Another month, another update on my weird experiments in the garden. In my last Garden Update, I told of my dead dragon fruit. It is still dead. I have yet to get the time and will to try again. I will before the end of the year, maybe. My Chinese peppers, Jelly Melons and my newest experiment, my late summer potatoes, have all had a bunch of interesting things happen. With all that in mind, let do a Garden Update for August 2021.

Experiment 1: Chinese Peppers

If you have not read about my peppers, here is a short recap. It was very old seed that I saved from a pepper, a friend gave to me. This is me growing the three seeds that germinated and reached adulthood.

Let see how they are doing.

It is not just the grass that is growing big. These peppers are healthy and strong. They are also starting to flower.

As exciting as that news is, the real excitement is in the finding of the first fruit.

How are they doing. Absolutely fabulous, I just wish the next entry was that good.

Experiment 2: Jelly Melon

Next up is the Jelly Melon. This was doing so good. I mean look at this flower.

I noticed something though with all the health. There were no female flowers, only male. I suspect the plant was more stressed then I thought it was. Just males flowers are a sign of stress since they are cheaper to make than female flowers. When the heat came, we had 10 days or so of 95+ days, the plant just wilted. I thought these were tougher plants.

Even in death, this plant is nothing but spines. In the background we can see the rest of the plant. It is still alive but is looking sickly. I have not determined what I should do. I am going to add a bit more nitrogen to the soil but I am not sure it did not catch a virus. Nutrient deficiencies don’t normally move so fast.

When my research said it was drought tolerant, I assumed that it was immune to high heat. It looks like I might be wrong.

Unless something changes soon, I think this will be a failed experiment. I am wondering if I should have planted it earlier in the year. It got a late start.

Here is a close up of the surviving foliage. It has been on the ground rather than the trellis. It might be a water issue though we have had two good rain storms this week.

Experiment 3: Late Summer Potatoes

After that let down, lets see if we can get some good vibes going and check on my potatoes. This is an experiment that OSU says not to do because of low yields and sub quality tubers because of heat. We have been so unnaturally cool with high heat intermixed with cool days that I thought I would give it a go.

Lets see how it is going.

I have my first potato sprout. I also have some Bermuda trying to grow in there too but they are young and easily pulled.

So far so good. I wish I had multiple plants but a delay of another week is not necessarily a bad thing. This week is in the mid-90’s in the forecast, but next week have highs of the high 80’s.

Conclusions from My Garden Update for August 2021

So how am I feeling about my current experiments? I am feeling good. I wish I could figured what is wrong with Jelly Melon. I guess I might have to go hit the books.