Season 2019 journal

[taboule]

Greetings,

It's been a while since I posted. Was out of town early june and came back to a jungle.

Every year this time around, I run behind in caging my tomatoes. Then they get big and it becomes a challenge to slide the corset ...hmm... i mean the cage onto them. So decided this year I'll get ahead of it -except I didn't. Came back to see many of them had collapsed due to a combo of weight, rain and wind. It took me another week to control them all, finally.
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All of them have flowers now, here's Brandywine

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Big Zack, first time growing it. Following the big tomato thread, I guess I should keep only one or two blooms once I get pollination.

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And best part, the first fruit, a 4th of July as expected (my only hybrid), a bit late this year.

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I stopped at 41 plants this year. Just culled one that didnt look as good as I like and replaced it with a more vigorous leftover. No mercy here, survival of the fittest, and very much the best reason to grow lots more than needed, and use only the best. Still many left for gifting or to fix "accidents."

For the old/remote garden, I only planted some leftover (from winter) potatoes, a mix of golden and pink, and leaving the rest of it to rest this year.

I'm officially done planting for now.

tbc...

[Worth1]

Plants look great, too bad Brandywine is worthless where I live.

[taboule]

The main growers now are the greens. Looking west, then east
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Various lettuces, cabbage, kale, chard... The baby bok choy bolted the week I was gone, it took a couple of days. They always do, go from perfect to a bunch of wild flowers. In a blink. Pretty. Harvested some and ate it, still good, but wasted material. I decided last year to give it one last chance, had some old seeds. This is it, last year I bother with them.

Here's one of my favorites, Sylvia, gorgeous, with the most delicate leaves and buttery taste.
061319-sylvia.jpg

Mesclun, radishes and kale, with dill volunteers to the right
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tbc...

[taboule]

Her'e a few more, California wonder.

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Straight eight. This one will go down the hatch this weekend, as a special treat.

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Last year I got a major infestation of beetles that ate everything before I reacted. I'll be ready and ruthless this year.

I started a small assortment of herbs, this one was the easiest, volunteer cilantro for my fresh salsa -it's ready for harvest, I'll make a batch this weekend and save a plant or 2 for seed.
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Lastly, to end a crazy week at the corporate coral, kicking back with a Cohiba and a cold one and enjoying Mother Nature at her best

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looking up
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[taboule]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Plants look great, too bad Brandywine is worthless where I live.

Thanks Worth. Why does Brandywine not grow well for you? Succumbs to disease and/or hot season?

[bower]

Fantastic Taboule! Considering you've been away, the management plan has worked out very well. Bok Choy is the same for everyone - really a challenge to start only as many as you can eat at one time, in the moment that they demand to be harvested! On the plus side it is a quick crop when you're not loaded with such a variety of bounty. And the bees absolutely love the flowers. I just saw my first bumblebees this week, and I regretted that I didn't have any bolted choy for them out of the gate. I have a variety I want to save seeds of, so I'll start those soon and put them out for the Mrs. Bee's.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by taboule

Thanks Worth. Why does Brandywine not grow well for you? Succumbs to disease and/or hot season?

Lack of productivity and flavor not that great compared to the hype as with many indeterminate heirlooms here.
One plant two tomatoes a thousand falling blooms.

[taboule]

Greetings,

It's been a while since I last posted here, been busy all around, and it's been a challenging summer so far weather wise. Very hot and I don't fare well in the heat. We had late thunder showers 2 days ago and it felt good to be out, the place was steamy and clean, I took a tour.

Here's the long lane going east, cukes on the right, followed by a couple of toms that didnt fit the main beds, but I couldnt let go, then a row of onions.
cuke-row.jpg

At the end of the beds looking west. Plants outgrowing their 6ft stakes.
looking-west.jpg

This one is well over 7ft high, a Coeur de boeuf I think.
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Even the dill, way taller than me, all volunteers from last year's crop. I pulled many when they were tiny in the spring, thinking they were weeds. My wife uses dill very frequently in her cooking, my favorite is a Greek salad made with finely chopped romaine, scallions, and dill, with a lemon juice and EVOO dressing.

dill.jpg

tbc...

[taboule]

Lots of green everywhere, have had a great crop of the early leafies and herbs. Exhausted the first batch of lettuce and early cabbage. The last few lettuces bolted, along with a new batch of baby choys -they turned into flower and became bees food, which is fine.

This cabbage is from the larger variety I'm growing and the heart should be over 4 pounds, and still growing.
big-cab.jpg

After planting in the spring, I had many leftover seedlings/smaller plants, a large variety. I kept a bunch of extra lettuce, thinking they may come in handy. Some were hiding in the bed, protected by other foliage, and watered just by rain or the lawn sprinklers. Found some that got large enough to eat, their roots went through the tiny 2 in square pots into the soil below. you can see the small red and green plastic cubes.

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So I transplanted a second crop of Sylvias.

You can see a few bug holes in the pics, as usual and due to balanced mix laziness and stubbornness, I held back spraying, until a week ago when I started seeing cuke beetles and stink bugs here and there. So I mixed up a batch and gave them a good soak. Problem solved for a while at least.

DW asked for an herb garden for this year, so allocated much space in the beds for that. The first batch of cilantro is spent, had more than we could eat, so the rest will be used as coriander, both green and later dried. The bees loved this patch and would spend all day buzzing it with me nearby. Left of it is some flat parsley.
cilantro.jpg
Those too were volunteers from last years crop, all of them. I did start a separate, later batch as well, many of these herbs have a short lifetime green.

Here's one type of basil, we just pinch the leaves and use as needed. To the right of it is some curley parsley, we use large bunches of it when making taboule, the most delicious Lebanese salad.
basil.jpg

I grew a few radishes, and this one got big before I pulled it out. Then noticed these pretty flowers and now the pods, like tiny pea pods. I assume that's where the seeds are supposed to be, and will let them dry and try them next year.
radish-seed.jpg

tbc...

[taboule]

Other successful crop so far are the zucchinis. Last year they started out great, but got sick mid-summer -stems rotted, powdery mildew? And as alluded to before, I didnt bother treating them (due to aforementioned reasons). So this year I decided to grow LOTS of them, a variety of the Greek, Fordhook, and Yellow Crookneck. Here they are, filling an entire bed and smothering other smaller plants that I wanted them to share space with.
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Many have been picked from here already. DW and I may pick some flowers at their prime, and use them to prep a wonderful Greek delicacy -stuff them with Feta cheese and herbs, and fry them. Then squeeze a bit of lemon on top, and savor with a French baguette.

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Kale also doing great, here's what we had for veggies and greens a few days ago.

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Lots of cukes too, we can pick more than enough to eat everyday. And if/when we don't, some grow to crazy proportions -any ideas what to do with this fellow? Tough to dislodge him in one piece, he'll need to be surgically removed, and will probably end up getting shredded into Tzatziki.
stuck.jpg

tbc...

[taboule]

A few laggards this year- due to my trip in early spring, I didn't put much effort into starting peppers -or rather, I did try, but didn't fare too good. I only managed to transplant two frying type peppers (also Greek, from seeds DW brought back from the old country a couple years ago.) This guy isn't doing bad, small but healthy.
greek-pepper.jpg

Here's Walla Walla row, a little disappointed I don't see the root getting big yet, we're mid summer. I planted them as shallow as I could, and soil is plenty fertile -especially with N, which I understand is good for onions as it helps develop lots of leaves. No worries, these guys serve double duty as scallions, I always steal a few leaves when making a salad.

wallas.jpg

Lastly below are the few garlic I managed to plant very late last october/november(?), from left over food stock. Just noticed the funny scapes that showed up the past week. Been reading Bower's garlic thread with interest. Form the pic, does anyone think these are ready? I'll try pulling one this weekend to see -i dont have too many. Something on the list for next year to allocate lots of space for.

tbc...

[taboule]

By now, maybe some folks who are reading this may be wondering -how about the tomatoes? Well this has been a bit disappointing so far -lots of growth, healthy and all, with tons of flowers. But it's taken much longer for them to set into fruit, and even longer to mature. Last year this time, we had plenty of toms for our salads.

Then 2 days ago after work and the rain, I found these.
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A Fourth of July as planned for that purpose. The second and only other specimen I grew ~ a week later is still green. Last year I had the first red (or at least colored) tomato right on the 4th.
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Here's how things look like from the house.

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And while waiting for more toms to turn red, I'm busy rebuilding this deck.
Hope everyone's garden is doing well.
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[bower]

Mmmmm!! Everything looks fantastic! I guess those plants have loved the heat (even if you didn't - and I commiserate because we just aren't used to it, so a hot day is a knockout). Love the lettuce that rooted through their little cells. Yes they do it, even if we neglect em.



Re the garlic, I think those scapes are past the point where we usually harvest them to eat. The lower stem gets woody when they start to stand upright, so we snap them off as soon as they formed a 'curl'. They will still be tender closer to the top, if you decide to try them. I had some last night, first of the season, just chopped into an inch pieces and into some fried rice.. delicious. OTOH the scapes if you leave them will also tell you when the bulb is ready, by standing fully upright and the spathe swelling up with bulbils. Whichever way you do it, garlic is a fine thing to grow.
Nice job with the herbs too... My friend also has dill that volunteers in her greenhouse, and some get left to grow among the tomatoes every year. They make a good companion! And so nice not to have to sow them just let em come!

[taboule]

Bower, thanks. Re the garlic, I was referring to the bulbs proper being ready, not the scape. So I'm glad to know now that I can use them as an indicator for when I can harvest. In fact, I was in the garden yesterday and noticed some of them straightening out. Crazy rain today (finally) so once we dry out by thursday, I'll go out a pull one or two to check.

Have seen more tomatoes turning red now, and some huge cukes and zukes that were hiding and grew to a good size. The rain is weighing heavy on the poorly supported tomato plants and some branches are on the ground.

[taboule]

Weather is gradually moving away from the 90s, with days in the 80s and cool nights, low as mid-60s. I started venturing back outside, picked a few things yesterday. Tomatoes setting nicely -finally. Enough to start gifting and cooking. But the plants have grown out of control, well over 7 ft tall and one big jungle. Took the shears to them and filled 2x wheelbarrows in 10 minutes.

I grew many blacks this year so it's been fun taste testing them. It's possible I may have enough for a first batch of sauce this weekend.

The craziest crop have been the zuchinis/squash. I almost filled a bed with 4-5 plants, and with all the watering, some grew huge.
big-zukes-7aug19.jpg

Not sure if they're edible anymore, if one skins them and removes the seeds. Not the same as the tender little ones, but I'm curious to try them-else what a waste. The Greeks (light green) are still soft and tender, I dropped one only a couple inches high on the soft lawn and it cracked (you can see it in pic next to basket.) I'll also leave a few in the basement to see how long they last -after taste testing them in a recipe or two. We've been eating the small ones many different ways.

Other big producers have been cucumbers, and kale. I pulled the few garlic, small, they never got big -I need to study up on that. Herbs are also doing great, we have more than we can consume and process.

The deck jobs (2x, one done and working on the 2nd) combined with the extended heat really put a dent in my available (and tolerable) hours outdoors this year. No complaints however.

All the best to you.