Saturday, May 17, 2008

Holy Beans!

Since I am tired of seeing posts headed Garden update, I decided to change it up a bit. So, this week's update I titled Holy Beans! but it isn't just the beans that have been growing.

Our bean plants are growing wonderfully. They are getting really tall and look almost like then need to be staked, but the package I bought are bush beans, not pole beans so they really shouldn't need any staking.... right?

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Our Cantaloupes are growing, but not quite as fast as I thought they would. Though there is significant growth since last picture update, they still aren't anywhere near size for producing fruit


Our watermelon seeds will (hopefully) get into the ground here this weekend. We finally have the site ready (other than Mike has to raise a sprinkler head, oh, and we ran out of the weed tarp stuff, but that is easy enough to fix with a trip to Home Depot). They are the last thing going in the ground until fall, when I hear is the best time to plant the rest of the seeds we bought that didn't make it into the ground early enough. And maybe we will add some lettuce to the mix then too.... I hear they grow well over winter down here cause they like the cooler temperatures.



Our Tangelo tree, which produced only one fruit last year, is starting to produce this year. It looks like we will have about 10 to 12 fruit this year to look forward too, and hopefully they will not be as seedy as last year. (I have to do a little research as to what makes the seeds develop... too long on the tree, or if it is just the genetics of the tree itself. ) We have more fruit this year though cause the bird didn't pick off the early fruit to feed her youngings this year (instead she stole all the flower seeds out of my flower garden... But that is a story for another day), so they have had the opportunity to develop after budding.


Our apple tree continues to bud more leaves, I think eventually I need to train it some more, but the fact that there are leaves at all is still kind of a shock to me, as I had given up and declared it dead. The only reason it was still there is I hadn't gotten around to pulling it up (that and Mike made me promise to wait the season to see if it really was dead). So far though there is no real main stem, which is pretty important when it is supposed to be a tree, and being a fruit tree, its even more important since it has to be able to support the fruit when it grows up


Lastly (though I may have forgotten a plant or two) our magnolia tree is still in shock. I know it isn't dying by any means, but it still is leafless. I know it isn't dying though cause it is having fun blooming like crazy... I mean there is tons of white flowers coming out everyday. It just looks weird with no leaves on it. Being that it had been transplanted in the middle of the wrong season though, and that southern magnolias go into shock easily, I really think it will pull through just fine. Especially since Mike and I have taken to watering it on a regular basis, since it is over by the vegetable garden and the hose reaches all the plants nicely.

And some extra Magnolia flower pictures.... yes they are from the tree in shock... and yes I know some of the pictures are of flowers past their prime... I liked the contrast of white and brown.




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