I planted the watermelon seeds on a whim last May. This plant has done the best out of everything! We have picked about 5 watermelons so far and we have a few more that aren't quite ready yet. We also picked a couple that weren't ripe yet! I am so happy that we actually grew watermelons! All was doing well until the plant was taken over by an army of spider mites. They killed most of the plant but our watermelons are still hanging on!
The plant turned a nasty spotted brown.
Here's a watermelon hanging down into our window well. We have a nice view of it from our basement 😊.
These watermelons are medium sized, which I am grateful for. We wouldn't have had enough room for anything bigger! I am not sure if we will plant them next year, since they depleted the soil but maybe the year after!
The garden boxes were hit and miss this year. Our tomatoes are finally starting to grow, very late. The zuchini plants I planted by seeds were also late bloomers but they're doing great now! The peas are also still producing but I'm letting them dry out so I can collect the seeds.
Our blackberry and raspberry plants have grown a lot! We already need to make a trellis for them. They're currently flopped over on the ground. They have sprouted some new canes as well. I'm very excited to see if they produce next summer.
The sweet potatoes are doing well! They are still not ready to harvest. I believe they're ready when their leaves turn more yellow/light green. And there's our happy mum too!
The strawberry bare roots we planted have thrived for the most part. A couple plants died but the rest will probably produce next summer!
I'm honestly not sure what is going on with our pumpkin plant. All I know is that we don't have any yet! We keep getting small green ones and then they dry up and fall off.
Maybe this little fella will survive! I think they probably don't get enough sunlight where they are planted. I hope we get at least one pumpkin.
Last is our Mammoth sunflower. It got huge and did pretty well until it was almost time to harvest the seeds. The flower came crashing down and died soon after. The seeds were not fully developed, unfortunately. We had a tiny sunflower that my son picked without asking as well. Oh, well!
All in all, I have learned this year that growing my own food is amazing! I was even inspired to get an Aerogarden for inside, so we could continue to have a small garden all year.
I am, however, very grateful that I don't have to rely on our garden for winter survival. If my garden has failures, I can just run to the store. That's a huge blessing. Especially since quite a few plants did fail me this year. Or more like I failed them.
I will be dreaming of the magic of our next garden all winter long. It's truly therapeutic and FUN to have a garden, no matter how big or small! And I will be praying that spider mites and other pests stay away!
Happy September!
- Merewyn
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