Bitter melon and bitter gourd seedlings

A couple weeks ago I posted about growing bitter melons and bitter gourds, but didn't know what the seedlings would look like.  I couldn't find the pictures online, so I'm contributing to the Internet today by posting a few pictures of my germinated seedlings. The gourds and the melons look similar.

Progress

Every year I wander around the community gardens with some jealousy. Why are everyone's tomatoes taller than mine? Well, because I try to start them from seed. Inevitably, some of the seedlings die, and then I replace them with purchased tomatoes from, well, everywhere. Farmer's markets, gifts from friends and coworkers, Wilson Farms, Pemberton Farms.

My garden is taking on a life of its own through its various deaths. I keep replacing and diversifying. A coworker of mine left me a bag of homeless plants, so I popped in a couple eggplant, a tomato, a jalapeno, some basil, and a parsley. Luckily, with the exception of the jalapeno, the plants were new varieties. Why I prefer to have two kinds of basil and parsley instead of one is beyond me, but it seems to appeal to my innate need to have as many options as possible. Or, my innate need to hoard. Spring has sprung; I am decluttering the house and cluttering the garden.

But I had a couple people tell me my garden was off to a good start today, and as I know these folks are well weathered gardeners, I'll accept their opinions with optimism.

The corn is about 8 inches high, and the beans are all popping up out of the ground. I'm willing them to send up tendrils so that I can watch them curl around the corn. Doing the same with my sunflowers. Last year, I rebelled against beans, not a one in the garden. This year, six kinds! Soy, red cranberry, scarlet runner, two green pole varieties, and fava. Can't wait. I think I was just avoiding the classic green bush beans. They grow like mad and then you're stuck eating them. Apparently not everyone shares this opinion, so I started giving them out last time I had a glut.

All my squash are doing beautifully. One of the gardeners suggested that in 5 minutes with a stirrup hoe, I could clean out all the weeds in my three sisters. It was true! I mulched the squash down after the weeding, finally. A nice solution. I have four kinds of winter squash and some patty pan going. Still managing to hold off on the zucchini!

I planted bitter melon and bitter gourd to cook with pork later in the summer. And now I have this conundrum...I don't know what kind of seedlings I'm looking for! In this case, I normally let everything grow, including the weeds. Woe. These seeds looked like weird flowers, not like normal seeds. I have only had the melon in dishes at restaurants, so I've never even played with the fruit before.

Meanwhile, I'm eating a lot of greens, radishes, Hakurei turnips, and scallions. It's going well, but I was sure thankful that some hot peppers are setting. I'll give them another week. Dinner today was kimchi fried rice made with Chestnut Farms hot dogs, greens and turnips from my garden at Codman Farms, and kimchi that I bought at Ebisuya but that is made at Chung Ki Wa.

I visited Chestnut Farms this weekend and we took lovely pictures of all the animals! Hoping to post a few soon.

Heat

We're having a heatwave in Massachusetts. I love the heat! And, sadly, I spend my entire days inside a freezing air-conditioned office. But at 6pm, the worst of the sun is over...though I put on the sunscreen anyway, redhead thing...I'm outside in the fields. I wish I were there every night, because every day there's something to take care of, something to miss. Still mourning some lost peppers, but I put in some transplants from Wilson Farms today to alleviate the loss. It gives me more variety. The plants are at the rootbound stage, the "on sale" stage. I think of being a rescuer here, taking in the lost lambs...

I think I've lost plants mostly due to the deadly combination of sun and little rain. Most of my basil has shriveled. You read gardening books, the step-by-step, the pretty pictures, 1-2 pages of info for all sorts of generic crops, and yet, it has so little to do with reality. Reality says "plant me on a day when it will be cool or wet for a couple days" and yet today is the day you have to plant, and it's going to be hot and sunny for a week. Throw in the fact that the water broke in our corner of the farm, and me carting around my amazing orange watering can still isn't a match for the heat.

But why is it that even though my plants are drying up, the weeds are flourishing? I wandered into my perennial plot today to find...a jungle! Weeds pushing up through the strawberries, plants I'd "moved" popping up everywhere, vines going absolutely nuts. I pulled a few weeds, and lo, the first strawberry! And a second due in a day or so. It was magic. The weeds must've hidden it from curious eyes. This weekend I'll need to go at that plot with a vengeance.

Every day I go to the farm I set out a list of must dos. Today it was to get the plants into the ground, and finally get the okra, 3 varieties of cukes, and Korean and tigger melons into the ground. I managed all of that, plus some weeding and much watering. I'm awaiting the moment that the beans I planted this weekend emerge from the soil, the soy, cranberry, and fava popping up in a green mat, and the pole and runner beans entwining themselves around the corn and sunflowers that so graciously germinated and seem to be giving the weeds a run for their money.

Meanwhile, the peas, radishes, scallions, and greens are flourishing. I picked a plastic grocery bag's worth of the stuff today (the strawberry I just ate right out of the plot), and then made a bacon and greens stirfry, then a bacon, radish, and scallion pizza. I love my Chestnut Farms bacon! This weekend is meet the meat time, so my brother and I are taking the trip out. Hopefully the heat keeps up.