Dear Folks,
It is one of the transition times in the garden with edibles going to seed, harvesting, new buds, blooms and fruit!
Back on the 16th of September my Black Tail Mountain watermelon was finally showing ripe! Tendril drying.
The "Field Spot" which is the yellowing - usually on the underside of the fruit, indicating the ripe stage.
And finally the cut! Oh how I love this variety. The picture really does not show the bright red color (poor lighting) and it is delicious! You could call this a "personal" size variety as they are smaller than many varieties - perfect for us.
With the global weirding going on this past year I had to resow seeds, so I did not get these in the ground until March. THEN as the seasonal changed the sun orientation, the vines, while healthy, got less and less sunlight. [I have a new place planned for melon and squash going forward.] Anyway this baby essentially took 6 months from sow to harvest, but it was worth the wait.
My Egyptian Spinach aka Jute, Molokia (Corchorus olitorius) is one of the best summer "lettuce" greens to grow here in the desert and it loves the heat, and this time of year goes to flower and forms the seed pods. I harvest the pods - which snap open easily when dried - for sowing next spring. The leaf taste is mild and perfect for anything you use lettuce in/on.
I am looking forward to more Ratatouille, as both my Casper and Listarda eggplants are still producing fruit. My Paradicsom sweet pepper is full of new fruit too, now that the temps have cooled off. Pepper grow well here but they do get stressed in the middle of our hot summers and then just leap for joy when the temps start to cool in late summer. I don't think I have enough squash, so I will have to buy some and tomatoes and then a new batch of roasted deliciousness!
By the way - I got the Paradicsom Pepper plant from Suzanne Vilardi of Vilardi gardens - about 4 YEARS! ago and it still happy as can be. Catch up with Vilardi Transplants as one of her valley Farmers Market table locations.
One of my huge Chiltepin Pepper plants is in full flower and I had to wack it back as it was encroaching on my Mango. This pepper is known for its heat and is a native of the Southwest and will happily take over a spot which offers a bit of afternoon shade. The birds, which have "asbestos" throats will happily spread the seeds all over the gardens. Just an FYI.
My Roselle ((Hibiscus sabdariffa) loves the new location I decided to use this year. In the Valley they grow as annuals and thrive in our summer heat. It is that time for a whole lot of flower buds and the first flowers - which each only last one day - to show up and show off. The flower is just beautiful.
Late on that burgundy Calyx (the outer part of the flower bud) will swell into the "fruit" we harvest to use in beverages, desserts and salads.
I had to wack back the Roselle also as it was starting to cover my Lemon Grass which had died back to almost nothing from the Sugar Cane - which we removed this spring (I still have the Purple Sugar Cane - but in a hopefully controlled manner).
That is the edge of the Roselle you see in back of the lemon grass in the recent picture.
As my gardens have matured in different ways, this past year and going forward I need to find different places for the "seasonal" edibles to ensure enough sunlight.
Get my planting and sowing post for October - in the archive in the side bar here on the blog. It may also be in the section "Popular Posts".
. . .
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I hope you have a fabulous time enjoying the beauty and rewards of your garden work.
-- Catherine, The Herb Lady
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