Mike's Veggie Adventures

[steev]

Here in the Bay Area, frankly, we have crappy conditions for cauliflower; that you got anything worthwhile is success; the temp range is just not right, too moderate.

[philagardener]

Yes, I haven't been able to get cauliflower to do anything for me! Looks like you are making great progress, farmermike !

[raymondo]

Great work Mike. I look at your pictures of caulies with envy. I have never had any success with them.

[farmermike]

I continue to be really impressed with this Baart wheat I am trialing this year.

I bought the seeds from NSS in 2011 or 12, and had excellent germination last fall. Sparrows mowed my rye and triticale to the ground, but they didn't touch the Baart. No matter how much wind and rain we get, it stands up straight and sturdy. We'll see (in a couple months) how well it yields and how easily the hulls thresh out.

Apparently, the variety came from South Africa originally, and came to the U.S. (by way of Australia) in 1900. Seems it was very popular in the western states during the early 20th century. Anyone else have experience with this variety?



I made my brother stand in the photo for scale.

[farmermike]

My Lavender Mandan corn was covered in honeybees this morning.


This patch was attacked by towhees while it was sprouting so only 60 or 70 plants survived, but many look like they will produce two or more ears. I often plant corn so densely I only get one ear per plant.

I got plenty of seed from the Brussels sprouts, radicchios, and the Baart wheat. Finally just getting those packaged up now.

I also grew a patch of Parching Starburst Manna corn that grew really well until the ears started ripening and they were attacked by voles. Worst vole year I've ever seen. Over 50% over the ears were eaten. I picked the rest and dried them off the plant. Some were picked immature. Tried parching a few yesterday and like them pretty well. My daughter devoured them!

I have a 5 month old too, so I haven't had much time to post here lately. But today I whacked myself in the knee with a sledgehammer, so now I'm lying down icing it and can't play with the kids.

I have one really good helper in the garden now too.

[shoshannah]

farmermike,  What a happy gardener.  My kids are all grown up with kids of their own but they always talk about the peas and corn

they ate fresh off the vines/stalk.  Something your child will always remember, their time in the garden.

[farmermike]

Here is my collection of winter squash from this season (minus a few that we've already eaten).


On the right are the beginnings of my C. maxima landrace, including: Lakota, Sunshine F1, Red Kuri, Golden Delicious, Burgess Buttercup, Guatemalan Blue Banana, Sweet Meat Oregon Homestead, North Georgia Candy Roaster, Blue Ballet, and an unnamed blue/grey kabocha. I will be selecting for sweet, dry flesh and manageable size. I ended up with a fair amount of "micro-squash" from one of my gardens. I'm assuming this is from low fertility; that garden bed was a gravel driveway less than a year ago.

On the left are various C. pepo. The Styrian Pumpkins and the Candystick Dessert Delicata were interplanted. I'm not sure what I do with that germplasm next year. There are also a couple of Kamo Kamo, and the first generation of my bush summer squash grex. The bucket is full of cucumbers for seed.

I also planted a patch of C. moschata, but I didn't get them started until July, so they're still ripening on the vines. I expect to harvest in a couple weeks when our first frost kills the vines. Our lowest nighttime temp so far this autumn has been 46F.

[steev]

Can't imagine why you'd want to whack yourself with a hammer, but chacun a son gout, eh?

For me, the Mandan Lavender seems pretty reliable; I'm near Lodoga, out west of the Central Valley, where nobody farms. One must push the envelope, n'est-ce pas?

Congrats on having such excellent, home-grown garden help; you're a lucky man.

[farmermike]

steev, I had been wondering whereabout you had your farm. That sure is off the beaten path. I've been to (or through) most areas of our state...but not that one. Sounds dreamy! What made you decide to get a place out there?

I've always admired (while driving up I-5) that, perfectly straight, longitudinal line of hills just east of your place. Is there a name for those? I may have to plan a trip up that way, one of these days.

Yeah, I was pretty happy with the Mandan Lavender too, and my family seems to love parched corn, but I'm tired of growing short corn varieties. Next year I'm thinking I'll mix in some taller parching varieties too, and re-select down the road. 

[steev]

A neighbor and I went looking for land, starting with a realtor in Willows; he had nothing good; we searched all over Lake county for a year, finding nothing but crap at $15K/acre; then we got a realty mailer from that realtor; there was a listing for four 10-acre parcels near Lodoga; we each bought 20 acres. Off the beaten path? Nobody knows that path but the locals, off-roaders, hunters, and rodeo buffs (the Stonyford Rodeo has been held the first weekend of May for 70-some years).

I don't know a name for those hills; when the Central Valley was sea all the way to the Gulf of California, many strata of shale were laid down; the rise of the Coast Range caused those hills to buckle up, which is why they're so regular.

[richardw]

Nice looking collection C. maxima there

[farmermike]

Harvested our first-ever rutabaga today. It is destined to be lactofermented!


Also cut the first radicchio head of the season for a salad tonight. Got a few dozen more radicchios coming along. They are part of the landrace project that I started last year. I will be culling any of them that don't form a decent head, and saving seed from the rest -- after harvesting the head, of course.

[steev]

I'm confused; you still get seed after harvesting the head?

[billw]

Radicchio will sprout from the base and grow anew. A handy feature for breeding.

[richardw]

Good sized rutabaga what we call swede here. how do you do the lactofermenting?