Post by Drahkk on May 15, 2013 22:15:55 GMT -5
More and more often lately I find myself taking pictures that I want to share, but which don't really merit their own thread or fit easily into an existing one, so I decided it's time I jumped on the "Doings" wagon. Without further ado, here's today's batch:
Tomatoes coming along nicely!
Hoping to see some color soon...
Piennolo del Vesuvio, from fusionpower; thanks again! They may have gotten off to a slow start when I was sprouting them, but they've taken off and made up the difference. Serious ramblers; these are VERY indeterminate, rivaling the hybrid cherries for space demands. REALLY want to see some color on these...
First mature pepper of the season: a Serbian hot pepper from Wiz (thank you!). Terrible picture, I know. By the time I realized my lens was all smudgy I had already eaten the pepper and couldn't retake it. It was conical, about 4 inches long and less than an inch across, thin walled, with very heavy corking, which is why I assumed it was mature. I took a tentative nibble, then a bite, then the whole thing. It had the tiniest hint of capsaicin right at the end, but would not have imparted any heat to anything cooked with it. I'm planning to leave the next one and see if it gets any hotter when left to change color. The impressive thing is how early they are. These were transplanted out the day before Easter, so it's only been about six weeks. Only a few of my other peppers are starting to bloom yet, and no others have any fruit, much less mature fruit.
These are that sweet fruity cross I'm trying to stabilize. They are the biggest, healthiest peppers I've got at the moment, and are just starting to bloom. We'll see what they do.
These are the 3 Soroksari and 2 Botinecka Zuta that germinated, plus 3 Orange Bell that I picked up in town. Planted the first two in one of my raised beds so I could keep a closer eye on them, since I only got a couple plants of each. What's really bugging me is that they aren't growing like the ones I put up at Mr. Prince's place. Except for the Orange Bells (the three on the left), these were transplanted out the same day as the ones above, including the tiny one. Not dying, but not growing either. I put 3 Piennolo tomatoes in the box right next to them, and they're keeping pace with the ones in the big garden, so it's not the soil. Unless it's something in that specific box. I'm hoping a little hot weather is all they're waiting on.
Some bird or other critter went down the row plucking kernels and killed almost all of my Trucker's Favorite. I have enough to replant; it's just annoying. If I replant, I'll go deeper. BUT, exactly zero of the butterpeas have emerged so far, and they were the reason the Trucker's went in to begin with, so I'm going to wait and see if any of them come up before replanting. I still have about a third of the butterpea seed. With as much as I had to start with I was hoping for some few to still be strong enough for the regular garden, but if none come up I'll be trying more drastic rescue measures with the rest.
Vigna cortona, the snap bean cowpeas, looking healthy! Thank you to all who sent samples. That grassy lane to the left is supposed to be my okra, but I planted too early. It stayed warm long enough for them to come up, then turned cool again, so they've stayed 2-3 inches high for weeks, and the weeds are outgrowing them. I'll probably end up having to turn the row under and replant. To the right are my cucumbers, recently tilled around, and on pace to outdo the weeds that are left.
Here's the summer squash on the other side of the okra. I've decided if there's anything I should start saving landrace style it's them, because summer squash all taste pretty much the same to me anyway. It's not a bad taste, it just doesn't vary much from one variety to the next. And patty pans are an awkward shape to use in the kitchen; straight squash are simply easier to process. So I took all the straight summer pepos I had and planted them in one long intentionally mixed up row. I know it contains Cocozelle, Eastern Delight, Summer Grey, a dark green zuke whose name I've forgotten, and a yellow squash possibly crossed with zuke that I saved from last year (Superpik? not sure, but I know it had the precocious yellow gene). I have no idea which ones actually germinated and survived, but I'll save from the strongest and see where we go from here.
Elephant garlic in bloom.
My hardneck garlic trial. I've only ever grown softnecks before, so we're going to see how these do in my climate. From front left to back right, the rows are Schoharie County "Sloughter", Spanish Roja, Music, German White, Russian Red, and two rows of Chesnok Red. So far it looks like the Sloughter and the Chesnok Red are the happiest, though that may just be because they are on the outside and getting the most sun. Samples were from Flowerpower and Oxbow; thank you both!
Blackberry time!
They're just getting started. I munched a couple handfuls today; in a week or two there will be enough at once to make pies and jelly.
The one greengage plum that survived my first sad attempt at grafting.
And the two I direct rooted that are still hanging on.
More to come, though I promise I won't have that many in one post too often. With the big garden doing most of the production, it seems my raised beds are becoming primarily a seed increase nursery. Besides the pepper bed and the 3 Piennolos, I've got one bed full of hardneck garlic, one with my sweet potatoes (still easier to dig them that way versus in ground), two with Sieva limas, one with a melon from Wiz, one with Jersey Golden Acorn, and the big one with Sunshine F6 squash. With the exception of the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic though, all were just seeded in the past few days, as I've been busy with the big garden, not to mention waiting on hot weather. The sweet potatoes just went in today, in the bed I removed the bunnies from. They were ready to leave anyway; I put them in a bucket (after chasing one all over the garden) and carried them into the woods, where they promptly scattered in five different directions. Just hoping they don't find their way back tonight, as I didn't have enough chicken wire on hand to add that extra layer all the way around; I'll be getting that tomorrow.
MB
Tomatoes coming along nicely!
Hoping to see some color soon...
Piennolo del Vesuvio, from fusionpower; thanks again! They may have gotten off to a slow start when I was sprouting them, but they've taken off and made up the difference. Serious ramblers; these are VERY indeterminate, rivaling the hybrid cherries for space demands. REALLY want to see some color on these...
First mature pepper of the season: a Serbian hot pepper from Wiz (thank you!). Terrible picture, I know. By the time I realized my lens was all smudgy I had already eaten the pepper and couldn't retake it. It was conical, about 4 inches long and less than an inch across, thin walled, with very heavy corking, which is why I assumed it was mature. I took a tentative nibble, then a bite, then the whole thing. It had the tiniest hint of capsaicin right at the end, but would not have imparted any heat to anything cooked with it. I'm planning to leave the next one and see if it gets any hotter when left to change color. The impressive thing is how early they are. These were transplanted out the day before Easter, so it's only been about six weeks. Only a few of my other peppers are starting to bloom yet, and no others have any fruit, much less mature fruit.
These are that sweet fruity cross I'm trying to stabilize. They are the biggest, healthiest peppers I've got at the moment, and are just starting to bloom. We'll see what they do.
These are the 3 Soroksari and 2 Botinecka Zuta that germinated, plus 3 Orange Bell that I picked up in town. Planted the first two in one of my raised beds so I could keep a closer eye on them, since I only got a couple plants of each. What's really bugging me is that they aren't growing like the ones I put up at Mr. Prince's place. Except for the Orange Bells (the three on the left), these were transplanted out the same day as the ones above, including the tiny one. Not dying, but not growing either. I put 3 Piennolo tomatoes in the box right next to them, and they're keeping pace with the ones in the big garden, so it's not the soil. Unless it's something in that specific box. I'm hoping a little hot weather is all they're waiting on.
Some bird or other critter went down the row plucking kernels and killed almost all of my Trucker's Favorite. I have enough to replant; it's just annoying. If I replant, I'll go deeper. BUT, exactly zero of the butterpeas have emerged so far, and they were the reason the Trucker's went in to begin with, so I'm going to wait and see if any of them come up before replanting. I still have about a third of the butterpea seed. With as much as I had to start with I was hoping for some few to still be strong enough for the regular garden, but if none come up I'll be trying more drastic rescue measures with the rest.
Vigna cortona, the snap bean cowpeas, looking healthy! Thank you to all who sent samples. That grassy lane to the left is supposed to be my okra, but I planted too early. It stayed warm long enough for them to come up, then turned cool again, so they've stayed 2-3 inches high for weeks, and the weeds are outgrowing them. I'll probably end up having to turn the row under and replant. To the right are my cucumbers, recently tilled around, and on pace to outdo the weeds that are left.
Here's the summer squash on the other side of the okra. I've decided if there's anything I should start saving landrace style it's them, because summer squash all taste pretty much the same to me anyway. It's not a bad taste, it just doesn't vary much from one variety to the next. And patty pans are an awkward shape to use in the kitchen; straight squash are simply easier to process. So I took all the straight summer pepos I had and planted them in one long intentionally mixed up row. I know it contains Cocozelle, Eastern Delight, Summer Grey, a dark green zuke whose name I've forgotten, and a yellow squash possibly crossed with zuke that I saved from last year (Superpik? not sure, but I know it had the precocious yellow gene). I have no idea which ones actually germinated and survived, but I'll save from the strongest and see where we go from here.
Elephant garlic in bloom.
My hardneck garlic trial. I've only ever grown softnecks before, so we're going to see how these do in my climate. From front left to back right, the rows are Schoharie County "Sloughter", Spanish Roja, Music, German White, Russian Red, and two rows of Chesnok Red. So far it looks like the Sloughter and the Chesnok Red are the happiest, though that may just be because they are on the outside and getting the most sun. Samples were from Flowerpower and Oxbow; thank you both!
Blackberry time!
They're just getting started. I munched a couple handfuls today; in a week or two there will be enough at once to make pies and jelly.
The one greengage plum that survived my first sad attempt at grafting.
And the two I direct rooted that are still hanging on.
More to come, though I promise I won't have that many in one post too often. With the big garden doing most of the production, it seems my raised beds are becoming primarily a seed increase nursery. Besides the pepper bed and the 3 Piennolos, I've got one bed full of hardneck garlic, one with my sweet potatoes (still easier to dig them that way versus in ground), two with Sieva limas, one with a melon from Wiz, one with Jersey Golden Acorn, and the big one with Sunshine F6 squash. With the exception of the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic though, all were just seeded in the past few days, as I've been busy with the big garden, not to mention waiting on hot weather. The sweet potatoes just went in today, in the bed I removed the bunnies from. They were ready to leave anyway; I put them in a bucket (after chasing one all over the garden) and carried them into the woods, where they promptly scattered in five different directions. Just hoping they don't find their way back tonight, as I didn't have enough chicken wire on hand to add that extra layer all the way around; I'll be getting that tomorrow.
MB
From where I stood taking that picture the row is supposed to be 1/4 each of Sweet Meat, Oxbow butternut, Mr. Prince's butternut, and Guatemalan Blue. So far all I've gotten is a big patch of one of the butternuts, plus one lonely plant of Guatemalan. I'm actually not certain if the butternut is Ox's or Mr. Prince's. I think it's Mr. Prince's just because of how close the plants are spaced; I poured the seed in pretty thick because a) I expected low germination and b) I had a lot of it. Can't be sure unless I find my map though...