Nest of Pearls: watermelon

Sunday, October 7, 2012

{garden update}

It's starting to get colder here in NC! But the garden is still doing well. {by the way, so is the little aloe plant in the corner. apparently he doesn't like the outside world.}

The watermelon was actually ripe, by the way! Super delicious. It probably could have been picked a little earlier, but anyone I've ever talked to always tells me their watermelons never turn out well.Well, guess my thumb just got a little greener!

So now that my cucumbers are doing well, I can tell you how it works. Unless you have bees {which I don't think visit my garden} you don't have to worry about pollinating the flowers. Since I do, I'll tell you how it's done. The picture below is a female cucumber flower. The male flowers are identical, except for the little cucumber before the flower. You remove the male flower's petals {sorry, poor guy} and stick the rest of the male stamen on the female stigma. {The stamen/stigma being the middle part that holds the pollen. Hope I got that right...} It is basically the same thing you have to do with watermelons.

Tada! Cucumbers! I've harvested two cucumbers so far, and have at least three more on the way. By the way, it's fine to pollinate the female and male flowers from the same plant. The only time it's not is if you're trying to save seeds. I planted two plants, and only one is doing very well, but I like the security of having two. & my dear sweetheart said the cucumbers were extra tasty.

female cucumber flower

Can you believe I actually grew a watermelon? I wonder if one day I'll actually be able to have a big garden and start a little bit of homesteading. I'm trying to grow some lettuce now, and it's obviously not going to work. Oh well!

I know, so excited!!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

{Apartment Jungle}

pre-pollinated

Gardening is one of my favorite stress relievers. & watching everything grow has been amazing.

I have a 6+ foot tomato plant I'm growing in a 48" or so pot. We've enjoyed 14 tomatoes so far, and should have another 13 in a few weeks! See, you can grow some of your own food on an apartment patio!

So I'm also trying to grow a watermelon plant. I read online you can train them to grow up a trellis. I think you're supposed to do that with 8-10 pound watermelons. Mine should grow to be 25. I can only hope!!

The trick to growing watermelons in an apartment/town house, is that you have to hand pollinate the flowers. Really? it's not difficult, as long as you can catch a female flower blossoming. I had two, and they blossomed on a perfect sunday morning. The very next day-there's a melon growing!

One of the watermelons is still thriving. The other shriveled up. Maybe because of lack of water, I'm not sure. Either way, I would expect to be able to have my first summer watermelon by mid October. Hope it doesn't frost before then.

An {Apartment} Watermelon's Life