Biding time, waiting for melons

My blackberries are suffering from a condition called white druplet (the little individual units are called druplets).

You can eat them, but the more white druplets, the more it tastes like cardboard instead of blackberry.

From a University of Arkansas extension page:

White druplet is associated with a drop in humidity and an increase in temperature. As this happens there is less moisture in the air to deflect solar radiation from directly contacting the berries. This increased solar radiation is blamed on individual or groups of druplets turning first white and then later brown in color. [...] ‘Apache’ is a variety that is more prone to this disorder.

I have 'Navajo', which sounds like it could be a related variety, and we have certainly had decreased humidity and increased temps this year.  Both my blackberries and raspberries (which produced absolutely nothing) would have benefited from watering.

'German Johnson' tomatoes are ripening.  It's suggested that they be picked early when they are just starting to soften and then let them ripen indoors the rest of the way, so that's what I do.  It helps me get them before the raccoons do.  But not always.

Pink celery:

The melons growing up tomato cages aren't producing anything.  They get more shade than the ones on the compost hill, which have several full sized fruits already, so that could be an issue.  However, I haven't grown them sprawling on the ground before, so maybe they just do better that way.  

I have no doubt the raccoons will be after them before they're fully ripe, so I've put several in wire baskets in hopes that will allow me to get some ripe ones.  I've read that, while melons will continue to ripen after being picked, they stop the sugar production process at that point.

I'll wait.

Hotter and hotter

The roses are flushing out again.  They're quite happy with the heat and lack of rain.

But I've had to start watering again for everyone else.

Thankfully, the 'German Johnson' slicing tomatoes did set some fruit.  I've gotten a few ripe ones, but now they're taking their time ripening due to the blistering heat.  It barely cools off enough in the middle of the night to reach the 50-80 degree temps required for ripening. 

The 'Speckled Roman' sauce tomatoes have been ripening all along, however, and have set lots of fruit.  Raccoons leave evidence daily.

I made a pint of sauce from the romas and 'Supersweet 100' cherry tomatoes (which haven't produced as much fruit as they normally do).

'Speckled Roman' and 'Supersweet 100' tomatoes

The recipe called for some sugar, and it's too sweet for my taste.  I'll have to add some lemon juice when I use it.  Neither variety has enough acidity to warrant adding sugar.  Next batch, I'll delete the sugar and add some basil.

I'm finally seeing some fruit develop on the small Persian cantaloupe vines.

In my attempts to keep melons safe from raccoons, I ordered these screen barriers for roots and bulbs to protect underground.  I got the idea from a video online.

Perhaps in an unnecessarily early stage, I wrapped a 'Sugar Baby' watermelon in one as a test.

The melons on the compost hill have grown over the potato plants that I hadn't yet harvested.  I thought I had more than one still in the ground, but could only find this 'All Blue' plant.

I won't be planting them again.  The spuds are small and turn gray when cooked.

I was disappointed when I thought I wasn't going to get many jalapeños this year, and then I found out I had simply forgotten which plants were which varieties.  There aren't many, but at least there should be enough for a batch of jalapeño jelly.

Now to go dance for rain.

Hot and humid - only moreso

'Razzle Dazzle' rose

I've been eating from my garden for a couple of weeks now.  The cabbages I planted this spring haven't yet started forming heads, but the 'Primo Vantage' plants that overwintered have harvestable heads that have been making good cole slaw.

'Primo Vantage' 

While I was away for a week, the 'Ruby Perfection' (planted this spring) that has grown the largest was ferociously attacked because it got no Bt spray when it needed it.

'Calima' bush beans are producing massive amounts of beans per plant.  

Even tomatoes are producing in this heat, and a few are beginning to ripen.

'German Johnson'

I had bagged a few flowers on the 'German Johnson' plants to prevent cross-polination with the 'Speckled Roman' plants, thinking I'll try to save seed this year, but I removed the bags when all the flowers seemed to be dying from the heat.  

I missed one...

'Supersweet 100' cherry tomatoes are producing well, but I don't think they're as sweet as last year's crop.

I'm going to combine them with the 'Speckled Roman' roma style fruits to make tomato sauce.  This is the first year I've grown sauce tomatoes.

'Speckled Roman'

They're so pretty, but not the right taste for a sandwich or salad tomato.  The foliage is shrivelly and curly - finely lobed - and not very attractive, but I guess it puts all its beauty in the fruit.

The 'Navajo' thornless blackberry plants are finally maturing enough to produce a small bowl full of berries every few days, which is a thrill for me, sprinkled with raw sugar and left to sit for a while before gobbling them down.  

'Calima' beans, 'Supersweet 100' cherry tomatoes, 

and 'Navajo' blackberries

None of my raspberry plants were able to set fruit in the dry heat.

I don't see any fruit forming on the melons I have growing in cages, but they're mostly hidden by the African marigolds I planted all around them to mask the smell of ripening melons hoping to discourage raccoons.

But over on the compost pile, the small Persian cantaloupe plants and one 'Sugar Baby' watermelon are lush and forming fruit.

'Sugar Baby' watermelon

Small Persian cantaloupe

Meanwhile, perennials and roses are showing off, and I'm loving it.

Russian sage (Perovskia)

'Shazam!'

My rose cuttings survived and seem to be thriving.  I caged them to keep raccoons from digging them up while they're small.

'South Africa'

'Mother of Pearl'

I was so happy that the 'Mother of Pearl' cutting took root, because the mother of 'Mother of Pearl' died over winter.  I hope the baby is hardier.

'Passionate Shock' daylily

'Scarlet Marie' double petal daylily

My lilies have not performed well this year.  It could be the lack of rain, the heat, or maybe they're too crowded.  I'll spread them out this fall.  'Casa Blanca' has done the best.  I never noticed before this big of a difference in the size of anthers on the blooms of a single stalk. Interesting.

Enjoy the heat.  It's only going to get hotter.

'Luna' hibiscus

Still hot - but then....a miracle!

Somehow, it's not as objectionable to be this hot in July as it was in the middle of June.

BONUS:  The weather forecast was calling for .03" of rain overnight.  I'd take it if that's all we were going to get, but....

We got 1" of rain!  Happy dance.  We also got some hail, but thankfully, no damage.  The garden looks as relieved as I feel.

The jalapeños are still looking poorly and aren't fruiting yet, but the snack peppers are fruiting and managed to grow well with periodic watering.

foreground left: snack peppers from seed of grocery store peppers, 

right: volunteer 'Marketmore' cucumber; background: 'German Johnson' tomatoes

small sweet ("snacking") peppers

This year I'm trying a second cucumber - 'Beit Alpha'.  An internet page pronounced it "bite alfa" so that's what I'm going with.  It's reported to have a tender enough skin that it doesn't need to be peeled.  I'm not a fan of unpeeled cucumber, but I'm giving it a chance. 

'Beit Alpha'

My standby 'Marketmore' plant is really struggling, but a volunteer over in the tomato patch seems to be doing fine.  You can see a big difference in the form and surface of the two varieties even at this early stage.  

'Marketmore'

The plants themselves don't look much different, except the 'Beit Alpha' flowers are much larger.  And by not much different, I mean the leaves look pretty much the same.  In the picture below, 'Beit Alpha' is on the left, and 'Marketmore' on the right.  There's quite a difference here, but I believe it's due to the start they each got. I don't know why 'Marketmore' lagged so far behind, unless 'Beit Alpha' is more drought tolerant.  And possibly, 'Marketmore' was undermined more by moles, which are excavating the whole darned garden.

The literature says 'Beit Alpha' is best when picked small.  Small being relative term, I wasn't sure when to pick it.  I picked one this morning that's 5" long, and they're right that you can eat them without peeling.  The skin is very thin and tender.  Not bitter at all.  I'll be planting these again.

'Beit Alpha' cucumber

'Beit Alpha' cucumber

'Speckled Roman' tomatoes are looking good (much better than 'German Johnson' - see last post for comments on that).

Unfortunately, they look good to the raccoons, too.

I'm eager for these 'Sugar Baby' watermelons to be harvestable.  I suppose I'll have to share with the raccoons if I can't figure out a way to protect them.  Unlike other melons I've grown, these seem to have a lot more female flowers and are showing little fruits all along the stem.

That's a picture from three days ago. This is the same couple of babies after last night's rain:

They're fast!

They're growing along with (and being overtaken by) small Persian cantaloupe on what has been my compost hill in years past, so I haven't decided how I might try to protect them yet.  I think the cantaloupe maybe does better trailing on the ground than up on cages, which is how I always grow them to save space in the garden proper.  

I'm really loving this 'Rouxai' lettuce.  It's so dark and curly.  And now it's starting to show a contrasting neon green at the center.  This is the first year I've planted it, but it will definitely not be the last.  (By the way, the internet pronouncer says it's "rooksie".)

I thought it was rabbits eating my 'Calima' green beans, but now I'm wondering if it's deer.  They're keeping one half of the row pretty well mowed off.

The other half is lovely, tolerates the dry heat quite well, and produces lots of lovely, tender beans.

I don't know what keeps whoever is eating them from going on down the line, but they stop about midway.  The reason I think it might be deer is that they often walk a path across the garden, and they might just be munching on their way to the other side.  And it does seem like bunnies might not keep them mowed off like that.

'Calima' beans are long and thin, which I like for making dry cooked oriental beans with ginger, garlic, and cayenne pepper in sesame oil.  Halved, they also made a nice little mess of one of my favorite simple dishes: green beans and new potatoes boiled with bacon grease.

'Yukon Gold' potatoes and 'Calima' green beans

The potatoes were also tasty seasoned and oven roasted with 'Tender Sweet' carrots and 'All Blue' potatoes.  

The blue potatoes are not very appetizing when cooked.  The skin loses its rich dark purple-black color, and the inside (which doesn't look that great raw) turn kind of gray.  They look bluer in the picture than they actually look IRL, as the kids say online (in real life).  They taste good, but not good enough to make me want to grow them again.  Too bad, because the flowers on the plant are pretty, as are the raw potatoes.  But, 'Yukon Gold' potatoes are creamy and delicious, so I really don't need anything else unless I just want a pretty picture.

'All Blue' and 'Yukon Gold' potatoes, 'Calima' green beans, 

'Tender Sweet' carrots, and 'Babybeat' beets

'All Blue' potato flowers

Things should spark up quickly now with the much needed and much appreciated rain, and the tomatoes might even set fruit with the slightly cooler temperature.  Such a relief.

'Queen Lime' series zinnia - 'Orange Blush'