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Post by mskrieger on Sept 25, 2019 17:24:25 GMT -5
Your crop sounds lovely, jocelyn. A neighbor's daughter plowed through my front yard early last Sunday morning, destroying the fence and some of the squash, but a lot of them survived, including both giant Long of Naples. And I'm starting to think maybe the round, prolific squash aren't actually maximoss, because the ones knocked off the vine by the carnage have begun turning moschata orange in storage. Innnterresting, I have no idea what it might be. Need to look back at my seed stash. Have some random seed in there from Seeds of Italy, that could be it. Hope they taste good.
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Post by mskrieger on Sept 25, 2019 17:20:55 GMT -5
None of my melons have tasted particularly good this year--it was just too cool for the varieties I grow (I planted too late, so they matured in late August/September.) So I evaluated mostly on "potential". Does it smell good? Do the flavors taste like they could be good if the fruit developed in the heat? I intend to plant earlier next year. imgrimmer, how did yours taste?
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Post by mskrieger on Sept 10, 2019 14:35:11 GMT -5
Fascinating. I will add that in my garden, the muskmelons seem just as tolerant to low-water conditions as the tomatoes and cowpeas. Not that the conditions in my garden ever get close to Saudi Arabia levels of drought. Just something to keep in mind if dry gardening.
Just harvested my first tasty melon of the year. Looks like it's descended from Johnny's "Sensation", with smooth pale green rind and orange interior. Good caramel melon flavor, not as sweet as usual, but that's not unexpected, the weather being so cool.
I'm pretty sure there are a couple of almost-ripe "Jenny Lind" in the patch right next to it. I'm not sure when to harvest those. The leaves are browning but the vines aren't dead yet.
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Post by mskrieger on Sept 5, 2019 9:14:24 GMT -5
Hi Rutos, that's fascinating. I bet you're working with clay subsoil, which can have toxic amounts of aluminum and manganese in it...or conversely, if you're in alkaline country, maybe toxic levels of salts. It could be very worth your while to get a soil test. I like Logan Labs, loganlabs.com, and I used Steve Solomon's method for interpreting and amending it (see his book "The Intelligent Gardner"). If you're not a fan of Solomon, you might check out the Bionutrient Food Association bionutrient.org/site/growers They do have something of an east of the Mississippi bias, but are good people and I know they're looking to expand membership out west and might be able to connect you with a local group. Or your local extension officer should be able to help.
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Post by mskrieger on Sept 5, 2019 9:07:18 GMT -5
Does the drying tendril reliably tell you your watermelons are ripe?
I'm still waiting on my muskmelons...they generally change color and give off an enticing aroma when ripe. Much more flirty than watermelons!
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 29, 2019 11:36:44 GMT -5
The sun came back and with it some warmth. Forecast to stay until at least the middle of next week, which would be lovely. Some of the trees up near the university campus have already started on their fall colors, which is ludicrous. I REFUSE to live in Vermont, dammit. This is southern New England, and the weather better act like it.
(shouts very tiny human, shaking fist at the sky)
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 29, 2019 11:31:51 GMT -5
Thanks for the detail, william. I'm growing Long of Naples from seed I purchased from Johnny's Selected, not Joseph's version. It does seem to be the most prolific moschata I planted this year, which is one mark in its favor. The single hill of Joseph's maximoss is by far out-producing it, though, which fascinates me. How some vegetable varieties become so unproductive, while oneselected for conditions a lot different than my yard, nonetheless does well here and tastes good... Joseph Lofthouse has some serious plant breeding mojo, obviously .
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 29, 2019 11:28:06 GMT -5
Those citron x domestic watermelons sound neat! We've had a good season for cucumbers, no diseases this year.
My melons have some spots of powdery mildew. Plenty of full-size fruit (and lots of small ones) but I'm just waiting for them to ripen. I base my selection on taste...if any taste decent during this cool season, I will be happy.
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 22, 2019 9:01:20 GMT -5
Congratulations on your tomatoes! But man, mid-August is a long time to wait. Is it a heat thing?
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 22, 2019 8:56:33 GMT -5
Hi Rutos, mulching? Soil splashing and stunting plants? That all sounds totally bizarre to me...where are you growing? What's your soil like? I'm curious what kinds of conditions you have. Because peppers need heat, I never mulch them (they like the soil warm) and I never have soil splashing problems nor stunted plants.
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 22, 2019 8:51:28 GMT -5
That's good to know, that they turn orange in storage. So basically you leave them on the plants until the season is over, and then put them in storage and hope they're mature enough to store? Did you find the Long of Naples tasty?
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 22, 2019 8:47:01 GMT -5
True, they may be suffering. I also sometimes wonder about plant consciouness -- it must be so different than ours, for plants are sessile and form vast rhizome root networks through which they talk to each other. Perhaps these blackberry plants were warning the others about the fungus.
Or perhaps they appreciate attempts to preserve their brethren even at the expense of themselves. Luther Burbank once said that domesticated plants had made a contract with us, that part of the contract was that we propagate them and their seed and species, and in return we could breed and cultivate them and they would become what we wanted. Part of that deal is protecting them from disease. And when it comes to orange rust, that means culling.
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 22, 2019 8:43:01 GMT -5
I might have 4 tiny watermelons and 3 melons within the next weeks. It is a race against mildew. So far they are healthy. Fingers crossed. I have some watermelon plants from Ferdzy one is the first with fruit but others I suspect they are from Russia set later fruits but are very fast now. there are many plants of Andrew Barneys Citron x Watermelon hybrid swarm but no fruit set so far. They are very vigorous and flower since some time but no fruits so far. What makes me happy is that all plants are direct sown. So I might have finally found suitable plants for my own landrace. That's great news! But did you have the heat that the rest of western Europe encountered? That might've helped a bit...of course, it might also be your new normal
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 21, 2019 13:31:43 GMT -5
We've had a fairly cool summer. The heat loving plants (peppers, melons, moschata squash) are taking their sweet time, still haven't got a red ripe pepper nor a ripe melon. Hoping summer lasts a few more weeks!
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Post by mskrieger on Aug 21, 2019 13:29:17 GMT -5
I just had to dig out three of the blackberry crowns I planted last year: orange rust. One of them was puny and had never taken off, I suspect that was the source of it. I was sorry to have to do the purge: we had a wonderful harvest this year. But everything I've read says the plants will never recover, and you must remove them or they will infect the rest of your patch. I really hope the other bramble crowns are OK.
Killing plants that performed so well for me hurts somehow.
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