Canteloupe flavor. But if I can get that rind smell into the flesh…
One interesting thing about these is that the bugs hadn’t gotten to them yet, even though they were split. Which suggests that either they both split last night (unlikely) or something kept the bugs off them until I picked them this morning…
I wonder what? Do you have any theories?
Well, of course the hope would be that they have some kind of natural resistance. I know there are slugs and Roly pollies because I’ve found them on other canteloupe. I’ve seen ants, and so on.
Lots of other things could be going on, from being protected by the thick mat of leaves to being protected by weeds.
Something was burrowing into my last canteloupe, so I harvested it early and cut off the bad part. I hope more flowers will show up once this heat is gone.
I have mixed three varieties, but I think maybe only two have survived this year. One plant had two webbed melons, three plants had one each of the small ridged melons. The small numbers are probably because I haven’t watered them until this last week of 100+ temperatures.
I’m not sure the third variety is represented any longer. They don’t seem to be really mixing, in spite of being planted all jumbled together four years running.
Melons do ripen of the vine (unlike watermelons), but ofcourse there is some limit to it and if they are too far away from full ripeness the taste isn’t going to be so sweet. Many commercial varieties are bred so that they have fairly high brix well before full ripeness and so they can be picked and consumed well before full ripeness. I think it was 10 days or so. I don’t think those are as good before full ripeness, but commercial market demands melons that can be picked early and don’t spoil before they gcan sell them. Consumers don’t know any better so they are happy with what they get.
This year’s seed population for the zucchetti.
I eliminated plants that produced only one fruit, and plants that are just starting to produce. One of the most productive plants got hit by some disease, but sailed right through it.
All the survivors this year were vining plants.
As for whether seeds ripen after picking, I’m afraid I’m going to have to trust my lying eyes and 50 years of gardening experience.
One watermelon left on the vine. If I’d been thinking I could have planted another set beginning of August for a fall harvest.
I think I found a vine borer larvae, but it was burrowing into one of the squash fruits rather than a vine. So I’m not sure. Same type that was boring into one of my canteloupe. I have seen vine borer in the area, but no vine deaths so far.
I found a pretty good population of squash bug nymphs on one of the plants. The plant is still ok.
Pumpkins did not like that heat and stopped putting out female blossoms.
Sweet potatoes are blooming.
Chickens got into the greenhouse but couldn’t find their way out, silly birds. Rescuing them resulted in some trampling of the fig leaf goards, so we’ll see how that works out.
Looks like the plum I put in the ground just before the heat hit is dead. We’ll see if it pops back. I have a few more seeds and one established plum in a pot, but I think I need to find another place to put those. They apparently can’t handle the water.
4 of my peach tree seedlings survived being mowed. One cherry seedling is still alive and I have two more to go in the ground. I put a seedling apple and a pear in the ground this morning. So far only the apricots and the peaches have developed the bush form.
I’ll let you know how my cucurbits that I planted in early August do! I have four squash species (maxima, pepo, moschata, and mixta), and also cantaloupes and watermelons.
I planted my first batch in June, but I mulched them too deeply, and the roly polies ate everything. (Sniffle.) Once I finally accepted that they weren’t going to germinate, I resowed in the first week of August.
I now have some plants that are looking very promising, including one pepo squash that is about two feet wide and one foot tall, after only three weeks of growing. A spaghetti zucchini? There are a few more pepo squashes that are smaller but still looking happy and vigorous.
The other species have some individuals that are fairly promising, and others that I suspect probably won’t produce anything before frost.
I’ll probably end up putting mini greenhouses over the most promising plants right before the first frost, to give them more time to produce a first fruit – or better yet, a tenth. 
I’m dry farming all of them. They’re in one-foot-deep swales with mulch in the swales around them. We’ve had a really rainy August, with at least one big rain a week, so I figure if they can’t make do with that, they are whiner babies. 
So far, they’re all wilting in midday and recovering in the evening, so I think they’re all doing fine.
Apparently the small flat pumpkin I was unable to identify a few weeks ago was a pumpetti. It has a very strong noodle habit. I was able to separate the “noodles” with my hands before cooking it.
It had a bunch of decent looking seeds, but it smells odd. Not like any other squash I’ve ever smelled.
I pulled most of the squash this week. Much of it was infested by vine borers.
The pattern is quite interesting. I planted straight into the grass along the edge of the woodchips, and I think at first that confused them. None of the larvae were at the base of the stem, but it looks like the borer would find a leaf node outside the grass and just work its way along, laying an egg at each node. So some of the larvae were quite deep in the grass, but the more developed were outside it. A whole section of stem would be free of the ick, then node after node infested as long as the stem was thick enough.
Since most of the vines were done bearing, it hasn’t really affected my harvest. I wish I had my burn barrel, though. I don’t trust that I got them all. And no, there seemed no difference between the tatume and the other squashes.
The squash bugs are there as well, but compared to previous years they seem quite well mannered. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next year, now that both species have a foothold.
I was hoping that the constant wind would keep the vine borers away, and I think it worked for a while. This last month or so has been almost windless, and I think that’s when they found me.
No sign of borers or squash bugs on any of the melons.
Only one variety of pumpkin fruited. The others are just starting to get male blossoms.
Sweet potatoes flowered, but no seeds. The seedlings in the greenhouse haven’t bloomed.
I need to get the last of the seedling trees in the ground. One I can’t tell if it’s a peach or an almond, so likely a hybrid. I will be planting seeds for cherries, peaches, apples and pears at the beginning of winter, but I’ll plant almonds and plums somewhere with more drainage. They both really struggled with the water levels in the garden, and those are the two I really want.
Unfortunately I have only 3 grape seedlings left. Chickens ate some, but that extreme heat took out the survivors. Only one of the outside plants survived, and it appears to be unaffected by the heat, so I may have one adapted.
I found some ripe peppers buried in the grass. I took a nibble. Sweet and slightly peppery. Perfect. Another nibble. Still not hot, but only one seed. Very sad. Perfect for adding to my sweet pepper population.
I popped the whole thing in my mouth. Ha…ah…ah…no. I think I boiled my tongue and throat. Half an hour, a full glass of milk and some ice cubes later, still burning.
Was it from one of the GTS pepper grexes?
No, this one was purchased.
This is my first summer here so the only landrace seeds I got in the ground were the zucchetti, a canteloupe mix, and the watermelons. I got a total of 3 tomatoes, and now three peppers from purchased plants. The chickens got my seeded peppers and tomatoes.
I am starting to see a few blossoms on the beans that got buried in (i.e., planted into) grass. I hope they get a chance to ripen.
I thought I had started updating for this year, but I can’t find it.
In February I seeded the cold tolerance tests for pumpkins, watermelons, cantaloupe, moschata, corn, beans and tomatoes. I also overseeded most of the yard with flax seed and clover. In March I planted out the tomatoes and peppers. None of the cold tolerance seeds for those two items came up.
Temperatures right now are in the 50’s to 60’s during the night, sometimes dropping down to the high 40’s, rising to the 60’s to 80’s F during the day.
Tomatoes and peppers are doing fine but not growing yet. That’s ok, I’m looking for survival at the moment. I have lost several to chickens and the neighbor’s dog.
Flax is coming up everywhere. One pumpkin emerged and has secondary leaves. Growing, but slowly. No cantaloupe yet. No green beans. I found my first tepary bean today. I didn’t expect to see them for at least another month. Onions are doing great so far. Dry beans (15 bean soup mix) came up almost immediately, and while growing slowly, they are definitely growing.
Watermelons are finally coming. I think I saw 8 today.
This week I replanted pumpkins, moschata (winter chicken feed), and corn. I need to decide what to do about the green beans. Maybe focus on dry beans this year?
Of last year’s seedling trees, 5 peaches and 5 apricots survived the winter. About half are showing the bush form I wanted.
New almond seedlings, more apricots, and a few apples/pears have joined the ranks. Peaches, plums, and cherries planted this year haven’t shown their heads yet.
I have two more sections to plant but I’m not sure what to put there.
