Six on Saturday: tiny fruit

Last weekend was my first Six on Saturday (a trend started by The Propagator); inspired by the weather I wrote about indoor gardening and the things that were growing under sunlamps.

Yesterday, I thought that the yearning for warm weather was over but today as I look out the window at the snow falling I see we are taking a break from our usual broadcasting.

So, now brought to you by the snow again is the second in the series of indoor gardening: tiny fruit.

(Technically, I guess not fruit but prefruit ovaries because if not pollinated then it will never grow to full fruit pericarp but I still find them very cute no matter what the name)

These may or may not turn into limes; Lime flowers are perfect and self pollinating so hopefully, I will get some limes this year even after the tree spent far too long indoors. I have been giving the tree a good shake from time to time as although the flowers are self pollinating; you get more fruit if the pollen is ‘shaken’ from the stamen/anthers by the wind or insects. The inside of my house is not very windy so I try to help the flowers out once in a while.

‘La Diva’ F1 – apparently you can eat cucumber and squash before they are even fertilised but this one is less than a centimetre long so not much of a salad yet.

Last week it was the male flowers, this week the female flowers are big enough (still tiny) the biggest one in the picture might open soon so I will have to hand pollinate as luckily we are a bee-free household indoors.

female pumpkin flower

‘Jack Be Little’ pumpkin – this may sound silly but I thought that the pumpkin flower ovary would be orange like the courgette are yellow; I guess there is still time.

Dwarf pea (‘Douce Provence’) this technically is already a fruit pericarp as pea flowers are perfect and pollinated before they open so they grow peapods straight after the flower wilts.

Technically not a fruit or a pericarp or whatever, but it is a tiny ‘slip’ of a thing so I thought it would be ok to include.

 

Ok, its still snowing – at this rate I will have to change my name to tiny indoor farmer.