Genes

So here's the first cucumber from the plant Eric started from seed. It's pretty different from the others - kind of fatter and rounder and juicier. And spiky!



Note the family resemblance:



Until recently, the eggplant was flowering, then the petals were falling off, and that was it. Apparently pollination is tough when it's very hot out (tell me about it!). But now it looks like a little eggplant is forming!



I know this image isn't very persuasive, but none of the earlier flowers turned into anything like this, and various other plots with eggplants developing have these. Did you know they're called eggplants because they used to be white? They bruised easily on the way to sale, and the bruises were purple, so they just bred them to be purple so you can't see the bruises. God bless America!

I realized that until recently the muskmelon kind of looked like a small, round watermelon - smooth with dark green stripes. But now, you can start to see the "webbing" form. My "Book of Cucumbers, Melons, and Squash" (thank you Library of Congress) says that it'll be ripe when the webbing is "pronounced."



Here's one of the flowers we planted! I think it's a Zinnia, though I'm not persuaded.



Random cool thing that another gardener told us about: After each poppy blooms, it won't bloom again. You can cut the heads off and take them home and dry them. And as they dry, they release the seeds - which are poppy seeds! I realize this is logical, but it's still funny to see poppy seeds spill out of these. If you look at the little holes toward the bottom right side, you can see more seeds inside.



You can cook with these, but you can also save them and plant them next year. Or give them as garden gifts to your small but loyal blog audience to plant in their gardens.