Thriving in Excess

Success in Excess... rain

Larger cantaloupe in the container. The skin of the cantaloupe is changing to resemble a full size melon. It has wrinkle and line in beige, all over.

Smaller container melon has started to change but its skin is changing in patches rather than producing lines all over. I don't know if the skin changing means they will stop growing. That may be the case. 

Cantaloupe plants in raised bed. Have climbed the 4 foot trellis to the top and spread out over 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep. Blossoms and small melons starting to grow. Planted weeks after the container. 

Pearl onion from PS and the biggest berry I've gotten overall and only berry I've gotten in over a week. Plucked from the 5G container. The Topsy turvy is basically dead. I wish I hadn't wasted so many plants on it.

I'll post a video update of everything thriving and not so thriving tomorrow. The excess rain has affected the garden, my hopes not so high anymore. 

A Pregnant Girls Dream

Pickles and Watermelons...

I went out to check on things just briefly because it threatened to be a bad stormy day. I picked a few strawberries. Tried putting up some more fencing and noticed that in "container drive" things were finally starting to set fruit. The pickles and watermelons are finally coming in. The watermelons are much further behind but you can see those little striped rounds starting to form. It's pretty amazing. I didn't know if either would set any fruit at all. 

So excited! 

The little fuzzy striped ball is the first stage of fruit growth for the bush sugar baby. 

A baby that I found, fallen off. See the stripes? 

A bush cucumber, the first one. The one that looks the most like a cuc but I think it looks like a pickle more.

Second cucumber a little further behind and a little weirder looking. 

WATCH! Fruit Set

Fruit Setting...

When I first started my garden I didn't quite know what all the references meant when they said "fruit set" which caused me anxiety to no end. Things change when fruit starts to set in... I could of guessed that it was when the fruit started to grow but I didn't know what point in there growth was true setting. So now that I do know and can tell you that it means when the flowers start to turn I wanted to show you. 

All of our plants are at "fruit set" or have been "setting" for awhile now. 

Bunny Be Gone

Strawberries Eaten...

After it rained all day on Friday I went out into Patch early Saturday morning to pick the strawberries that had been red and ripening for the last two to three days. When I got out there all but one were gone. I was shocked. I kept looking around to see if I'd missed them somehow. Since all the containers with seascapes in them are round and I can't see the back and front at the same time I thought somehow I was missing them. Then I saw it, a juice red berry on the ground. It had a small big toothed bite taken out of it but otherwise it was intact. I picked it up and put it in my basket. (Don't worry I didn't eat it.) I finally accepted that something, now I knew bunnies, had eaten al the ripened berries. I quickly put the basket down got the wheelbarrow and put the 5G and 8G bucket in it and rolled them over to the glass table in the driveway. When I was do e situating the buckets I went back to Patch with plastic black netting in hand. I wrapped the netting around the Topsy Turvy and Shepherd hook hoping it would be enough to keep animals at bay. When I was done I grabbed the basket with the bitten berry and went inside to slice it open. I just wanted to view the quality of what I'd grown. The second I slice into it it started dripping, and I mean dripping,  juice. It was the most perfect and juicy strawberry I'd ever seen. I went for a part towel not realizing I had juice on my glove and left juice stains on it. That's how juicy it was, juice was everywhere. That made it all the more disappointing that I couldn't taste it. 

This morning I went back out to see if anymore berries had been eaten and they were all there. I was so glad to see that the netting had worked and moving. The containers to the table had too. I don't have any ripe berries yet but I will soon and hopefully my defenses will work through my first harvest and beyond. I couldn't bare not getting to taste even one ripe and juicy berry after all of the attention and love I've put into growing them. I've paid more attention to those 3 containers than Patch and Potagar put together so I better get some berries.

Eaten by bunnies along with the rest.

Hot in Herre

Wilting Plants...

This morning I got up and put everything outside because it was going to be 79 degrees out. I left and went back inside to get things together for the day and came back out about 2 hours later to find that the inside of the greenhouses were sweltering. I immediately removed the iceberg lettuce cups because all of the old and new growth was completely wilted. I thought I might have killed them to be honest but when I brought them inside they perked up. 

Although, some of the things online and in books is over the top and plants are stronger than they've been made out to be it seems like the "seasonal" suggestions are no joke. The temperature outside was about 75 and inside the greenhouse was about 90. Lettuce does best at about 65 degrees. It didn't like the 90 degree heat it was in at all. It took a little while inside for them to perk back up and they still aren't looking as nice as they were this morning. I had planned on transplanting them into the raised bed in Patch today but technically the consistent cool weather isn't guaranteed until next week. Considering that it was hotter then it should be for lettuce out today and is going to be for the rest of the week it seems silly to say but I'm keeping them inside. Not because it isn't "cool" because it's past cool out it's warm to hot out. I figure waiting until Friday when the weather drops back down to the mid-60's is best. 

My strawberries a warm/hot fruit wilted as well.  I think it was a bit of a shock for them. It hasn't been that hot out and all of the sudden it was 90 degrees in the greenhouse. They wilted to find shade and a bit of breeze, I think. Once I took the top off of the greenhouse even though it was hot and sunny they perked back up. They like the heat but not in a flash like that. I need to remember that boiling my crops probably isn't the best way to go. I've been so careful about cold temperatures I forgot that I needed to cool things down when it got to hot. Thank god they perked back up. Some of the most beautiful plants (the taller ones) were the ones that wilted. 

Pre-germ Carrots and Primed Lemon Balm...

I decided to transfer the pre-germinated carrot seeds into a cup with organic soil, today. The pre-germs. weren't very good looking but I wanted to complete the experiment. A lot of the seeds had grown into the wet paper towel and some of the roots had shriveled up but I picked the best looking ones and dropped them into the cup and covered them lightly with soil and water. I might not get anything and I might get some really nice looking sprouts but either way I can wait to see the results. Considering that they were pre-germinated if they're going to sprout at all it'll be in the next 4-5 days. I'll let you know. 

I planted my primed Lemon Balm seeds right before the pre-germ. carrots but that was so much more of a hassle than it was worth. The seeds were so tiny and slick I don't know if I have a cup of dirt sitting in my greenhouse or if I have soon to be Lemon Balm seedlings sitting in there. I couldn't see them go in to save my life. If I flicked them in the cup or over the cup I have no clue. It was just a mess. I think I definitely should have just bought a Lemon Balm plant. Those seeds are either not meant to be primed or not meant to be handled but it was much tougher than seed taping the tiny carrot seeds. I really truly don't know how many I got in if any. They are the same color as soil and the tiniest slickest things. I guess this is a "we'll see" and "both be surprised" if there ever was one. 

Containers...

Lastly, I painted my containers today. I planned on using the old yellow recycling bin for the watermelon plants if they germinate but I didn't want to use it as is.... so I painted it a nice white with green tea trim. It looks pretty and will hold 1 fair sized plant. I also painted a 5 gallon bucket I found green tea with white trim. I am not sure what I'll put in there just yet, maybe the lemon balm, but I know I'll end up using it for something. Maybe one of the tests that goes really well but wasn't planned for in Patch Market.