jocundi
gopher
Tinkering with fruits and veggies in Eastern Boreal Forest on Canadian Shield.
Posts: 28 
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Post by jocundi on Apr 8, 2016 7:06:54 GMT -5
keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) Watermelon seeds? REALLY?!?!?!? Are you really in northern Colorado? I knew it was warmer than the northeast, but melons? Are you really expecting not only no frost, but nights above 50F for the forseeable future? (forgive all the question marks. I'm just flabbergasted. Considering it snowed here this morning, and we're having a very warm spring for New England...and considering I was snowed in, badly enough the highway was closed, in June along the Wyoming/Colorado border once...) Yes, it does seem a little crazy doesn't it? I will admit that it is early even for me. We actually got a nice snow last friday and it's all melted today and warm again. There will almost certainly be snow again in the coming weeks if not next month, but whether it will be light snow or heavy snow and whether it will disappear quickly is yet to be seen. The nights were pretty chilly last week. Since i'm only planting the seeds and not watering them yet it gives me a little leeway. A few years back i did something similar by direct seeding them on april 1st or somewhere around there and everything turned out fine. I guess what i'm really counting on is that they don't germinate early in cooler conditions than they can grow, but most seeds are actually pretty smart. There is at least some risk involved, but with the warmer weather than usual i felt it was worth the risk. If nothing else it will be an experiment to see just how early watermelon seeds can be planted. I wonder whether how you plant watermelon is related to this eggplant story I've heard for years? These were my mom's neighbour's from Pakistan, they threw in a tonne of eggplant seed as soon as the soil could be worked in Toronto, didn't do anything (apparently) and had the most amazing bushy plants and shared their harvest with the whole street! |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Apr 8, 2016 11:50:14 GMT -5
no idea, but sounds cool. Toronto is a very nice area. The only place i've visited in Canada so far, hope to visit more someday.
On a related note to Canada, i've been thinking about searching out canada bred cherry trees. I actually remember a conversation her about that a long time back. Cherry trees don't seem to do well here, and i wonder if a hardier strain is needed. Historically i'm told there was a large cherry orchard in this area many years ago. Although last year we had some sort of fruit tree epidemic. All the stone fruit trees bark were attacked (presumably by some sort of borer, but i never saw any. The year before i guess the grafted plum tree died. Last year one cherry tree died, the other cherry tree almost died but came back from roots, the supposed almond but presumably nectarine almost died but came back from roots, one small apple tree died but was trying to come back from roots, and the large peach tree was heavily dying. This winter the peach tree was heavily pruned back to try and cut off any "infected" bark area. It is now blooming and we may finally get peaches this year again.
I wonder if the borer problems are related to climate change. 5-10 years ago Colorado was having heavy pine tree borers that had newly moved into the state which had a dramatic effect on the amount of wildfires we were having. And for the past few years, but especially this year the news is reporting on heavy ash tree borers down in Boulder. Now with out stone tree (and maybe apple tree) presumably borer problems perhaps our climate is just becoming more habitable to new pests that were once not a huge problem here. I sure hope squash vine borers or other nasty pests DON'T move in.
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Post by zeedman on Apr 8, 2016 19:38:08 GMT -5
I sure hope squash vine borers or other nasty pests move in. Wait... what??? You WANT them to move in??? Because I'd be happy to send you some of mine.  I'm assuming that the word "don't" was inadvertently left out of that sentence. This will be my busiest garden year ever, with about 12,000 square feet under cultivation in three locations. Because of several bad years, I have a lot of beans in need of renewal... and a couple new trials. The SSE Yearbook had quite a few varieties from my pepper & tomato wish list, which I hope to trial (starting seeds tomorrow, but not all have arrived yet). SSE released a few varieties for trial as well, in exchange for my reporting back to them. Someone sent me seed for a true gherkin that is supposed to be spineless, I'm looking forward to seeing what they really are (hopefully not "Mexican Sour Gherkin"). There is a large perennial allium bed which I have been observing since I first visited SSE's Heritage Farm in 2000, but most of those accessions were never being offered. That changed this year, and I will be growing 10 accessions which had notable qualities. They arrived today, and are large healthy clumps ready to go in the ground... if it would only quit snowing ( flurries snow blizzard as I write this). Most of those alliums will be part of an ongoing project to find or develop sustainable perennial onions for my climate. Still waiting to see how my garlic & multiplier onions over wintered, 35 garlic varieties in two 100' rows. My previous garlic location was poorly drained, and some of the garlic was not sizing up to what it had been before the Aster Yellows wiped out my collection in 2012. This location (on a friend's property) is better drained, so I am hoping to see some improvement. I began a garlic bulbil project last year, to take advantage of all of the stem cloves that formed on the artichoke varieties; hopefully those will be more disease free, and lead to larger bulbs. There was a lucky cross in my peppers last year, an early, very thick-walled pimento-type with quite a bit of heat. I will be growing a large planting of the F2, in hopes of eventually stabilizing those qualities. Time will tell if I've bitten off more than I can chew. If weather or my working hours don't get in the way (which is asking a lot, I know), it should be fun. The one big hurdle will be trying to eliminate the creeping thistle which, due to the late Fall, gained a strong foothold on one side of my rural plot. |
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Apr 8, 2016 21:23:44 GMT -5
I sure hope squash vine borers or other nasty pests move in. Wait... what??? You WANT them to move in??? Because I'd be happy to send you some of mine. I'm assuming that the word "don't" was inadvertently left out of that sentence. !!..Yes, the word "don't" was accidentally left out.. my bad.. funny how one little word can change the whole meaning of a context. |
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Post by mskrieger on Apr 13, 2016 14:04:03 GMT -5
keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) Are you sure it was borers that did in the stone fruits? 'Infected bark' sounds more like bacterial gummosis (tree bark on limbs, branch crotches get cracks, lesions and ooze). Looking at your zone, I'm going to go out on a, uh, limb and say maybe it is just a stressful climate for sweet cherries. They're usually considered Zone 6-9. In a place like Colorado that can get nice warm sunshine in the middle of the winter, your stone fruits--peaches and sweet cherries especially--are going to start start waking up and then when it freezes down hard again, they'll suffer bark damage and the fruiting buds will be killed. Even if the tree survives, several winters in a row like that can damage their bark enough to make bacterial or fungal attack much more likely and harmful. Sour cherries generally do well in Zone 5. Peaches are fine if you shade them in the winter so they don't warm up and freeze down again. That strategy might work from some of the hardier sweet cherry cultivars, too. (Of course, not having seen your trees, I can't diagnose this with certainty but that's my first guess. Borers typically attack low on the trunk on young trees.)
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Apr 13, 2016 14:32:29 GMT -5
keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) Are you sure it was borers that did in the stone fruits? 'Infected bark' sounds more like bacterial gummosis (tree bark on limbs, branch crotches get cracks, lesions and ooze). Looking at your zone, I'm going to go out on a, uh, limb and say maybe it is just a stressful climate for sweet cherries. They're usually considered Zone 6-9. In a place like Colorado that can get nice warm sunshine in the middle of the winter, your stone fruits--peaches and sweet cherries especially--are going to start start waking up and then when it freezes down hard again, they'll suffer bark damage and the fruiting buds will be killed. Even if the tree survives, several winters in a row like that can damage their bark enough to make bacterial or fungal attack much more likely and harmful. Sour cherries generally do well in Zone 5. Peaches are fine if you shade them in the winter so they don't warm up and freeze down again. That strategy might work from some of the hardier sweet cherry cultivars, too. (Of course, not having seen your trees, I can't diagnose this with certainty but that's my first guess. Borers typically attack low on the trunk on young trees.) Hard to say. The chokecherry has had some sort of boring insect for years i think as it has lots of round oosing sap spots up and down it's main trunk. Consistent with borer behavior on pine trees, but i've never actually seen an insect though. But perhaps your right in that a few hard and/or warm winters in a row may have weakened the peach bark to introduce more problems. Much of it had a cracked appearance with some sap scabs all over. Most of the trees affected were very young trees though. My dad said he thought he saw some sort of boring insect low on the young nectarine tree, but i don't know. The young apple trees seemed healthy otherwise and had no bark issues so it's a bit of a mystery of what happened there. Branches just started dying on them like crazy. The peach tree is at least 20 years old and has usually had few problems. Whatever the cause 80% of the affected branches have been pruned back and the remaining branches seem pretty healthy and have lots of blossoms, so we should get a decent amount of peaches this year. |
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Post by mskrieger on Apr 19, 2016 10:31:55 GMT -5
Wow, keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.), that's interesting. I'm hesitant to speculate any further because your conditions are so different than mine, and maybe borers out where you are do get nasty enough to attack tree limbs. Good luck with the peaches--I hope you get a good crop this year! |
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Post by Gianna on Apr 25, 2016 20:31:18 GMT -5
Last year, because of our on-going drought, I didn't garden that much. Just a few tomatoes, winter and summer squash, and a small chili patch. And some green beans, a few cukes, and probably something else.
This year the drought is still here in spades, with the rainy season pretty much over, but I've decided to have a larger garden. We have been conserving water to the extreme, and are no where near what our fellow citizens use. We also now collect rainwater and greywater, so we'll (meaning me) will give a larger garden a try and hope to keep water use low, and everything alive - and get produce worth the effort.
In front, I first planted a cover crop in the 4 beds there just before a nice rain. In between those plants, I planted the first summer squash, tomatoes, chard, beets, kale, bok choi, parsley, peppers. Most of the greens are now spent and will be replaced. It's the front yard so I like to keep it looking as nice as possible. In the back, I'd let some of them go longer.
I'm planting lots of chilies to flame roast and fill the freezer. Also tomatoes to preserve, and summer and winter squash. More greens and whatever seeds I feel like germinating and plugging into empty spots. Also more bush green beans as the season progresses.
Everything will be mulched deeply and watered when necessary with soaker hoses beneath. A concession to the drought is no melons again this year - and not planting every patch of space in the garden.
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