Expectations and Outcomes

Watermelon

Watermelon

This is not how I envisioned the watermelon growing. I figured one or two vines would take over, and choke out the other plants. I was mistaken, and I now know that these expansive plants need lots of room. Next year, I’ll give them eight feet of clearance between rows. I’m quite concerned that they will overtake my Endive, Carrots, and Swiss Chard . I’ve grown accustomed to the flavorful salads Endive and Chard are delivering, so I may need to put up a fence to keep back the invading vines.

Watermelon on June 25th

Watermelon on June 25th

They have grown quite a bit since last month, with their size at that time shown above.  I never imagined they would grow so fast, and take up so much room, but it seems quite silly in hind sight.There isn’t even enought room for each vine to have one melon. I guess in my defence, I wasn’t expecting much growth from them at all. I tried to grow melons in this area last year with terrible results. I will need to keep this in mind for future growth. Once you fertilize the ground with good black bio-mass, it will make plants Pop !

Boston Pickling Cucumbers

Boston Pickling Cucumbers

The Boston Pickling Cucumbers have also exceeded my expectations. The picture above speaks volumes about the number of cucumbers I should expect, and this is just one vine. There are at least 6 or 7 rows of cucumbers altogether, so it should be a great year for pickles.

Pickles are something we really can’t have enough of in our valley. Last year I had prolific yields of cucumbers, as soon as cucumbers grew, they were made into pickles and as soon as the pickles were made, they were eaten…

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