Ready, Set, Fruit!

Picture Update on Fruiting Plants...

Our first quarter sized patty-pan squash. There are several beautiful squash blossoms on this plant but the patty-pan's haven't developed as quickly. The plant is about a foot wide and 2 feet tall.

The infamous Tomato-berry plant. It took weeks to grown a centimeter then it shot up a foot and stayed that height for another week and produced maybe one tomato. Now its about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide with at least 30 tomato-berries. The name describes the shape and size of this type of tomato, strawberry like.

Our first cucumber. One of many. The biggest of all. It is about 4 inches long and an inch wide. It's been growing in a container for about a month and a week. 

Super Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. They are starting to ripen in this picture. The plant is about 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide with an unknown number of marble sized fruit.

Super 45 Hybrid cantaloupe plant in 10x12 container with a trellis. Picture are the first and 2nd melons growing. The closest is the size of a plum and the second is the size of a kiwi. There are at least 4 other flowers with tiny pea sized and yellow globes starting to form. 

Container cantaloupe plant with 2 sizable melons and several other tiny ones. I made a tepee with a more solid trellis to hold the first and provide more space for the plants growth. Several references said that if given vertical space cantaloupes only needed one square foot (otherwise they needed 4x4 sqft of ground space). So I'm hoping this will be enough trellis space to grow full size melons.

Raincheck

Check it out...

I went outside to check on everything after the hail and major storm. It wasn't a total rain break but I did get a few minutes outside without water coming down on me. So I picked a few strawberries that I knew would mold and I checked on everything else. Nothing had been poorly affected by the first storm, the hardest. I was happy about that. Then I went over to check on my cantaloupe container again. Since I saw the baby watermelons I've been meaning to check for baby cantaloupes. I didn't check for them in the raised bed because they were planted a few weeks after the the container melons. So I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I didn't see anything at all but noticed that the plant had finally attached itself to the trellis properly using its vines. As I was searching to take a picture of the connection between trellis and plant I saw it hanging there, perfectly, a baby cantaloupe. Much bigger than the baby watermelons and hanging just like it was meant to from its connection. I really didn't think I'd get even a baby melon out of that container because it was so small. I'd planted it there because it was an extra and I knew it would be pretty just leaves and flowers. I was excited to see that my green thumb prevailed again I ran inside to tell Mikes dad and get my cellphone to snap a shot. He put his shoes on and came outside to see as I took the pictures. I immediately sent the picture to my mom and Mike. Mike was so psyched for me, we'd just spoken about my lack of confidence in fruiting the night before. I don't know how I missed it. Considering its size its been there at least a few days. Good raincheck, no, GREAT! 

Baby container cantaloupe hanging from its vine connected to the trellis. About 2 inches in length.

Strawberries I picked so they wouldn't mold. These are the biggest I've gotten in awhile. The rain has affected size, most have been the size of the smallest pictured, for the last week or so. 

FlashFlood Warning

NWS...

I got a weird banner notification on my phone. It wants from an application I'd downloaded or anything it was a National emergency warning. One that comes in on its own when something is serious enough. The warning was for flash floods in my area until 6pm. What ridiculous is that right before the rain went crazy I was getting dressed to go out in the garden ad it was SUNNY. I am truly the rainmaker. I'll post pictures of any damage to the garden. Hopefully there won't be any but I doubt that'll be the case co spidering the state of things. I may even bring the berry containers indoors. I don't know what to do yet... Help! 

Rainmaker

I woke up and the sky was as dark as the early evening sky so I didn't go out to garden. I waited then when it didn't rain after a few hours I went out and got ready to put the rest of the fencing up. I was out for about 3 minutes when I felt a drop of moisture. I thought I was imagining it because I've built up this "rainmaker" paranoia in my head. I found out it wasn't paranoia. It was raining well drizzling. It was crazy, is crazy. Every time I go out it starts to rain or gets dark and seems like rain so I go back in. I should charge states in drought for my rainmaker services because apparently all I have to do is step out for the clouds to form and the wter to fall. Ugh! I am so over this rainy weather. Lucky nothing has suffered tremendously because of it but I will tell you the strawberries started off one size (a much bigger size) and aren't getting past the size of a large pea, now, before they ripen. So things are being affected just not tremendously. Why did it have to be the berries. I've been taking extra good care of them. It sucks. Virgina gets these weird ultra rainy summers every few years but I wish it wasn't the year I decided to start a garden. I would have liked to see what the yields would have been with proper sun and watering. Double UGH! 

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. 

The Accidental Pick

Sisters Birthday...

It was a beautiful and sunny day out but I didn't get to garden. It was my sisters birthday so we had plans. First it was lunch and nails then it was bar hopping so I spent my day out, resting to go out, or getting ready. I wish I'd spent it gardening because I haven't had a chance to do all the maintenance I've wanted to do since I got home.

So far I've picked a few more green beans and thinned out some carrots that weren't going to form because the roots were exposed. I did accidentally pick one carrot that was forming which was too bad but it gave me hope that I don't have carrot fly because it was forming well. Anyway, I plan on spending all day gardening tomorrow. I'm hoping the weather doesn't turn on me.

Carrots that weren't going to form, a radish, and the accidental pick. 

The container tomato plant in Patch. 

Picked another 25 beans and still have more to pick.