|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 16, 2014 2:45:39 GMT -5
I just realized that I have cauliflower and cabbage that I need to start for a fall crop. Looks like I need to dig out the light and make room in the garage.
|
|
|
|
Post by philagardener on Jul 16, 2014 19:08:42 GMT -5
Here are more pictures from today. The garlic scapes  Interesting - is each head a mix of white and pink flowers, or do they change color as they age? Do you know what variety this is? Your garden is looking great, especially those melons and 'lopes! |
|
|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 16, 2014 22:36:37 GMT -5
Here are more pictures from today. The garlic scapes Interesting - is each head a mix of white and pink flowers, or do they change color as they age? Do you know what variety this is? Your garden is looking great, especially those melons and 'lopes! I just went out there and looked and yes they all have both colors of flowers, at least right now. I want to say that they have had both from the time they split open. The bulbis are purple so I guess I have just thought that the purple flowers were bulbis and not paid much attention. Here is a picture from the day they first opened. This is from 7/8 and there is a little color towards the bottom. It makes me think that they turn white to pinkish purple with age.  They are Chesnok Red. This is the first year of growing them or garlic for that matter. It is very interesting to watch them and the Egyptian walking onions grow. I am hoping to someday try and get true seed out of both but for now I am just watching. |
|
|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 17, 2014 11:05:45 GMT -5
Philagardener: It seem you have peeked my interest. I just went down in the daylight and I have one scape that is just opening and two others that haven't been open long. It seems that the flowers do change from white to pinkish purple with age. Here are pictures from this morning. I had to bend this one down to get the camera to focus. This is the runt of the patch and is just over a foot tall. It started to opening yesterday or today and is the last one to do so. I looked very closely at it when I took the picture and the purple are bulbis not the flowers. So I will watch to see if the flowers turn as this one ages.  The next two pictures are of two scapes that where later to open than the others. I don't know how long they have been open, but I think it has only been five or six days at the most. The rest have been open for nine days.  This is a close up of the bottom scape in the above picture. Notice there is very little color in the flowers on both and even less on the bottom one.  I will keep an eye on all of them to see how much they change in the next few weeks. |
|
|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 18, 2014 11:27:55 GMT -5
Saw pollinators on the garlic today. I want to say that the flowers are starting to open. The bee is hard to see but it is there on the top left of the head.   I also picked 7 more cherry tomatoes.  Two of the cherry tomato plants are producing like crazy. One of them has ripened maybe one tomato and has fewer green tomatoes than the others. It gets less sun than the other two plants, but one of the slicing tomatoes gets less sun than it and was the first to mature a fruit (it disappeared day after it started to turn). The less productive cherry is also taller and more spread. The two that are more productive are a foot and a half shorter, very dense, and one is sprawling on the ground. They are all Stupice. Here is all three plants. The most productive plants are two on the left.  Here is the least productive plant.  The two productive plants.  I guess it is just another question that will only be answered with experience. |
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 18, 2014 23:40:40 GMT -5
I also picked 7 more cherry tomatoes. Woo Hoo!!!!! I'm expecting to pick my first two cherry tomatoes on Monday or Tuesday. They turned yellow during the day today. |
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 18, 2014 23:43:40 GMT -5
kazedwards: Good work on those peas. I recommend throwing them in the freezer, if they are well dried, in order to kill any weevil larva that might have been inside the seed when they were harvested. They eat the peas from the inside out...
|
|
|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 19, 2014 0:02:34 GMT -5
Will do right now on the peas. Thanks for the tip and any others you have!
|
|
|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 20, 2014 2:28:57 GMT -5
How many plants of corn do you need to get a harvest? I'm not talking about enough to have feed for livestock or market but enough for a couple meals. About 2 dozen ears. I know about 1-2 ears per plant is average but would 18-20 plants be enough to get good pollination? I would really like to grow it but I'm not sure I have the space. I don't plan on saving seed either.
|
|
|
|
Post by oldmobie on Jul 20, 2014 8:03:25 GMT -5
How many plants of corn do you need to get a harvest? I'm not talking about enough to have feed for livestock or market but enough for a couple meals. About 2 dozen ears. I know about 1-2 ears per plant is average but would 18-20 plants be enough to get good pollination? I would really like to grow it but I'm not sure I have the space. I don't plan on saving seed either. I wouldn't count on great natural germination with that quantity. You could obviously plant more, or if space is an issue, hand pollinate as insurance. I did two tiny, crowded plantings last year with mixed results. Ninety-six sweet corn plants in 3'X8' gave very poor pollination. About thirty-two decorative corn plants in 2'X4' gave better, but still not great germination. This year, I planted 18" apart in rows 3' apart. Ears are still developing, and I haven't disturbed them to check pollination. I expect it to be better, as it's a much larger planting (four 50ish' rows). I asked about the pollination that I got last year here. Joseph's first response may be of interest: Those were tiny patches for a wind pollinated crop. The difference might be due to something physical like whether it was windy or raining the day the sweet corn released pollen, or the relative humidity, or the temperature, etc... It could also be due to something heritable, for example decorative corns tend to have more tillers than modern sweet corns and flowering times tend to be more spread out, so they might shed pollen for an extended time compared to the sweet corns. |
|
|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 20, 2014 11:39:39 GMT -5
Thanks Oldmodie, I will give it a try next year with a space that is 3' wide and 9' long. That's the most space I can give for it.
|
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 20, 2014 12:01:43 GMT -5
Thanks Oldmodie, I will give it a try next year with a space that is 3' wide and 9' long. That's the most space I can give for it. I often say in regards to preventing cross pollination that in a 10 MPH wind corn pollen travels about 25 feet before falling below silk level. The opposite of that statement would be that in a 10 MPH wind the pollen won't have much chance of pollinating anything within 25 feet (because it has to fall to silk level). A neighbor of mine has a very difficult time getting good pollination on even large patches of corn, because he has mouth-of-the-canyon winds that are regularly around 20 to 30 MPH, so the corn pollen just blows away. Small plantings of corn can work out well if there is not a lot of constant wind. On a still day most corn pollen falls mostly straight down most of the time. So it can help with pollination if small beds are located in an area that is out of the wind as much as possible. I'd stick 24 plants into a 3' X 9' planter arranged on a 18" grid. Depending on variety that could be expected to yield about 2-4 dozen ears of corn. |
|
|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 22, 2014 0:42:59 GMT -5
Is there something wrong with my garlic? A few bulbis is brown on this head and all the others are purple. Is this a problem?  |
|
|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 22, 2014 1:04:24 GMT -5
Picked a few things today.  I picked cherry tomatoes, the first cucumbers of the year, Dragon (bottom) and Danver (top) carrots, King of the North bell peppers, kohlrabi, green beans, and basil. The cucumbers are a good size and the green beans are the last of the first set I think. The basil I thinned so the ones I left could thicken up. The peppers are just a few that are out there but we are letting them get as big as they can to have stuffed peppers. I did find one pole bean in that first set of beans that I planted. I guess I am having the same thing as a lot you guys on here. It was new seed of Provider bush bean from SSE that it came from. So it makes me think that there is something more to this with everyone seeing the same thing. I do suppose that it could be a volunteer from last year, but I doubt that because it is the only one that I have found and that just happens to be with the beans I planted this year. It just seem weird for us all to be seeing the same thing. |
|
|
|
Post by kazedwards on Jul 22, 2014 14:22:15 GMT -5
Is there something wrong with my garlic? A few bulbis is brown on this head and all the others are purple. Is this a problem? Today I have several more heads with brown bulbis in them. It must have something to do with not enough water. It has been really dry for a little over a week now. Today it is 96 and very humid. Will be watering |
|
