'll make me a separate batch sans jalapeño. I've never been a big fan which is good because of the condition but I think with my tomatoes and no spice I'll like it, a lot. 

The transferred chilies in PM are finally turning red. The transfer and constant sun has done them well. 

 Yesterday's harvest. We have like 6 or 7 eggplants growing in different stages. This was the only one ready for picking. 

Color change on the chili peppers transferred into the raised bed in Patch.

The number has about doubled since I took this but there are 4 pictured.