Urban gardening 2010: Eggplants (June, July)

The eggplants were getting stout, and flowers started forming in late June. The first few photos are of the eggplants in the long trough.

Mid/late June

Late June

Eggplant blossom (Early July)

I had read that eggplants are really difficult to grow, and especially pollinate, and many people end up having to "hand-pollinate"... These have been our easiest crop to date! They were the last things to go in the dirt outside, but we've basically watered them when they're dry, and have left them alone. I guess we had some busy-bees because the next week, you could see the swollen fruit forming inside the flower "cap"!

Early/Mid July

The eggplant is peeping out! (Mid July)

Mid/late July

Late July

The eggplants were hanging out there a little too long! (Early August)

The type of eggplants we were growing were called "green apple eggplants"- which totally makes sense. They are the size of small apples, and are pale green. The only way to tell that they're done is to squeeze them slightly to see if they have any "give". Otherwise, they are super smooth and hard, kind of like an unripe tomato.

P sliced them up and pan seared them with some bacon fat and served them with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Yummy! Oops, ate them before I could take a picture! 

These last couple shots are of the eggplants in the terracotta pot.

Mid/late July

Late July

A perfect apple green eggplant! (Early August)

Urban gardening 2010: Watermelon

Paul's coworker had given him some tiny watermelon seedlings in mid June.

We threw them into a medium sized galvanized bucket, not expecting much. But once we put them in the dirt, they starting growing like crazy!

Late June

Early July

Mid July

Watermelon blossoms! (Mid/Late July)

Bumble bee on watermelon blossom (Mid/late July)

First watermelon! (Mid/late July)

 Late July

Late July

We weren't sure when the watermelon was ready for picking, but since it hadn't gotten any bigger in a week, we took our chances (it was about the size of a tennis ball). P cut the watermelon open, and much to our surprise, the inside was was almost completely rind (the white part). There was a little pink-ish center and even the seeds, still soft, were whitish/clear. It looked more like a super round cucumber than a watermelon! Tasted like one too...  

 

Watermelon (& green apple eggplants) in  early August

More watermelons! Hope these are sweeter.... (Early/mid August)

Urban gardening 2010: Eggplants (May and June)

The eggplants seem to be doing pretty well- no flowers or anything yet, but the stems and leaves are getting thicker and stronger!

The marigolds we planted from seed are actually taking over the eggplants! We didn't check the seed packet carefully- we thought we were getting the dwarf ("French") marigolds, but instead we got the ones that grow to like 3' tall! Oops!