stubbed toes and mud pies

[flowerbug]

@digitS' in the patch that has the group of four (the picture that i posted), just a few feet away, is another group of five melons sitting there within a few feet of each other. i'm lining up people to give them away to because i'm pretty sure we won't be able to eat all of these if they ripen together. in the other patch there are a few melons on each side but i have not carefully scouted all over the place in that patch or the other because it's been a bit hectic here.

we'll be picking more tomatoes this morning so i will need to get those put up, hopefully it won't be as much to contend with, have to train Mom on picking technique so to speed things up in processing. a few minutes up front will save me a half hour per batch.

at least yesterday i could get some dry beans picked and then also picked some fresh eating beans for dinner. the very last patch i planted are just now starting to flower. i need to check all of the gardens for dry beans before the next rains come along, but there isn't any rain in the forecast until this weekend. somewhere in here i have to mow... the expression crazy season is fitting. in a good way...

 

[Marie2020]

I can't find my camera. Might have left it in my old car I traded in

That's sounds like a typical day for me. I hope you find it soon

 

[flowerbug]

there is some speaking of onion seeds in another thread and it reminds me to put here that there are onion seeds sprouting in the patch where i put them. they were old, i didn't even expect them to sprout, but some have been coming up. also a few peas and the buckwheat i planted.

i'll get some weeding and bean picking done today before it gets too hot and then put up some more tomatoes. any spare time i get it is bean shelling time.

slight chances of rain Tue-Thur and better chance Friday. good thing i watered yesterday as i don't expect any of the chances to actually come through. mid-80s to low-90s temps. always misty/foggy with heavy dew.

 

[flowerbug]

@ninnymary i have a few melon seeds... as in, about a pint of them... Mom asked me why i needed so many and i said so i can give them away! they are not that hard to clean up so i will keep gathering them from any fruits we eat.

 

[ninnymary]

You've heard of Johnny Appleseed. Well you will be Flowerbug Melonseed, haha

Mary

 

[digitS']

@ninnymary i have a few melon seeds... as in, about a pint of them... Mom asked me why i needed so many and i said so i can give them away! they are not that hard to clean up so i will keep gathering them from any fruits we eat.

Hang onto some of those!

Fedco says that melon isolation distance for seed-saving should be 1500'. Shucks, I have the 3 varieties of melons growing in a 45' row (not even counting the cucamelon).

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

Hang onto some of those!

Fedco says that melon isolation distance for seed-saving should be 1500'. Shucks, I have the 3 varieties of melons growing in a 45' row (not even counting the cucamelon).

Steve

we're close to that far from all the neighbors, don't know how many of them have gardens or grow melons. no plans to grow any other type of melons so we should be somewhat safe from cross-breeds, but will be interesting to see if any ever do show up. let's see, the odds of that just a few seeds out of thousands...

 

[ninnymary]

Baker Creek is coming up with a new melon seed for 2021, a small persian one whose ancestors are from the musk melon family. They are raving that it's the best ever grown! Should be good for shorter seasons.

Mary

 

[flowerbug]

Baker Creek is coming up with a new melon seed for 2021, a small persian one whose ancestors are from the musk melon family. They are raving that it's the best ever grown! Should be good for shorter seasons.

Mary

we don't need smaller melons and am happy with this one so i will let other people try it out. i picked another three this morning. we gave one away and i just cut up the other two and ate some of those as i was chunking along. seems like prime picking time is when they are medium yellow-orange and when they start to split. in the cold of the morning there was a wasp on the first one i picked. camped out overnight like a concert goer waiting in line all night for the gates to open. it hardly moved so it wasn't any risk to me. i completely understood...

 

[ninnymary]

Wow, I pick when they are barely starting to show color. If I leave longer it's over ripe. Can you post a pic of one that is ready to pick?

I'm so happy they did well for you. I am interested in that new Baker Creek one though. Especially since they rave about it being the best melon they've ever had. Of course that could just be marketing and it's working on me, haha.

Steve, once sent me I believe it was Diplomat or maybe Galia seeds. I planted them in a pot and they produced tons of baby one but then the plant just froze in time! I've always wondered how they would have done in planted in the ground.

Steve if you remember what you sent me and still have a couple seeds I'd like to try them in the ground this time around.

Mary