I said not so long ago, that all the heat, humidity and rain this summer has been good for most of the garden, if not for the gardener (Seriously, I am done with sweating!!!!). And no where is that more apparent than with the cucurbits (squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, etc)

Just a couple weeks ago, I trimmed up all the wayward vines on the squash tunnel. And as soon as I got home from Mom’s I saw I needed to do it again. Hopefully the weather is decent enough for me to do that this weekend. Most of it is the gourds – the are on the right side (front) with the pumpkins (back). And they have just taken over. It was supposed to be a mix of gourd types that looked something like this…

It was a package of 15 seeds, and I think I planted about five (all I had space for). But every single gourd I’m getting looks like this…

And I’ve probably got about two dozen of them! It’s not going to make much of a fall display, but I guess at least they are growing well.

Next to them, the Pumpkins are probably in second place. I already showed you my black pumpkin. Like the gourds, they were supposed to be a mix of black, white and orange. I got the black one, and so far, the rest are just white.

And just three of them. No more black seem to be coming, and there’s absolutely no sign of orange. Like the gourds, I didn’t plant all the seeds, so maybe the orange are still in the packet.

This year, I planted four plants at the base of the squash tunnel – zucchini, cucamelons, pumpkins and gourds. I’ve only got three zucchini so far, and I don’t eat them (Dave does) so next year, I think I will only plant pumpkin and gourds (one kind to each side) on the tunnel. But that decision will all depend on the performance of these little guys.

These are the cucamelons. The are a type of cucumber, but they look like teeny watermelons, hence the name. The plant itself is very small. If you scroll up to the tunnel picture, you’ll see it’s little leaves on the left front. It’s taken all summer to grow, and so far, we’ve only got three little fruits. I picked about five of them the other day, and Dave gave them the thumbs up. I will probably grow them next year, but in a large pot with a trellis, since they don’t take up much space.

Over in Edible Alley, the cucumbers are starting to slow down to a point where we aren’t drowning in them. Dave can eat what I’ve brought in before I bring in the next bunch.

And the squash on the ladder are looking pretty darn good.

I’ve got five squash so far, and two of them are to size- they just need to get more colour and harden their skins before harvesting now.

I had one more, but sadly, I had to take it off the plant.

It was looking so good, but I noticed a little wormy had dug it’s way in there. I’m keeping a good eye on the others and hope I don’t lose any more to these little crawlers.

In happier news….

It’s carrot harvesting time! This type aren’t quite a long as the ones I planted last year.

But they are a pelleted seed. They have a coating on them that makes them a little larger, and easier to handle. So you can plant them far enough apart that you don’t need to thin them. I think that’s a good trade off for slightly shorter carrots.

I’ve been harvesting a row a week, and that gives us enough at time for a meal, and a little raw snacking each week.