Yellow Cherry

Its been raining here so I haven't really been able to tend to the garden the way I've wanted to but I did get to spray everything with Sea Magic yesterday and do some thinning.  

Here is a quick overview of things by plant type;

Strawberry Plants-
1) I finished planting the strawberries in the recycled bed. I'd said earlier that I didn't know what to do because the berries that were present were touching the soil and would rot. That's why I held off on planting them all. Well I figured it out. I cut a black plastic trash bag, making it into a sheet, and laid it over the soil. It was difficult to cut the bag in the exact right spot for the strawberry plants that had already been planted but I figured it out. Then I cut X's, appropriately spaced into the black sheeting and planted the rest. It was actually very fortuitous that I'd chosen that bed for those plants because the bricks hold the sheeting in place, firmly. Very firmly! Rain is a bit of an issue but after it rains I just make sure to pinch at the sheeting so that the extra water slides into the holes watering the berries. The sheet warms the soil immensely and keeps the berries from touching it. The plants, except the one Loran (rest are Ozark), have shot up about an inch each, have grown flowers or started berrying out. All I need to do now is keep the birds away. They've already started pecking at the green berries.

2) The Loran strawberries I planted around the edge of a round container have not grown, almost, at all. Sadly, I don't think they're going to make it. When I say 'make it' I mean produce fruit. The plants may grow and be green but I don't know that they'll do what their supposed to.

3) The two Eversweets planted in the taller 4x4 bed haven't seemed to have grown at all. I don't know about those 2 varieties. The Lorans came in a six-pack for a pittance compared to each of the Ozarks and the Eversweet plants looked red funny when I picked them out but they advertised the easiest growth and sweetest fruit so I thought, why not?  I only grabbed 2. Anyway, let's hope we get something out of 1 of the 3 varieties, that don't go to the birds.

4) My darling survivor! The single strawberry plant, in the 5 gallon bucket, that made it over the winter has a gorgeous white flower on it. Its thriving. I will not be surprised, at all, to see a couple of berries from that little guy. It's amazing how both that plant and the lemon balm made it through the winter without any care, at all, and are doing better than some of the freshly bought/planted seedlings.

5) Finally, the extra. One of the Ozark Beauty containers had a little extra plant attached to it that I removed, on the day I purchased it, and replanted in a terracotta pot. It is thriving as well. It has 3 berries of varying sizes and has shot up a few inches, at least. I only put a few inches of soil in the pot because I'd planned on replanting it but now I'm worried that if I do move it again, Ill lose it. The amount of soil in the pot is double the Bonnie size and triple in width but I don't think it'll be enough. I wish I'd thought ahead and planted it as if that was going to be its perma-location when I did. It may have to do.

Lettuce-
1) The Romaine seedlings I bought from home depot are green, firm, and growing. They were wilted and looking like they were on their last legs for a few days there after I transferred them but the rain has done them well. I'm hoping I'll start to see some twisting and turning. That'll indicate that they are going to "head up."

2) The Romaine seeds I planted have poked their little heads out and then some but are grouped together so tightly its been hard to thin without pulling out too many. Lettuce seeds are so small it was hard to plant them without grouping them tightly, especially since I primed them in warm water prior to transplantation. Each seed had a single, fairly long, root when I finally put them in the soil. I don't know that we'll get even a single lettuce leaf from those because the roots aren't holding tight and they do not have the space they need if they go un-thinned.

3) Not lettuce but spinach is used as such so I'll add it in this category. It is ready for picking. Something has been nibbling on it and I've had to pull off and toss a few leaves but the plants look like they should; dark green and crinkly. Nothing like last years. Can't wait to give my Mom some.

Tomatoes-
1) The Yellow Cherry variety, planted next to 2 cucumbers, is doing the best. It has a few little yellow flowers and 2 tiny green rounds. I was so excited to see those today. I didn't know if we'd get anything from this years garden because of the late start and the depleted soil. Seeing those two tiny green rounds gave me an enormous amount of hope.

2) The other plants seem to have gotten their color back and have a flower or two but they haven't shot up in height like the ones last year did shortly after transplantation. I'm hoping its just a delay but if we only get Yellow Cherries that will be OK with me; as long as we get something.

Cucumbers-
1) I planted 2 cucumbers in the far left bed with the Yellow Cherry tomato plant and installed the trellises right away. Those two don't seem to have grown much but I'm not worried about it because at planting-time they were looking like they were an inch from death. Now, they look like lively, small, seedlings. They needed time to heal. I'm sure now that their color and strength is back they'll start to shoot up like weeds?

2) The round container cucumbers have shot up about an inch each. It was a single seedling pot with a double plant. They are doing just great! Its the same container that grew last years beauties so I'm not worried about them, at all! Well I'm not worried about their growth. I am worried about the container placement. I've seen some funny soil movement that I don't like. I think an animal has been digging into them. I may have to move them behind the fence, which would be fine because the backyard is so beautifully clean. I could use the patio for containers this year. Keep the animals at bay.

3) The recycling bin cucumber hasn't grown much but it was  in the same condition as cucumbers #1. Now the plant is green, straight, and firm. I may have to move it to the patio as well. Im just waiting for the mama bird and her chicks to get a little older and move on. I wouldn't doubt that she'd attack my plants if I put them on the patio right now. She goes nuts when we even get close because her nest is right there.

Herbs-
1) I planted the parsley and basil in the back far left bed with the spinach and lettuce seeds. The parsley hasn't grown much but it looks really nice, green, supple, and fresh. I'm sure it'll make its way up.

2) Last years Lemon Balm. My baby! It's enormous. It made it through the winter without any tending. I ripped off all the old brown leaves and twigs in March and it has blossomed. Its twice the size it was and has grown at least 4 inches taller. It is amazing!!!! I cannot get over how the plant that claimed it needed the warmest weather made it through the winter and is thriving more than any other! Its crazy. I love it!

3) The new lemon balm plan went in the bed with the Parsley. Its grown a bit, looks fresh. That's all there is to say about that.

4) The basil was yellow when I put it in. Now its green and has grown. We can start using it on pizza or whatever else we'd like. It smells amazing and looks wonderful. HUGE! Last years Basil didn't do too well. I think this years is doing better because I bought the larger size. It was more established to begin with.

Radishes-
1) The French radishes are thriving. It took them one day to sprout up out of the ground. It looks like every seed made it and they have already grown their second set. Ive been thinning like crazy because I primed them and wet seeds are hard to separate. So they grew in tight groups like the lettuce seeds. Luckily these have strong roots and are easier to thin, it takes time but it's worth it. We'll have the best French radishes this side of Wilson Blvd. Haha!

I forgot to bring my phone out with me so I don't have any updated pictures to include with this post but I'll add some when I take them first thing tomorrow.

Switched at Potagar

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon tilling, filling, and planting. 

My boyfriends dad helped be wheel the wheelbarrow around the other side of the house so that we didn't have to carry each of the four bags of soil individually through the house. His idea and a good one. Really good one! 

Once the soil was placed I started tilling the soil with a shovel. It made me really tired and got me way to close to the bugs. So I went looking for a hoe. Found one! That made it do much easier and made it possible for me to till the soil much better. 

Once that was handled I started out with planting the tomatoes. I miscalculated what space I needed. Since the tomatoes were our best crop I made sure to get all of those in before anything else. 

Then I worked on the cucumbers and strawberries. I had planned on using the recycled bed for the strawberries and planted 4 Ozark Beauties before I realized that I would either need to cover the soil with landscaping cloth so that the berries don't touch the soil and rot when they come in or plant them somewhere else. I stopped my planting right there because I wanted to come up with a solid plan. 

(R) Sungold Cherry Tomato. (L) Burpless cucumber plants and trellises to grow up. 

(Front Row from L to R) Bradley Tomato, French Radishes, Romaine Lettuce. (Mid L) Eversweet Strawberries. (Mid R) Lemon Boy. (Back L) Beefstake Tomato. (Back R) Lemon Boy. 

Container cucumber of the Burpless variety with trellis. 

Ozark Beauties in side garden. See how all the starter berries are touching the soil? That will rot them, 100%. 

Cats and Dogs!

I know this sounds extremely familiar and I am so hoping that this summer is not a repeat of last because it has rained, almost literally, cats and dogs. Pouring, nonstop, for 4 full days. Not one stream or beam of sunlight in just as many days. It's been unbelievably gloomy, dark, wet, and humid. Luckily, those days occurred in April and I am attributing them to April Showers. That's all it better be because last summer was rain, rain, and more rain. The most rain in the DMV area in 20 years or something along those lines. Quite possibly it was the most rain in the history of the DMV because they ran an article on it in the Washington Post, it may have been 20 days straight of rain (I don't I'll have to look into it.) 

Good news, the rain made everything flourish. I thought it would drown my tender seedlings but it didn't. There were 4 inch deep puddles surrounding every raised bed. It was unbelievable when I woke up this morning to sunlight and warmth. I ran outside breathed in the warm air and headed straight for my boxes. Everything looked amazing! There were even red berries on the strawberry plants I've yet to install in their permanent spots! 

The radishes grew in groups and the lettuce seeds have popped through. The romaine seedlings are a vibrant green and the strawberries that are planted look, just, OK but that's good enough for me! 

Radish seedlings (L). Grew in tight groups. I'll have to do a fair amount of thinning. Romaine lettuce green as ever (R)! Lemon Boy tomato plant (Bg). 

Lettuce seedlings (L) popping through. Sweet basil (R) greener then the day I bought it. 

Cleaning!

We had the guy building our deck bring a gardener to take care of sweeping, raking , and trimming. There was millions of leaves, twigs, and etc. that needed to be gathered and bagged. He did an amazing job. I feel like the garden will be more enjoyable this year because of the clean fresh start. It's never looked so good. 

After he had finished the days work, I went outside to plant the two spinach plants. They are cool weather plants and had started to shrivel a bit from lack of space. I planted them and enjoyed the new cleaned and organized backyard. I watered everything else and headed inside proud of Potogar Patch! 

The gardener clean the strawberry bed area as well. Trimmed all of the ivy back so that it wouldn't strangle the plants. Amazing. I couldn't have done it alone, but from hear on out I'll be keeping it up. Happy for it to be my job! 

Clean Potagar Patch.

Cleaned and trimmed strawberry patch. 

New implanted spinach plants. 

Lettuce Plant!

I got up and waited to see if the overcast day would turn into a nice one so that I could pull my seedlings out into the sun. They haven't seen the sun in 3 damn days. (Does anyone know that reference?) Around noon, I went to the sunroom opened the door and it was warm! 

I started pulling the plants out then decided to fill the deep mid-box and the far upper left corner box with what soil we did have. I didn't think the runoff would be so bad but soil and compost are two very different things. I could barely fill those 2 boxes with the 3 very large bags of soil I bought but I accomplished it with some leftover organic soil and veteran compost. 

Then I did the most exciting thing; I planted the radish seeds, I'd soaked, and the lettuce seedlings! They are both cool weather plants so I trusted that considering the weather I'd be okay. After planting I needed to water. Well it turns out the shower cap on the hose was broken. I didn't know this until after it soaked me. I quickly ran I turn off the hose and remove the cap. I had to bend the hose to get past the seedlings (unplanted sunbathing lot) without drowning them, then let it loose and watered. I decided because it was only noon and pretty warm that the seedlings would need a little drink. I sprayed the cardboard pots. That should do the trick since they haven't gotten sun in awhile. 

Finally, I raked up some leaves and ran inside a pure wet mess. 

Before planting.

Planted. The square behind the lettuce plants has the radish seeds tucked away asleep but hopefully waking under the soil. 

Potagar Patch 2014

I know it's been a long winter and everyone has been getting sick of waiting to put their gardens together but it looks like the wait is coming to an end, hopefully! 

This year we'll be combining Potagar Schoultz with Patch Market. The new garden name is going to be Potagar Market. Exciting! The reason I did it this way was because I decided it was best to only grow the things we truly ended up eating and the things, out of the ones we ate that, worked. 

That came down to strawberries (they didn't really work but most of that was due to the excessive rain), cucumbers, spinach, basil, lemon balm, tomatoes (many different varieties especially our beloved yellow), peppers, and lettuce. I'm forgetting a couple of things but that is the bulk of the garden. Patch Market has officially been turned into a strawberry patch. It seemed fitting and much more conducive to growing the berries than anywhere else. I was not about to make the same mistake and squash all of my beauties, Ozark and Loran, into that ridiculous Topsy Turvy. The Ozark variety does need more space but that did not come into account when making the decision. It came down to- we love strawberries and the darn TT didn't work- what works best. People have strawberry patches so using the recycled material bed as a strawberry patch just made sense. 

We will be growing in all 6 raised beds, the recycling bin, 2 large rounds, and the brick bed. Fruiting will happen a few weeks later because I've yet to plant a thing. This time last year I had everything planted, most of all, planned and organized. I planted the last few plants on my birthday last year, April 18, including the tomatoes. So even though the start is late we should get a good crop. The summer has promised to be long and I hope that promise is kept. 

Planning and buying have commenced. 

We have a great new deck so the garden is even more welcome (not that it wasn't last year) in the sense that we can sit on the deck take in the sun, relax, and not worrying that we made a mistake in taking up the entire backyard with a veggie garden. 

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. 

Cantaloupe

Raised Bed Melons...

I took a look in the raised bed filled with just melons, cantaloupes and bush sugar babies. I wanted to see if there were any new watermelons, without holes, growing. I found one and I am happy to report it was hole and bite free. I guess reinforcing that fence, place in the fence, was the thing we needed. As I was looking in the bed for watermelons I found a few hidden cantaloupes, up high, supporting themselves on the tomato vines. The super sweet 100's spread out all over the place so it is only natural that the spreading cantaloupe vines would seek support on the higher parts without trellis support. We have 6 sizable and viable cantaloupes growing at least one foot off the ground, if not more, each. 

Largest to smallest going counter clockwise. Lowest to highest placement going clockwise. With the growth they drag down a bit, gravity and all! 

Cantaloupe in first stage growing on the now transferred, into the Patch raised bed, container cantaloupe plant.

Tomato Woes

Vine Ripened...

So many and no one is eating... Everyone is picking even the ones that aren't ripened fully yet but no one is eating them in a steady enough stream to keep up with harvest. The grocery store charges extra for Vine Ripened Tomatoes and for some reason we're ripening 50% of our crop in a brown bag with a banana. That actually works, which is amazing because fruit that was only slightly red turned bright red, but vine ripened is better, charged for... 

Brown bag 1/3 full of just cherry sized tomatoes. 

Today's harvest, only mine, another 12-15 were picked. 

Small cantaloupe that fell from the container. I cut it open and ate it after smelling its sweet strong aroma. It was sweet and soft and delicious. I couldn't believe I had a ripe edible mini melon. It's pretty cool! 

Weak Spots

Fencing Weak Spots...

When I was out in the garden yesterday I shuffled through the raised bed with melons in it because I wanted to see if we had any signs of watermelon growth and we did. Sadly, they had been bitten into so I decided to find the weak spots in the fence allowing something small in to bite them. I think I found it. It was the start of the fence where I used a insertion poll rather than staples and the wooden polls Mr. S installed. That was the weak spot I found and seems like the only weak spot. When I came out today none of the tomatoes close to the ground had bites taken out of them nor did anything else. Either the animals weren't out last night, not likely because the items on the ground have had bites everyday since ripening started, or the weak spot I chose to reinforce was the "weak spot." I hope by picking the bad melons the plant will put energy into growing new ones and do it soon because watermelons need long hot days and we only have 6 weeks left of summer. 

Harvesting...

I harvested a couple of onions, yellow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, tomato-berries, and a cantaloupe. The cantaloupe wasn't so much a harvest as a picked from the ground. The larger of the two container cantaloupes finally made its plunge to the ground. I haven't cut it open to see what it looks like yet but my guess is it fell because it was too big and/or as big as it was going to get. I transferred the container melon into the Patch raised bed. Transferred both trellises as well. I forgot to get a picture but ill get one after the rain. Things were wilting and since it was going to rain or was supposed to rain, and did, I didn't want to water or over water. So glad to get some rain, funny how things change. I'm hoping the extra space keeps e container loupe alive. It may not produce but it was so pretty and all of the sudden it wasn't. I'd like to keep it pretty at least for another 6 weeks. 

Today's harvest. B-E-A-utiful!

Melon Bites

Cooking with Gardens...

Mikes parents made the eggplant I picked into eggplant parmesan. I didn't get to taste it but it looked really good. My mom mixed yellow and red cherry tomatoes to make a tri-colored spinach tomato salad. I have yet to use heat with anything but the pickings are good. 

Eggplant Parmesan

Melons have doubled in size over the last two days, even though its been unseasonably cool.

Large flat melon doubled and rounded out.

Today's tomato harvest, my portion, Mikes dad picked a few other earlier.

Small strawberry harvest from 8G bucket. Slowly coming back now that the rain has let up a bit.

Baby watermelons from the raised bed with bite taken out of them. When I saw these I picked them off so that the energy  the plant was putting into trying to grow them would go to growing new ones. I also double enforced what I thought to be the weak spot in the fence allowing animals in to bite them. I hope I'm right because I looked all over for other weak spots and saw nothing so at this point getting full raised bed melons counts on the spot I enforced being it. 

Tomato City

Picking and Bags...

Every time we pick tomatoes we put them in brown paper bags to ripen a little more or if they are ripe just for storage. They seem to keep a lot better that way. If we are ripening them a little more we put a banana in with them and if we're not we don't. Something about the peel helps the process. Anyway, at this point we have 3 brown paper bags full of all different types, shapes, and sizes and I have given a small bag to a friend, 2 small bags to my mom and 1 large bag. We have about 100+ more tomatoes on the vines at different stages of growth and ripeness and 25 of those are ready for picking but we rather them ripen as far as naturally possible on the vine than bring them in to rot. It's amazing! Mike's dad has attempted growing tomatoes in containers every single year since we've been here and every single year they either get eaten or don't ripen. I think that's why he wanted so many plants this year and my green thumb prevailed, even the container ha set forth 3 ripe tomatoes and only keeps growing and ripening. Yah, we over did it a bit but its nice to have some veggies to give away. 

Bag of tomatoes I have to my mom today, with plenty leftover for us. 

Some of what was ready for picking today, definitely not all, I found an pick these in 2 minutes so I could give my mom a few extra Lemon Boys. 

Time After Time

Progression of Gardens...

Over the past few weeks the hot long day plants have been growing wild. I made a point of capturing all the stages of those plants (and others) because there growth has been so obvious and so quick. The raised cantaloupe and watermelon bed started with two 3 inch cantaloupe plants that shot up covered two four foot trellises and kept going. It finally started to fruit at the beginning of last week and boy is it fruiting we have at a least 6 viable melons of all different sizes. My sweet potato slips started off slow finally grew into slips and were transferred with a disappointing "death" and revival. The leaves came in two weeks ago and in the last week the two plants, that I didn't yank out because I thought they were dead, have grow six plus inches in vines. The watermelon container started off slow and didn't grow for weeks then it doubled in size and Tripled and quadrupled all over the bamboo trellis until it started fruiting. When it started fruiting all of the little melons were shriveling up and dying except one. Finally, we got a second one a week ago and now the plant has grown 6-8 inches of vine that I've had to stake because the trellis is full. That vine has a third melon on it. It's tiny but you can tell It is viable and won't be shriveling like the others that have come since the first and second. 

Here is a little pictorial of the plants progression and current state...

First viable Bush Sugar Baby on the first week (L), the 2nd week (top R), and the 3rd week (bottom R). 

The Bush Sugar Baby plant when it was first transplanted from newspaper seedling pots to the recycling bin (L), it doubled in size after no sign of growth for 3 weeks (top R), and now it has covered the trellis and grown vines so long they needed to be staked (bottom R). 

Sweet potatoes over time. The slips finally came out after 8 weeks (L), I planted them in the beginning of the 9th week and the shriveled (top R), and now they are at least 6 inch long vines (bottom R). 

Cantaloupe bed first planted (L), a few weeks later the plants were half way up the two 4 feet tall trellises (top R), and now they are a few inches taller than the trellises (bottom R).  

Cantaloupe bed fruiting. All the different sizes of melons at different stages, currently on the vines. 

Transferred the Pepper Container...

Because the tomato plants have basically taken over all of the neighboring beds the only pepper plant that was doing extremely well was the pepper container. Today I decided that since a bunch of the plots in Patch were now empty that I would transfer the container pepper to give it the space to grow. I took a big chance by guessing that the roots had run out of space and the plant would plop out of the container as a whole. I was right it was like an oversized seedling pot. I turned it over pulled it out and replanted it in the PM raised bed. I watered it with some sea magic and am hoping we get some good sun, which we did today despite the initial clouds dissipated, so that gets the long hot days it needs during this tender time.

Transplanted pepper plant. I thought I had a full photo of it in the container but I didn't, all I had is the top right image of the peppers that started there growth in the container 2 weeks ago. Part of why I thought it needed more space was that the peppers grew quickly then stopped just like my cantaloupe container.