Sugar baby watermelons

My family loves watermelon! But you might be surprised to know that watermelon is more than just a sweet watery summer treat. Watermelon contains the largest known source of lycopene, even more than tomatoes, as well as a healthy dose of Vitamins A, C, and B6.  These nutrients may provide protection from prostate cancer as well as boost your immunity, dental, vision, and brain healthy. This is my second year to attempt growing my own in the form of the icebox variety sugar baby. Last year I purchased one plant on a whim, it never did we'll and I thought it was due to late planting. This year I selected three very healthy plants, but while remaining healthy they are not growing at all. Upon doing some research I discovered that this variety loves hot weather, here in Texas we have plenty of that, so my next guess after reading they are heavy feeders, is that my soil must not be sufficient. I found an online tip about using almost ready compost to provide both heat and nutrients. Since my plants are already in ground I had to modify a bit. I dug the soil from around each plant, put in the compost and covered with the displaced soil. I am trying to use as little commercial product as possible, but if no results from this experiment in 1-2 weeks then I will use some fertilizer.

Bugs in the lettuce update

Soapy water sprayed in leaves and down in between them worked great on the aphids nesting in my salad bowl lettuce. It works quickly, and so far I have only seen a few more which I sprayed right away. I also sprayed plants that did not have the bugs visibly on them, but had been munched on, and so far I am not seeing new damage just came back from weeks vacation and here is my lettuce.

Zucchini

I have discovered that I love zucchini! My past  experience with zucchini was a mushy side vegetable with very little flavor, and so I have never liked it before. I decided to try a recipe a few months ago that had zucchini in it (basically a thick beef stew made with hamburger meat and vegetables) I really liked it especially the zucchini. I noticed the vegetable had soaked up the flavor, and as small cubes did not get overly mushy. I then decided to try it in chicken noodle soup as a substitute for celery (I am allergic to celery) delicious again! I decided I had to plant some this year. Here is a photo of a blooming plant. These plants are reported to have large leaves and take up lots of room, I plan to experiment with trellising a few, and letting a few have the run of the bed and spill over the side of garden box if needed. I want to try making lasagna will long slices of zucchini replacing the noodles.