Hello Shadow Hunters!
I can really feel the desert heat already. Some days the temperature reaches 41℃ (105.8 ℉) and we are actually just getting started. We're lucky to still have some cool breeze despite the dry heat, especially when under the shade of some trees.
While most people in the northern hemisphere are taking advantage of the sun to start their gardens, here in the Middle East, we are taking all precautions to protect our plants from the extreme heat of the sun. At the same time, we are hoping that the vines will provide us a bit of shade during these times.
For this week's Shadow Hunters' Contest, let me share some of the pictures that I took at our mini vegetable garden.
Sweet Potatoes
We don't have lots of space on the ground to let these sweet potatoes crawl, hub designed a mini trellis for them to grow upwards.
Last time, they gave us lots of big tubers and they even abundantly shared their leaves. Hopefully, the summer heat won't be too harsh and they would still give us some generous yields.
Here, I tried to project the spare net he used as a trellis to cast some awesome-looking shadows on the leaves.
Since I think this looks "great" this photo is my entry to the contest. :)
Ampalaya (Bitter Gourd)
These really grew so quickly! We have already harvested a couple to add to our vegetable dishes. My mom said they look very bitter because the skin is too wrinkly, but I'd say the taste is tolerable.
I love how the vines are crawling to give ample shade underneath.
Squash
This squash is also very excited to grow. It has already flowered and shown some small fruits but nothing has really survived so far. Hopefully, it will be the same as the last squash we had that gave us big fruits (weighing an average of 5kgs each).
It was around midday when I took this photo and can you notice how the bigger leaf at the left side is curled downwards? What a pity to see these plants under the extreme heat, though hub has added some net above it to hopefully shield them even just a bit.
Papaya
Look how big the shadows are! Yes, the leaves are big and wide even though the papaya plant is not that tall. They are only about a meter high but are now bearing flowers and fruits too.
Here's how the mini garden looks like:
Meanwhile, hub also has some fascination with planting fruit-bearing trees. Here's a tamarind that he has sown from the seeds of some Thai tamarind that we bought from the supermarket. I'm not particularly sure if this will ever grow to bear fruits, but it still gives pleasure to just see them as they are.
There! A mini tour of our mini vegetable garden in the desert.
As it is becoming extremely hot outdoors, I try to minimize spending time outside already apart from the early part of the morning. I will probably have to find more creative ways to cast some shadows inside the house and then share them here in this vibrant community.
Until then!
