Wednesday, August 24, 2011

What is it?

Apparently, when I bought the zucchini and squash plants in the spring we got something a little extra. When they are small they are kind of hard to tell apart. Now that this one has grown and spread all over the place it is pretty obvious that it is NOT a zucchini or a squash plant.


At first I thought it might be a cucumber plant but that does not look like a cucumber. It has gotten fatter and is starting to develop a rough exterior similar to a cantaloupe. We suspect it may be a type of melon but to be honest we have no idea. So if anyone has any suggestions as to what it is, let me know!

This is a better picture of the leaves which may help with identification.


Even though we are still having a heat wave we have gotten a little relief. We have gotten a little rain which has helped the garden immensely and the temperatures have backed off of the 110+ mark. We are still having triple digit temps but the plants seem to be doing a little better. The sweet potatoes are doing pretty well and one of the tomato plants has decided to put out more than one tomato. Even though I got the watermelon plants in late, they have started to produce some female flowers and looks like a couple of them have pollinated. Hopefully we'll get at least a couple by the end of the season!

If we are going to have a fall garden I have to get off my duff and get things started. The fall seed potatoes still have not come in at the feed store but I'm hoping to get some of those as soon as they do. I have to admit that this year was not the best year to try your hand at a first time garden but I think we have done as well as we could given the heat and the drought. We have learned a lot this year so I'm sure we'll be able to do better next year. Now, if we can just get that chicken coop finished...

5 comments:

  1. Definitely looks like a melon to me. Though the variety I don't really know, there are just so many of them

    ReplyDelete
  2. Actually looking at it, it could very well be a cantaloupe... they don't turn their tan color til they get bigger, mine are smaller and green like that I think.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Actually, my friend was talking to me just today about this. Not sure if it is the same as yours, but he said he planted squash and was surprised when it had a very hard exterior that needed some 'elbow grease' to get to, much like an acorn squash or such. He said his wife pureed it and make some delicious soup. So maybe it is squash after all...

    ReplyDelete
  4. could it also be a skinny pumpkin?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think theroadtohomestead had it right. It has started to look like a cantaloupe. It has started to take on the marking and colorings of one. It's not ready to pick yet so we'll see!

    ReplyDelete