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Post by ferdzy on Jan 17, 2019 17:33:46 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about the lack of success. Have you tried growing them under row cover to keep out insects? Since this was the first year of trying this, by the time we figured out what the problem was it was too late. We covered the plants with plastic and will see if any survive into the spring.
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Post by ferdzy on Jan 12, 2019 14:42:46 GMT -5
Since this has been brought up from the depths, I will report a distinct lack of success in producing cauliflower seed.
Pusa Meghna produced loonie-sized heads (tiny, in other words) then flowered and produced seed. It would have been self fertilized.
Everything else flowered much, much later. I was quite hopeful for a while nevertheless. However, plants kept turning sllimy and dying just as they got going. Somebody mentioned Swede Midge and I am inclined to say we have it. (Our broccoli was also pretty much a complete failure this year, which is unusual. Certain varieties grew to be nice lush plants that produced... nothing.)
Haven't decided what we are going to do this year.
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Post by ferdzy on Nov 24, 2018 9:33:55 GMT -5
Some kinds of the potato can survive winter, indeed. But such potato cannot be tasty. I have had some baaaaad tasting potatoes that I have dug up in the spring. The problem was that if you get them at the wrong stage of development (too soon), they are starting to sprout and decay as their energy goes into regrowth. Having been frozen does not help either. However, if you leave them to grow on, the resulting potatoes are perfectly fine.
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Post by ferdzy on Nov 24, 2018 9:31:06 GMT -5
Hello Alice and welcome... where are you gardening (climate, soil, etc.)?
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Post by ferdzy on Oct 16, 2018 12:28:38 GMT -5
I tried growing flageolet last summer and had to pull them out before they got very far because it turned out that they are *extremely* susceptible to anthracnose. I was sad because I really like them.
If you could grow them, though, I wonder if you could select the ones that kept more of a green tinge as they mature.
This year I tried growing out some beans that came out of a Cherokee Trail of Tears - Anseloni's Bologna cross, that were and odd, lumpy shape and light green when dried. It turned out that they had just dried down early last year; this year they were white, hard to pick, hard to shell, nonproductive and not very disease resistant. Ha ha! Guess who's not getting grown again.
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Post by ferdzy on Sept 25, 2018 17:18:19 GMT -5
richardw, yes! It's as good as I was hoping might be possible. The trouble with the golden-when-ripe gene is that it affects the whole plant. The whole plant turns yellow (and dies) as the melons ripen. Therefore I was afraid that the melons would never be very big. Nobody's looking for a 40-pounder (in any melon, these days) but this is large enough to be quite satisfactory.
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Post by ferdzy on Sept 24, 2018 8:10:18 GMT -5
I think I have referred to our project to breed a bigger, better "Golden Midget" watermelon here before. This year I finally think we have a fair degree of success. The above is typical. Our largest yellow melon was just over 2.7 kilos or about 6 pounds. Much, much better than we've ever gotten with Golden Midget. Unfortunately a seed from the orange-flesh project got in with these melons this year so I am a bit nervous about contamination in next years seed. Oh well; another few years sifting it out. Damn. The orange flesh project is us crossing Orangeglo (said to be an excellent orange fleshed melon, but far too long a season to grow successfully here - we got it ripe enough to produce seed once (only tried once)) with Sweet Siberian, a much smaller and more northern adapted orange fleshed melon, as the name would suggest. We are starting to get moderately consistent results here too. You can read more about this at the blog: seasonalontariofood.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-4th-annual-watermelon-breeding-post.html
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Post by ferdzy on Sept 11, 2018 8:16:06 GMT -5
What confuses me about these having the yellowing gene is that (yo) is supposed to be recessive, but these plants are supposed to be F1 plants. Hmmm... odd. Who knows where the yellowing gene comes from? But it wouldn't surprise me if it was floating around in citron. I also see some partial expression of it sometimes, when it is presumably only supplied by one parent.
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Post by ferdzy on Sept 10, 2018 7:57:38 GMT -5
The yellow-when-ripe gene does turn the whole plant yellow. I'm finally having some success this year with my y-w-r project, but I've noticed this from the beginning. Consequently you need to get those plants off to a good start, because what forms in the first few weeks is what you are getting. Here in Ontario our season is short enough that tends to be the case anyway, so I don't worry about it.
I do have some melons that look very similar - round, similar stripes, turns yellow; but mine are much bigger. One of the grandparents was Crimson Sweet, which contains citron in its ancestry.
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Post by ferdzy on Aug 24, 2018 16:00:11 GMT -5
Those are really nice looking! Sounds like good peppers too.
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Post by ferdzy on Jul 31, 2018 10:33:34 GMT -5
I just got in from checking the Harrison's Glory x First and Best #2. I really am quite excited about these!
Some background: I got First and Best #2 from Owen Bridges at Annapolis seeds a few years back. I don't think he sold them for very long. They are an interesting pea, but one with some problems. It is one of the most indeterminate peas I have grown, producing LOTS of pods over a long period of time, but the peas are small and not that many per pod. The flavour is excellent but mild verging on bland. They are quite pale too.
When I found a cross in the Harrison's Glory, I thought it had the potential to be very interesting and seems like it might be. Harrison's Glory has excellent flavour, decently sized peas in okay numbers in the pods, but more typical growth habit (mid sized, mid season plants).
I've just pulled most of the plants but there are still about 6 in the garden. One of them in particular is still pumping out pods. They are a bit more orderly than First and Best #2, but really indeterminate and while the pods look a lot like the First and Best #2, they are at least 2 or 3 times the size. Probably not more than 6 peas per pod, but a darker green, and stronger flavour. I ate a couple earlier in the season and thought them really good. I ate one just now that had plainly sat around for a while, and although it wasn't all that tasty it was not bitter and not even all that starchy. In other words, these hold really well, for peas. I hope I will have enough to grow out next year, and pick and process them like other peas, and see how they stand up to that. I have high hopes!
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Post by ferdzy on Jul 30, 2018 7:32:53 GMT -5
Hi keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.); I'd be interested if you find it, but I've given up on that particular pea cross. The results were just not that great. I still have them if I want to pursue a really tall, branching soup pea. Which I might if I ever eat the three years worth of soup peas already in the cold room. My latest pea project has been some peas I found in the Harrisons Glory a few years back - I believe they are Harrisons Glory x Dual, and Harrisons Glory x First and Best #2. These are looking much more promising. I just harvested the Harrison's Glory x Dual yesterday (for seed) in fact, and I am getting nice large, sweet peas, typically 8 to a pod. I think they have a fair number, but when you are not picking them but saving for seed you really don't get to see what they can do because they stop early. Next year I should have enough to grow out and eat some, and see what the productivity looks like. I should be gathering the Harrison's Glory x First and Best #2 in the next couple of days.
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eclipse
Jul 28, 2018 20:58:06 GMT -5
Post by ferdzy on Jul 28, 2018 20:58:06 GMT -5
Yes, exactly, that's why we didn't see any of it.
And a flat-earther? Seriously? How do people get to be so stupid? No, don't try to tell me. I'm depressed enough already.
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Post by ferdzy on Jul 28, 2018 9:15:49 GMT -5
The place where the pre-fab is to go is inorganic glacial silt; it drains like a sieve, and is a high point; county says it has to have a 4" pad of gravel for drainage; oh, well; coal to Newcastle; expense to me. I'm not saying I hate regulation, but I do resent regulatory bullshit that doesn't acknowledge local reality. My drip-emitters give me spindles until I get enough organic matter to get them to give me tops, but what do I know about drainage, on site? At one point Mr Ferdzy and I legally separated some townhouses purchased as a single property for individual sale. The city also required us to put in gravel, considerably more than 4" That's $30,000 spent on nothing. Actual conversation: *backhoe operator digs hole; examines results* *backhoe operator comes over to where I am standing* Backhoe operator: "You know, you've got excellent drainage here. You really don't need any gravel." Me: "City of C-----." Backhoe operator: "Oh. Right." *backhoe operator goes back to installing more gravel into a pile of naturally-occurring gravel* It actually drained worse* than it had before, but it was all legal 'n' stuff. *by which I mean, just fine, seeing as it was a pile of gravel.
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eclipse
Jul 28, 2018 9:08:08 GMT -5
Post by ferdzy on Jul 28, 2018 9:08:08 GMT -5
Oh, wonderful! I'm very envious; we were in exactly the right spot to not be able to see any of it.
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