Good morning, and happy Fall! Welcome to Saturday Morning Garden Blogging.
It's been beautiful here in Denver this past week — not too hot during the day; cool enough at night for good sleeping, but not so cold that we have to turn the heat on in the morning.
Highs have been in the high 70s to low 80s; overnight lows hover in the low 50s; we've had little cloud cover but are getting smoky haze from the Northwest forest fires — which means spectacular sunrises and sunsets.
And the air is heavy with the mingled scents of the sweet autumn clematis, Inca Sun brugmansia, and the stand of nicotiana sylvestris blooming in the back yard.
The veggie patch is in its last push of production — I have tons of tomatoes and zucchetta coming off the vines, and every few days another head of cauliflower is ready for picking. I'm very pleased with the cauliflower this year: no aphids! Much of last year's cauliflower went straight into the compost bin as there were so many aphids in the nooks and crannies that it was most unappetizing.
I haven't tried any of my leeks yet — I just stare in awe at the beautiful, large stems lining the veggie beds.
And, one of my favorite parts about gardening is that I'm always learning something new. This year it's how to tell when a melon is fully ripe and ready for picking. When it's time to pick a melon, the stem releases from the fruit with very gentle pressure — a small push with my thumb separates melon from vine. The other clue is that the rind will start to develop small cracks. Man, when you cut one of those melons open the juice flows and the seeds slide out of the cavity with gravity. And the taste and texture is incredible.
I've harvested several green nutmeg melons, but I'm still waiting on the French Charentais cantaloupe — it took forever to get fruit set on those vines. I'm hoping that because they're a small melon they'll ripen faster than the much larger green nutmegs.
That's what's happening here. What's going on in your gardens?