Reed's Garden Report(s)

[reed]

Las year I mixed up seeds of Tom's TPOS onions with Lofthouse Landrace onions and had a good crop of both. They kept very well all winter in the spare room and some but less than I expected lived in the garden over winter.

I replanted a bunch from the saved ones awhile back and they are all up 8 - 10 inches and looking good. They divided up a lot more than expected and are all thick little clumps. I saved some that were just single bulbs special thinking they would stay that way but only one has, the rest clumped up like all the others.

That single bulb one and all my walking onions are getting ready to bloom so I hope to get some crossing. I have three walking onions, the one I'v had a long time, one someone gave me year before last and the one that came from the grocery. That last one started just as a single bulb stuck in the ground in fall of 2015. First year it divided into two or three and bloomed like any onion. Last year it grew bulbils instead of seeds. This year looks like maybe a combination.

The woman loves green onions and came home the other day with a collection. Unlike most she comes home with these are in individual little bags and have names, Red Baron, Snowball and Stuttgarter. I looked them up and they all sound like good kinds, I think it was Park's that said the Red Baron are hybrid but other companies that carried then did not say that. Anyway I still have a few small bulbs from my TPOS/Lofthouse and am stealing 1/2 dozen of each of hers to plant all together and see what happens. It's a little late to plant onions I think but hopefully I'll get some mixed up seeds. I'll also probably leave them to overwinter.

All of my left over TPOS/Lofthouse seeds that I direct planted this spring are also looking very good, about 6 - 8 inches tall. When I planted I mixed up the seed with some sand and course dried compost and just sprinkled it in rows. Worked pretty good, got a nice even stand with little thinning needed. I don't think I'l even transplant the thinnings, just eat em. For me direct seeding is much, much better  than starting and transplanting. 

I have onions that keep good, I have onions that overwinter, I have mild flavored onions and hot onions. I have onions that make seeds and onions that make bulbils. I'll add in more as easily and cheaply available but am officially declaring my onions project complete.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

May 18, 2018 8:16:39 GMT -5 reed said:

Las year I mixed up seeds of Tom's TPOS onions with Lofthouse Landrace onions and had a good crop of both. They kept very well all winter in the spare room and some but less than I expected lived in the garden over winter.

Ha! I have always saved onions for seed by harvesting the onions, and storing them inside for the winter, then planting them out in the spring. I say that I am selecting for "long-storing" onions. I am growing seed for the Snake River Seed Cooperative, and they recommended overwintering the onions in the ground. So I did. Every onion survived.

Then I figured that I'd do the same thing with my onions. Nearly every bulb died overwinter! LOL! Snake River Seed Cooperative has been selecting for winter hardiness, and I have been selecting against it. I'm intending to return to my habit of storing bulbs indoors for the winter. That's how I use them culinarily.

I have noticed bulbils on store bought hybrid onions with cytoplasmic male sterility. I think that they are not Egyptian onions, but that it's something funky about the genetics of CMS.

[reed]

Looks like all my walking type onions are going to have at least some flowers this year. Several of those one flower per stem seem to be developing. I'll have to make a point to inspect closely to see if I can spot visual indication of CMS, mostly just out of curiosity.

I mentioned somewhere earlier that I had three plants survive in a patch of wheat planted last fall. we have a lot of grass weeds so I have been referring to them to myself as "might be wheat". I think I can officially change that designation to "is wheat".



My other fall planted grains died completely but my spring planted oats and barely are beautiful.  Is there such a thing as red/purple wheat? I drove by a field the other day of some kind of gain looking crop that had beautiful colorful seed heads. 

[walt]

I have never seen purple headed wheat.  I have seen wheat with purple straw.  And there is wheat with black heads.  I suspect it is due to anthocyanin.  Those might be purple at an earlier stage.  Don't know.

[reed]

I looked up pictures of the black wheat. Couldn't find anything that looked exactly like that field but that must be what it is. It must be just that it is in early stage, I'll be going by there again in a week or so, will try to remember to take my camera. Maybe the very colorful seed heads will have darkened or faded by then.

[reed]

This has been a challenging season so far and looks like it may continue to be so. After the set back of, would it ever end cold wet, the days of HOT are here. A lot my garden just isn't up to snuff compared to what I'm used to and like to see. Tomatoes in particular are puny for what they should be this time of year. I don't think they liked the long period of cool cloudy they had to endure in the cold frame this year. About 1/2 have perked up nicely but the rest just haven't took off yet. Weird but I just now saw the first volunteer, tomato. I think I will direct seed some and see what happens, I don't care that much about the first of the neighborhood tomato anyway and the big slicers I set out are the ones that look best anyway. I'm ok with caning tomatoes in August or even September instead of July if that is how it works out.

I'm also behind over all with a few spots still to plant. Should get it all in by next week.

I tried an experiment with my field corn that I think may work well. Before making my rows and planting I sowed the whole area thick with radishes. Radishes popped up first with a thick blanket of seedlings then the corn poked through and in a day or so shot way up past the radishes. I picked or hoed out the radish sprouts, ate a lot of em, that were in direct competition with a corn plant but left the edges and between the rows thick with em. Have had very little damage from birds to the corn, I think the blanket of green provides camouflage. Another use for one of my favorite of garden plants the multi-useful radish.

The radish roots are supposed to go deep so I figure they won't compete too much with the corn and the ground is completely shielded from the sun, weed competition should be minimal as should moisture evaporation. When the radishes start getting large I plan to hoe them off and leave the tops for mulch. The roots according to plan will then rot and release water and nutrients to the corn as it matures. Also should be plenty to leave here and there for seed. Another of my great gardening ideas, will see if it actually works out that way. Some do, some don't.

[richardw]

The 'chop and drop' system or in my case 'pull and lay' is great as its easy to just push the mulch up and down between the rows of corn with a rake, any small weeds seedlings tend to go with it, if done on a dry sunny day they are shriveled in no time.

[walt]

Reed.  Sounds like a good idea.

[reed]

Most all my garden is in and taking off growing well. I like this stage of the garden, most of it looks pretty good and not much to do but watch for a while.

First planting of potatoes is blooming, hope to get some more seeds like last year but plants are not all that vigorous. They were put in during this years "first summer", back in March, and then endured a long period of cold wet before coming up, then got frosted a little. Second planting is just coming up and looks much better.

Tomatoes, also endured the cold wet period in the cold frame and took a while to recover are now looking great. All the supports and cages are up. It's the woman's job now to keep them tied up good. She's the primary tomato lover so it's only fair. Put in about 40 plants plus some volunteers.

Garlic is getting it's scapes, will be dropping some in a hot skillet with some mushrooms and a little butter pretty soon.

Overwintered turnips and wheat are making seeds as are early volunteer radishes. Spring planted barley has it's seed heads showing, oats are apparently a little later.

I'm overwhelmed with sweet potatoes and something, I think slugs, has munched on them a little. Got to get some of that diatomaceous earth stuff. I don't care that much if they chew on some a little but I have some extra interesting seedlings this year I don't want messed with.

First planted patch of sweet corn is approaching knee high and looks real good. I told the woman she could eat it all except for three rows marked with tobacco sticks but I'v noticed a couple particularly interesting plants, They are very strong thick stalked with healthy little tillers. I'm thinking those genes may fit well in my "Z dip, indeterminate sweet corn" project. Of course it will have to be next year as they will mature too soon this year.

Flour corn isn't as big but I put it in later, didn't have near as much seed and didn't want to risk planting in cold weather. Got nice stands of Oxbow Farm White Flour and Zapalote Chico from GRIN. Also two rows of (PM x sweet) Bronze Beauty flint and some of Joseph's Harmony. Those two rows will be detasseled and used to bring genes for colored pericarp into the the final mix.  I hope flowering timing cooperates but if nothing else I'll discover for future reference how they match up. 

Lettuce, both early planed and volunteer is already getting kind of bitter form the heat but I got tons of it. Lots of different kinds some of which I don't really recognize from last year. Thinking I'll move some of the more interesting looking and best tasting into a seed patch and use the rest for mulch. 

Carrots look real good. They were also planted way back when and took a long time to come up but finally doing well. 

Volunteer dill and marigolds all over the place. Way less volunteer sunflowers than usual, only got about 1/2 a dozen or so. Since they are just one here and there I left them where they were were. Also found some volunteer sunroots in areas well away form the patch, birds I suppose are responsible for that. I'm not worried about sunroots getting out of hand as some kind of rodent apparently eats a large percentage of them. 

Got lots of beans including a small patch of bush types for early fresh green beans, they should be blooming pretty soon. My "Survivor" pole bean patch is a jumbled mess which is what I wanted.  They are growing without supports for the most part and will not be cultivated at all. What ever finds its way above the weeds and produces is what gets saved. I'm gonna note when I find the first dry pods and save everything within a couple weeks of that as my "Early Survivor" pole beans. Some common / runner crosses are planted separately  on supports just to insure better seed yield. They will be added to the survivor mix next year. Survivor Lima beans do have supports and I am going to plant some short season bush types later to see what comes of of the crossing. Don't know if it possible to find a shorter growing shorter season Lima but who knows. 

Got to get my leek patch weeded, was waiting for the leeks to get a little taller so easier not to accidentally pull them up. 

[reed]

Barley sure is pretty stuff:



Oats is too:



Thanks Joseph Lofthouse. Now that I know for sure what they look like I know we have wild or feral varieties growing fairly commonly around here. Don't know exactly where any is right now but will be on the look out for them in my travels.  

[reed]

It's been awful hot and dry here. I don't like it much nor does the garden. Yesterday I dragged the hose around and watered a lot of stuff in the old garden which is closest to the house. My field corn, beans and some squash in the back garden are really suffering. Gonna have to get some water over to them too as no rain is expected for at least several days.

Tomatoes and melons especially look real nice, lots of little fruits on the maters. They have been watered and mulched. Seed lettuce and radishes I think will go ahead and finish even without more water. Sweet potatoes for seed, which are in pots have I think rooted well now through the drain holes into the ground so they are not needing as much water. In ground production sweets look fine and haven't been watered at all but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt.

Potatoes look awful and when I dug a hill all I found was a bunch of very small tubers. I don't plan on messing with potatoes much anymore, jut not worth the trouble. I'll probably keep growing them some by planting purchased seed tubers but things that are that much work and near impossible to get seed from don't belong in my garden.

My three wheat plants and my little barley patch don't seem to be making anything. The individual seed structures are just empty. Oats, which is my favorite anyway is OK, I think.

That goofy Z dip plant just keeps spreading. I'm starting photo period control on the individual stalk today.

Carrots, surprisingly look great. They haven't been watered but I think I'll give them a drink today. Carrots are actually much tougher plants than I always thought.

I had let the garden paths get pretty weedy on purpose and yesterday after watering I scraped the paths and used all the weeds, primarily grasses and purslane to mulch over the watered areas. Looks real nice and should hold those parts for awhile. Didn't have enough weed mulch for everything but I have nice little trenches between corn and bush bean rows so I can just flood them and the plants are big enough little sun gets to the ground under them. Lots of little beans and some early sweet corn is starting to tassel.

I'v had problem with something trying to break into the chicken coop and actually lost one chicken who liked to sleep outside in the trees. I think it was a possum and I did catch and terminate one possum but the problem persist. Outside the chicken fence hasn't been mowed this year so I can't see exactly where any weak spots may be.

It will be light enough in another 1/2 hour or so and still cool so I'm gonna do that little mowing chore first and then do some more watering and put up a shade cloth over some savoy cabbages the woman insisted on planting in the flaming hot sun.

By time I get that all done it will probably be pushing 90 F or more and I'm heading inside or at least to the shade. It's supposed to be hotter today than yesterday and it was 99 yesterday. Chicken pen area is in pretty good afternoon shade so if I discover anything that needs and can be fixed I do in in the evening.

[reed]

Still hot, still dry. I've decided to not plant any second crops after first harvest is done. At least not till later on when better chance of some rain. I will probably scatter a bunch of seeds like radish and turnip, maybe some old bush beans in any empty spots to come up whenever weather allows.

Picked last of the first and largest sweet corn patch this morning, except for the sweet neander plants which are drying down their first ears nicely on the stalks, they are not making as many tillers and side shoots as I expected. I wonder if it is because they each have two to three primary ears of good size and they are still finishing up. Will be interesting to see if the pants resume growth once those ears are removed and maybe a little rain comes.

Over in the flour corn patch a few ears of Oxbow White Flour and Zapalote Chico are drying down. I lost some of the OWF earlier to lodging and a couple more nice ears to coons. Pretty pleased over all though with the looks of what remains and got some good crossing between the two. All except one plant of those I was going to detassel and cross to the first two tasseled at maybe 1 and 1/2 tall so I culled them. Zapalote Chico despite it's distant origin has done as well as any corn I'v ever grown. It lodged in the storm awhile back but stood right back up. Ears are short, maybe 5 - 6 inches and very conical with red / purple husks.

Survivor pole bean mix is starting to get a few pods despite no tending or watering at all. I wouldn't be surprised if it puts on more later if it rains but these first ones will be well represented in the patch next year.

Carrots, I think might should have been harvested already. I'll get to that soon. I have two plants that are bolting in the first year. I'm leaving them there till I see what the roots look like. I know most folks select against early bolting but I'm not sure I will. 

I haven't watered the Swiss Chard much but it keeps producing, leaves ans stalks not as big as usual but quite tasty. It is in a higher drier area at the top end of the garden this year in hopes that helps with overwintering for seed.

Japanese beetles attacking the sweet potatoes, some plants worse that others, but I just pick them off each morning. Not as many seeds forming as last year but still more than I could ever use and I imagine they will pick up later on. . Plants are in more sun than previous years and wilt in the hot after noon even if watered good. I think I assumed they would like full hot sun, being tropical and all till I realized duh, there are probably lots of shade loving tropical plants. They are going back to part shade next year. 

Tomatoes finally starting to ripen, seems like it took forever this year. I doubt if the harvest is as good as last year but we still have a good stock of juice and whole tomatoes in jars in the pantry. 

Potatoes were a near total flop, I'm about tired of messing with them. Strangest thing and others around here reported the same thing is when you dig a hill you find a few potatoes and also the original one you planted, not rotted, weird. 

O'well with some exceptions it hasn't been a great season, looking forward to some damper cooler weather this fall to do some more experimenting with various crops. 

[richardw]

Any of sweet potato seed ready now as i could start germinating anytime from now on, four weeks and my tunnelhouse starts to warm nicely during the daytime.

[reed]

richardw, I got several capsules forming but most are in early stages. It will be probably another month till I have a good idea of how the seed harvest might come out. I'm not worried as I'm sure I'll have plenty, plus even if not, I have over 500 in reserve from last year. 

[richardw]

Great, i'm really looking forward to getting involved. Such a shame that the most of the NZ sweet potato strains dont produce flowers