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Post by bluelacedredhead on Sept 19, 2008 6:40:04 GMT -5
This weekend marks the beginning of Autumn. I did a Google to see exactly when we should expect it and look at the spread the following website gives?? www.religioustolerance.org/fall_equinox.htmAnd I know it's coming soon, because there's a thick blanket of white shit all over the fields this morning. I've not ventured out in it yet. It's cold in the house; I'm guessing it's really chilly outside... I brought in the Queensland Blue's last night when I got home, but by the time I got the poultry locked up and the horses watered, there wasn't much time to rummage around in the garden before it got dark. So I threw sheets over my Amish crookneck squash (only one close to size and certainly not mature) hoping to shield it. Other than pumpkins, I've already harvested peppers and most of the tomatoes. I love Autumn for it's colour and the beauty that surrounds it, but I absolutely hate having to put the garden to bed. Anybody else get a heavy frost last night??
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Post by lavandulagirl on Sept 19, 2008 8:22:22 GMT -5
Good link, Blue, thanks.
We won't get frost here for awile yet. Apparently October is when the rain starts, though. It's amazingly dry here. Because there is no cloud cover, it gets to about 50 degrees at night, but then around 90 during the day. The temp swing makes gardening weird, but if it's a learning experience, it's good, right?
Did your Amish crookneck survive the night?
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Post by jaliranchr on Sept 19, 2008 9:37:47 GMT -5
White stuff??? Argh!
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Sept 19, 2008 10:37:01 GMT -5
Yeah Jali, White stuff...You know what comes after an early frost don't you? Early snow!!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa It took quite a while for the frost to burn off. Most of the squash leaves are burnt. I had some other things to do this morning, so I'm headed back out now to assess the damage. Lav, I have lots of seed left for the Amish crookneck. Flowerpower found me some at her local Agway store and Strong Eagle was quite generous with the seeds he sent me last fall. But I really wanted to try eating one THIS YEAR.
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Post by stratcat on Sept 19, 2008 11:47:23 GMT -5
Don't forget to balance an egg at the time of the equinox. Here's a green egg standing around waiting for something to happen a couple of years ago. ;D john
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Sept 19, 2008 12:14:01 GMT -5
Very Eggciting!!!! I haven't sold any eggs for a while. I bet if I dug to the bottom of the basket in the fridge I'd find some green ones of my own
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Post by grunt on Sept 19, 2008 13:04:39 GMT -5
We won't get frost here for awile yet. Apparently October is when the rain starts, though. It's amazingly dry here. Because there is no cloud cover, it gets to about 50 degrees at night, but then around 90 during the day. The temp swing makes gardening weird, but if it's a learning experience, it's good, right? Lav: Are those temps what you experience through the summer? If so, you have very similar growing conditions to what I have here. You can still grow just about everything, but the DTM gets extended by a couple of weeks for most things. It just means you start your transplants a little earlier. It also changes the taste of most of the tomatoes. Brandywine will not be a winner taste wise with the cool nights, and the really late tomatoes may not give you many ripe ones before you have to pull the vines. On the flip side, Cape Gooseberries (a form of tomatillo) develop much more flavour.
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Post by lavandulagirl on Sept 19, 2008 17:37:20 GMT -5
Grunt- I don't think we get that much of a swing over the summer... when the kids and I got here in July, the temps during the day were about 100 or so, but the nights weren't in the 60's. I didn't get a chance to grow toms here this year, because of the late arrival, but am looking forward to having quite a harvest next year. I am preparing my garden for fall, as well as anticipating next year, so I've started filling Japanese tomato rings. We'll see how well the stuff breaks down, with it being so dry, but I'll water my compost if I have to!
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Post by canadamike on Sept 19, 2008 19:06:11 GMT -5
Heuh...Lav, what are japanese tomato rings?
Grunt, how is PRUDEN'S PURPLE doing in your paradise. It likes cool nights. Here, nights are cool all the time except in July ( not this year, they were warmer early september!!), nights are very cool, and they do great. Alan is looking for a good greenhouse mater, I suggested it because of this cool night lovin thing... Do you have others you would recommend to him...
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Post by lavandulagirl on Sept 19, 2008 21:49:45 GMT -5
Michel - Japanese tomato rings are where you have a wire cage, (really sturdy and cylindrical, not those little ones from the garden store), and you fill it with compost. Then when you put out your tomato plants, you plant about four of them around the cylinder, on the outside. The tomatoes root all the way up the cylinder, with those little rootlets they send out from the stem. It's kind of like laying the plants in a trench, but upright, and it works great. You can feed the plants all summer by adding nutrients to the stuff inside the cylinder.
This year, I'm going to add a step, I think. I'm going to put a smaller tube down the center of the cylinder, and fill it with pebbles. Then I can water through that. Like I said, it's really dry here.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Sept 19, 2008 22:04:48 GMT -5
Fabulous idea Lav. Also, if it's very dry in your area, have you researched tomatoes that are drought resistant?
I grew Sioux tomatoes this year. I quite like them. The growing season here this year was the exact opposite of dry, but I have read that Sioux became popular in OKlahoma because of their ability to withstand a hot, dry climate.
Something to consider. Might be a good idea for a separate thread??
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Post by grunt on Sept 20, 2008 3:30:32 GMT -5
Michel: Pruden's Purple did well here in 2004. San Francisco Fog would probably do well - - - developed for the San Francisco Bay area, because of the cool foggy nights, and successfully grown here almost every year. Any of my Stupice crosses. Not a lot of differences in the grow outs of the 2 F2 strains that I grew out - - - 17 of one, and 20 of the other. Ignore the fact that the weight of the fruit has dragged the support/containment lines to the ground, I do. (they put on a growth spurt while I was busy in the other part of the garden, and got too entangled for me to separate without doing damge to the plants) STUPICE X F3 Or this one, called (with a total lack of originality) Small Red I Dunno Not. No splits on any of the fruit, and only very minor cracking around the stem on a couple of them of them. Let me think on it a bit, and I'll dig through my memory and see what I can remember from past years. Probably just about anything I have grown well here would qualify, but I'll see what digging through the fossil pit I call my mind comes up with.
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Sept 20, 2008 8:00:25 GMT -5
Hey Stratcat, I just figured out why you would know how to do that balancing egg act? It's cuz it's your Birthday weekend and hence the party trick! Happy Birthday Stratcat!
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Post by lavandulagirl on Sept 20, 2008 8:45:01 GMT -5
Even with the strain on those lines, Grunt, those tomatoes look really great. That's a nice sized yield.
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Post by jaliranchr on Sept 20, 2008 11:19:43 GMT -5
LG, we are semi-arid here: 18-30 inches precip/yr.; humidity around 15-30%; blazing sun at 5400 ft. altitude. You learn which ones can take the aridity, but a good system gives you far better odds. I think you have a good idea with the pipe in the middle of the JTR. That should work well. I'm more limited because our growing season is so short, but there are plenty of proven drought-tolerant varieties out there. I love my drip system. Just awesome for my cheap makeshift laundry basket containers. BLRH, my condolences on the arrival of the dastardly white stuff. But it will help get the fly population down.
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