Outside Counsel: Giant pumpkin from the Namkung Orchard

Above is a giant pumpkin from the patch of one of my gardening muses, Joanne Namkung. 

"It weighed in 50lbs but I am going to go for 100lbs for next year!" says Joanne, who has a lush English garden, an impressive orchard and vegetable patch on the grounds of her lovely hilltop home in Orange County in California.  

My own pumpkin growing efforts have been a little less successful. Lots of blooms but hardly any fruit. I found this one below today. Fingers crossed it will be ready in time for Halloween! 

Outside Counsel

This cucumber looked plump and ready for salad but the mini white thorns threw me. Supermarket varieties don't have them. Then I spied a similar-looking cuke on a post about mini gardens by the Germinatrix on her blog at Domino Magazine. I asked and here's most of her answer:

1. Pick when color is uniform and deep green

2. Thorns: "They will smooth down totally if you run your hands over the mighty cuke."

3. Harvest earlier rather than later. "Whatever you do - don't let them get yellow! That is the sure sign of an old, bitter cucumber... and who wants that? Not me, not in my cucumbers, or in my men!"

She said it! Who's to argue? I made a rather more freestyle cucumber sandwich (untoasted and with grape tomatoes) for lunch.