Harvests on the horizon

This is one of my favourite times – the anticipation of harvesting our fruits and veggies…

The frilly edges of winged beans look so delicate; however, the central part of the bean is very sturdy.

The frilly edges of winged beans look so delicate; however, the central part of the bean is very sturdy.

The winged beans have been doing very well, thanks to my remembering to fertilize and water them regularly. They’ve been doing so well, in fact, that we’ve already missed a couple of beans, which are now remaining on the plants so we can harvest seeds for the next generation of plants. My mum and I have a daily game of spot-the-winged-bean, but the plants are more wily than we are! You literally have to lift the leaves to look underneath all the foliage, and look over the top of the plants as well. I may need to leave a step-ladder nearby for this purpose…

I love this sight - mulberries ripening on the right, with younger fruits developing on an adjacent branch in the background. There are a few such clusters on the plant at the moment. :D

I love this sight – mulberries ripening on the right, with younger fruits developing on an adjacent branch in the background. There are a few such clusters on the plant at the moment. :D

Novice Gardener‘s mulberry plant is starting to fruit with a vengeance. Now I understand what she meant when she told me that the plants would grow more and more fruits as they matured. This, unfortunately, did not happen with the smaller mulberry variety that I started off with. However, this plant has restored my faith in the fruits, and I hope the cuttings I’ve kept will start rooting so I can get more plants out in the garden soon!

One of the pumpkins on a stem that's dying off. It looks perfectly happy seated on its raised mat that's resting on a brick to lift it off the compost heap.

One of the pumpkins on a stem that’s dying off. It looks perfectly happy seated on its raised mat that’s resting on a brick to lift it off the compost heap.

Parts of the pumpkin vine are beginning to die off, and we’ve pruned away those dying vine branches that lead nowhere. However, some of the vines with pumpkins on them are also dying off. Since I harvested a couple early, I’m leaving these on a little longer to see what happens. The fruits have been doing much better after I got them off the ground with some anti-stray cat mats from Daiso. It’s great to get good tips from fellow gardeners ;)

Slow but steady grows this watermelon...

Slow but steady grows this watermelon…

The lone watermelon is still growing, albeit slowly. It is currently the size of a grapefruit, and I have absolutely no idea how much longer it is going to grow for. Compared to our other fruiting vines, this is really taking its time to grow! I am, however, aware that this is a water-dense fruit, and that these last few weeks have been very dry ones – which has not been good for a plant growing from a container. As such, I’ve been watering it heavily almost daily – and when I say “heavily”, I mean almost 2 litres of water to completely wet the soil in the big pot that the plant is growing from. Just to compare this, I’ll grow another watermelon plant that is rooted in the garden, to see if it really affects the rate of growth…

With these plants coming to harvest, I suddenly realize I have to start sowing anew once more. It’s time to get the seed collection out and start planning again!

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