Smallest cucumber ever

Well it isn't really a cucumber yet, it's just a female flower. This is a Mexican Sour Gherkin cucumber. I've been trying to grow them for 3 years now with no success. They are really small plants and usually get destroyed by snails and slugs. I was able to keep this one alive all season long, but it just started to flower. The flowers are so small I don't know if any bees can find them to pollinate them. I don't think there are any male flowers blooming at the same time as the females. Therefore, no cucumbers. Maybe next year I will have more success. To get a sense of how small it is I put an ant on the flower. Enlarge to see the details.


Rouge Vif d' Etampes a couple of days later. I put a nickel next to the pumpkin to help with scale.


Today's harvest of raspberries. I think this will be the last week for raspberries this season.

Pumpkin

I'm amazed at how quickly the pumpkins are growing. On the packet for the pumpkins, it says it will take about 95 days to grow to maturity. I planted them about 60 days ago, so they should be ready just in time for Halloween.

Harvests

Cosmo seeds


Blue Lake Pole beans are still growing well. I like that it has both yellow and white flowers on the same plant.


And I let some dry out, so I will have seeds for next year.


Here are the seeds that I harvested so far this year. I hope I'll have enough seeds to share this year with other members of Seed Savers. I would need at least 25-30 seeds for each order. Right now I have about 200 seeds.


Ancho San Luis peppers


Brandywine OTV and Croatia

Bees and Pumpkins

Ever wonder how bees transfer pollen from flower to flower? Take a close look at the bee in this photo. It is covered in pollen from head to stinger.


It looks like it is snowing pollen. This is a male Rouge Vif d' Etampes flower.


Here are the pumpkins they pollinated already. I might have helped out too. I did take a Q-tip to them one day.


The second Rouge Vif d' Etampes. I think there about 5 pumpkins growing now. I'm not sure if the season is going to be long enough for them to ripen. They are currently 3-4 inches in diameter.

These are a few of their favorite things


Button had a selection of toys in the bathroom today. I notice how nice all the colors were. These are their favorites.
If I had to rank them:
1. Blue toy
2. Orange ball
3. Football
4. Squirrel

Raspberries

This is today's harvest of raspberries. I ate about the same about on Friday right off the plant. I'm so happy I planted raspberries this year. I planted two different varieties, but the second one got a late start and didn't produce any berries this year. I hope next year to have both do really well.

Happy Quails

I'll probably only have another month to harvet tomatoes. Anna Russian and Orange Strawberry are not really producing any new tomatoes. The Brandywines are still doing OK. I picked about 20 tomatoes yesterday.


This is what it looks like when I'm processing them.


I hate having seeds in my tomato sauce, so I try to get them all out before cooking them. I tried a food mill, but I didn't like the results.


Earlier this week I had lunch at Evvia in Palo Alto. It's a Greek restaurant that has Saghanaki. Saghanaki is pan fried Kefalograviera cheese & padron peppers with oregano & lemon. Emily liked the peppers so much that I thought I would try to grow some next year. I found out the resturant's source for Pimientos de Padrón and went to the farmers market this weekend to buy some. The actual Pimientos de Padróns are smaller than the ones I bought, but I figured the seeds would not be developed enough to save. These are the same peppers just more mature. I hope I can save some of the seeds to grow a few plants next summer. Of course, I will share with Emily. You can find the recipe for the peppers on the Happy Quail Farms site.