DON'T ANNIE... DON'T!

Around the garden here I'm so used to pinching and plucking chillies.  Thanks to the birds around the island, I do the same too when I come across volunteer chillie plants sprouting in the wild.  

One morning, as I stepped out of my apartment and was on my way to the lift lobby, I caught sight of my neighbour's chillie plant which was covered with red chillies.  

Not that I needed more chillies but out of habit, I walked near the plant and was about to pull out those riped chillies when something in me said "Don't Annie... don't!"

Habits never die. 

People say gardening is a hobby for the retirees and elderlies.  Is it? 

GARDEN RULES & NIGHTMARES

When will I ever learn??

I just love sowing seeds without labelling them.  It's a mixture of 75% laziness + 25% surprises that I live for.

"Oh, I know what seeds I sowed" but when you sowed many many seeds and many many variety of seeds, they become incognito.  So I live for the surprises.  However if the seeds you sow belongs to say the same family but different variety of citrus ie. mandarins, lemons or limes the suspense can kill especially if it cannot be identified from an early stage.

Last week as I was walking the grounds, I noticed this plant that is about the length of a ruler.  I squatted next to it, fondled the leaves and murmured lovingly "oh how much you've grown Sweetheart."  I knew it was a citrus but was unsure if it was a lime, lemon, orange or even a grapefruit. 

That same evening the silly gardener had to mow the lawn and in his haste he chopped off that same plant I was admiring just hours ago leaving behind a stump of about an inch.  When I saw it I was a bag of emotions mostly on the verge of crying and screaming. 

I marched up to confront him as he was putting away the mower but he calmly said "it will grow again."  Off course it has not. 

The worse nightmare is I can't figure out what seed I had sown.   What have I missed?

WHERE ART THOU... BERRIES??

So I have a strawberry plant that sat on my lap bundled in disguise together with a bunch of roses during that two hours flight home.  It has been nine months since I came back from that flower market that saw me running berserk (no rage, no violent... just deliriously happy!) from garden to garden around that fifty acres of land where you can find every conceivable plants you can think off!  Add that to the strawberry plant / runner which presumably must be around two to three months old where I paid less than a dollar for it, I actually have on hand a toddler berry plant.

I'm just very bad with names.  I've came across how some creative people christened their free range chickens, pet snail (Hello Norman #WaveHands @seinemutti if you're reading this), kittens or even plants with such nice, cute and appropriate names. Alas I could only come up with Straw or Berry or Strawberry.

I wanted a name very badly for toddler berry but calling her Strawberry was just too predictable and quite a mouthful considering she's quite dainty.  Straw? That's not funny.  It reminded me of hot days when I can't wait to push a straw into my ice frizz drink.  The other straw would be just as bad.  Imagine a stalk of dry grain!  That's not a good omen since it's practically hot here 365 days and no I don't want my air-flown-hand-carried plant to suffer the fate of dried straws.

I love berries but Berry? So so not cool.  Someone named Barry might just pop his head round the corner if I started cooing "Berry... berry..." 

Hence this nameless toddler berry plant uprooted from the hill slopes of that cool region ended up in my mini garden.  On some days, she looks really well and I know it'll be soon before she becomes productive but on days she doesn't look so well, I could only sigh and turn to google for answer.  Today is one such day.

My search led me to this:  http://strawberryplants.org/2010/08/strawberry-plants-producing-runners-but-no-strawberries/

Thanks for the tips guys!

So here's the answers as to why my strawberry plant does not produce strawberries YET (take note of the Yet for I'm hoping she will produce SOON, fingers crossed!).

10 Reasons Strawberry Plants Don’t Produce Strawberries

1. Strawberry plants are too young

June-bearing strawberry plants will often produce few or no strawberries in the first year they are planted.  This is, in fact good for the long-term health of your plants and strawberry bed.  The energy that goes into a strawberry is not insignificant for a young strawberry plant.  Since strawberries are perennials that will produce a crop year after year, the best use of developmental energy is in establishing a strong, healthy root system and flower buds within the crown.  The better root system will exponentially increase the nutrient uptake for the second year.  And, those roots will be needed as the flower buds will turn into flowers that will turn into strawberries in year two.  This is why it is important to pinch off strawberry flowers in year one as described on the Growing Strawberries page.  Doing this in year one allows development of more buds and better roots.  This makes the plant healthy.  The healthy plant will then set a much larger harvest than it otherwise would without them.

What young?  Toddler-Berry is 9 months + another 2 - 3 months = 11 - 12 months.  A quick footed toddler would already be walking!  Still no flowers in sight *sigh*

 

2. Your strawberry plants have diseases or parasites or both

There are a host of strawberry pests and pathogens that literally suck the life out of strawberries.  In fact, you can view the most common ones on the Strawberry Plant page.  If your strawberries have an infection or infestation, they may simply be too sick to produce strawberries.

No diseases, no parasites... she's all clean. 

 

3. Your strawberries are thirsty (or drowning)

Strawberries can be finicky when it comes to their water requirements.  They have relatively shallow root systems.  This causes them to absorb the vast majority of their water from the top several inches of soil.  This is also the soil that dries out most quickly when the temperatures rise.  Since strawberry plants require a significant and steady amount of water (see the Growing Strawberries page, linked above) to produce best, constant drying out of the top layers of soil can cause the plants to go into “survival mode.”  They don’t produce many or good quality strawberries in dry dirt (if they survive).  Additionally, too much watering will halt plant growth and strawberry production.  In fact, the strawberry crowns will rot, and the plants will die if they remain in standing water for too long.  It is important to plant your strawberry plants in well-drained soil to prevent standing water from submerging any part of the strawberry plant.

I think they're just nice; either drying or drowning. 

 

4. Your strawberries aren’t getting pollinated

Most of the common varieties of strawberry plants have hermaphroditic flowers, meaning they have both “male” and “female” parts.  However, the flowers typically act as either male or female, not both.  This means that pollen from one flower has to make to to another flower in order for the strawberry to form.  So, if a strawberry plant is kept indoors in a window or outdoors on a screened in porch (or anywhere else where the pollinating insects won’t be successfully drawn to your plant, you likely won’t have any strawberries.

There's no flowers to begin with. 
#Sad #SoSad #SadAnnie #AnnieIsSad #StrawberriesDeprived #DeprivedOfStrawberries #NoBees #PoorBees #HungryBees

5. Your strawberry plants are starving

Strawberry plants are amazing.  They can manage to eke out their existence in some of the harshest places on earth.  In fact, one of my own crazy strawberry runners once rooted itself in the shelf of a cheap, pressboard bookshelf.  It had nothing to eat other than wood chips and whatever glue they use to stick those things together.  To my amazement, it survived and grew well.  It actually was only a inch or so smaller than the other runner plants put out from the same mother plant.  But, when the other plants fruited, this one did nothing.  In fact, it didn’t even produce a flower.  All that to say: your strawberry plants need the right nutrients.  Without the appropriate organic components, the plant may still grow, but it won’t provide you with any strawberries.

Compost + seaweed + powdered eggshells + ground coffee... except no cavier added.  
#TellMeINeedToKnowIfYouAreStillStarving


6. Your strawberry plants are high on NPK

Giving your strawberries too much food can also hurt strawberry production.  The Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium (NPK) fertilizers are generally formulated for specific growing purposes.  Using fertilizers that are of the wrong concentrations for strawberry plants, or even using way to much of an appropriate fertilizer can decrease strawberry production.  Often, the fertilizers cause excessive vegetative growth at the expense of strawberry production.  After all, why should the strawberry plant worry about propagating itself via strawberry seeds if it has so many nutrients tickling its roots that it can’t even think straight?

What high?  On food?

 

7. Your climate is wrong for strawberries

Most strawberries grown at the equator are grown at high elevations where it is cooler.  I don’t think it is possible for them to grow on Antarctica without serious human interventions.  While a few populated places on earth are completely unsuitable for any type of strawberry growth, strawberries will grow just about everywhere else.  If, however, the preferred combination of warmth and coolness is not attained, many varieties will not produce strawberries.  Most strawberry cultivars do best when the days are warm to hot (but not scorching) and the nights are cool to slightly warm.  This combination of warm days and cool nights will almost always result in the maximal strawberry production for almost any strawberry variety.  If you live somewhere where it is too hot, the plants may still grow, but the strawberries may be sparse or absent.

#HangsHeadInShameNo1

There's no spring-summer-autumn-winter here and everyday is practically a hot day.

8. Your strawberry plant variety is wrong for your climate

Strawberry breeding programs around the world are constantly trying to increase local yields by developing more suitable strawberry plants for specific regions.  This goal is often attained.  However, in creating specialized strawberry cultivars, some of the overall adaptability of these plants is bred out or lost.  When that happens, the new cultivars are sometimes successful only in specific climactic regions.  Buying a strawberry developed for Michigan strawberry growers, for example, may not grow well in southern Florida.  When the plants don’t thrive, they often don’t fruit.

#HangsHeadInShameNo2

It was so cold and breezy up there on that 50 acres plot. 

9. Your strawberry plants don’t like their home

Strawberry plants will grow well in containers.  If they are properly cared for, that is.  Container strawberries often do not have sufficient soil.  Their soil will dry out much more quickly than in-ground strawberry plants.  Their roots can get too hot.  If planted in nutrient deficient or poor strawberry-quality soil, the plants won’t be happy.  Regardless of whether a strawberry plant is planted in an inhospitable pot or inhospitable plot, the lack of a suitable home that results in any of the conditions above will diminish or eliminate berry production.  Unhappy plants don’t readily produce strawberries.

I need to have a heart-to-heart and face-to-face talk with ToddlerBerry.  "Tell me seriously.... Have you been unhappy?"  

10. You’ve been duped, lied to, or are misinformed

Occasionally, nurseries that sell strawberry plants get their facts mixed up.  If they sell a June-bearing strawberry variety to a customer wanting an everbearing variety so that they can have a decent crop toward the end of the season, the buyer will be frustrated when no strawberries come forth.  Be sure to check the characteristics of the cultivar you want to plant to make sure it is what you think it is and that it will perform well in your climate.  A great place to start is the Strawberry Varieties page.

So, if there are no strawberries on strawberry plants you have planted, or strawberry plants producing runners but no strawberries, evaluate each of the 10 reasons above and see if they apply to your situation.  If they do, remedying the problem will likely result in reaping a harvest!

No! No! No.... I was not!  It was such a good deal I pressed the note into her hand and made a hurried exit even before she could put a plastic dress over ToddlerBerry.

PS: ToddlerBerry does sounds like a berry nice name... yes?  Until she starts to flower, she will always be just ToddlerBerry.

IT STARTED OFF SMALL...

It's amazing what a tiny seed could do.  A lot in fact.

I first grew it on my apartment's windowsills.  It was then brought to MSG and re-potted.   

A seed I grew from my window sill and brought to MSG for transplanting...

When it started to grow in height I left it to lean on a fence "for the time being while I find a better place."  It remained there till today and I have since harvested 2 big crops of approximate 100 beans twice in between many smaller harvest.

Harvest upon harvest

Apart from dosing them with water, I've not fed them anything until lately when I started to give them treats of grounded eggshells and coffee grounds.

Like all plants it has grown into maturity and I have saved some beans on the vines for future babies.  

For a container grown plant, it is more than I had expected.  Can't ask for more!  I reckon the beans love a good sea view too :)

Trellis of beans overlooking the sea

THE GARDEN RULES!

The garden sits on top of my list of favourite places which is no surprise.  Coming in close is the kitchen which is a BIG surprise.  It relegates the bedroom to third position.

I am no Domestic Goddess but something about the kitchen just excites me these days for a simple reason that food yes food comes from there. 

Collecting seeds

I have enough seeds to start a farm and be a farmer but I am still collecting and saving seeds.  I feel guilty throwing away seeds even if they're from an orange which I know is unlikely to grow here.  However just saving the seeds and throwing them in the ground even if they don't germinate makes me happy.  I should say it's becoming a hobby or habit (depending on how you see it!) saving seeds and nothing makes me happier than sending someone seeds from my "seeds bank."  I feel like a million bucks if I learn that the seeds I sent germinated and grew successfully.  However don't pressurize yourself if they don't.  Didn't I say I have enough seeds to start a farm?  Seeds anyone?... just give me a buzz :)) 

Pickling & freezing garden produce 

As we're in a temperate region with no such luck of having seasonal changes in weather (spring, summer, fall, winter) apart from rainy season, we're just able to grow the same crops that suit our climate throughout the year.  You won't hear of such thing as picking summer produce to save for fall / winter.  However when you end up with many of a certain produce and can't eat them at one go, pickling & even freezing them are such wonderful ideas.  Seriously I'm more interested in seeing pretty bottles of floating pickles lining the kitchen countertop than eating them but they sure make wonderful gifts.  

Flowers for tea 

If you are a flower, beware.  There's a flower monster lurking something out there.  I take my flowers seriously; feeling, caressing and smelling them.  While I never imagine myself chomping on a bunch of flowers there's nothing I love more than sipping tea from flowers gathered in the garden.   

Concocting (new) recipes 

I never imagine myself making tempura from squash flowers but I did.  Have you tried omelette with squash flowers and cheese or even blue pea flowers tempura?  Enough said.  I am hungry.  Time I head to the kitchen.

Gardening is therapeutic  

Not too long ago, someone commented that my palms felt like sandpaper.  I never deny that.  Neither was I offended.  This just cemented the fact that I've been spending a lot of time in the garden. There's something nice about feeling the warm earth.  What? Gloves? 

From garden to kitchen it's all in a day's work.  Ok now time I seek comfort of the bedroom for some well deserved shut eye.

NUTTY LIKE ME?

One of the things I hate to do is preparing tomatoes for cooking.  They aren't different to handle just that I tend to complicate things a little bit.  I would be spending the longest time ever over the chopping board because like someone with OCD, I have to remove every single seed out of every single tomato that I use.  No kidding! 

I have nothing against these seeds but I just couldn't bear the thought of my molars crunching onto these teeny weeny ones.  In my mind I could conjure rows upon rows of sun-kissed tomatoes growing happily with just that fistful of seeds I collect.  

Just in case you're wondering how many plots of tomatoes I have since I am a habitual tomato seeds remover (remove all the seeds Annie!) well.... well... I actually don't even own a single plant right now with the exception of these if these seeds choose to sprout!

 
What is it exactly with tomatoes and me? *sigh* Hmmm.... it's really a love & hate kind of relationship.

Anyone out there just as nutty?  I certainly hope not!

 

I'M SWEARING OFF THEM

It was a short trip to attend a wedding of two very dear friends in Cianjur & Bandung / Indonesia.

After the last nightmare just six months ago to the same place, (no, the trip was perfect sans my excess baggage) the night before our departure, I was desperately weighing bags after bags; boxes after boxes while making frantic phone calls home to increase the baggage allowance to the max.  In between all the frenzy, I deliberated what to leave behind as I wanted to bring everything back with me.  So I told myself this time I was not taking any chances.  I had to shop sensitively and barred the famous Cihedeung Flower Market (where everything caught my eyes!) from taking a spot on my "must go, must see, must buy and must bring home" list.

I thought I sort of succeeded since it was a brief trip and the wedding took precedence until the day the wedding couple sent their Supir (chauffeur) to pick us.  Mr Supir is actually a family friend of theirs and he is KoKo (big brother) to us; a big obliging man with a generous smile and infectious laughter.  He spoiled me rotten and shared my joy every time I put something in my shopping basket "oh souvenirs for family and friends back home."  He would nod knowingly.

So off to the supermarket we went before the long drive to our friends' hometown.  I thought it was a safe place to shop just for local products until I saw a section selling plants!  Plants my friends.... plants! 

From then on, I was like a cockroach devoid of feelers with hardly any sense of direction.  Too excited for words, I circled the two huge metal stands that housed mostly succulents in all shapes and varieties.  I don't know very much about sucs except I know they don't last very long in my hands but no lying, the temptation was just too great to resist.  I was so afraid someone might grab them so I put several of them in my basket to show my partner in crime (both of us were running amok at the flower market on our previous visit).  I thought she didn't see them as she's crazy over succulents and are pretty good with them so I had to show her.  She could grow and propagate a succulent from just a tiny bit.  

The evil but shrewd girl saw on the sly but had resisted and headed for the toiletries section instead focusing on loading up body butter into her basket instead.  She was not only brave but clever whereas the more I looked at the carousel of plants, the more I couldn't resist.  It was a hard decision but after shortlisting several, I decided on this gorgeous two.  It was probably 5 times less what I would have to pay back home not that there aren't any here.  Don't we just love a good bargain?

I was so happy with my purchase and wow to nurture them until they flower.  Making them post for pictures was a natural thing.

A balcony shot outside our hotel room

 

Another shot much to the amusement of the groom's parents who happened to pass by

Off course as always whilst buying was fun, the bringing back home bit proved to be a real challenge.  

After what seemed like an eternity of thoughts, the metal steamer I bought in the local market came to my rescue.  It was by far my cheapest and most worthy purchase during that trip.  It has a cover and the size was just perfect!  Steamed sweet potatoes you can wait. 

Home safely in a metal steamer :)

It fitted Twinnie (I love giving them names) perfectly and that was how they came home with me; a little dishevelled but unscathed. 

I reminded Mum that Twinnie don't need any water so to leave them alone. If you read my "Back to School" entry (1 September 2014), Mum was one of the suspects in the Jady mishap.  I fed Twinnie in secret when Mum was not around lest she followed suit.  However she kept hinting to me that Twinnie looked dehydrated and I suspected like me, she was secretly bathing them.  

Today, exactly thirty five days since Twinnie arrived in my metal steamer, as I was trying to relocate them to a sunnier spot, everything just fell apart.  Twinnie simply crumbled!

 

I am soooo sorry Twinnie *hangs head in shame*

Naturally I was sad over the lost of Twinnie but then I was never successful before in growing sucs so it was no surprise I lost them both.  Mum said we're just not destined to grow them as we don't have green fingers for sucs.  I think we both contributed to the loss with me not sure if there was enough, just sufficient, too little or too much water.  With Mum's fondness for watering her plants, doesn't surprise me if she had discreetly gave them water baths in wake of this heatwave.

Really no more sucs for me.  I am staying away from them... seriously.  Remind me if you see me heading to the check out with one in my arms.

NO MELON PATCH YET

What is easy for someone may be otherwise for another or at least for me.

It was so easy to get the seedlings to sprout and I mean really easy.  I had underestimated and seedlings spilled over the small clay pot, each fighting with the other for a place.  There were just too many shoots that I didn't know which to choose and as an excuse to grow them all (as I always do!), I said to myself "everyone should be given a chance."

First attempt at growing rock melon saw a less than encouraging start.  Half way through even before it started to bloom the vines got hijacked by the bugs.  So it was premature goodbye. Certainly no morale booster.

Second attempt at growing butternut squash was slightly more encouraging giving hope of having the real deal .  The vines reached the flowering stage and there were even blooms.  Yes plenty of blooms but unfortunately no females in sight (sigh... sigh... sigh) and then the vines got swallowed by the bugs again gnawing at the leaves and flowers.  Everybody was raving about the tastiness of squash blooms and I just had to tried and I was eating blooms that have already been gnarled by bugs.

Third attempt to grow kabocha this time got eaten by the snails as soon as I re-potted the new shoots.

I have however not given up.  Bags of seeds just waiting for the right opportunity to sow but first to find a little space and lots of courage to start all over again!

THROUGH TRIAL AND ERROR

Things looked as if I was literally on a roll.

Planted 8 cucumber seeds from a seed pack and 3 robust looking seedlings burst through the soil on the first attempt.  That’s like a 37.5% success rate.  Not bad for a first timer.  A small voice in me said “Well done!”  I felt my head swelled a little as I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back!

Threw all the seeds from a store bought butternut pumpkin into a pot and within days a whole lot of greens appeared and very sturdy looking ones too.  Another “well done” echoed in my head.

Re-planted the 3 cucumber and 3 of the biggest butternut vines onto a “prime location” evicting gingers, the current tenant to another location.  I reckoned this prime location boosted a fence which Messrs cucumbers and butternuts would appreciate better than the rhizomes.

All seemed well and I was already dreaming of cubes and squashes.

Then without any sign of warning, the sky opened up and rained consecutively for a few days turning the prime lot waterlogged and residents there with broken limbs and disorientated.

The aftermath looked as if a cyclone had descended.

So that was Trial & Error, lesson #1

• Don’t put all the best together
• Prime location does not mean (safe) haven
• Take precautions… darlings!

Ok now I need to go and sow more cucumber seeds and say hello to the other surviving butternut vine and I am letting out the prime location.


PS:  Ginger sweetheart... do you want to return to your previous home?

BACK TO SCHOOL

In the past, whenever I think of something green and boring  succulents would come to mind.  To me they were simply green, stiff and unattractive.  I was that biased; seriously I was.

It didn't help that my experience with them was short lived and never amiable. 

For the longest time, I was convinced succulents and I were not meant to be the best of friends.

Then along came something magical.  I saw pictures of  succulents with pretty flowers and I was completely sold.  Didn't know succulents bear flowers! I love.

That started my interest and feeling all grown up, I bought my first adult size plant.  I was certain I have graduated beyond looking after those fun size ones. 

It was a heavily laden jade plant.  Call that love at first sight because I grabbed the plant as soon as I caught sight of it.  I even gave her a name. When I took Jade to the checkout, three  strangers commented how pretty she looked.   I brimmed with pride, so happy that I snared gorgeous Jady.   I was doubly happy when google search said I just bought a money tree.  I could picture myself counting money happily.

My one and only memory of gorgeous Jade

Few days after Jade came home, I gave her some water as I thought she looked a little under the weather.  We all know the importance of drinking enough water to stay hydrated.  So for the next couple of days like any disciplined parent, Jade got extra water treats whenever she lost a leaf or leaves. 

I just knew it!  Jade was suffering from dehydration and dehydration as we all know is bad for the skin.  Surely the same applied to her.    

Before long, I started to notice Jade was beginning to have what you call, a receding hairline.  I did the next cleverest thing.  I filled a pail with water and completely submerged her into it.  I just knew she was in need of more water love. 

Thank you but don't ask me how long Jady sat in that swimming pool.

After that great soak, I put her out to bask in the sunlight.  A few days later, she just wobbled under her weight; kind off lifeless!  I drew up a list of suspects including my family member. 

(1)  Mum because she thinks nothing is more beautiful than her Adeniums (they really are gorgeous!) and there's no space for another plant along the corridor; 

(2)  The sweeper on our level because he sweeps as if he's in the pool competing the backstroke event;  

(3)  Tigger my neighbour's cat because she has a guy's name and behaves like one.  He... oops... she has a tendency to jump into flower pots to poop & pee or pee & poop whichever she fancies and she loves to pounce on insects  hiding in between plants.  

Surely one of them must be responsible for Jade's injury! 

When I picked her up, her limbs were soft and squishy.  Did I detect water as in water retention?  Like a brave surgeon, I did my best to safe her life. 

So these were what's left of Jade. 

Meet Jade Junior... a part of gorgeous Jade.

Suntanning remnants of her other limbs

I wish someone would have told me "Just because you love gardening does not mean you know everything... "  
 
Just a few days back, I spotted new Jades at the same place I met gorgeous Jade the original.  I had this peculiar feeling that they will meet the same fate as Jady so I turned and walked away. Sadly, it is really true that succulents and I are nothing more than just casual friends. 


 

HOPE IN THE FORM OF A MELON

Failure will only inspire you to try again unless you have given up hope of ever succeeding.  To begin you must be interested in whatever you aim to do.  So if you fail once over something you're keen about, you will only endeavour to try harder and put right the things that went wrong.  

I have big gardening dreams so one of the first thing that I set my sight on was growing rock melons from Australia.  Yes, Australia!  I bought a melon, ate it and saved the seeds.  Having big dreams meant growing all the seeds that I've collected from that one single melon and that's like A LOT! 

I was so excited that just a few days after sowing... actually to be more precised, after dumping all the seeds into a small pot and covering them with some earth, the shoots started to sprout.  

 See I wasn't kidding...

So proud of my effort I wore a goofy grin and went around taking lots of photos in different angles.  Seriously some of the shoots were pretty cute!  Check these out...

 

Anyone like my lil' hat...?

 

I was so overwhelmed by all those cute shoots that I left them to fight for space in the little pot while I contemplated what I should do with all of them.   

Meanwhile, rows and rows of round succulent melons hanging from the vines and basking in the sun were already flashing in my head. Seriously I lived on dreams and big ones too! I imagined harvesting a perfect prized melon just like during fall / Halloween where farms / farmers engaged in competing to see who grows the biggest pumpkin.

Big dreams meant no thinning of precious seedlings.  Every shoot was potential melon to me and by the time I was ready to re-pot, I lost more than half of them.   

Here's what left of those shoots

However re-potting does wonder and a couple of the plants  actually blossomed rather well and gave me hope that a melon was on its way when I succumbed to an imaginary flower.  That again got me a little complacent.

To cut the story short, instead of getting nearer to harvesting home grown melons, the plants seemed to have stunted in growth for reasons I've yet to find out four months since I first sown those seeds.  I don't foresee any melon on the vine anytime soon.

So the morale of this story is "don't jump before you leap."  Ask around, read up or familiarise yourself before you shoulder those big dreams. 

It's not a secret that I still harbour hope of harvesting my first melon in the not too distant future but  this time around, I am just sowing a few seeds and saving the rest for later. Watching over a few of them against a whole lot means I have time to nurture them into edible size melons! #hopefully

Yes, I've left a note in my head to re-pot them as soon as the shoot bursts through those seeds.

Hope is my new best friend.  Don't you just hope for something good to happen all the time? ;)