July 16, 2010

Updates from the Orto-

More on the birds and bees situation in my "orto".
The first blossoms on the watermelon plant got me so excited dreaming of all the watermelons I was going to have, but when I came back from Sicily there were not ANY baby melons. Google helped me out. The first blossoms are all male, and then come the females with a small ovary attached, which is fertilized by a passing bee or butterfly, will become fertile and produce a watermelon.

So now I am on watch! We have bee's and butterflies.



A male zucchini blossom with a visting bee

a male watermelon blossom


will this be the female blossom???

on the left is the zucchini with blossom(girl) and on the left the male blossom( no zucchini)


eggplant blossoms, we ate the first eggplant, second is almost ready
there are quite a few blossoms



the first tomatoes are starting to turn red!


We may get tired of all the zucchini, but it is fun.
Yesterday I grilled the zucchini and then made a cous cous salad with herbs from the garden,
currants, lemon juice , EVO and some fresh chopped apricots.

It is lovely to be able to feed ourselves from the garden.


LOVED IT!