Little dead watermelon

This is what happens, and now it happened in our greenhouse. The first lille watermelon has faded away. Why? At the same time a lot of the watermelon flowers also faded away. Now I keep doors open - it could come from humid air. And yea, I do know you (almost) can’t grow watermelons in Denmark. Everybody tells me so, allthough you can find the seeds in any seedrack.
Well, anyone is free to try for themselves.

PS. Two seasons ago it succeeded.

Virovskij Skorospelij (red) and Katja (pink)

I used to be unsecure if there were any other difference than color between the tomato varieties Virovskij Skorospelij and Katja. The are quite similar, just as early and vital. Katja jump started at sprouting, then they followed each other closely, until Virovskij Skorospelij flowered almost a week ahead of Katja. Today they ended up ripening on the same day. Virovskij Skorospelij might have slightly smaller tomatoes than Katja, but I´m not sure just from these first two tomatoes.
By the way, they are both russian heirlooms. Virovskij Skorospelij means The early from Virovsk, Katja is named after the elderly woman who still grow it in her Datcha on the shore of Lake Bajkal in Sibiria. You can almost catch a glimpse of it from the transsibirian railway.

Red Orach Atriplex hortensis

Was orach first to develop modern nano cover?
See for your self how efficiently water-repellent the leaves are. They are instant self-cleaning.

Orach is very easy to grow. Sow it very early in spring, autumn is allright. When established it self seeds from year to year. As it is an easy weed get rid of, I consider it a help in my garden, suppressing worse weeds.

I mix the leaves in salads, where the red color is joyfull. Taste is very neutral - goes well with anything - never the less it is very healthy, rich in vitamins and minerals.

Blackcurrant Ribes nigrum

Today blackcurrants was ripe. From the two young bushes I picked 750g, enough for home made jam.

Blackcurrant leaves we pick in late summer. We enjoy them in salted gherkins, saurkraut and herbal tea, they have a delicate blackcurrant aroma.

I don’t know the variety name. We had a different variety in the garden, but after tasting this variety in my brothers garden, we had some cuttings. It’s a variety very sensitive to fungus diseases, but I decided taste was more important than wether the bush have leaves all summer or drop them all in july.
I our garden the variety seems to thrive and have never dropped the leaved in midsummer.

Second eggplant harvest of the year from greenhouse

Now it’s time to harvest eggplants again. Skorospely with the small oblong fruits have three fruits ready. Rima F1 and Almaz give their first fruit. Rima F1 is the largest fruit, almost supermarket size. A fantastic variety, but a F1 hybrid. I can’t save the seeds and grow the same variety from them next year. I don’t know if I can save live seeds from it at all.

More posts on eggplant

Tomato ‘Whippersnapper’ Lycopersicon lycopersicum

Whippersnapper is a little sprinter. I keep it in a pot outsiden, and still it ripens before the tomatoes in the greenhouse. It’s a small bushtomato, no trimming of sideshoots, just let it grow, over the edge of the pot, or support it with some twigs. I allways grow 3-9 plants in the same pot, close together, to let them grow as one compact bush. Tomatoes are pinkish red, taste wonderfull in warm weather, rather dull in cold grey weather. It gives a huge harvest over a short period. It’s a great season starter.

Artichoke ‘Herrgård’ Cynara scolymus

Today I harvested the first artichoke heads. Now they rest under cold water, to let the insects escape.
I do not have the heart to harvest the heads every year, since the flowers are incredible beautiful.

H.C. Andersen wrote about artichoke in the fairytale “The Gardener and the Noble Family”, where he call it “The lotus of Hindustan”.

Left: My own variety (unnamed), middle and right ‘Herrgård’

Artichokes and peeled stem after boiling

Boiled artichokes and stem in the boiling water, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and wine. Now I will leave it it in the fridge for 1-3 days.

‘Herrgård’ is an old heirloom, could very well be the one H.C. Andersen knew from the gardens of danish manorhouses.

More on artichoke

Summer solstice night, 21/6 22:39

Last night was the shortest in the year. Before going to bed I went out into the garden a made a snapshot. Tiny digital camera, no blitz, handhold and still light enough for a picture.
How I love the white nights.

Lilacs, moon and summernight

Grethe, nicknamed Allium sativum

Today I harvested the first garlics. It’s probably the varm dry last month giving an early harvest.
Grethe is a softneck a college of mine have been growing after buying it in a supermarket. I nickname it after her. It’s a garlic of a pure white color, medium size, and worthwhile growing for a white garlic braid. It stores into january. I have been growing it since 2004.

Lorz Italian Allium sativum,
In my garden still small and poorly developed after third season. Now it rest on the kitchentable, waiting for us to eat it. Rejected after three years in the garden.

Hanoi, nicknamed Allium sativum
An extremely small garlic, sent me last year. It was brought home from Hanoi, Vietnam, by a danish tourist last year. The small cloves developed into single clove garlics. First year in the garden.

Frøposen, nicknamed Allium sativum
I had some topsets last year from a danish seedsaver. She originally bought it from a now closed seedcompany Frøposen. I haven’t found the name of this clone. Now the topsets have grown into single clove garlics. First year in the garden.

Bodils kinesisk, nicknamed Allium sativum
Grown from very tiny topsets. The resulting single clove garlics are more or less the size of topsets from other strains of garlic. I had the topsets from a danish seedsaver, who years back bought it as a chines garlic in a french streetmarket. First year in the garden.

My garlic varieties 2007

Female flower on watermelon Citrullus lanatus

This year I grow watermelon in the greenhouse. They have just started flowering, and on the female flower you can see the tiny watermelon-to-be. As the insects are not familiar with watermelonflowers in my garden, I decided to pollinate by hand. I took a male flower from the neighbor plant, controlled for pollen, picked it and hold it against the female flower to transfer the pollen to the female stigma. Now I must wait patiently for the miracle. It’s second time I grow this variety.

Male flower on watermelon Citrullus lanatus

The variety is ‘White Seeded Besvirino Assyrian Watermelon‘
It is a early watermelon from the assyrian mountain village Besverino near Sirnak i southeastern Turkey. Turks and kurds have other names for the village. The big white seeds of unusual shape are eaten as a delicacy. The sweet flesh of the watermelon is pink. The greygreen melon is oval and small. I got this variety from an assyrian refugee living in Sweden. This is second time I grow it.

Next to I have a single plant of the standard variety ‘Sugar Baby’, to compare the two varieties. To get pure seeds of the assyrian watermelon, I remove any male flower on ‘Sugar Baby’ before it opens. This might result in some interesting seeds inside ‘Sugar Baby’, a cross of the two varieties.