Saila,

Thanks for the wonderful pics. Your garden has a bountiful harvest!! Your bitter melon vine is yummy looking. I can almost smell the fragrance from the plant.

Hi Winane,

Thank you. I too love the fragrance of the bitter melon. I purposely keep brushing against the leaves to get that intense fragrance. Hubby thinks I am cuckoo :-)

-saila

Sailamint,
Your garden and the veggies you harvested seem to be so vibrant and healthy.
i don't know if this a true fact but having the bittermelon plants in the midst of other plants sure helped and i had lesser japanese beetle infestation than on the other parts of my garden.

Sambandham garu,

That is an interesting observation. This year I planted bitter melon in two locations in our yard. That may have deterred some pests/diseases ? I also made sure I rotated all my crops. So far I am having to battle with spider mites but looks like that is all (knock on wood). I use only composted steer/horse manure and fish emulsion as fertilizer. Nothing else. During planting time, I use bone meal in each of the holes I transplant my seedlings in.

-saila

Saila, what variety of bitter melons are they? Pretty gorgeous vines! How was the produce?
Regina

Hi Regina,

Apologies for the late response. I have not checked the forums in a while. I had planted a few different varieties. One is a Japanese variety that I got from Kitazawa seed company. This variety is dark green, long and thin. Two varieties are Indian that I saved from last year. These are pale green. One is long and thin and one is short.

-saila