Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Pickles!

I think our cucumber vines have reached the end of their usefulness.  We took all of the fruit off a couple of days ago to try and keep it producing, but it's starting to look despondent.  Then we had to think about what to do with all of the cucumbers.  Matt loves them, but he's the only one.  So, I grabbed the Ball Blue Book of Canning and found a recipe for bread and butter pickles.  Which, again, only Matt likes.  So, he'll be responsible for consuming the 5 pints of pickles over the next year. They look pretty though!


The dragonflies are coming out in force.  The boys are delighted by them, especially when they stay in one spot for a long time like this guy did.  Henry and Oliver (and my camera) were able to get a good close look at him.
This cantaloupe is getting huge.  I've never seen a cantaloupe on the vine, so I was starting to second-guess myself about whether I'd gotten my watermelon and cantaloupe seeds mixed up.  Apparently, the netting on the skin doesn't develop until they're ripe.  This is the biggest one, but it's one of many.  Once Oliver figures out what it is, I'm going to have to hold him back from harvesting it himself.


And this is my kind of plant.  We've got a watermelon vine sprouting in front of the compost bin.  I adore plants that plant themselves.  They should all be this easy.

2 comments:

  1. Hi, I enjoyed the observations about your garden. Here in Virginia we're quite a bit behind you; our last frost date is tax day April 15th, so most plants like tomatoes cannot be planted outside earlier. The only things coming up so far are radishes.

    Oh, and congratulations on your volunteer watermelon. Just be sure to keep that guy well-watered as the summer heats up!

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  2. "Volunteer watermelon," that's a great way to put it! I'll make sure it gets plenty of water.

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