Females!!!

I woke up to this blossomed female flower.  Not wanting to miss the one morning it will be open, I took about 5 or 6 male flowers and hand pollinated it.

This is it tonight.  If the tiny melon below the flower has increased in size tomorrow, I will have succeeded in my attempt to make like a bee.

I think....

... we have a female!!!

Amongst all this ...

I found this!  Finally, a female flower in its youngest state.  I haven't gotten this excited about anything in a long time lol!

November update

General state of affairs: snap peas are growing very well, taller than the trellis now.  Tomato plants are doing better with whatever was wilting their leaves; they're shortest to talles from left to right due to sun exposure, and watermelons still have no female flowers.

Going to definitely have to add something so these guys can continue growing...

Healthy and growing wildly.  Waiting for female flowers any day now...

And behold, our first tomato flower!!!

New home, and under attack

I went to Home Depot for some items completely unrelated to gardening, and ended up buy a new home for the peas.

I was amazed at the root system these things develop.  This is as I was transplanting.

On another less pleasant note, my watermelons are under attack.  I honestly do not know what is causing it (I have read several things), so I have decided to try out a homemade insecticide from dish soap and water.  I had hoped I didn't have to do anything like this, my reasoning being that plants can survive (and thrive) without any human intervention.  Maybe I'm overdoing the whole "organic" approach, but I don't even like to use gardening tools (call me crazy).

Either way, the pictures below are the affected areas.  If you recognize what could be causing it, and most importantly, know how to fix it (in the most organic way), please leave a comment below.  It would be greatly appreciated! (click to enlarge photos)

The flowers are getting decimated.

Burrowing beetles?

No clue here...

Before and after

I have slacked with my posts!

I will show you quickly pictures of the new transplants, 5 days later, and then 9 days after that :)

Newly transplanted!

Here they are, on October 9th:

And this is today:

Trellis time!

Tomorrow, these guys will get transplanted outside:

But that will be tomorrow. 

I made a trip to a great garden and lawn store called Shell Lumber and bought some supplies:

Eight bags of organic soil, three bags of cow manure compost, three tomato trellises, and one bamboo trellis.  My raised bed is 7 inches tall, 20 inches wide, and 12 feet deep, which is about 12 cubic feet; which is exactly how much soil I bought.  I think I probably should've bought more due to the soil getting compacted.  That will be done tomorrow.

My snap pea plant has really been struggling in its peat pot; so I decided to transplant it today, along with 4 other peas that just sprouted overnight.

Transplanting was fairly easy.  The tiny sprouts you see had a single root as long as the peat pot was deep, which really surprised me.  I cut one of them by mistake, but I'm hopeful that it won't delay growth too much.  Everything was watered thoroughly.  Tomorrow will be a fun day!!!  

Plastic is good!

I just gotta say... I love love love the way this snow pea grows.  :)

NOTE: stem you see that has been cut, it was because when I transplanted, I maimed the roots big time.  The leaves on top started to die, so I cut off a piece of the plant, thinking the roots that were left couldn't supply for the plant, so they needed less to take care of.  It worked like a charm; once I cut, the top leaves regained their vigor again.  And, as you see, the plant is doing great.  :)