Don't count melons before they are grown!

It is said "Don't count your chickens before they are hatched!" - I guess it applies to my winter melons too! The first potential winter melon to land on my dining table looks like it is dying! The tail-end of the fruit looks shriveled and it has stopped growing! Maybe it was not fertilized or it is not good enough for the next generation of seeds.



Anyway, I got another to bank on - one relocated from the back lane into the garden and it looks like it is still growing.


Other female flowers are blooming and this one's looking forlorn on the fence while waiting patiently for the matchmaker bee!



The bee is busy on this male flower but I noticed that it avoided the female flowers!
Why ?_?



The perfect pentagonal petal star!



The stigma centre of the female winter melon flower looks like a well-filled samosa!



The hardy Bell Lily in bloom - I have always enjoy its short-lived beauty all these years. My lilies have been with me more than ten years.

Happy Art

Close examination of the winter melon plant reveals images of the artistry of mother nature. The stamen centre of the male winter melon flower is so striking! It is so beautiful, don't you agree? Maybe I should make a big print of it and put it on my wall! The growing shoot and coil look ready to spring their anchorage hold on whatever support within reach!




The phallic-looking female winter melon flowers below in various stages of development. They are respectively - bud, almost blooming and a fertilized pod that had already grown 3 inches long.





I feel somewhat overwhelmed by the winter melon gone mad across the length of the fence and across the drain, wherever they could expand their territory. It is wild, just wild! I had to train some of the growing vines back into within the garden as I want to be able to harvest some of the winter melon for myself when they are fully grown.

Jingle, jangle, JUNGLE!

A few days ago, my sister asked me if my small garden will become jungle or not - well, it looks like it is heading there as you can tell from these pictures. I wonder if the winter melon will ever stop creeping! If, like in the story of sleeping beauty, the jungle took over and the prince had to cut through the trees and creepers, etc. I can imagine slashing my way through with a parang to reach the door .... hahaha!








TELEPHONE CORDS! HAHAHA!




The Okra row - slow and steady. I guess it will mean another crowd when they grow taller!



The mint pushing upwards - possibly a sign that it is not getting enough sun :(


Scrawny green bean, unlike the prolific pinto bean, but growing nevertheless!



Two new residents finally showed up - the pumpkin and the sweet potato! The sweet potato shoot was so well camouflaged that I almost missed it! Luckily I didn't step on it and kill it! :)

Life of it own

The garden has taken over with creepers going for the sun on whatever clear space they can conquer. The flowers have bloomed and the pollinators have been visiting - the bees, wasps and ants!

Some seedlings and plants have died - the Thai Hot chilli and new capsicum seedlings have withered while the cherry tomato is dying and I feel so helpless. I think there is a spot near the centre of the plot that has a high fatality rate - why?

The big bright yellow blooms have been attracting scary big bees and wasp (I think).



The sweetest of pink for the pinto bean's blooms. Now, when will the first successful fruit appear? You can be sure that I will be eagerly looking out for it.


BTW, I seem to have no luck with the pumpkin seeds I sowed 10 days ago. :(

There are now lots of earthworms in the soil - skinny ones though!

Beautiful Sunday!

Yeah, it is beautiful to be greeted by the bright bloom of the winter melon's yellow flower when I looked out of the window this morning.







On closer inspection, I spotted the shy conch-shaped white flower of the pinto bean. So sweet and delicate, isn't it.





And of course, the greens of my little green patch is no less important - the packed apex of the papaya and the flourishing mint!

Finally, the flowers came

First it was the cucumber plant a few days ago and then, early this morning, I saw them - a big flower bud on the trellis! My, oh my! I counted 5 flowers and there were some more outside the fence. I was really taken by surprised although I have been looking out for them flowers. Somehow I missed them up on the rack and by this morning they are already quite developed!

The smaller yellow flowers of the cucumber plant!



The heavier winter melon flower bud!




Besides flowers, the winter melon is has rather graphically aesthetic leaves!




All it took was just one week for the winter melon to traverse the length of the fence and cover the trellises.



How the pinto beans have grown! I suppose they are the next candidate for flowering!




The okra seedling growing steadily - there are 5 of them. Hopefully they can give me a constant supply of lady's fingers or bendi as it is known in Malay!

Perennial Art

So pretty - so perfect! by Winter Melon, the artist!