So my internet connection was all crazy yesterday so I am late with this one post. In my last update, we looked at the Dragon Fruit, Chinese Peppers and the Jelly Melon. We saw them growing and doing ok. Another month has past and lets look at my experiments now that we are at the end of July 2021 and ready for a garden update.

Dragon Fruit

We are getting the greatest failure out the way first. Sadly, I have lost all my dragon fruit seedlings. I was surprised at how slow they are to grow and how fragile they actually were.

In the picture, you can see the little green stub. Something came along and topped my little cactus. It was developing its little spines but it was not enough to protect it. I assume it was an earwig but I don’t have proof.

I am not done with my dragon fruit experiment. When I start over, I am going to start it as a houseplant. I think the seedlings grow so slow that the wind, heat and predator pressures were too much. I think I am going to try again but this time, try it on the inside until it becomes a very strong plant.

It is one of the frustrating things about trying new stuff is their is no information at your local extension office to help grow these things in your climate. You just got to muddle along yourself.

Chinese Peppers

I have moved them into their own pots. They are looking pretty healthy and are growing. Because of how late a start they got, I don’t expect to see any fruit until this fall. There is a bit of bug damage but everything is looking pretty good.

Here is a shot of the biggest of the three.

It is a slightly different looking leaf when compared to my existing pepper plants. It may just been sun difference since these have had much more shade than my other peppers. To me the leaves look more heart-like than my normal peppers. It is probably just in my head.

Either way these are looking good and I am very happy with them.

Jelly Melons

So now we get to the most surprising entry into my ledger of success. We get my Jelly Melons.

Look at this healthy looking plant. I figured there was a really good chance that I got this into the ground too late. Honestly, I thought I would get some decent growth and some hopefulness at doing it successfully next year but look at this plant. It is gorgeous.

I will warn you it is a spiny sucker. It is also a fairly aggressive vine. Look at those leaves. They are even spiny. While it is spiny, it is not painfully spiny. You would not want to fall into it but working in it is not too bad.

I was looking at it and noticed something that made me really hopeful.

It is a flower bud. I might actually get fruit from this. If I get enough fruit from this, I might build it is own bed. It is hard to find sweet fruits that do well in my climate. At minimum, I will be planting these again next year to confirm their hardiness to my climate. Look at those spines, it is just so spiky. I love it.

It does appear to be an aggressive spreader so I am going to have to factor that into the equation next year.

Conclusions to My July 2021 Garden Update

For doing things that I have no business doing, my experiments are coming along really well. I am bummed out about the Dragon Fruit but I have plenty of seed to continue trying. More importantly, I think I know where I messed up. It will get a bit more babying and we will see how that comes. Now it is time to get my fall cabbage into the ground. Next week, is all about the broccoli, pak choy, cabbage and mustards. I am tempted to bring everyone along on that ride but it is going to be hot and photographing take time and is annoying when trying to work.