"Steve" wrote in message
news
wrote:

Hi,

This year I planted pumpkin, watermelon, and cucumbers.

All the plants were in the ground at the end of may and the pumpkin and
cucumber seem to be thriving although we have no pumpkins or cucumbers
yet. The watermelon is a little stunted but seems to be doing well now
and I see some flowers getting ready to bloom.

So here is is August 11th and so far no visible fruits. Is this
normal? I saw one female flower on the pumpkin and I tried to hand
polinate it and it seemed to take but then it just dried up and fell
off. I saw a bee crawling in that flower as well. It seems like all
the new buds I see are males. Is it normal to have so many male
flowers and so few female? It's been really hot lately - in the high
90's.

I usually get out and water everything in the morning with a hose so
they are all getting plenty of water.

I'd appreciate any feedback on the results I am seeing since this is
our first year trying to grow anything.

Thanks in advance,
Steve


OK, you saw a bee, that's good. I'm trying to think what your problem
might be. The first 2 things that come to mind are... Are you trying to
grow a garden in a location that is in shade half the day? or... Did you
plant way too much in an area that is too small? All the plants that you
have trouble with will tend to produce male flowers if they are not
thriving and may abort any fruits that start to grow.
I live way north of you and I don't dare plant out much until about June
1st. We've had an exceptionally nice and warm summer but we get a few
nights in the 40s as we do every summer. I've been picking cucumbers for a
month I bet. My pumpkins are doing well. Some of the small ones are
starting to turn orange already. The other pumpkins that are destined to
be big (close to 100 pounds sometimes) are just now starting to set some
fruit. The biggest right now are no bigger than a volley ball but they
will soon be much bigger than that!
I've been growing vegetables here since 1980 and helped my mother before
that. It gets easier. :-)

Steve in the Adirondacks

Steve, I was just in Old Forge yesterday at the Water Safari. I could
definitely tell that it's cooler around those parts, compared to the
blistering 90+ days in Syracuse.

I just started getting ripe tomatos today. I'm at least two weeks behind
where I was last year. I suppose the heat had something to do with it. My
Pumpkin planst are finally flowering so hopefully we'll have some for
Halloween.