Dang'nabbit!

Awe,.........................poor Rita.................

I dug up enough of my garlic to make room for other vegetables. I planted cantaloupe, honey dew melon, and another 'Big Daddy' tomato. Now the hardneck and Creole have been dug (the hardneck already bagged and the Creole curing). Next week the softneck ought to be ready to dig up and that will finish up the garlic harvest. Only curing the Creole and softneck remains.

Has anyone ever planted tomato and then within a couple of feet of it, planted cantaloupe, honey dew melon, and/or sweet potatoes? I just wondered whether those "vining" plants would take over the tomato plants. I don't know whether those vines stay on the ground or would climb the tomato plants.

I'm not much of a farmer.

I believe they will just creep around, no climbing.

Newyorkrita said:I wanted to buy some cantaloupe seedlings but the big favorite nursery I went to earlier today that I bought them at last year didn't have any. They had watermelon but I don't want those! Bummer. So now I really do have to start my own seeds that I have been putting off.

I know what you mean. Gotta have cantaloupe growing. Those were the seeds that germinated the best for me, the watermelon and cantaloupe. Even the few seeds I direct sowed. I have one row of small watermelons, one row of cantaloupe, and one row of very large watermelon the roommate decided we had to grow. We have a very small refrigerator and had trouble fitting the small watermelons in it last year. We had to cut it up and chop it into small pieces to fit in a dish. And the roommate always wanted the whole watermelon chilled before cutting. I told him that he will have to get one of those camping ice chests, fill it with ice to chill one of the big ones when we harvest them.

I think I may have to pull some amaranth out of the melon patch today. The row that is growing the huge watermelon was direct sowed and the plants are still very small. But still, they aren't far behind the others. They will just take more time to grow before we can harvest them. I left a few amaranth because they were close to the melon plants and I didn't want to disturb the young roots. Last year, the roommate got bored of the watermelon before we were done harvesting all of them. I think maybe he was just jealous that I gave some of the melons away, even though we had more than enough to eat ourselves.

I don't have enough room to grow watermellon, even the small mini watermellons.

I am very pleased that my garden is getting some rain. Usually, I get excited too soon after it starts raining. The rain doesn't usually last but a few minutes in this part of the city. But this week, the rain has been worthwhile, so I haven't been able to use my new watering wand much. That is fine with me. I like having more time to do other stuff, especially in the evenings. I think I might even bake a cake tonight.

@Newyorkrita I am making room for watermelon. Last year, the melon vines were all over and spreading outside the melon bed. This year the roommate made the bed bigger, but I am also going to try growing the small melons, cantaloupe, and squash vertically. The vines of the big melons will be allowed to spread on the ground. But I will be spending a lot of time making sure the others grow vertically. I will be using cattle fencing and pvc. We had the fencing left over from the roommate putting a fence around my 3 main growing beds. There wasn't enough to go around the melon patch. But there should be enough to make a couple trellises. The spaghetti squash and butternut squash will also be growing vertically, but using different fencing if we can't get more at a good price.

I was planning to work on my map of my growing beds this evening, but the rain is keeping me from getting measurements. Especially of the melon patch, which I never wrote down the rough measurements we took as we were getting the melon patch ready. And I lost the rough draft of my other beds because I kept procrastinating doing the revisions. We were not able to do all we planned at once, as we could only make changes each month after we got paid and all the bills were paid. I worried the melon patch would grow too quickly and we wouldn't have the trellises built. Without much rain here, that didn't happen. Now that we are only days away from getting the materials, we are getting a lot of rain.

It won't be a tragedy if we don't get the materials for the trellises, but we are expecting better harvests with the trellises. I also have other stuff planted and/or planned for the melon patch, but they will fail if they get overrun with melon vines.

ckatNM said:I am very pleased that my garden is getting some rain. Usually, I get excited too soon after it starts raining. The rain doesn't usually last but a few minutes in this part of the city. But this week, the rain has been worthwhile, so I haven't been able to use my new watering wand much. That is fine with me. I like having more time to do other stuff, especially in the evenings. I think I might even bake a cake tonight.

@Newyorkrita I am making room for watermelon. Last year, the melon vines were all over and spreading outside the melon bed. This year the roommate made the bed bigger, but I am also going to try growing the small melons, cantaloupe, and squash vertically. The vines of the big melons will be allowed to spread on the ground. But I will be spending a lot of time making sure the others grow vertically. I will be using cattle fencing and pvc. We had the fencing left over from the roommate putting a fence around my 3 main growing beds. There wasn't enough to go around the melon patch. But there should be enough to make a couple trellises. The spaghetti squash and butternut squash will also be growing vertically, but using different fencing if we can't get more at a good price.

I was planning to work on my map of my growing beds this evening, but the rain is keeping me from getting measurements. Especially of the melon patch, which I never wrote down the rough measurements we took as we were getting the melon patch ready. And I lost the rough draft of my other beds because I kept procrastinating doing the revisions. We were not able to do all we planned at once, as we could only make changes each month after we got paid and all the bills were paid. I worried the melon patch would grow too quickly and we wouldn't have the trellises built. Without much rain here, that didn't happen. Now that we are only days away from getting the materials, we are getting a lot of rain.

It won't be a tragedy if we don't get the materials for the trellises, but we are expecting better harvests with the trellises. I also have other stuff planted and/or planned for the melon patch, but they will fail if they get overrun with melon vines.

I like to grow everything I can up on trellis type structures. I prefer pole beans because of this. And I grow up cucumbers up. Saves on lots of space. My cantaloupe type melons again on trellis. So I just don't grow watermelon or winter squash. Takes up much too much room.

Newyorkrita said:

I like to grow everything I can up on trellis type structures. I prefer pole beans because of this. And I grow up cucumbers up. Saves on lots of space. My cantaloupe type melons again on trellis. So I just don't grow watermelon or winter squash. Takes up much too much room.

I don't have as much room as I would like for my garden, so I plan to grow vertically as much as possible. I have a lot that I love to eat, but not enough space to grow much. Right now, I am trying to grow a little of a bunch of different things. This helps me figure out what will grow best here. The things that are growing well will make me put on my thinking cap to come up with ways to grow them vertically so I can have more. I have more ideas than I have budget, so it is just a little at a time for me.

I'm planning to grow more types of beans and peas also. Some using the chain link fence I'm already using. And some using poles I don't yet have. I think next year should be much more productive and organized than this year for doing more vertical gardening. If I am still around.

I do vines vertically, even large winter squash. My favorite is penn Dutch crookneck, which works for me on bamboo tripod with a milk gallon jug full of water hanging down the center and just barely touching the ground. The weight keeps vines from toppling the teepee. And the squash grow down straight til they rest on the ground and have straight necks which make them easier to peel and chop as opposed to the crooked neck they have if allowed to sprawl. If a squash forms at the top of the vine I support it with foot of pantyhose.

I will need to remember your use of a milk jug for steadiness. I am sure that tip will come in handy some day.

Twenty-six days till the sun starts coming back here.

Glen, I am less sad to think of it fading from us now that I know someone down there where it spends the other half of the year.

texaskitty111 - don't forget to nosh on those delicious squash blossoms, too!

I do, they come along with all the bite sized squash, and I pick most of the male blossoms too. And, all the narcissus blossoms. Makes an attractive side dish.

Critter, I find it annoying that we still have to go through 2.5 months of winter here even though the sun will be coming back. Unfortunately, there is no one to complain too.

2.5 months?!?!?!?!?
Crocuses to falling leaves is only 6 months here!
The other 6 are for indoor activities and craving the mud.

It is Summer! Come join us on the Summer veggie gardening thread.

The thread "What's going on in our Summer Vegetable Gardens?" in Vegetables and Fruit forum