This is my "Autumn Crown" winter squash plant - finally putting out some vigorous shoots:
Will it have enough time to bring some fruits to maturity though? It's late July already, and it has not even produced a single flower yet.
Next door, in the same huge container, is the Patty Pan summer Squash plant, looking reasonably healthy now.
It has a few flowers on it, and at least one female one bearing a tiny yellow fruit. The flowers with the long stalks are male ones, so there is a good chance that the little fruit will get fertilised and grow to maturity. I hope so. I could do with a few more successes.
The cucumber plants are doing a bit better now, with plenty of big leaves and several flowers and young fruits.
A few days ago I harvested these two little beauties, which were crisp and tasty:
We ate them as part of a Middle Eastern-style meal, which included lots of different salads and a Broad Bean dip.
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P.S. Just when I thought things were looking up on the cucurbit front...
Grrrrrr! How did that happen? Heavy rain? Foxes? Birds?
I have a cucumber plant in my greenhouse. The label which i read again before assured me that it produces smooth skinned fruit. They do however seem very prickly to me. My melon plant has only produced male flowers so far. I do so hope you produce a patty pan squash. I shall read with interest as i would like to grow them next year.
ReplyDeleteOur squash won't rally as they never even germinated but we have picked some courgettes today!!!
ReplyDeleteHow bizarre. At this time of year you would probably expect to be inundated with courgettes.
DeleteYour cucumber plants and squash look really good this year.
ReplyDeleteMark, My Garden Diary by Kelli Boyles has had a gardening article published in an online magazine. It can be seen at http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/index.gspx or at
http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/5115/the-art-of-gardening
Take a look. It is quite good.
I'm keeping a watchful eye on my cucurbits as mine still aren't really doing anything. They're little green plants that seem to be on strike. I was at an allotment 40 miles from where I live and their cucurbits were as healthy as anything and producing (no blossom rot or yellowing in sight). Gives me some hope, but makes me wonder where I'm going wrong.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Thanks for your comment re: my article.
My Cucumbers have picked up well in the past couple of weeks (since the monsoon season finished), they are in open ground but sheltered by Sweetcorn. My Pumpkins (outside in barrels) have really gone ballistic with the hot weather, developing fruit in the last week. I reckon that there is a good possibility that the hot weather will last for another couple of months at least. 50-50 chance?
ReplyDeleteCuke's here are doing poorly - a couple here and there but nothing like year(isn't that the way gardening goes!) crooked neck squash died outright. The zuchini is doing fine. I hope yours rally all the way back!
ReplyDeleteI never got any cucumbers from my spring planting but I replanted and a couple came up, and now I just have one but it is climbing and looking good so maybe I'll get a few cucumbers before winter.
ReplyDelete