The melon vines that I have been training up the fence have budded fruit! How exciting! But now, as the fruit swells, how to support the vine so the globes can ripen? I tore off some netting from last year’s Halloween decorations and made a sling around the fruit and the vine. I used round clips to secure the corners, both because they can be adjusted as the melon grows, and because they were already hanging on the fence from my makeshift green house. I am also pruning down to one melon per vine, to give the remaining ones their best chance.

Mint and strawberries are prolific spreaders. I need some ground cover for erosion control on a slope in our yard so have been encouraging the chocolate mint plants to go wild. I recently was given strawberry plants from my uncle who has an amazing strawberry patch. I planted my bare-root plants in a circle around the mint, where it is sunny and they will get watered well. Mint is rumored to repel slugs, which would be good for strawberry production. The hope is that they both continue to propagate and fill in. It will be interesting to see, though, if I end up with a battle of the rhizomes.

Our hibiscus is happy and blooming! Great big gorgeous flowers! And so many more buds. Hurray!

There are actual cucumbers actually growing on my cucumber plant! The pollinators have been back to work! This is a bush variety that is supposed to produce small pickling cucumbers, so we’ll see how that goes. The rogue plant growing outside the container is still alive, but doesn’t have fruit (or the dog eats it, hm). The carrots and peas have all been nibbled by something, however the melon is vining and has a flower, so maybe some pollinators will be attracted there too.