Experiments for 2008?

[kctomato]

do you have/want any Yellow Submarine seed?

[Alan]

No I don't have any but I would love to give it a try and see what it is like.

[suze]

admin said:

I'm going to see if I can't track down that pink pear.

I grew Weeping Tom this year, which might sort of fit what you're looking for.

davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/130603/

[Alan]

Thanks Suze, i'll check that out.

[robin282]

Last year, I put plastic down on a garden plat to start my purple bush beans early. I had read that they can handle cooler temps than the other colors. I warmed (such as it was) the soil, then planted the beans, and put the plastic back over them. I worked it like a greenhouse in that I removed the plastic if I thought it might get to hot, and replaced it for cool times, and night. Well, they sprouted early; it was April. I forgot to mention the bed was raised.

They began to grow, and I continued with the plastic. Then came the first true leaves. The weather seemed fair, and they were gaining in height, so I did not wish to have the plastic laying on top of them. I took the plastic off. Then one night we had a freeze, a killing frost.

I looked at my beans and was disappointed to lose them. I looked around, and saw about a dozen or so plants that were either mildly or completely unaffected. There was nothing special about their particular location (as if they were all in one corner and there was a micro climate). They were scattered. there would be one good one in the middle of 10 bad ones! I saved seed from these hail and hardy fellows.

I am hoping to catch a gene more tolerant to the chill. Now, I do not expect to get the hardiness of a pea out of a bean, but I hope to develop something that can be started a couple of weeks earlier. I realize too that they were started under plastic, which means I do not know if they will sprout in the colder weather, just that they can hack the frost once above ground.

My experiment this year will be 2 plots to test the germination thing: one covered, one not. Then I will also test by starting them early again, letting a frost hit, and keeping the tough guys for seed.

If anyone has any advice, I'd be grateful.
Robin

[Alan]

Thats the spirit Robin and the kind of work that desperately does need to be done to improve crops.

I don't know how much seed you have, but If your concerned about the effect of the plastic then you could easily do a control experiment and plant half of them with the plastic and half without for germination/cool soil emergence experiments. I would also keep detailed notes on days to maturity and keep selecting for earlier and cool soil tolerant types.

I hope this helps you in your quest friend.

[robin282]

Thanks!

[robin282]

Woo-Hoo! Those beans will be going into the ground in 3 weeks!
Robin

[Alan]

Keep us updated friend

[johno]

Soo... I was out and about today for a little while (a rare thing,) and I happened upon a pack of Butterbush squash seeds. Having forgotten that Alan advised against them, I bought the pack ($1.07) My question is, just how wrong did I go?

The project I'm starting soon is to breed a shorter-vined and hopefully faster maturing C. moschata, because as far as I'm concerned, those are the only two areas they can be improved.

I have several C. moschatas lined up, but still needed a short DTM bush-type. They also had Autumn Glow at less than half the amount of seeds for 50 cents more... would that have been a better choice?

I think I want to use the bushy type for the momma, hoping that the mitochondrial dna will pass along the short-vine genes, but I have no idea, really.

[robin282]

Can you believe I have planted those seemingly-hardy purple bush beans I saved from last year (after surviving a killer frost)?

Or actual frost free date is mid-May! However, I cannot recall a frost in May--maybe it was gone before I woke.

Even the ones I put in last year went in sometime in April. I do have them covered, in a raised bed, when I water, the water is warm. This is just a test plot mind-you; I do not want to have a failed experiment and end up without seed.

Pray for the little buggers!
Robin

[pugs]

johno,

PM me your address and I'll split my pack of Autumn Glow seeds and send you some.

Pugs

[johno]

Done - thank you!

So, with the difference in maturity rates, I need to get the big boys (long-vined C. moschatas) growing in about a week. I plan to make some large (and plantable!) newspaper pots to start them in, since it will be another month before I'm sure there won't be a surprise frost (like last year...) I'll plant the little mammas (Butterbush and Autumn Glow) later on in May. If I planted them at the same time, I fear that the bush squash would be fizzled out around the time the others were just getting started.

I've been working on the 18 squash hills a little at a time throughout the winter. Each has had compost, rotten eggs, chicken manure, weeds and leaves added as they became available. They have since been covered with soil (I almost typed 'dirt!') so they will break down into nice, humusey hills by planting time.

[johno]

The seeds just arrived, Pugs - thank you very much! There are more seeds in the 1/2 pack you sent me than there were in the entire pack I considered buying!

[pugs]

John,

You're welcome. I thought the pack I bought was skimmpy on the seeds. It was a Burpee pack and bought at Walmart.

Pugs