Gardening at Champeau de Bas

   Well I spoke to soon about the melons. Once more a fungal disease had destroyed a crop. My Troubadour melons have been wiped out. There are unripe melons but the plants themselves have died. I still have some of this variety in my "tomb" which are still thriving and I am hopeful that the melons they have will ripen. I have cut one Prescott Musk melon as it was beginning to rot. It was virtually ripe and what there was tasted really nice. Strange melon this one. Water melons continue to swell. Fingers crossed!

Troubadour melons destroyed by fungus

   The poly tunnel cucumbers have now finished. A reasonable crop was gained. The outdoor cucumber, La Diva, continue to produce some fruit and I am hopeful that they will continue for a little while yet. 
   On the runner bean front the variety Gigante has produced a good crop and I am hopeful for a decent amount of beans for drying. The Scarlet Emperor runners are now in full bloom and producing increasing amounts of lovely beans. The bees really love them.

Wind affected runner beans

   I have now removed side shoots from the pumpkins,  melons ans squashes in the hope that the remaining time they have to grow they will concentrate on making the pumpkins etc larger rather than producing leaves. One variety of pumpkin is already showing signs that it  has done its bit and one of the squashes is also had enough. So autumn is coming and there is going to be pumpkins for Halloween!