As always… edible gardening comes with it’s ups and downs.

Down: One of the watermelons ended up with blossom end rot – a large mush brown spot on it’s end. I had to toss it.

Up: I still have two mini-Mike melons that are looking great!

Down: The cantelope and honey dew melons haven’t produced one single fruit, though there are lots of flowers. Even if they do – this late in the game it’s unlikely they will ripen.

Up: In the middle of that melon bed is an unplanned potato plants that is looking lush and green and will hopefully provide me with a better potato harvest than the laundry basket did!

Down: I noticed some yellowing carrot greens and pulled them…

And I discovered a few mushy, rotten carrots. Not sure what caused it, but I pulled them so they hopfully won’t infect an other carrots.

Still down: Those carrot starts I bought to try are resulting in carrots that look like this (and quite a few of them are producing split carrots):

Up: But they are still edible, and I’ve learned that they are right when they say you should just start carrots from seed. And learning something is always a win in my book!

Down: After bragging that the White Cabbage Butterflies had been staying away from my cabbages… Is started finding these guys last week!

Up: They are mostly going for the outer leaves and the inner heads seem to still be intact. And the Cabbages still look gorgeous. And I seem to be able to stay on top of the little green boogers with hand picking.

Other Up: I planted dill among the cabbage, as it’s said to attract parasitic wasps that help keep the White Cabbage butterflies in check…

I don’t know if it’s working, but it’s pretty, and it smells amazing! I may just plant some among the flower beds for fun!

Down: once again I’m not having a great cucumber year.

My plants got started late, and now they are overrun with cucumber beetles. They seem to have completely destroyed one of the plants.

Up: The zucchini and yellow squash are making up for it.

Other ups…

I’ve already got enough blackberries for two batches of jam, with lots more coming!

I’m quickly getting overrun with beans (despite saying the other week I’d planted the exact right amount!). I’ve got a giant ziploc bag in the fridge waiting to be blanched, and frozen in to dinner portions for the winter.

The birdhouse gourds are doing amazing! I’m going to have to find a safe place for them to dry over winter so I can make some birdhouses for next year!

And last, I’ll leave you with a little laugh.

I have a gnome that hangs from a little swing on the squash tunnel. Over winter, someone ate his swing ropes so I had to replace them with thick twine. Apparently I didnt get the knots tied quite good enough, because he started to fall.

But if you look closety, the tendrils from the birdhouse gourds decided to save the day before he hit the ground!