Trellising Eggplant and Cucumbers

All of our eggplant varieties are thriving and yielding some incredibly beautiful (and delicious) eggplant! We installed a trellis system for them last week in order to provide extra support and make it easier for us to harvest. Over the years we’ve been implementing trellises for more of our crops as it gives them a much better chance to withstand excess wind and rain. Plus, it’s been helping to reduce crop potential crop loss we might incur due to the plants bending or breaking.

Our Striped Armenian and Suyo Long cucumbers also received a trellis system last week. While installing it, we noticed plenty of baby cucumbers on the vines which means that we’re not too far off from the first harvest of these varieties! As you can see in the photo below, the Armenian cucumbers are fuzzy in appearance in the baby stage making them easily distinguishable from the Suyo Long that appear more prickly. Fun fact: the Striped Armenian is technically a type of melon but it looks and tastes like a cucumber.

Remember our luffa experiment next to the chicken enclosure? We’re happy to report that it is going well thus far! The vines have made it up the side of the enclosure and are currently making their way over the top. The vines are producing natural shade for our chickens and their large yellow flowers are adding a bit of beauty to the area. We even spotted the first few luffa hanging from the vine. Luffa are edible when picked in the young stage of growth but we plan on allowing them to fully develop and dry out on the vine in order to harvest them for use as natural sponges.