Thursday, August 7, 2014
Constant Vigilance!
The daily walk-through has caught yet another hornworm caterpillar, but other than that the garden is coasting its way through summer.
Sunsugar F1 cherry tomato
Little Baby Flower F1 watermelons. The oldest one on the right seems close to harvest, but it's still firmly attached to the vine and it's not giving off the scent of watermelon so I'm not sure. The tendril closest to the melon was ripped off weeks ago so I can't use that as indicator. The skin is duller than before and the color contrast between the stripes is lower, but since this is the first time I've grown watermelon I have no prior harvests to compare these findings. I've been doing that thumping test, but again no clue as to what I should be listening for.
With the melons I've harvested before they always gave off a strong melon fragrance so I think that's what I'll wait for with these fruits. Right now they don't smell like anything so I'll wait until they do.
2 new melons have appeared. Is this an indicator that the older melons will be ripe soon? I certainly hope so.
Lil Keeper F1 melons. I was so preoccupied with determining the ripeness of the watermelons I completely neglected checking the status of the cantaloupes. I was rotating the fruits sitting in the container, to make sure no side stays wet for too long, when they fell off the vine at the first touch. I chilled them and ate them last night. Sweet, juicy, firm texture, delicious!
Beaverlodge tomato
Orient Express F1 eggplant
Yukon Gold potatoes. Finally some very noticeable foliage die back.
Sugar Buns F1 corn
Short ears to go with the short stalks. My original plan was to move the corn container to the watermelon spot once the melons ripened and the plants were removed. The hope was that the shelter would improve the state of the corn plants. Unfortunately, the watermelons are taking longer to ripen than I thought they would, and now I think it's too late for a course correction to save the corn, so I'm going to leave this container where it is and leave the watermelon plants alone to grow a second set of fruit.
Orange Blaze F1 peppers. Where I found a second hornworm caterpillar. This second siting has me completely paranoid so now all plant gets a close look through every single day. I'm going away this weekend, let's hope I don't comeback to any devoured plants.
Bush Goliath F1 tomato
Giant Aconcagua peppers
Pink Berkeley Tie Dye tomato
July 31-August 6:
Cherry Tomato (Sunsugar F1): 3.5 ounces
Eggplant (Orient Express F1): 15.125 ounces
Melon (Lil Keeper F1): 3 pounds, 13.25 ounces
Pepper (Giant Aconcagua): 10.5 ounces
Pepper (Orange Blaze F1): 10.0 ounces
Tomato (Beaverlodge): 2 pounds, 5.75 ounces
Tomato (Bush Goliath F1): 9.875 ounces
Total: 9 pounds, 4.0 ounces
2014 Running Weight Total: 18 pounds, 2.625 ounces
I'll be away this weekend so no reading round up next week. See you on the 14th!
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