Tidying Things Up

I harvested our first pumpkin today. The abundance of rain had caused a small split in its skin, and I knew I should have taken it off the vine the day before. It wasn't growing any bigger either, which could be another giveaway sign that it was ready for plucking. It is however very edible and still fresh.

Later on I decided to give away the pumpkin to a friend who came to visit. According to an old custom, it is a sign of goodwill to offer the first fruits of your garden to friends or neighbours, as this will increase the yield of your garden. Whether or not it works, I like the philosophy behind it, and have put it into practice.

I then went all around the garden, placing plastic container lids under all the pregnant pumpkins (as I call them), to prevent damp rot or fruit splitting.

Six capsicum seedlings are now also planted in the largest bed, in place of stunted chillies which never grew. This is the third time the capsicums have been moved, so I hope they survive. They started life in an old egg carton, then I transplanted them into a plastic seedling tray when the egg carton became too shallow for the growing roots. After a few weeks in the tray, they are finally in the soil.

A couple of days earlier, I also planted eight chickpea seedlings by the fence where the dragonfruit had been. The dragonfruit plant seems to be fading away into a lighter shade of green, despite its position (full sun). Maybe the soil wasn't suitable, thus I have re-potted it.

Butternutty

Not much to report except the baby pumpkin is growing. SUCCESS is mine - with hand pollination - mwahahaaHAAHAHAHAH!!! The baby pumpkin started off quite green, and now it's quite a pale green-almost-white colour. The flower on top of its head is shrivelled and browned, but still attached. It makes the pumpkin look as if it has a brown mohawky tuft. I have the urge to draw eyes and a mouth on it and call it "Wilson".

I noticed also that another tiny female bud had started to form on the same vine which the baby pumpkin is growing. Except the tiny bud has now turned yellow and growth has stopped. Perhaps it's another plant-survival thing, where only one fruit can form on any one vine. Elsewhere on other vines of the pumpkin plant tells the same story. Where there is more than one female bud starting to form on a vine, only one will remain green whereas the others turn yellow and stunted. Maybe it's just a coincidence? Maybe it's a natural selection thing? Whatever it is I will get to the bottom of it... one day.

P.S. I also obtained an out-of-date bag of potatoes which I am now storing in the cupboard until they sprout 'eyes'. Then I shall plant those too!! MWaaahhaahahahahahhhAAHHAHA!! I think all this success with planting may be messing with my head....

"Second" Bed

Today, my boyfriend and I planned the second (or northern) bed and got to work putting the plants in. We had a dozen or so leftover Grosse Lisse tomato seedlings and a couple of Lebanese cucumbers ready to go into the ground. As well as hand-raised chilli babies sprung from seeds. The chillies looked so tiny when planted in the bed. Fragile and unprotected. They weren't growing any bigger in their egg cartons, so here's hoping they will, in their new bigger home.

We decided to place the tomatoes in the bed in a slanted " N " formation. This breaks up the rectangular bed into four sectors in which we planted chillies, cucumbers and garlic chives. We will fill in the rest with capsicums once they are large enough. I estimate that not all the chilli plants will survive - so where there is a vaccuum, I will replant with a capsicum. Most gardening books I have read, treat chillies the same as capsicum. Interesting. They also grow from very similar looking seeds into very similar looking seedlings. I suppose it's because they are part of the same family.

Another source of joy for me in the garden is watching the baby butternut pumpkin grow bigger. I think my hand pollination of the female flower the other day actually worked! The butternut seems to be growing incrementally every day. I love looking at it and admiring its shape. At this stage, I don't care so much for harvesting the vegetables as much as just watching them grow, and marvelling at the process nature takes. It's such a simple thing really, and the plants are just doing what they naturally do with minimal fuss... but to me it's a thing of beauty and simplicity.