Drahkk's Doings

[Drahkk]

It's misleading. That water is coming from the Mississippi River, backed up into tributaries and drainage canals, but it's not usually accompanied by any rain, so it's either no water or way too much. The flood of 2011 was the worst in recorded history, and it occurred in the middle of a drought, which is where we seem to be headed now. It's strange to see flood waters less than a mile from irrigation sprinklers, but in late May and early June it's pretty common here. It doesn't last long enough for rice, though. 3-4 weeks, maybe less, and those fields will be dry again.

MB

[Drahkk]

Was cutting the yard today and saw a flash of red: I searched through the whole tree and that lonely cherry is the only one. Still, the tree has only been in the yard 3 or 4 years. This is the second year it's bloomed, and the first fruit that's lasted to maturity. Hopefully we'll get a decent crop in a few years. It's one of these: www.millernurseries.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=1142, so I'm not 100% certain which variety the cherry is.

MB

[Drahkk]

Picked my first handful of ripe Sungolds today. Now I understand both the hype and the mixed feelings. Very sweet and fruity, definitely, and very low acid. But it doesn't even taste like a tomato. Not sure if I like them or not. We'll see what Rhonda and her mom think.

Speaking of tomatoes, it looks like Amerikanac will be this year's early size winner:

Among the peppers from that sweet cross I liked so much, I think the bees had a party, as I'm seeing a lot of variation. Some are pale and creamy colored like the Mariachis:
And some are closer to sausage shaped than the blunt cones I took seeds from:
Still, it's the flavor I care about duplicating more than the looks, so I'm going to let this first flush mature and taste them before I start rogueing.

Speaking of peppers, I didn't cage them this year because I thought their growth might be more modest planted in ground instead of in my raised beds. It seems I was mistaken... At 21" that one is average for the group. The tallest is a Fefferoni at 26", but it's growing kinda spindly:

Spotted this plant among my summer squash: I knew there was a possibility the yellow one I saved from last year had crossed with a zuke. Looks like I was right. Can't wait to see Rhonda's face when I bring the first of those home.

MB

[steev]

That Amerikanak looks like fried green tomatoes, to me; I suppose some folks want their first tomatoes to be ripe, but I like my first to be edible; I think there's plenty of time for ripe.

[circumspice]

Hey Mike ~ My paw paws have still got their heads 'in the sand' so to speak. I have 3 that are arching their stems that are still attached to the seed. How long will it take before they stand up & start growing leaves??? I had totally given up on them & just left the Rubbermaid container outside because I decided it was a no-go. I'm glad I didn't dump them out!

[Drahkk]

If their stems are arched out of the dirt, it won't be long before they separate from the seed and right themselves. A week, maybe two at most. I didn't really time it.

They're really slow moving at this stage, but they've got to pick up the pace sometime. My two haven't done much since being transplanted, but I'm attributing that to whatever root damage I did transplanting them (there had to be some feeder roots, whether I could see them or not) and getting used to being outside. Still got my fingers crossed on that experiment!

MB

[circumspice]

That's good to hear. It looks like I got 50% germination because I stratified 6 seeds & 3 are trying to poke their heads up. I'm guessing the other 3 are duds because I can only see 3 tap roots through the container bottom. Your pics look exactly like what I'm seeing, as far as roots go. I'm cautiously hopeful.

[Drahkk]

Here's a better shot of that Serbian pepper that was so early. I've never seen a pepper with corking that heavy. This one's staying to ripen fully for seed, and to see if the flavor changes or the heat gets any stronger.

MB

[12540dumont]

OMG, if that much water ever accumulated here, I'd be putting down plastic and straw bales and building a seasonal pond.

My well has always been a good well, but now that 10 new neighbors have drilled into the same aquifer I have nightmares of running out of water and I only have an 2 acres of my 5 planted.

That corking pepper? We had ONE like that. Liked to have burned a hole through the canning kettle. It was HOT!

Your garden looks mighty fine.

[steev]

That's a remarkable-looking pepper.

[Drahkk]

My Paradise planted 21 days ago:
Kinda hard to tell from the weeds, but there are three rows in that first spot, all the way at the outside of the corn patch to give me some to save from with minimal crossing with the G90 and Merit (both su only). The second is a couple of extra rows we planted purely for eating, though they MAY be far enough behind the hybrids on both sides that it wouldn't matter. These are 21 days in the ground.

I must say I feel somewhat vindicated seeing them up and going, if only because this is the first time I've intentionally saved corn for seed. But mostly I'm just feeling hungry for fresh corn!

MB

[steev]

I heard that! Sunday I seeded a patch of Joseph's Cherry Sweet; I look forward to eating some for the first time, grilled in the husks, and salted and buttered, or maybe I'll just eat the first raw, in the garden. It just occurred to me that that may be the only sweet corn I've planted, having set out a bunch of flours and flints for seed increase.

[12540dumont]

I think I'm still jealous of all that water.

[bunkie]

Looking good Drahkk!

[Drahkk]

Thanks, Bunkie. Holly, that's one if the things you have to get used to when you live on a flood plain. The irritating bit is that the soil is so sandy. As soon as the river goes down, so does the water; in a week or so I will be able to post pics of the same fields, dry, with the kill line obviously visible. And those of us (like me) who are a few feet higher in elevation get no benefit from it; if it had not been for the thunderstorm last night I'd probably need to set up some sprinklers to keep my tomatoes and peppers going. Wednesday afternoon when I retied, tilled, and weeded them the peppers were already looking a little droopy, and the dust had me coughing.

Speaking of which, I'm hoping I get home today and find some slicers starting to color up. I could really go for a couple of thick slabs on a tomato sandwich. The bacon and lettuce can wait. Here's the row two days ago:

MB