Cantaloupes: Follow Up

Ok...that was pretty interesting. Eyeballing for a female flower, connecting it to a male flower on the same plant was simple enough. The next part is quite a delicate process: the removal of the male flowers' petals. The petals I snip off with the manicure scissors. Then there is left a firmer green outer sheath that within lies the area the pollen is on. Very gently, I peel this away to reveal an 1/8 inch diameter, 1/4 inch long ...thing. I still do not know the scientific name for this part. (sorry) Then I take this and insert it gently into the female flowers center, hopefully pollinating the flower. I now fully understand that this area is just too small for a bumble bee to do the job. In a few days I will see whether the first flowers took...either the tiny fuzzy female part will begin to grow or begin to turn yellow and fall off the plant.

The steps I took were written in present tense because every morning I hunt for female flowers and repeat the process in hopes that I may have a crop of cantaloupes.

Cantaloupes

Alrighty...why are my cantaloupes not fruiting? Well, I looked it up. Very convenient this internet is. I remember, as a youngster, being sent to the encyclopedias to find my answers. I don't know that the 'C' book would have an answer to why my cantaloupes are not fruiting. Only because there is a level of detail that, if provided for all topics, would make the 'C' book weigh alot more. So then I would need to go to the library hoping that there was a book with this information in it. Time. Internet saves me time. I do wonder, though, what part of my brain is being sacrificed by not needing to go through longer hands on processes to find my information.

Anywho, I looked up why my cantaloupes are not fruiting. On the vine I find many 1 inch long stems with flowers and then there is also, a little ways up, a flower, on what looks like a tiny cantaloupe. The male flowers and the female is what this is, just like on a squash plant. I read that honey bees are very responsible for pollinating my cantaloupes. I also read that the female flowers must be pollinated by the males from the same plant. We leave the doors of the greenhouse open and there are plenty of bees, just not honey bees. I watch bumblebees hanging around the flowers on my Wall of Fruit. So it's all by chance that a bee, a bumblebee, which is much larger than a honey bee, will come from a male flower and go visit a female on the same plant.

It is suggested to buy a colony of honey bees if one is to grow a serious crop of cantaloupes. Short of doing that were directions on how to hand pollinate my melons. So, what am I doing this morning? I am locating male flowers and female flowers on the same plant. I am carefully detaching the male flowers from the vine. I am then removing the outer petals. I am inserting the male pollen into the female flowers. And then marking every female I have molested with a red marker. There is just something a little lewd about the whole process. Fact remains though, that I have put so much time and energy into helping my Wall of Fruit be beautiful and productive that to stand by and only hope that a bee by chance will fertilize a melon is unacceptable. My European Cukes and my Sugar Baby Watermelons are fruiting like mad. I want cantaloupes, too. The vines are there, the leaves are there, the flowers are there. There should be melons, too.

So, off I go.

Carrots

When I seeded the carrot bed outside, I just broad casted the seed and crossed my fingers. 2 weeks ago, I thinned the first thinning and came back with a half a cup of little 1/2 inch orangy things that tasted pretty good. Last weekend I thinned again. This time my carrots are 1 - 1&1/2 inches and ORANGE. We sold the bunch at the market. The carrots are still too close together to grow to full size uninhibited. So, I will get to thin again next weekend. I pulled one yesterday just cause I wanted to. It was 2 &1/2 inches long. I can't wait for the yummy baby carrots! This is the first time growing carrots successfully. Is it too soon to say successfully? Maybe. But you see, I have BABY carrots...so it is a success.

HOT greenhouse

At 110 degrees in the greenhouse, I didn't finish the support for the Wall of Fruit. That still needs to be done. Man, was it hot!

We were turning on the spray cooler system when it hit 85. But I got to thinking: the melons and papayas like it hot. What'll happen if I let it get really hot? So I began not turning on the cooling and watching what happens. I started letting it get to 110-115 and the plants grew phenominally. I wish I had before and after pictures!

It's exciting to see; the growth as well as baby fruits.

Need to charge the batteries. Then I can take pictures.

A List to Remind Me

• Water squashes
• Mow pond lawn
• Mulch squashes
• Mow main lawn
• Mulch squashes more
• Tie up Brandywines and Cherries
• Water Pumpkin Patch
• Harvest Snow Peas
• Water Snow Peas
• Harvest String Beans
• Water String Beans
• Collect Viola Seeds
• Collect Lavender Seeds
• Collect Daisy Seeds
• Tie up Morning Glories in sitting area
• Buy Bailing Twine
• Tie up twine support for Wall of Fruit
• Get last years cuke frames out
• Set up cuke frames
• Mow back area
• Weed wack around south garden
• Mow sitting area
• Tie up nasturtiums at front driveway
• Take pictures of monster zucchini
• Take pictures of Wall of Fruit
• Check roots on columbine starts
• Clean House
• Get ready for Farmer's Market
• Pick up oil

Chores

I love blueberry season. They're pretty and delicious and it's early this year. It's time to make a blueberry sign. We have one for the store. One more needs to be put at the crossroads 100 yards up. The going price is $5.50 - $6.00 a quart. Last year we sold them for $5/qt. and did very very well.

Open Farm Day is this Sunday also. Another sign to post at the front of the property needs to get made. I thought I would spray it red and write in white.

And Farmers' Market is still on Saturday. Lots of harvesting and staying organized. Salad, beets, peas, flowers, zucchini, patty pans, herbs, eggs etc...signs, tags, pamphlets, bags, change etc...

I need to pick up more oil & drop off buckets for oil. Union Fair is letting us get their vendor oil again this year. Most awesome! And we are waiting to hear from Windsor Fair.

I finished planting the new beds in the greenhouse on the east side. Now I have the West side to do. The greenhouse is, of course, very warm in the summer. Come winter it will be kept around 70. Boy, I wish we had the generator already. Lights would help in the winter so much.

This is a picture of our gargantuan Elephant Ears. A beautiful rock wall in the greenhouse is a bed for fun: Elephant Ears, a Rubber Tree and an assortment of tropical houseplants. Behind that wall is our little store. When you walk from the store into the greenhouse the Elephant Ear bed is on your right. This winter, in February, we were astonished to see a bloom on it. We have NEVER seen an Elephant Ear bloom!

Just tasks

I found eSnips. Now I can listen to wonderful music of my choice while writing. And change the selection at will. (I hope it is pleasant for you , too) The little jukebox is at the bottom of the page and you can click on a different song OR shut it off if you want to.

A new (I don't have yet) variety of tomatoes starts was given to me. So the new beds in the greenhouse have transplants. Another was seeded with carrots. And 3 others are being prepared.

• Snow peas were harvested



• I am bagging my celery with paper bags to collect the seed and hoping it doesn't rain. In Maine, the saying goes,"Blink and it will change"- the weather, that is.



• More viola and lupin seeds were collectedEchinacea is blooming. Boy, aren't they beautiful.
  


• Patty Pans and zucchinni were harvested.
  

Plans are in the making to learn to make jam. My mother-in-law will be here to teach me in a few weeks. I have strawberries I froze after picking and blueberries to freeze just for this.

And I think I am going to go pick some flowers for bouquets. They need to be picked anyway. The more I pick the more they bloom. Isn't that wonderful!

Chores

• Pinch and tie tomatoes
• Find out how to bag blossoms to save seed and prevent cross pollination of tomatoes
• Find out how to bag my celery blossoms to save their seed
• Weed
• Clean Store
• Collect Lupin Seeds
• Cut Herbs