Back in June, as soon as I harvested the shallots, I started Cantaloupe seeds in that bed; this is an heirloom variety called Organic Tuscan Melon "Melone Retato Degli Ortolano" - pretty fancy name, no? It took a while for the vines to take off, but eventually they did, covering their bed and everything around it, as melons do.

Today I was out checking on the vines, and as I looked at one of the melons closely, it came off in my hand, the most perfect indication that it was ripe! I promptly brought it in and sliced it open, then ate a piece. Oh, yum.

I wish the computer had smell-o-vision because this melon smells heavenly. It's small, but it's lovely.

The vines are loaded with more fruit, so hopefully we'll have lots of cantaloupe for the next month or so. The kids don't really like it, so Tom and I (and my folks; this is my dad's favorite fruit, I think!) will have to just take a hit for the team and eat it all ourselves. Oh, darn.

The bees love the cantaloupe blossoms, as well, so it's a win-win.

Drat, I just missed the bee that was buried in here

The bees are also very busy in all the other flowers that are blooming. It was 105 again today. I think the old adage is "make hay while the sun shines' and the bees are certainly gathering nectar while they can. It's fun to just hang out in the pollination gardens and see all the activity.

Amaranth

California Sunflowers

Sunflower "Royal Flush"

Zinnia, I think "Polar Bear"

One last note about the Cantaloupes - they are providing fruit when all the other fruits in our garden are done, although I did get a few unexpected strawberries off the vines when I was over in that section of the garden. Oh yeah and the apple tree is making a second set of fruit, but that's a new thing and I can't expect that every year. Oh gosh I also forgot the figs! But that's a small tree and we won't get much this year. So yeah, the melon is welcome here in September. Nice to have some sweet stuff in our eat-from-the-garden meals.