Garden: Welcome Eggplant

After a wonderful weekend away it's back to regular life and back to the garden. I thought I would miss it while I was away but actually it was a really nice break. I was excited though to get out there last night and see how everything had changed in my three days away. First let me update the count:

Zucchini - 30
Bush beans - 522
Pole beans - 16
Grape tomatoes - 2

The garden is on the brink of getting out of control. The plants have started growing into each other and all crazy-like. The watermelon is all over the place. The pole beans have started to bend their support system. I think one of the zucchini plants has started its death rattle. It's not as full as it used to be and the middle of it is starting to look like it's dying. I wouldn't be that upset if it died because I could use some extra space in the garden! And I already have a freezer full of zucchini (and one other living plant).

We now have an eggplant - yeah! This plant is actually called a Whopper Eggplant so I assume that means it will produce very large fruit. Right now this fruit is about the size of a baseball.



There are five large watermelons on the vines:


The peppers are getting really big. There are quite a few of them and the plants keep producing more flowers.


This zucchini was hidden under a leaf and was allowed to grow as big as my arm!


This one actually came off the plant that I believe is now dying. I picked it on Sunday evening. Before I left town last week I found blossom end rot on this plant. Blossom end rot is caused by a lack of calcium in the plant. Basically it is what it says it is. The fruit starts rotting on the blossom end before it matures. Two zucchinis were lost to blossom end rot and were chucked in the compost bin. To fix this problem I sprayed the entire plant with a milk and water mixture and then poured some of the mixture onto the soil around the plant. I also crunched up some eggshells and dug them into the soil around the plant. Eggshells are supposed to release calcium into the soil. Apparently all that stuff worked because when I got back on Sunday that gigantic zucchini was on the plant and there was no sign of blossom end rot!