Dear Friends and Family,
We harvested our first garden piece this Monday! A banana pepper appeared to be ready. It seemed like it was the right color and form factor with no noticeable changes in over a week, so we clipped it with a pair of scissors.
The tomatoes continue to do nicely. By nicely, I mean there are several green globes at various stages of size and color from light green to dark green. I need to tie the tops of the plants to the stake so they'll continue to grow straight.
But, our cantaloupe and zucchini were acting weird. The cantaloupe had flowered profusely. Then, most of the flowers had fallen off. And, the plant was mostly green with no signs of fruit. And, the zucchini continued to grow little zucchini, but instead of growing, the zucchini would shrivel, turn yellow, and atrophy.
With a little research, I learned that cantaloupe had two stages of flowering. The first, apparently, is all male flowers. Then, the second flowering is a combination of male flowers and female flowers. And, when I went up yesterday, I noticed a couple of new flowers coming in. Seemed like it was headed in the right direction.
With the zucchini, I learned that there are male flower and female flowers. And, if nothing pollinates the female flowers, the fruit begins to grow, but then turns yellows, shrivels up and dies. Bingo! Nothing really flies high enough to pollinate the zucchini. I guess it's something we'll have to add to the plant care regimen. I tried pollinating two flowers this week - we'll see if I have two zucchini fruit to show for my efforts.
The cilantro never really recovered from our weekend away. It's still got a couple of green stalks, but we bought some cilantro this weekend to supplement. The basil has grown into a bush. Guess we can continue to enjoy its bounty for the summer. And, B has a rosemary plant. It's not doing well. So, we agreed to try moving it to our roof this weekend to see if a little additional sunshine can remedy it.
Cheers!
mouse
We harvested our first garden piece this Monday! A banana pepper appeared to be ready. It seemed like it was the right color and form factor with no noticeable changes in over a week, so we clipped it with a pair of scissors.
The tomatoes continue to do nicely. By nicely, I mean there are several green globes at various stages of size and color from light green to dark green. I need to tie the tops of the plants to the stake so they'll continue to grow straight.
But, our cantaloupe and zucchini were acting weird. The cantaloupe had flowered profusely. Then, most of the flowers had fallen off. And, the plant was mostly green with no signs of fruit. And, the zucchini continued to grow little zucchini, but instead of growing, the zucchini would shrivel, turn yellow, and atrophy.
With a little research, I learned that cantaloupe had two stages of flowering. The first, apparently, is all male flowers. Then, the second flowering is a combination of male flowers and female flowers. And, when I went up yesterday, I noticed a couple of new flowers coming in. Seemed like it was headed in the right direction.
With the zucchini, I learned that there are male flower and female flowers. And, if nothing pollinates the female flowers, the fruit begins to grow, but then turns yellows, shrivels up and dies. Bingo! Nothing really flies high enough to pollinate the zucchini. I guess it's something we'll have to add to the plant care regimen. I tried pollinating two flowers this week - we'll see if I have two zucchini fruit to show for my efforts.
The cilantro never really recovered from our weekend away. It's still got a couple of green stalks, but we bought some cilantro this weekend to supplement. The basil has grown into a bush. Guess we can continue to enjoy its bounty for the summer. And, B has a rosemary plant. It's not doing well. So, we agreed to try moving it to our roof this weekend to see if a little additional sunshine can remedy it.
Cheers!
mouse
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2 comments:
Wow, thank you for the Zuchini research. I took 5 gallon white buckets and did the topsy turvy planting technique. The plants grew great. The flowers blossumed but then fell off. I was upset. Then after reading your site. It looks as if I'm not getting any pollination. Maybe not enought bees. The buckets are hanging from a structure that is 8 feet tall. I'm wait to see what happens.
Thanks for the cantaloupe information. I was starting to worry.
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