Now that's what I call a tomato!!
My Friday dating blog got pre-empted by some extremely graceful upchucking from Baby Girl (which I’ll blog about later when there’s time to catch up). Suffice it to say, she’s doing better than we are today and y’all get next Thursday’s post about the garden.
I really need the advice NOW anyway. I’m new at this sort of thing.
In yesterday’s blog, you discovered that this has been a fun, challenging year, filled with new things to learn. (Really, no sarcasm there…) Each lesson has been fun in its own way, though I really don’t love the home repair portion of my new life. Of all the new things in my life, the one thing I never expected to fall in love with was gardening.
I flat out love to garden. I was so madly in love with my zucchini, I had to write about it. I take serious pride in my veggies and my berries bring me joy. (I mean, would you look at that blueberry bush??!)
OMG...Pie..Pancakes...YUMMY!
I’ve got a grape arbor and a fig tree that are producing like wild bunnies.
No, that isn't a picture off the web! Those really are my grapes (even though I don't know what to DO with them)...
But I’m banging scratching my head over the melon. I mean, I planted it in late March/early April and it said (very clearly) on the little instruction stick in the pot that I should be able to harvest in 90 days.
Taken from about a foot away...
We’re at 90 days and I’m looking at this stupid cantaloupe plant lovely little patch of green leaves and yellow flowers and, um…
I’m not seeing any melons. Zilcho.
So am I supposed to be getting excited over these fuzzy little bumps? I see leaves and pretty yellow flowers...but NO $%#& melons!
It’s a well-known fact in my household that patience is really not my strongest virtue. I’d very likely have skipped the whole garden thing if I’d known patience was a required component.
Still, I’m coming up on the three month mark. I’ve been watering diligently… *whining* Shouldn’t I have more melon-y looking things than some leaves, flowers and fuzzy nubs?? Can some of my seasoned gardeners step up and give me some insight so I can stop moping over my melons?
How are your growing efforts coming? For those of you that do your “growing” by buying at the Farmer’s Market, how are things looking this year? Are their stupid cantaloupe ready for you to buy at that market of yours? Impatient, enquiring minds really want to know.
I love hearing from you! Not only do y’all keep me sane and make me laugh, but you give me an excuse to have a party once a month on the Let’s Meet Up Contest Webinar. Your comments automatically enter you in the drawing…all details can be found here.
Jenny
Jenny Hansen's Blog 
Maybe you planted a non-fruiting variety!
But most likely you either need another vine near by to act as a pollinator or your bee buddy’s are not doing their job.
Happy gardening
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Now why don’t they put all this on the little stick?? OK, I planted two plants (now I’m guessing why they sold two at a time…haha!) and they are over near the fig tree which gets a goodly share of bees and wasps. But next time, perhaps I’ll make sure to plant some bee-ish flowers nearby.
And I cannot believe someone would sell “non-fruiting” melon, which seems like an oxymoron to me. What, are they sadists? Here’s some fruit…but it’s not REALLY fruit.
The things I learn….thank you soooo much for shedding some light!
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Jenny, afraid I can’t help with the melon issue, but how did you get your blueberry bush to grow like that. I have 2, one is a set of three spindly twigs and an assortment of wimpy leaves. The other is doing better, but not by much. I, too, followed instructions diligently. Sniff.
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Sherry, I’m so new at this, I don’t know if I can tell you!
It gets full sun (although we’re near the beach so it’s cloudy most mornings) and some breeze. I water it, at least a sprinkle every day and soak it at least once a week. I kept it in it’s pot, mostly because I wasn’t sure where to put it, and I’m considering transplanting it now that it’s thriving because I’m greedy and want MORE blueberries. Plus, I think I just bought a really good plant.
Does any of that help?
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My neighbor grows melons and they said those plants can be picky. Give ’em another month.
Our radishes, peas and lettuce are doing wonderfully. We have been making teas out if all the lush herbs in our herb patch and the tomatoes are stating to get flowers so cross your fingers. We just need some heat up here in Oregon then things will take off!
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Tapping foot impatiently…another month? Jeez. OK. I’ve decided gardening is like parenting…it’s not like you’re REALLY all the way in charge of very much.
Thanks for asking the neighbor for me!
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My in-laws planted cantaloupe as well. But, with the constant rain they had this spring it basically washed them all away. Sometimes they need more heat than they are getting. Give it another month and you should have some good (golf ball) sized cantaloupe! This spring has been so whacky weather wise that gardens are confused and don’t know what to do!
Oh, and by the way, your blueberry bush is magnificent! My mom-in-law’s has lots of spindley twigs with a few leaves. But she has gotten maybe 13 or 14 berries off of it!
Check the zone for your area. Maybe the cantaloupe is the wrong type? Love the post!
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*snort* “Gardens are confused.” That slays me. (Cause they’re not the only ones!)
So once the golf ball sized melons come, they just grow awhile right? I don’t have to umm…do anything, right? I’ll look at the zone and they type. I have to say, I might want to go visit the gardening place for a little chat if they sell melons that we can’t actually grow. That just makes no sense to me. But I’ll give it a month and then report back to y’all.
Thanks about the blueberry bush! *preening* I am so excited about my blueberries. 🙂
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One time I accidentally planted pumpkin. Had whole pumpkins for Halloween, left them out, until I had to throw them in the back corner of our yard — compost(ish) — next spring, Voila! Pumpkin patch. I will say, nothing’s growing that well for me this year — NO SUN.
Patience.
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LOL, Amy! That’s the sort of gardening I specialize at (that accidental kind).
It’s so funny because I’m such a patient teacher so my husband laughs at me over how I fret about how slow everything takes. Thank you for letting me know this might take a while.
Although I still really want someone to discuss whether the melon is looking like I’m gonna get some action (i.e. whether those little nubs are actually anything but another leaf).
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Jenny,
Have you fertilized them? And are they getting full sun? If so, then patience is a gardeners best friend. I had melons a number of years ago and I planted them vertically on a chain link fence. It worked great as there was no rot from soil contact as the melons were maturing. Also, once your melans begin maturing, back off the watering frequency. Just like tomatoes, you don’t want to water alot at the end or the fruit will suffer. Welcome to gardening. I miss it as my new house gets NO sun.
Michele
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I’m struggling with my zucchini. Other people are harvesting these huge, mutant zucchini and i’ve got yellow flowers and zilch. Tomatoes are coming along, I’ve harvested two so far. But my berries stink. Little tiny stunted things. No oranges. Fig tree died. Avocado trees pitiful but alive. Lettuce just gets eaten by critters. ::sigh::
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Oh, Kara! I do have really great soil, but my zucchini took a boatload of water to get going…my second plant sounds like yours and it is just starting to come back with a lot more water. The tomatoes are going crazy this year, but you’ll have to check back in on the zucchini front.
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We grew melons last year in a straw bale. We had a half dozen or so and of that group only one was big enough to eat. It took all summer to get that much. This year we are using containers and using the left over strawbale to use as mulch because there’s still a lot of nutrients left in them. We’ve got some vines growing so we just have to see what happens.It’s fun trying different things.
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Holy cow, Angela! I can’t even imagine HOW to grow melons in a straw bale? Can you come back and describe that for us? I can see using the straw as mulch, but not how to grow the melon in the bale. Hmmmmm….
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Hey, Jenny I did two blogs about it. This blog has picture and a link for anyone interested on how to go about preparing your straw bale: http://curiocat.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/its-summer-today/ and this one has pictures of how the bales looked after the plants grew: http://curiocat.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/and-the-gods-were-pleased/
Thanks.
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Thanks a bunch…I have to go figure out this straw melon business….:-)
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Not EVEN going to offer advice re: gardens, other than RUN-RUN-RUN BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!
That, and invest in knee pads and chiropractic insurance.
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LOL…yep, your garden is NOT your friend this season. Is the back any better at all?
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Oh my gosh your garden looks great! For someone who said they don’t know alot about gardening you are sure doing an awesome job my friend:) My tomatoes are doing great, although, my zuchinni’s are not looking to great this year, I managed to get one good one and so far the rest seem to just lay there..wimpy, wimpy, wimpy.Oh and yes, just like parenting, gardening takes lots of patience and tender loving care. I think of it as a boiling pot of water, the more you watch it the slower it seems to boil! I tend to take the “I am not going to look at my plants for a couple of days approach” then when I do am usually pleasantly surprised!
Good Luck!
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I guess that’s a pretty safe approach – we always say that a “watched blog never boils” too. 🙂
Like I said in the comments, my early zucchini plant rocks, the one I put in later is doing a big nothing. But they all make me happy. Just keep in mind that I am your one-stop source for figs!
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Beautiful photos of your garden. The blueberry bush is remarkable. I have never seen one growing and never ate one until fifteen or twenty years ago. Too hot in Texas. Now they have developed blueberrys that can take the heat, so they say.
Make grape jelly, even green grape jelly with those beautiful grapes. I had a friend that would make green grape pie but I never got her recipe. 😦 My mouth is watering over your figs. I make fig preserves and mock strawberry preserves (use strawberry jello for this) with the figs that are not eaten fresh. Yummy, yum, yum!
As for your cantalopes, they do need bees or some other insect to fertilize them.
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Thanks, Kay! I think you need to visit so you can show me how to make fig preserves. 🙂
I made blueberry pancakes this morning and they rocked. I like having a blueberry bush so much I think I might need to plant another one!
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Gardening not going well. My plant killing skills had been so legendary that my dad always buys the cheapest plants. After all, we’ll have to buy again next year.
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You’re so funny, Marilag! Good luck on the next round. 🙂
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