Friday, September 09, 2022

Fenton Friday: Cool Season Begins


The great news in the plot this week is the appearance of the Cucamelons (Melothria scabra) aka Mexican Sour Gherkins aka Mouse Melon. The little vine is starting to pump them out. They are late fruiting this season, because I didn't get around to planting them until well into the summer, so I'm glad to have any harvest at all from them.

The sad news at the plot this week was that the pumpkin I showed you here last week was gnawed off the vine and damaged by some critter (I am guessing city rodents.) The good news is that the vine keeps growing and growing and growing. There are at least 3 other pumpkins forming on it right now.

The Fall interns started this week and started some cool season crops for them to grow this semester. Brandie picked two things to start from seed -- Kale 'Dazzling Blue' and Radish 'Round Black Spanish'. Both seed packs are from Botanical Interests I cannot wait to see the results as they sound like they will be gorgeous plants. We planted them where the Nasturtium and Genovese Basil were growing this summer, they both looked pretty beaten down at this point and ready to be pulled. 

The other intern, Jaime, picked the Swiss Chard 'Pot of Gold' seeds from Renee's Garden to start in a vacant container that we had at the plot. He also planted 6 Broccoli seedlings I bought at a local Ace Hardware store last weekend. They were generically labeled "broccoli," so I'm not sure of the variety, but I'm going to guess it is 'Packman' as that is a pretty common one grown here. We planted the Broccoli in the spot where I had the Potatoes all summer and had dug them all out for the fair entry. I went back the next day and put a row cover cloth over the seedlings to keep the cabbage looper moth and other pests off the seedlings.

Other than that I picked a handful of cherry tomatoes and okra this week. The peppers are still producing too. 

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 11th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

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