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| My zinnias and nasturtiums are coming up nicely (bottom left.) |
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| Left: “The Jungle.” Right: the tomatoes, peppers, and lettuce |
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| All of my tomatoes have little fruits on them! I am REALLY looking forward to homegrown tomatoes. They are one of my favorite vegetables! (or fruits, depending on who you ask!) |
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| I have tiny gourds growing on my 3 massive plants. They are so cute! |
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| My summer squash is coming in nicely and I have several fruits that are 3-4 inches long. |
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| I haven’t harvested any zucchini yet, but soon! |
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| My very first cantaloupe-in-the-making! Does anyone know when to harvest them and whether or not they need curing like some other vining plants? |
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| My cucumbers (on the trellis) and my cantaloupe (to the right) do not get along that well. I feel like I’m always separating them; it’s like trying to break up a wrestling match between two octopi! J |
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| Tiny cucumbers growing slowly but surely. |
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| This is my little visionary-plot. We have a huge mess of wild raspberries/blackberries, but they don’t seem to produce very well considering that we probably have hundreds of canes. Any suggestions? |
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| We have harvested a few blackberries that we are freezing and saving so that we might accumulate enough to make something. |
6 comments:
We've only raised the small canteloupe and they are ripe when they fall off the vine with just a little nudge from you. I'm guessing that the regular canteloupe is the same. Our experience is that you just have to watch them grow and when the melon beneath the webbing starts to turn golden, start checking them.
I'm guessing that you don't have raspberries or blackberries from the picture. They look like something called black raspberries and they aren't ripe until they are all dark. In my woods, the raspberries are bright red and the blackberries are still very small and very green. You can use black raspberries just like blackberries though - in pies or jams.
If they are black raspberries, they will only grown on the 2nd year canes. So you could watch which ones have berries this year and prune them down at the ground at the end of the season. We used to have black raspberries at our other house. I would prune the first year canes back to about 4 feet and remove the second year canes once the fruit was done.
I know that all berries like sun so perhaps it is too shaded in the middle of the plot. Maybe your dad could mow a path behind them and let in my sun to the back ones?
Thank you for the tips on the cantaloupe, Technoprairie! I will definitely be watching them, but I should have quite a bit of time before I need to harvest them.
Thank you also for all the wonderful tips on the black raspberries. What you said about 1st and 2nd year canes makes a lot of sense. I was wondering why the brand new canes weren't bearing any fruit! That explains it.
I will try pruning them once they are done producing. That has seemed to help them in the past.
Thanks again for all the wonderful tips, Technoprairie! They are very much appreciated!
~Bianca
Another thing to check on your melons is smell. They will begin to smell sweet/melony if you put your nose real close to the end. But careful, when they get too old they smell great but the meat is all squishy. On hot summer days they will ripen really fast. Check them everyday, sometimes they will ripen enough in one hot day you can pick them that evening.
Whatever you do, don't leave them in the field forever. They will ripen some after you pick them, but if you leave them in the field, they will mold.
Thank you for the advice on harvesting melons, Betsy! I will make sure to harvest them on the early side, and let them ripen a bit on the counter. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually!
~Bianca
Everything is looking fantastic, Bianca! You are doing a great job. I am sure you are enjoying all of the produce from your garden now!
Well Sarah, my vegetables seem to be taking their time in ripening! The Michigan growing season has been behind all year for just about everything. So the only edible things being harvested right now are lettuce and black raspberries. But my nasturtiums are about to bloom! I'm looking forward to that!
~Bianca
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