Watermelon and strawberries

I pulled out the watermelon, taking care not to squish or discard my praying mantis. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. Last time I saw it, it was perched on a leaf in the guava tree.

Like the cantaloupe, the watermelon hadn't produced a single melon of note. The largest was the size of a grapefruit, but most were lucky if they reached the size of an orange. I may try again next year, though honestly I'm leaning toward honeydew melon, instead. Next time I'll take care to heavily fertilize the soil before planting anything.

It looks like I'm up to four pumpkins. One's turned orange already, two are tree, another had just started and is still kinda yellowish. I planted them specifically for Halloween, but still don't know how many I'm going to get. I may need to break down and actually buy some this year. Make: has a Halloween special on shelves now, with all sorts of great ideas haunted house ideas. And Martha Stewart (gag, but read on) has a Halloween issue out with even more ideas. I chatted briefly with Darren and Corrii about decorating my place this year, since they don't get trick-or-treaters out in the mountains.

Oh, right, I was supposed to say something about strawberries. I think today was my largest strawberry harvest to date. I have two strawberry pots in the back yard, with about twelve plants. Most of the strawberries are green, but this morning I was able to enjoy half a dozen sweet, juicy strawberries. I can see another dozen ripening, and about another two dozen green berries.