2012 PNW gardens progress - Page 13

velikipop · August 14, 2012

Dice, ditto for me with plants only setting one fruit. I suspected that the cause of all the weirdness was some sort of stress. What is peculiar is that plants very close to each other responded differently to the variability.

Alex

MarieV · August 14, 2012

I'm in Seattle, and this is my second year growing tomatoes. Last year I grew 9 plants, and this year I'm growing 29, including several cherries (Sungold, Isis Candy, and Blush), small salad (Kimberley and Jaune Flammee), several black varieties (Cherokee Purple, Spudakee, Indian Stripe, Vorlon, Gary'O Sena, and Paul Robeson), and a few others (New Big Dwarf, Porkchop, Black and Red Boar, White Queen, Gogosha, and Orange Russian 117).

This year Kimberley and Sungold plants finally had fruit blushing this past week, just under 70 days since I transplanted them in early June. My black tomatoes didn't set fruit until at least a week after Sungold and Kimberley, so they're still probably another 2-3 weeks away from blushing if they take as long as Cherokee Purple last year. I'm hoping this hot spell we've been having will last, so they'll ripen faster.

Kimberley fruit blushing by mid-August

Sungold fruit blushing by mid-August

Spudakee with 3.5" fruit by mid-August

Indian Stripe with 4" fruit by mid-August

I also posted more details and photos of my tomatoes on my blog: http://pnwgardener.blogspot.com/

JoeP · August 14, 2012

I have a Stupice plant full of green tomatoes that just won't ripen. I have 4 cherries and a Jaune Flamme that has had green fruit for many weeks, but won't ripen. The cold spring and early summer really delayed my plants.

I am beginning to fear that I may never see any of the later varieties ripen any. Barlow Jap set fruit fairly early - The earliest of the beefsteak varieties but so far everything else is just catching up. Orlav Yellow still has not even set a fruit. It won't be invited back.

I don't expect a miracle for the later ones to ripen (Barlow Jap, Limbaugh's Potato Top, Crnkovich Yugoslavian, Cowlicks, Kellogg's Breakfast, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Orlav Yellow) but I will be supremely disappointed if the early/cool weather tolerant/Cherry varieties (Stupice, SunGold SunSugar, Rosalita, Jaune Flamme, Carmello, Dona, Moskvich, Azoychka, Yamal) never produce a ripe fruit.

I feel like I have brought horrible luck to the whole region. I remember the summers here being nice and warm before I put in my garden. But three years ago I decided I was gonna grow some tomatoes like I had growing up in Georgia. Well, this ain't Georgia and every year starting in 2010 has been worse than the last. This seems to be the worst of the three for me.

But, I think it is my own fault. I didn't cover my plants with plastic in the spring this year like I did the two previous years. That row cover must do way more for heat retention than just keeping the frost off. Oh Well. Another lesson learned the hard way.

Hoping for a ripe tomato before Labor Day. That's just awful to say out loud.

On the bright side, collards, broccoli and strawberries have done very well. I may turn my yard into a strawberry field. I got "Seascape" everbearing strawberries this year and they are wonderful. Big and sweet and delicious. I also planted a few "Quinault" variety everbearing strawberries. They are not as big but very sweet and distinctly different than "Seascape". I will look for more of those next spring. The "Albion" strawberries from two years ago are still extremely firm. Far too firm for fresh eating. I'll yank those out and replace with something different. I certainly would not recommend them. Does anyone have good luck with Albion? Am I picking them too early?

Does anyone have any recommendations for other strawberry varieties that have done well for you? I heard on a California radio show (Organic Conversations) that the variety "Chandler" was the best tasting strawberry for quite a while but is not widely known because the berries are soft and therefore do not ship well. Anyone see "Chandler" strawberry plants for sale around here?

Any June bearing varieties that are highly recommended? And are they worth the space in the garden for such a short duration of fruit?

salix · August 14, 2012

Joe, a few years ago I started "Sarian" strawberries from seed. They are quite good, sweet and productive. This year I started "Fresca" and "Rugen" varieties; they are just now starting to produce. I like "Fresca" very much, similar to "Sarian", but do not like "Rugen" at all, it must be a type of alpine variety, the small fruits are not very tasty and have a horrible texture (soft and ?mealy). They will be pulled out in the fall and runners of the other two varieties planted in their place.

dice · August 14, 2012

I read that you should replace strawberry plants and plant the rows
in a different spot after 3 years (or production declines precipitously).
You can use rooted runners for the replacements.

(I do not know why you need to plant in a different spot. Simple crop
rotation?)

JoeP · August 14, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by salix

Joe, a few years ago I started "Sarian" strawberries from seed. They are quite good, sweet and productive. This year I started "Fresca" and "Rugen" varieties; they are just now starting to produce. I like "Fresca" very much, similar to "Sarian", but do not like "Rugen" at all, it must be a type of alpine variety, the small fruits are not very tasty and have a horrible texture (soft and ?mealy). They will be pulled out in the fall and runners of the other two varieties planted in their place.

Thanks Salix,

I will look those up on the google machine and see where I can find them.

Tania · August 20, 2012

Marie, beautiful pictures of beautiful plants! You must be enjoying your bounty by now

I have good and bad news.

The good news that bees returned and started to pollinate cucumbers and squash. The bad news is that late blight is getting out of hand in our area, and some of my plants are affected, even in this dry weather. Morning dew is enough to spread it.

Tomatoes started to ripen. So many wrong varieties this year, and ironically they have been ripening earlier and standing up to blight better! This is today's harvest.

MarieV · August 20, 2012

Tania, what a wonderful harvest--I'm so jealous! The Sungolds are just now trickling in. We picked and ate the first Kimberley, probably a little too early, so its flavor was good but not very strong. I have a few more ripening on the countertop. The Jaune Flammee, Isis Candy, and Black and Red Boar started breaking color the last few days, so we're getting very excited. Unfortunately, Seattle's highs will be dropping into the 60s this week, so I'm hoping this cooler weather doesn't slow things down.

Sherry_AK · August 20, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tania

So many wrong varieties this year, and ironically they have been ripening earlier and standing up to blight better! This is today's harvest.

Tania -- I wonder if you have so many wrong varieties because many seeds were sent from individuals, rather than purchased from commercial sources. In my case, I'd sure like to know if I sent any that are wrong because (a) maybe I just don't know they're wrong because it's all I've ever grown for the variety, or (b) seeds were crossed in my garden. So, please don't hesitate to let me know (and I don't mind if you post on a public thread).

I'm sorry to hear about the blight worsening for you. But it's good to see you're at least getting some harvest now.

Good luck! And good luck to all of you in the PNW. I feel like your northern step-sister!

Sherry

Tania · August 20, 2012

Sherry, no worries - I always let the individuals know when seeds do not grow true to type - as I am sure everybody wants to know that (same as me!). Nobody has a perfect record when it comes to seed saving

Some of the wrong ones maybe mutations - i.e. I have Tomadose Des Comores seeds from 2 sources, one is a correct RL and the other produced PL plants with growth habit, DTM, and fruits completely identical to the RL version. Even blight resistance was the same (amazingly good!).

Similar with Grub's Mystery Green PL and RL that continue to occasionally flip-flop on me (my own seeds).

The majority of wrong seeds actually were from SSE Yearbook, from members who list lots of seeds. Not a single wrong one from members with only one or two listings

Btw, Sherry, how is your season going? I think we all experienced the less than impressive start along the coast...

pdxwindjammer · August 20, 2012

My Sun Gold plants have been producing for about 10 days. Sasha's Altai and Moravski Div were just a couple of days behind. Sophie's Choice is blushing. I had a Brad's Black Heart blushing a couple of days ago and today I went up and that fruit is gone. Don't know if it is a rogue gardener in the community garden or a pest but others have lots of red from their big box store plants so not sure why a pest would eat my mostly green BBH.

My Indigo Blue plants are loaded with beautiful blue fruit and have been for a long time but they don't seem to be in any hurry to ripen. Even my Black Cherries are just barely getting going.

This si the first year that I tried to prune down to one or two stems. This seemed to stress a few of my 40+ plants but almost every single plant has a big load of very low fruit and not much up on top although there are some blossoms. Some of the fruit are very large but definitely not ready for the Biggie Challenge. I don't want to pick them until they start blushing.

On the other hand, I am getting piles of green beans and lemon cucs! And my pepper plants are all doing GREAT! Still no fruit on my eggplants and I doubt I will get any this year, unfortunately.

Tania · August 20, 2012

Eggplants... yeah... I hear you!

. Same story with my Indigo Rose... it takes its time teasing everybody.

SunGold or SunSugar are certainly the earliest producer in our climate, no other variety can beat them.

My local gardening friends who prune their plants also complain about poor fruit set this year. It must be the weather we had... I never prune mine, and this year I got unbelievably good fruit set - unfortunately we got the blight too, so there is little chance for these little fruits to mature anyway.

There was also an interesting surprise in my garden today - I pretty much gave up on my melons this year, as I thought they had no chance... and this is what I found today!

JoeP · August 20, 2012

Tania,

Is that a Black Tail Mountain watermelon?

Obviously grown with a cover or in your greenhouse. Do you grow those in pots or in the ground?

Congrats on the melon. I hope the warm weather recently helps with the flavor.

Tania · August 20, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeP

Tania,

Is that a Black Tail Mountain watermelon?

Obviously grown with a cover or in your greenhouse. Do you grow those in pots or in the ground?

Congrats on the melon. I hope the warm weather recently helps with the flavor.

Joe,

This is a Russian variety called 'Skorik' (the name implies something 'fast' - and it is fast indeed

)

I am also growing Astrakhanski and Cream of Saskatchewan watermelons this year, and they are way behind this one, Cream of Saskatchewan just started to set fruit, with the largest about 3-4" in diameter. Both are supposed to be early.

The melons are in the ground in cold frames covered by plastic.

maricybele · August 20, 2012

My cucumbers all pooped out in the heat made the harvest great poundage wise, but
fewer cucumbers... I bought some lemon cuke plants and I will see if I cant stretch out the season as they were the only ones available at the garden center. Will also try to plant some seed in the green house. Squash is still going strong.

Kale and cabbage did well and new crops doind well.

Eggplant and peppers doing wonderful this year, mulched and used chicken manure compost.
Tomatoes are doing great as well. Planted them starting mother's day.

August 14, 2012	#181
velikipop Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Langley, BC Posts: 768	Dice, ditto for me with plants only setting one fruit. I suspected that the cause of all the weirdness was some sort of stress. What is peculiar is that plants very close to each other responded differently to the variability. Alex __________________ I'll plant and I'll harvest what the earth brings forth The hammer's on the table, the pitchfork's on the shelf Bob Dylan

August 14, 2012	#183
JoeP Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Washington Posts: 97	I have a Stupice plant full of green tomatoes that just won't ripen. I have 4 cherries and a Jaune Flamme that has had green fruit for many weeks, but won't ripen. The cold spring and early summer really delayed my plants. I am beginning to fear that I may never see any of the later varieties ripen any. Barlow Jap set fruit fairly early - The earliest of the beefsteak varieties but so far everything else is just catching up. Orlav Yellow still has not even set a fruit. It won't be invited back. I don't expect a miracle for the later ones to ripen (Barlow Jap, Limbaugh's Potato Top, Crnkovich Yugoslavian, Cowlicks, Kellogg's Breakfast, Dr. Wyche's Yellow, Orlav Yellow) but I will be supremely disappointed if the early/cool weather tolerant/Cherry varieties (Stupice, SunGold SunSugar, Rosalita, Jaune Flamme, Carmello, Dona, Moskvich, Azoychka, Yamal) never produce a ripe fruit. I feel like I have brought horrible luck to the whole region. I remember the summers here being nice and warm before I put in my garden. But three years ago I decided I was gonna grow some tomatoes like I had growing up in Georgia. Well, this ain't Georgia and every year starting in 2010 has been worse than the last. This seems to be the worst of the three for me. But, I think it is my own fault. I didn't cover my plants with plastic in the spring this year like I did the two previous years. That row cover must do way more for heat retention than just keeping the frost off. Oh Well. Another lesson learned the hard way. Hoping for a ripe tomato before Labor Day. That's just awful to say out loud. On the bright side, collards, broccoli and strawberries have done very well. I may turn my yard into a strawberry field. I got "Seascape" everbearing strawberries this year and they are wonderful. Big and sweet and delicious. I also planted a few "Quinault" variety everbearing strawberries. They are not as big but very sweet and distinctly different than "Seascape". I will look for more of those next spring. The "Albion" strawberries from two years ago are still extremely firm. Far too firm for fresh eating. I'll yank those out and replace with something different. I certainly would not recommend them. Does anyone have good luck with Albion? Am I picking them too early? Does anyone have any recommendations for other strawberry varieties that have done well for you? I heard on a California radio show (Organic Conversations) that the variety "Chandler" was the best tasting strawberry for quite a while but is not widely known because the berries are soft and therefore do not ship well. Anyone see "Chandler" strawberry plants for sale around here? Any June bearing varieties that are highly recommended? And are they worth the space in the garden for such a short duration of fruit? Last edited by JoeP; August 14, 2012 at 02:31 AM.

August 14, 2012	#184
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	Joe, a few years ago I started "Sarian" strawberries from seed. They are quite good, sweet and productive. This year I started "Fresca" and "Rugen" varieties; they are just now starting to produce. I like "Fresca" very much, similar to "Sarian", but do not like "Rugen" at all, it must be a type of alpine variety, the small fruits are not very tasty and have a horrible texture (soft and ?mealy). They will be pulled out in the fall and runners of the other two varieties planted in their place. __________________ "He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero

August 14, 2012	#185
dice Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: PNW Posts: 4,743	I read that you should replace strawberry plants and plant the rows in a different spot after 3 years (or production declines precipitously). You can use rooted runners for the replacements. (I do not know why you need to plant in a different spot. Simple crop rotation?) __________________ -- alias

August 20, 2012	#190
Tania Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Anmore, BC, Canada Posts: 3,970	Sherry, no worries - I always let the individuals know when seeds do not grow true to type - as I am sure everybody wants to know that (same as me!). Nobody has a perfect record when it comes to seed saving Some of the wrong ones maybe mutations - i.e. I have Tomadose Des Comores seeds from 2 sources, one is a correct RL and the other produced PL plants with growth habit, DTM, and fruits completely identical to the RL version. Even blight resistance was the same (amazingly good!). Similar with Grub's Mystery Green PL and RL that continue to occasionally flip-flop on me (my own seeds). The majority of wrong seeds actually were from SSE Yearbook, from members who list lots of seeds. Not a single wrong one from members with only one or two listings Btw, Sherry, how is your season going? I think we all experienced the less than impressive start along the coast... __________________ Tatiana's TOMATObase Last edited by Tania; August 20, 2012 at 09:59 PM.

August 14, 2012	#182
MarieV Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 18	I'm in Seattle, and this is my second year growing tomatoes. Last year I grew 9 plants, and this year I'm growing 29, including several cherries (Sungold, Isis Candy, and Blush), small salad (Kimberley and Jaune Flammee), several black varieties (Cherokee Purple, Spudakee, Indian Stripe, Vorlon, Gary'O Sena, and Paul Robeson), and a few others (New Big Dwarf, Porkchop, Black and Red Boar, White Queen, Gogosha, and Orange Russian 117). This year Kimberley and Sungold plants finally had fruit blushing this past week, just under 70 days since I transplanted them in early June. My black tomatoes didn't set fruit until at least a week after Sungold and Kimberley, so they're still probably another 2-3 weeks away from blushing if they take as long as Cherokee Purple last year. I'm hoping this hot spell we've been having will last, so they'll ripen faster. Kimberley fruit blushing by mid-August Sungold fruit blushing by mid-August Spudakee with 3.5" fruit by mid-August Indian Stripe with 4" fruit by mid-August I also posted more details and photos of my tomatoes on my blog: http://pnwgardener.blogspot.com/

August 20, 2012	#188
MarieV Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 18	Tania, what a wonderful harvest--I'm so jealous! The Sungolds are just now trickling in. We picked and ate the first Kimberley, probably a little too early, so its flavor was good but not very strong. I have a few more ripening on the countertop. The Jaune Flammee, Isis Candy, and Black and Red Boar started breaking color the last few days, so we're getting very excited. Unfortunately, Seattle's highs will be dropping into the 60s this week, so I'm hoping this cooler weather doesn't slow things down.

August 20, 2012	#191
pdxwindjammer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 625	My Sun Gold plants have been producing for about 10 days. Sasha's Altai and Moravski Div were just a couple of days behind. Sophie's Choice is blushing. I had a Brad's Black Heart blushing a couple of days ago and today I went up and that fruit is gone. Don't know if it is a rogue gardener in the community garden or a pest but others have lots of red from their big box store plants so not sure why a pest would eat my mostly green BBH. My Indigo Blue plants are loaded with beautiful blue fruit and have been for a long time but they don't seem to be in any hurry to ripen. Even my Black Cherries are just barely getting going. This si the first year that I tried to prune down to one or two stems. This seemed to stress a few of my 40+ plants but almost every single plant has a big load of very low fruit and not much up on top although there are some blossoms. Some of the fruit are very large but definitely not ready for the Biggie Challenge. I don't want to pick them until they start blushing. On the other hand, I am getting piles of green beans and lemon cucs! And my pepper plants are all doing GREAT! Still no fruit on my eggplants and I doubt I will get any this year, unfortunately.

August 20, 2012	#193
JoeP Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2010 Location: Washington Posts: 97	Tania, Is that a Black Tail Mountain watermelon? Obviously grown with a cover or in your greenhouse. Do you grow those in pots or in the ground? Congrats on the melon. I hope the warm weather recently helps with the flavor.

August 20, 2012	#195
maricybele Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Oregon zone 8 Posts: 99	My cucumbers all pooped out in the heat made the harvest great poundage wise, but fewer cucumbers... I bought some lemon cuke plants and I will see if I cant stretch out the season as they were the only ones available at the garden center. Will also try to plant some seed in the green house. Squash is still going strong. Kale and cabbage did well and new crops doind well. Eggplant and peppers doing wonderful this year, mulched and used chicken manure compost. Tomatoes are doing great as well. Planted them starting mother's day.