Cotton Update

It has been a while since I updated here. But, it has been uneventful on the garden front. Well I say that then I think of the fact that all of the garden has been done in, aside from the cotton. It was so hot and dry here that everything fried.

So with a mower the garden of 2007 is no more.

Hawkeye was with me out in the yard, and she is bored (hence the beginning of a yawn in the photo above) and tired of waiting for the cotton to open.

This is how the cotton looks as of today. It is starting to show signs of drying up, which it is supposed to do. At least I think it is, this is the first time I have grown cotton.

Kansas Cotton - AHT Garden

Last month it was flooding, this month it is dried up and blowing away. The melons are pretty much done producing. As are the maters, green beans and cucumbers are all things of the past.

But the cotton, ahh the cotton :0)

Inside this weird 'bumb' lurks the makings of a cotton sock, sweater, or perhaps....just fluff. But I am waiting patiently.

From what I have read it should open in about a month, if the conditions are favorable.
Good page for cotton information.

Lots of gourds. Surprisingly the vines are still blooming too!

Garden - "Watch Cat"

Pumpkins look healthy and ready to pick. Too bad we didn't expect them to be at this point until at least mid September.

Hot Garden Update

The cotton seems to be thriving, maybe it is the 105 temps?


This odd looking thing is what shows up once the bloom falls off. I am new to seeing cotton grown, but this just looks really funky.


The blooms are all a pretty soft pink.


When we moved into this house May of 2006, I dug up our miniature rose bush and put it into a glass of water. Sadly it stayed in that glass for a good year before it got planted. The weak little thing bounced back though, and is now blooming.


Pumpkins are ripening far too soon to be used for Halloween.


One type of the ornamental gourds



Cantaloupe, itty bitty and oddly enough started out a green fuzzy thing we thought was watermelon. Some disappeared last night, hoping it was raccoons and not neighbors.


Maters are filling out nicely. Cleaning them off tonight and letting them ripen inside since last group disappeared due to critters.

Garden Update July 22 2007

Melons

Bloom on Okra

Obvious Cucumber - one of many

These little 'pods' are on all of the cotton plants. I don't know if they are the pods for cotton, or if they are new leaves. I am hoping for the former.

Decided next year there will be more gourds! I have a few showing up on the plants, but I am greedy and want more :0)

No rain in a while, so today I spent time watering. Hoping the sky opens up soon.

melons, cucumbers, and cotton, oh my!

Watermelon, small and fuzzy


Green pepper babies

Please ignore my poor weeding. Think of it as extreme organic :0)


Melon


Maters....not yet eatten by critters




Kewl Gourds


Cucumbers out the ying-yang


Cotton is about up to my hip


Funky looking blooms on Okra plant

LOST - All Tomatoes - Sad Art Chick

I was rather shocked when going out to check on my tomato plants when I looked down expecting to see the usual round green shapes. What I saw instead? Nothing. They are ALL gone.

We are assuming that a raccoon hit pay dirt. Fortunately for me there are still blooms on the plants so all is not lost, there still is a chance I will have my homegrown 'maters this summer. Just have to try fencing them in now. (Since I initially posted this my husband saw the culprit. It is a HUGE doe. Was 'hissing' at our dog on the other side of the garden)

After the initial shock of loosing all my tomatoes I turns and say this moth/butterfly a few feet away. Sorry it is a bit blurry, was the best I could do. It flew off right after I took this pic.

A MELON! the only one I see in my HUGE patch. Perhaps it needs fenced in too?

The lone gourd is still growing.

The cotton plants are continuing to grow taller each time I go out. Sorry no pic today, next time :0)

June 26th Update

The every expanding melon patch, I swear Jimmy Hoffa is under there. The square footage of this patch is literally nearing the same as my living room.

Green peppers forming on numerous plants

Gourd plants in need of weeding

Itty bitty Cherry Tomatoes
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Rainy weather is called for this week. This past weekend there was just the right amount here. Others in area though are complaining that their potatoes are rotting in the ground with all the rain. I dug what was left of mine out this past weekend, before the rain hit.

June 13th Update It's still alive!

This patch just keeps growing and growing. Something is starting to nibble ont he blooms, I suspect it's rabbits.


Cherry 'maters a growin'


'Regular' 'maters


Blooms everywhere!



I don't know if this is a melon starting or if it is just part of the bloom?

Will Art With Food Update

Yes, the title was intentional. :0) Below are updates on the various gains in the garden.



Above is the first 'regular tomato'. There are a few others on the lone plant, but this is the largest. Cute little sucker isn't he.



Cherry Tomato coming to life and before long I will be able pick a few. (Fingers crossed)



Cotton plants - It is the first part of July in Kansas. Honestly I had hoped they would be larger plants by now.



Speaking of larger plants. These are melons. I say melons and not a specific type because I had so few seeds of each I mixed them together. I suspect that the larger ones are Pumpkin.



To give you an idea of the size of the blooms, that is a U.S. penny on one of the petals.



The same plants Thursday, this Sunday.



Peppers are a blooming. "Ehhh a Blooming pepper". maybe I have watched too many Pirate movies?

I had hoped to see carrots coming up from seeds I planted a while back, but so far nothing. The cucumbers, and gourds are coming along steady. No sign of actual gourds or cucumbers yet, but I am sure there will be. (Is it a bad sign if I hear someone singing 'Gotta Have Faith' in my head?)



Which leads us to the next, and last pic, an empty hole in the ground.

This is where I buried some garbage scraps, next to the garden area. Obviously I did not bury them deep enough as some critter discovered his lunch. How he could have eaten that gross glob garbage is beyond me. Shudders* like the girl she truly is.

Those with gardening experience probably noticed the weeds in my garden. Well, I have come to the decision to embrace them. I have mulched with hay and obviously did not get it thick enough in certain areas, and of course I did not want to mulch right next to a plants stalk. (BTW Thank you Scott for the bale!) I am looking to get more hay to cover up the open areas....as soon as I find some. Again, I live in Kansas, so it can't be THAT difficult to find some hay.