Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 1 JuneA cucurbit seedling on 6 June, its broad leaves quilted between veins pressed deep into the blade and coarsely toothed all round, new growth still emerging tightly crumpled at the crown, one blade torn and yellowing along a vein, in bright overcast light.Week of 8 JuneA young vine on 11 June, photographed at night, its older pair of leaves rounded and only shallowly angled while everything above them is cut deep into narrow points, one tendril coiled tight at the crown and every surface flaring with waterdrops.Week of 6 JulyA vine on 7 July throwing a dozen slender runners out from one crown to every edge of the frame, its leaves cut thin and membranous into five to seven narrow-waisted lobes, thread-fine tendrils spiraling off the stems, dry under overcast.Week of 6 JulyOn 9 July a vine climbing over itself into a mound, bristly enough along every stem and stalk to catch the light — tendrils coiled into tight single springs, the newest leaves at the tips still pale and crinkled, hard high sun throwing crisp dappled shadow.Week of 20 JulyA cucurbit fruit on 20 July lying across the ground fabric in a shallow S, swelling toward its lower end, and the skin entirely smooth — matte pale gray-green with a fine darker speckle, not a wart or ridge anywhere — in hard direct sun.Week of 20 JulyA rinsed picking laid out on 23 July on a striped tea towel, two squash divided along their length between buttery yellow and pale green, one scarlet fruit among a half-dozen still green, and cut sprigs of mint and basil in rows across the top.Week of 27 JulyA bitter melon on 31 July, spindle-shaped and pointed at both ends under a mosaic of blistered tubercles drawn out into long irregular ridges, the withered flower still on its tip and its tendrils wound into tight even springs alongside, in flat damp light.Week of 3 AugustA bitter melon vine on 4 August, its leaves cut almost to the base into five to seven narrow lobes and its tendrils coiled in tight springs, a dozen crumpled cream-yellow flowers open on wiry stalks held clear of the mat and not one fruit anywhere in it.Week of 24 AugustA bitter melon on 27 August, deep green and ridged the whole way down in raised warts and blunt tubercles that fade out at a pale point, lying where the vine left it with fine coiled tendrils running past on either side.Week of 31 AugustA bitter melon vine on 2 September, its leaves cut into five to seven narrow toothed lobes and matted the length of the bed, with one pale yellow flower standing clear on a long stalk in sharp focus and the rest of the mat gone soft behind it.Week of 31 AugustBitter Melon on 3 September: five young fruits set along one wiry vine, each ridged into rows of blunt warts and each still wearing at its tip the shriveled yellow flower it came from, with loose tendrils curling into the air under flat overcast.Week of 28 SeptemberBitter Melon on 29 September, a single warty spindle lying diagonally across its own vine, the ridged rows of tubercles gone soft and tan-olive over the last quarter toward the pointed blossom end. Flat overcast light outdoors.
