Applestar’s 2023 Garden

[applestar]

Mirai corn is notoriously sensitive to low ground temp. I overlayered the insect mesh low tunnel (intended for hiding sprouting seeds from birds) with a loosely secured vented poly since forecast for tonight’s low is mid-40’s°F.

…Cherry tomato plants looked good

…Harvested a small handful of strawberries

Primarily worked in the Spiral Garden today —fertilized and prepped the arcs (rows) and covered with corn based black, biodegradable mulch, then —

* Transplanted Queen of Malinalco tomatillos

* Transplanted my [Shomofuri(霜降り)F7 x Aztek] F3 starts, for the most part, selecting for variegation and dwarf-ish stature, internodes and rugose-like leaves…

* Transplanted Greek Sweet Red C.moschata squash

— Late yesterday afternoon, the new birdbath was nearly empty, so I filled it as soon as I got out there. Soon found out who might have splashed all the water out — these two robins (you can just see the 2nd one’s tail) were arguing and then a third one swooped in and all three took off on an aerial chase!

— My photo collage layered over the garden map is slowly filling up with planted arcs and growing plants

[imafan26]

I considered planting Mirai once, but changed my mind and decided to stick with the varieties that I know are resistant to nematodes and maize mozaic virus.

I have been growing Ishikura onions for a few years now, they have a long shank. Onions last at least a couple of years and some times more. I don't know how old mine are. Mine are blooming now because it has been so cold.

[applestar]

Good to know @imafan. I’m going to plant the onions in the Sunflower Hoophouse once I manage to get their bed ready for planting. Ishikura and Flagpole may be able to survive the winter. Also, I have to keep them protected from onionflies.

Today, I planted the rest of my crosses in the VGD (Vegetable Gardenbed D)
— Dwarf Arctic Rose x Utyonok F4,
— Maglia Rosa #1(WWL) x Stump of the World?HBR + Faelan’s First Snow LV + Manö) F1 2014,
— Whippersnapper #2(WWLw) x Stump of the World? F1 HBR’14.9, and
— Shimofuri(霜降り) F9 KGP.SIP2’21.8.

I was selecting for the best variegation, and couldn’t bear to cull the fourth Shimofuri(霜降り) with intriguing patterns, so I stuck it in the corner of VGB where there was a little bit of room.

* I’d sowed VG.SIP with carrots and daikon radishes on Saturday, and the radishes were up when I checked under the paper today. (Bora King F1 60d Purple Korean and
Green Meat 50d Chinese Japanese aokubi)

* More cherries than strawberries today

[applestar]

ALMOST THERE!

— I planted the H-19 Littleleaf cucumbers in the arc of the Spiral Garden I had prepped yesterday (but didn’t get to plant).

— I was able to get the main large fruited tomato bed prepped today. Didn’t have any “power” left to plant, but it’s done. To make up for the rushed “dig and plant” schedule, I poured/drizzled cultured coffee ground liquid and cultured fish bone and kelp meal liquid down the length of the row and lightly blended the soil along with dolomitic lime and epsom salts, a sprinkling of Calcium nitrate…. That should be enough for the plants to start with. This bed was left fallow for most of the fall to winter, so it should be good to go.

— Today, my harvest was a mounded bowl of cherries with a bit of strawberries on top. Also (not pictured) a small bouquet of stinging nettles for tea.

— I had a small hoop structure that I hadn’t taken apart (insect mesh and vented poly) so I used it to cover the cuke arc.

— The greens are growing nicely. I’m seeing the Cabbage White butterflies flitting around now, so those napa and mizuna definitely need the protection.

— Overall view — I’m rushing the hardening-off period, so the solanacea that were planted yesterday is getting another day of light overhead shade. The greens tunnel is under there too, which is just as well since today went up to 88°F and tomorrow is supposed to get up to 94°F

I didn’t shade the squash, but they can probably take it.

…Here are best variegation patterns on Shimofuri(霜降り)F9 and S7xA.F3 segregates that caught my eyes so far… Hopefully I’ll be able to show additional new growth that are even more impressive in next couple of weeks

..I still have the Faelan’s First Snow and Faelan’s First Snow X to show off — maybe tomorrow

[applestar]

Yesterday was sunny and HOT! Officially up to 95°F. I knew that was the forecast, but I was so eager to get the big fruited tomatoes planted that it never once occurred to me that I might postpone planting until today.

I did make sure to charge the power bank overnight and set out wearing my double fan-cooled vest. I ran the water hose on mist setting to help cool me down as well as the plants and the black mulch. Occasionally DRENCHED my head and hair with cold water.

And all of it did help … but my endurance to heat and work are not yet up to the mid-summer level — I couldn’t finish … and around 1pm, I had to grit my teeth and make my way back inside, where I promptly collapsed on the kitchen floor, flat on my back, whew I did the usual regimen to speed recovery from heat exhaustion.

Once I could tell that a full-on heat stroke had been averted and felt well enough, I HAD to go back out because the rest of the tomato plants were still spread out there in the sun, as were all the tools, etc.

It took everything I had left to gather up and put the still delicate plants where they would be safe, out of the sun for the remainder of the day, and make multiple trips to put away everything.

I left the HBR (Haybale Row) tomato row draped with a mesh fabric to protect from the scorching sun.

…and last night a pop-up thunderstorm kindly skirted my garden, avoiding the severe pounding that my poor plants would not have withstood, and instead, giving us a brief, maybe 20 minutes~1/2 hour gentle-ish shower— which meant I didn’t have to panic-water everything today (odd # day = watering day during summer water restriction; and ONLY until 8am)…

So, today, I finished planting the tomatoes that were going in the ground Yay!

Very tight spacing, but I’ll build an overhead support and string-train the indeterminates — pinched and pruned to single stem.

Today being overcast with high of 72°F, I didn’t need to worry about them as much.

(Now, we’re looking at overnight low of 48°F tonight and tomorrow night But I’m not worried since they are sheltered by the Sunflower Hoophouse.)

— BOTTOM ROW — Left two are examples of Faelan’s First Snow variegation, and right two are my discovered Faelan’s First Snow X (FFSX)
* The difference produced by the more advanced generation/careful selection resulting in the gorgeous and striking patterns of Faelan’s First Snow are obvious.
* Do you see how the three selection of the FFSX line show dwarf-like characteristics? (I didn’t plant the other two that had much longer internodes and were towering over these — maybe twice as tall)

——

MORE cherries, some more strawberries, and some greens (Marveille de Quatre Saisons lettuce, Early Mizuna, and Broadleaf Shungiku)

— Maybe due to the high temperatures in the Patio hoophouse or maybe due to the earlier temperature fluctuation that dipped into low 40’s, the Queen of Malinalco (X?) tomatillos have unexpectedly started blooming early….

[applestar]

HBR’2023 large fruited tomatoes

Wes SG’22.8
Tidwell German 8/20/14
Bull’s Heart 2009
Caspian Pink SG’22.8
Coer from Antuza 2022
Terhune VGC’22.8
George’s Greek Breakfast PL F4
Wessel’s Purple Pride X SG’22 (brown)
Captain Lucky 2014
Pineapple VGC’22.10
Mikado White PL VGC’22.8
Royal Hillbilly 8/7/14
Campbell’s 146 2012
Faelan’s First Snow VGCX’22
Faelan’s First Snow X VGCX’22 (FFSxDwfChocolate Lightning SFH’21?)
Beaverlodge Slicer VG.SIP’22
Redfield Beauty 2013 (runty, may not survive)
Volunteer PL in HBR’14 (Stump of the World? Soldacki?)
Bloody Butcher 2010
Schmeig Stoo NOT (xAmana Orange?) x TerhuneX F2 VGC’22 (orange heart)
Black and Brown Boar or Pink Berkeley Tie-dye aug’10
*Viola* — only one started from seeds to survive last year and overwinter — hoping it will self seed and multiply in this (unmulched) corner

[applestar]

I’ve finally ventured into the hitherto abandoned Sunflower Hoophouse.

Not surprisingly, practically EVERYTHING had bolted and were blooming all over the place. I had to take a hand sickle to them just to forge my path through

No doubt with ants shepherding and sneaking them inside, the brassicas were covered with aphids, but the hoophouse was also gently buzzing with the tiny aphid mummy maker wasps.

I decided not to worry about either of them and piled up the cut stalks in the path to be trampled down.

There were some spiders on duty. Ladybugs are starting to show up in the garden, so I’ll also start catch-and-releasing them in here.

After cleaning up the beds and prepping the far right. I planted eggplants — Money Maker and Shoya Long

Hopefully tomorrow, I’ll plant the zukes and sow a little row of corn.

I was able to glean this much greens out of what was left in the Sunflower Hoophouse. (Plus more cherries and strawberries)

— BTW I’ve gone back to last year’s maps to verify — the larger strawberries (firm and very tasty) are Jewel and the medium sized in the bowl are Annapolis and some occasional Seascape from the Spiral Garden and Elan F1 from the Patio-side Kitchen Garden. Small~tiny ones are the F.virginiana wild strawberries which are superb when allowed to fully ripen.

None are the really large supermarket type varieties, several of which have not won approval from my flavor judges and have been allowed to die off.

[applestar]

Tried three different ways but couldn’t capture the glowing orange color of the morning sun through the hazy sky (I’m guessing the wildfires are still affecting the local air quality)

(…my older iPhone won’t even be eligible for the new iOS 17 upgrade so yeah — newer models might do better)


Harvested the last of the good cherries. I tried to group them into the two cultivars — the larger pale ones are White Gold and the ones that are rather small but abundant this year are Emperor Francis. I’m not sure why, but these espaliers HAVE been neglected and needs some good shaping cuts. I left a few ripe and ripening fruits with obvious signs of bug infestation on the tees and removed the flashing birdscares.

Strawberries are continuing and raspberries have started.

Sunflower Hoophouse — Managed to plant the two Cashflow zucchini plants (letting a few heirloom lettuces go to seed) … as well as Hokkori C.maxima kabocha squash.

I didn’t get as much planting done today as I had planned, but I got distracted when I went to get the mail, and ended up pruning the step-over espalier surrounding the mailbox bed.

… You might not be able to tell, but I cut everything that was growing up or reaching too tall, as well as all branches sticking out sideways as well as inwards. They need at least one more good thinning cuts and trim cuts to define the bottom edge, but look much better than before.

I also reconfigured the solar fountain birdbath since the water needed to be changed.

[imafan26]

I have to do some shaping and hedging as well. My hedge clipper handle fell off. I bought a new one, I have to find out where I put it. It's annoying to try to clip with the handle falling off.

[applestar]

My assessment yesterday was an intuitive leap, but the poor air quality due to air currents carrying wildfire pollutants was reported by several news outlets yesterday, and predicted to worsen and continue to affect wide swaths in the northeast regions including this area.

This morning’s report based on a local sensor readings at 5am was 80 —

— I keep track due to rare asthma triggered mostly by voc’s and smoke, as well as severe allergies to some of the locally prevalent pollen depending on season. Winter air quality can be in the green (Excellent 0~19), while summer air quality tends to be worse but exceedingly rare to be in the orange (Low 60~79), normally yellow (Moderate 40~59) during the day — going up as temperature rises — and usually clears to yellow-green (Fair 20~39) during the night. This dark red (Poor 80~99) is the worst level on this monitor and startlingly unfamiliar….

Oh and it’s now gone up to 81 based on 5:37am reading. (Effectively since sunrise at 5:31am….)

[applestar]

Ah, it looks like the south NJ wildfire that seemed to have been put out as of yesterday has rekindled

…I made a separate burn pile out of the diseased and cottony aphid infested fruit tree and juniper branches I cut from the Mailbox step over espaliers, and loaded them inside the copper firepit … but I sure am NOT burning them until “fire hazard” warning is lifted.

Hopefully, they’ll have a chance to dry out some under the fire pit lid, or else I’ll have to get my little brick rocket stove back in working order for a cleaner burn.

[applestar]

…one more update… perfect excuse to take a day off from gardening

[pepperhead212]

I won't be going out until maybe late afternoon, when it's supposed to be getting a little better, and even then, I won't be out there for long! Just to check things, and maybe harvest something, then back in!

[imafan26]

You have so many fires on the map and temperature extremes. Stay safe.

[applestar]

So last night around midnight, I checked one more time before going to bed and the index meter on the app was at 95 (only goes up to 99).

I found another app that uses a different Air Quality Index and which apparently has more local sensor stations, and approximately same location read 394, while location of my garden was somewhere halfway between two stations that read 372 and 421. Average =396.5? …or just go with the 394?

This morning as of 4am,
89 (350)
or (343+338)/2= 340.5
…hmmm.

Well, I have to go out and check on the plants — it’s actually 43°F out there right now — water the seed grown starts in the KG hoophouse, and pick raspberries and strawberries. Water the container plants.

I won’t plant except maybe sow the row of corn inside the SunflowerHH.

Oh, and I’ll wear a mask — trying to decide between KN95 or true N95.

And last night, my daughter told me to take my asthma remedy with me so her vision of me twitching on the garden path won’t come true…..

[applestar]

Spent about 1hour outside (wearing N95+surgical masks, hat, and jacket, and with my asthma and panic attack remedies in back pocket, just in case ), getting done every priority garden activity planned for today —

* Harvested yesterday’s unharvested and today’s raspberries and strawberries (washed off with garden hose shower first)

…also staked any tomatoes that didn’t get a little stake support before since we’re expecting rain tomorrow or the day after … and secured new growths since planting….

…The leftover tomato starts had started to wilt, so they DEFINITELY needed to be watered, and the peppers and cucurbita needed it, too I’m sure — they’re not as resilient as tomatoes if they get dried out

* The greens tunnel is looking good — the larger mini napa’s look like they are starting to curl in to form heads

* picture of the orange sun at 6:44am

[imafan26]

Does the air quality affect the plants? On the Big Island when there the volcano is fountaining and there is ash in the air, the plants that are not under cover are affected.

[applestar]

I guess we’ll find out.

Obvious impacts from the outset are dimmed light intensity due to haze and possibly lowered temperatures.

Whatever settles as well as if and when it rains (only 30% chance for tomorrow now, which normally I wouldn’t count on) while the higher particulate level air quality persists, I would wonder what those actual particles consist of.

Purely forest fire wood smoke would probably be fertilizing/beneficial, unless acid rain is a factor … but if there are other artificial/chemical burn (including fire suppressants and buildings/structures that may have been engulfed), toxic or pollutant smoke and particulates may be involved … what then?

Current pollutant reading —

Samples of Air Quality index meter readings for today:
7:50pm 72
6:20pm 68
3:50pm 66
1pm 72
9:45am 83
5am 89

[applestar]

Our skies cleared up today, so I celebrated by planting most of the peppers and sowing corn in the outer arc segment of the Spiral Garden.

I put a couple of leftover eggplants in with the peppers. The peppers needed a bit of shade, and will also need to be protected from pepperfly maggots… and the row-length insect mesh was just the right size for also protecting the corn until they sprout and grow so that they are not targeted by birds any more. Hopefully. this will also protect the seeds from rodents — One year, chipmunks meticulously dug up every single corn as soon as I left the garden and went inside. I actually watched the little thieves at their mischief from the window.

…I also planted the Nutterbutter butternut squash in the inner arc bed that had been prepped for them. Only one more small inner spiral arc left to plant — with edamame.

I prepped a new bed for planting the remainder of the peppers, but I ran out of energy.

…

ETA — (eggplants and) peppers planted were:
(Money Maker)
Yellow Cap
Yolo Wonder (24~30”)
World Beater (Ruby Giant) 36”
Manganji (18~24”)
ChocCakeX? (Ingrid x Marconi?)

[pepperhead212]

It cleared up considerably here, too. I actually see blue sky in some areas! Early this morning was another story, but I just waited, to go out there. Glad you could finally get out there!

[applestar]

It was pretty crazy outside for those few days. Can’t imagine dealing with prolonged exposure.

Glad you got stuff done too, @pepperhead!

[applestar]

I’ve been a bit short-winded yesterday and today. Just harvesting the berries has been exhausting.

— Yesterday’s Raspberries, Strawberries, and even though I meant to leave them for the birds, I couldn’t resist harvesting these Emperor Francis cherries that unexpectedly turned even redder ( I might have been rushing to harvest them — should try letting them fully color next year)

— I did shape the new little pepper bed and temporarily covered the mounded bed with folded double, vented poly that I took off of the H-19 Littleleaf cucumbers. I’m not leaving it on long enough to solarize, but it might help to warm up the soil — peppers ought to like that.

— The daikon radishes in the VG.SIP container are growing bigger and need to be thinned. I put up a mini tunnel and covered with tulle to keep out the cabbage white butterflies and cabbage moths, etc. pests. More carrots sprouted.

— I also sprayed everybody with a diluted mixtures solution of epsom salts, potassium bicarbonate, borax, and neem meal tea

— Today, I shaped the VGA bed which is being readied for mini watermelon (Kaho) and asian cucumbers (Suyo Long and China Jade). But when I tried to pin down the black poly mulch, discovered I had run out of U-pins. BTW these are commercial 55-gallon drum trash bin liners. Very heavy-weight… that were split down the side lengths. They are holding up remarkably well.

— I harvested and culled, then weeded and cultivated around in the greens tunnel, hilling the mini napa and lettuce to keep them from flopping over. Some of the napa in particular had concerning damage that ware apparently caused by slugs… and I found the culprits — a BIG one and a little one

— Harvested greens are culled immature Mini Napa No.2, Early Mizuna, Marvel de Quatre Saisons lettuce, and Broadleaf Shungiku.

— Main large fruited tomato bed is looking good.

[applestar]

It feels like today was a relatively short day again. It was drizzling and very humid when I went out.

— I harvested the raspberries and strawberries, then got started in the Side Yard Garden.

— Corn starch black film mulched the new pepper bed and the center of the Spiral Garden reserved for Blacktail Mountain watermelon.

— Sowed Kouri edamame in the previously prepped bed — I’ve been dithering because most Japanese sources say you should start edamame in pots, but decided to adapt from a Natural Farming method and direct sow.

… I have several other beds I will be trying to spread out and increase my chances and/or minimize failures.

— Planted the Blacktail Mountain watermelon seedlings — 2 to a spot —and set up a wind barrier surround with cut open lengthwise potting mix bags.

— Planted the remaining sweet peppers to be grown in the ground in the new bed in front of the Sunflower Hoophouse and covered with low tunnel of tulle. (Manganji, Yolo Wonder, Largo de Reus, California Wonder)

— …what else?… Oh yeah — two of the best Faelan’s First Snow tomato variegation patterns, and progress on the Greek Sweet Red squash (they are almost ready to be pinched to grow and select 2 side shoots each on which fruits will be hand pollinated to set and develop)

AAANNNDD, TAH DAH!
Spiral Garden is completely planted.

… I’m trying something new — the Compost Bin/Pile in the near corner is located at the highest point of the runoff slope.

The idea is to occasionally stick a garden hose over the pile to drench it, so that the water percolates and then flows along the channels cut into the Spiral arcs and floods the Swale/Path for the entire Spiral Garden.

[applestar]

Here’s a view of the Spiral Garden from upstairs window. Pruned the upward reaching foundation shrub branches to remove those obstructing the sightline (a few more closer to the house will need attention but harder to get to…)

— Finished sowing edamame Kouri, and laid a piece of floating cover directly over them to help protect from birds.
— Planted Early Girl (Otome) watermelon seedlings inside the Sunflower Hoophouse, and went ahead and planted a 3rd/last Cashflow zucchini using a bottomless nursery pot to elevate on a “hill”.
…Hoping to control crowding at least to some extent by using vertical trellising method:

https://agri.mynavi.jp/2020_03_11_110709/

— progress photo of back (east) half of the hoophouse
— (not pictured but also planted an H-19 Littleleaf cucumber start in front NW corner
…

Today’s feature photos —

* first bunch of lavender (there was about twice more but I forgot to take pic before giving some to my neighbor)
* raspberries and strawberries
* REALIZATION that maybe I don’t want to remove all the suckers from Faelan’s First Snow, Shimofuri(霜降り), and my Shimofuri (霜降り)xAztek crosses because these secondary growths (growths that develop after the plant is more mature) may show up with greater variegation— a tendency that I have noticed with overwintered multi-year old Fish peppers…

[applestar]

Looks like having settled in after being planted, the tomatoes are gratifyingly taking off — needing regular inspection for suckers and tying up of the newer top growths.

The squash leaves are looking much bigger and with 5 true leaves out on most, I stopped the leading bud to get the “children” set of side shoot vines to grow for fruiting.

With rain in the forecast and morning being overcast, I decided a quick “foliar feed” and treatment to increase microbial activities might be in order, so made up a quick “tea” of home made bokashi fertilizer (made with rice bran based horse feed pellets as main carrier) plus a small amount of neem cake and yeast, and overhead “showered” (not micro misted, so not really foliar feed) with a hose end dilution sprayer.

My old Ortho Tree and Shrub sprayer died so I bought a presumably equivalent Ortho product. I don’t use Ortho anything as a rule, but when they make a device for their products that works well with my home made mixtures, why not? This one improves on the old design, having a “shower” as well as a broad “flat spray” setting. Can’t say for sure that the “shooting” jet setting goes as far as the old one that had a long directional nozzle.

Harvested strawberries, raspberries, some wild blueberries, and a few cherries that fruited for first time on a volunteer tree (smallish, redder than the whites but not bing red, tasty). Also more lavender before it rained.
…too tired for pics today…

[applestar]

VGD (Vegetable Gardenbed D) my tomato crosses grow out progress, 14 corn sprouted under the low tunnel, and yesterday’s harvest including thinned culls of VG.SIP daikon.

Today, planted VGA (Vegetable Gardenbed A) with Kaho watermelons, Suyo Long and China Jade cucumbers, and sowed Kouri edamame in three available openings that seemed like they needed something (previously used black trash bag mulch has openings from last planting). Another opening on opposite side received a double clump of basil starts.

With forecast overnight lows in the 50’s for the next 7 days (even though daytime highs are in the 80’s), I added windbreak protection for the watermelon starts and vented poly tunnel over the cukes as well to keep them warmer and to encourage speedy initial growth until they start to vine.

— VGB cherry tomatoes with another small clump of basil starts as well as some volunteer FunGen or Tokyo Bekana greens and red Shiso/Perilla growing with the weeds (I need to selectively go over them with a hand weeder/cultivator)

— Today’s berries were limited probably due to overcast and storm yesterday. Also topped a volunteer Magenta Spleen and pruned a branch from the container lemon (leaves are great for adding to tea).

— Sketched idea to build a support trellis for the VGA. Loosely basing this in reference to method by this couple who have been using obelisk trellises to grow fridge/personal size watermelons for several years at a community garden, by winding the vines up the support to save space (reference screenshots from the following video)

[applestar]

My plan for today was to build the framework for overhead string-support for the Haybale Row (HBR = main large fruited tomato bed). But original plan got derailed when I realized the Country Gentleman corn in the outer arc of Spiral Garden had sprouted and were pushing up against the direct on the ground insect mesh row cover that was meant to protect them as seeds and at first sprout.

I fashioned a fence section bent into a low tunnel and covered with a vented poly. This proved to be a critically important fix since the seedlings would have been beaten down and flattened by the thunderstorm we had in the afternoon, pounding down on the insect mesh. Also, at this stage, they will be especially vulnerable if bunnies should manage to get inside the garden enclosure and discover them.

Then I went around making sure the squash and tomatoes were sufficiently supported, and having run out of time, just upgraded stakes in the HBR that were shorter with taller ones and then used those shorter stakes to upgrade too short stakes elsewhere. All of this, too, made the difference since the thunderstorm was unexpectedly severe.

…This kind of up close and personal, individual care creates opportunities to really look at the plants.

I couldn’t help taking pics of this particular new sucker on the amazingly striped stem and beautiful leafnode.

… No, no, I didn’t remove this or any of the other suckers on variegated varieties that looked intriguing. Rules may need to be changed for variegated varieties.


Here is also one of my newest crossbreeding project — Shimofuri F7 x Aztek, that is showing a particularly striking variegation pattern on one of the few leaves with good patterns. (This is what you want to look for, make note, and save seeds to pursue and intensify the genetic potential.)

…and then I discovered a special treat

First I have to mention — I think I’ve speculated in the past that my garden hacks into my on-line activities (Spider Webs into the WWW ) to keep tabs on what I post on gardening forum, and occasionally have acted as if they (collectively) are psychic and seem to know what I’ve been thinking or planning to do.

Last night or the night before, I was looking at the HBR planting map and reviewing how beautiful this years Faelan’s First Snow (FFS) patterns are, and decided that I’m going to attempt starting a new crossbreeding project, with FFS as the mother (because I think someone said some of the variegation genes are female-linked) and one or more of the several potato leafs as pollen donors, and pursue unusual colors in the fruits in the offspring.

Well, this morning, I found this —

… What appears to be bright highlighter yellow (or chartreuse green — different from my other variegation at any rate) variegation on leaflets of what should be a Captain Lucky leaf. (to be continued)

[applestar]

Once I harvested today’s berries and made sure there was no damage from the Thunderstorm yesterday, I mostly worked in the Sunflower Hoophouse. (I also cut/harvested more lavender just before going inside.)

…Oh I TOTALLY FORGOT! — I have a dwarf nectarine in the Front Yard Edible Landscspe that I’d bought/planted before I learned about researching disease resistance. It’s gorgeous in spring with lovely blossoms, but every year the green fruits start to ooze and turn into brown/moldy mummies before managing to ripen.

I was perusing Japanese plum recipes some of which involve green to just blushing plums, and out of curiosity searched for green peach recipe … and found one that I might be able to use with these just blushing nectarines. DDs picked about same amount of the mostly perfect ones yesterday, and I picked ones that are worse but not turned brown today. Then I plucked every single damaged fruits left on the branches as well as those on the ground and threw them out. I’ll start seriously treating the tree throughout the season and see if I can break the cycle or at least moderate the carried over spores.

* I did try taking a panoramic of the Haybale Row — not very good really… you can see the botched stitching if you look closely at the green tomato cages.

From the middle row in the collage the pics are all from inside the hoophouse
* Eggplants. Added a clump of basil

* Zuke in bottomless pot + 3 Otome watermelons. And I added basil and a couple of stunted leftover mini napa seedlings to see if the’ll grow

* Other two zukes and the Cimarron and Marveille de Quatre Saisons lettuces going to seed. Added some fridge saved onion bottoms that have been sprouting today.

* Trying to remember exactly what happened with these cabbages — I think they had bolted after surviving the winter, and I cut the flower stalks off but left them in place to see if they would… and they did grow side shoots that are now trying to head up.

… if you look closely at top- left corner, I planted two H-19 Littleleaf cukes

… if you look even more closely, Mirai 421 corn sprouted

* I sowed the corn where cabbage wasn’t in this bed — here are a few more

[applestar]

It’s starting to get hot. Soon, the Patio Hoophouse will start getting too hot during the hottest part of the day— up in the 110’s°F and there’s no way to ventilate it better since all it has are little windows along the side panels.

I have to finish deciding what to do with the tomato and pepper starts.

— I had many Shimofuri(霜降り)F9 started, and even though I selected the 4 best ones that developed early variegation to plant, most of the remaining plants developed outstanding variegation patterns later (I think this is reassuring and confirms the stability of the line to reliably express good variegation).

— Even though Shimofuri(霜降り) had been vendor released as good for hanging baskets based on my speculation and her personal experiences, I haven’t successfully grown them in hanging baskets, yet. So I decided to throw them all in larger plastic hanging baskets and see for myself how they do.

— I’m also trying the wispy Wild Rosa elongated cherry in the pot that is hanging now — you can see those plants immediately assumed the trailing style.

— I also noticed one of the taller segregate of the Faelan’s First Snow X with really nice variegation (I had opted to select/plant the short internode/dwarf/micro segregates earlier). So I’ve planted it in the green hanging basket pot.

…Here are the possibly microdwarf segregates inside the green tomato cage, growing next to parent Faelan’s First Snow

* I HAD to take more pictures of Captain Lucky X when I noticed the morning sun highlighting it

…Opened up the greens’ tunnel and harvested (lettuce, mizuna, and shungiku).

Very little berries today— maybe season for these is slowing down.

[applestar]

I didn’t get much done today. Watered, harvested berries, checked everybody’s progress.

VGD and VGD (to the left) are mostly dwarf and/or compact varieties except for a couple of intentional cross grow outs that have potential to be tall indeterminates. VGB tomatoes are growing nicely — I have to get working on VGB (to the right) support structure.

…Thinned/culled daikon in the VG.SIP pretty aggressively. The purple daikon looks awesome!

It’s important to enjoy the variegations on tomato varieties that express them before the full heat and fungal issues set in. Former can diminish or even stop some varieties from producing variegated foliage, and the latter can sometimes rapidly ruin the ones that have grown during the more favorable, early part of the season. Taking pics of intriguing patterns is critical for fully enjoying these beauties.

Here are a more pics of Shimofuri(霜降り)F9 plants in VGD and VGB that caught my eye this morning:

…and some of the notable S7xA.F3 in the Spiral Garden. Ones with better variegation are taller — probably compact determinate, and two have the distinct dwarf foliage and the super short stature that I’m hoping means microdwarf characteristics. Only very modest variegation so far, but they do have them! (White speckles. Most of the sheen is due to early morning dew soaking the peach fuzz on the foliage and not variegation.)

…Kouri edamame have sprouted in the Spiral Garden.

[applestar]

BTW I processed those green and blushed nectarines and made compote (poached) green nectarines and syrup.

According to recipes I referenced, they need to be scrubbed with salt then soaked in several changes of water for 3 to 6 hours at a time, then gently poached to just simmering in water to cover, throwing out the liquid 2 to 3 times.

Finally, you weigh the fruits and use 3/5 to 100% of the weight of sugar, adding 1/2 of the amount with water to barely cover, heat to simmering, then add 2nd half and poach for 20~30 minutes.

Immediately remove the fruits and strain the syrup after cooling to a bottle (I used an empty Amaretto bottle — seemed appropriate).

In the recipes, the soft cooked fruits were touted as sweet with slight sour or bitter note ... described as great pick-me-up for heat exhausted summer fatigue. I found them to be sweet on the surface but not as sweet inside. Good but not fab — I decided I would prefer if the sweetness was fully saturated, so decided to adapt a separate recipe that called for making jam with the fruits by adding more sugar.

Hmmm I just thought of something. I’m going to pull out those jars of fruits topped with sugar and try adding a new twist.

I ended up with 750ml bottle of the syrup and it’s a hit with the family. Good simply with water or milk. Can’t wait to also try with seltzer/club soda.

[applestar]

Thursday and Friday (yesterday)

— Built the support frame for the cherry tomatoes in VGB (Vegetable Gardenbed B) with bamboo poles and Scrap of netting for the back part, and then used overhead string method to replace the thin fiberglass poles that were used while they were still small.

— VGD is mostly planted with known dwarfs, but two of the plants out of hand cross-pollinated F1 growout are looking like they will grow up as tall indeterminates. These were grown with F1 seeds collected from 2014 cross
* Maglia Rosa x mixed pollen from (Stump of the World?HBR + Faelan’s First Snow LV + Manö) F1
* Whippersnapper x (Stump of the World?HBR) F1

“Stump of the World?” was a potato leaf volunteer in the 2014 HBR. It could also have been a Soldacki… or something completely different. But it was an indeterminate and produced delicious pink beefsteak fruits.

— My F7xA.F3 crosses in the Spiral Garden are exhibiting the dwarf and microdwarf like characteristics I’m selecting for as well as the intensifying variegation in the genepool, although the better variegation is still being expressed by plants with taller but possibly sweeping characteristics inherited from Shimofuri(霜降り).


— Cucumbers in Spiral Garden H-19 Littleleaf arc and the VGA Suyo Long and China Jade are all growing nicely and are starting to grow tendrils (need to build their support soon)

— Country Gentleman corn seedlings are doing well — I had to bend over at an odd angle to peek in and get a shot from a hole in the vented poly tunnel

— One of Cashflow zukes in the Sunflower Hoophouse opened its first blossom. A female, all by its lonesome. So I harvested it and gave it to my DD2 to try. One of the eggplants was blooming, too, though this wasn’t the first blossom.

… I also harvested some of the 3rd year celery that are bolting and starting to bloom. These make good celery salt when dehydrated.
— Yesterday’s harvest included a couple of big clumps of broadleaf plantain. I’m letting them grow in odd spots in the garden and the. harvesting then wholesale. I’ll be making tinctures, sprays, and salves to soothe itchy bug bites and poison ivy rashes, sunburns, etc.

— Last photo in the collage is a segregate of Faelan’s First Snow X that is looking like a dwarf type with good start for variegated expression in the leaves.

…

Here is a collage with more pics of FFSX as well as a couple of Captain Lucky with the fabulous butter -yellow splash on one of the leaflets.

[applestar]

I managed to build the cucumber portion of the trellis for the VGA (Vegetable Gardenbed A) cucumbers — these are long Suyo Long and China Jade — huge leaves compared to the H-19 Littleleaf.

They were starting to have fungal issues under the vented poly tunnel even though the sides had been lifted up (Treated them with straight dolomitic lime for now).

I hung the white nylon netting in a diagonal pattern to see if this way works better (I think there’s less sagging?). The netting is secured temporarily with green tomato clips because that made it easier to set up — need to find zip ties or maybe I’ll just tie on with Jute string.

(I actually found another Suyo Long had sprouted long after I gave up on them … all pale and spindly in nothing but vermiculite and water, but greened up after I planted them in potting mix …I might try to find a place for it in the Sunflower Hoophouse?)


…I posted this in @imafan’s garden thread, but am copying it here as reminder to myself as well

I’m following typical Japanese cultivation method for all my cucurbits although some of the OP types may not thrive this way (I’ll find out).

Cucumbers and zucchini/summer squash main vine is allowed to grow/protected from tip pruning (cucumbers until they are grown straight up a vertical trellis and then cut at gardener’s height.

Cucumbers 2ndary shoots/suckers and fruits are removed for first 5 leaf nodes, then specific pruning regimen is followed, with 2ndary and 3iary (tertiary) vines not allowed to grow on until later (but before the main vine is tipped)

Kabocha/winter squash and all melons main vine is cut after 5 or 6 true leaves, then 2ndary side shoots are selected 2 to 4 vines per plant. Then if I remember correctly, 1st female blossom is culled and 2nd female blossom is chosen for hand pollination, with additional female blossoms also hand pollinated, but only 2 fruits are allowed to grow per each 2ndary vine.

All 2ndary and 3iary suckers/vines are removed below the first fruit, but are allowed to grow on beyond. When growing on the ground, they are guided to loop back so the foliage shades the fruits to protect from sunburn (and hide from pest birds like crows).

The foliage/growths below the fruit diverts nutrients and water away from the fruit, but the foliage growing beyond the fruit feeds and builds sugar in the fruit from photosynthesis — the chlorophyll converted solar energy — (This is why you always keep at least one or two leaves beyond the cucumber, eggplants, etc. including tree fruits when pruning).

…Haha sorry for rattling all that off. I’ve been reviewing those techniques. This was a good refresher

[applestar]

My picnic table plant “bench” under the mulberry tree.

* Not sure if the stunted indeterminate tomato starts are worth saving, but I’ll keep them goin for a while longer.

* Some of the variegated Shimofuri(霜降り)F9 need to be given more priority.

* This is where some of my container plants that appreciates some shade stay for the summer season. Other should be moved out to sunnier spots since the trees have fully leafed out and cast dense shade now.

The mulberries feed the wild birds and the dropped fruits and the birds provide a little nutrient boost for the containers underneath. Downside is all the sprouted mulberry seedlings I have to pick out of the potting mix.

* All the citruses were grown from seeds from fruits we ate
* Long crinkly strappy leaves in bottom-right pic sprouted and grew from dehydrated date seeds I planted a few years ago. Date Palm, I guess.

[Gary350]

My picnic table plant “bench” under the mulberry tree.

Are your mulberries pink and look like blackberries? Do they have good flavor?

The only mulberry tree I ever saw was on college campus 50 years ago. The 50' tall tree was next to a 6' wide sidewalk. Sidewalk was covered with 1000s of pink berries every day for about a month. Berries had an extremely mild flavor. Are there different color mulberries?

[applestar]

These turn dark “black” like blackberries and fall off the branch when near to full ripe.

They are not as strongly flavored as our other berries — mildly sweet flavor. I’m not especially impressed but my daughter likes it, so I occasionally pick some. But the berries are tiny — about the tip of my pinky.

In the past, I’ve made attempts to harvesting mass quantities — clean cloth on the ground to catch the ripe ones that fall, etc., sorted for only the good berries for eating fresh, juiced into smoothies, and made jams, etc.

I’m sure there are superior cultivars — I’ve seen ones that grow HUGE black elongated berries, etc.

I bought this one before I knew much about fruit trees, based on catalog description that it’s good eating and is better for a small suburban landscape because it stays compact in size.

It doesn’t grow into a huge tall tree like the wild mulberry trees around here and the leaves look different. I think it’s a Russian cultivar.

[applestar]

Mindful of yesterday’s discussion elsewhere on the forum about fungal issues lurking through relentless rainy, muggy hot days, I sprayed the entire garden including inside of the Sunflower Hoophouse with pump sprayer mixture of potassium bicarbonate, super-dilution of garlic and hot pepper oil/vinegar and pickling lime, and a bit of epsom salts and tiny bit of borax.

* Cleaned up yellowed leaves from the lowest eggplant stems (one was blooming, 3 of the Money Maker are starting to branch),

* Zucchini needs attention to keep the leaves organized and staked up….)

* Main project for today was the support structure for the H-19 Littleleaf cucumbers in the Spiral Garden.

* Close up of the cukes to the right. I pruned the suckers and blossoms from the first 5 leaf nodes. There are at least 2 that are growing suckers from 6th node which should mean female blossoms that can be allowed to set fruits soon

…Checking from the window after another brief but severe thunderstorm, the cukes look like they made through it and are in fact already holding onto the netting with their tendrils.

[applestar]

I was busy yesterday, so only had a chance get a quick peek in the garden… and noted that the Mirai 421 corn in VGC had been blown over by the thunderstorms. I took a pic as a reminder that this will be a priority task for today.

The corn were due for weeding/hilling anyway. And they had grown sturdy enough not to need protection from bunnies and birds.

I scooped up mud around them to stand them up like @Gary350 did. As a bonus, majority of the weeds were purslane and they were not riddled by leafminers like they usually are by this time, thanks to the insect mesh low tunnel.

I took the opportunity to dig and pot up the Kyoto Kujo, Ishikura Longwinter, and Flagpole scallion starts that had been growing bigger in the next row so they can be transplanted to the Sunflower Hoophouse under continuing insect mesh protection against onion flies.

Then the bed was minimally shaped and prepped to sow the second… no, THiRD stand of corn. I only had a little bit (13 or 14 seeds) of Mirai 421 left so I sowed them perpendicularly across the row and sowed Country Gentleman in two lines of 18 seeds.

There were volunteer parsley or celery so I planted them at the end of the row with the Broadleaf Shungiku which I tried harvesting in cut-and-come again “haircut”.

The 2nd row got the low hoop tunnel insect mesh again as protection against birds… but, as additional insurance against bunnies, I set up a 24 inch chicken wire fence between the Vegetable Gardenbed area and the Enterprise Apple Guild. Bunnies have been known to squeeze in between the pickets of the backyard fence.

— A quick look at VGA … big Suyo Long and the (currently) smaller China Jade cucumbers,
… Kaho watermelons (and the lone hole of Kouri edamame) under the insect mesh low tunnel they inherited from the H-19 Littleleaf arc of the Spiral Garden after their trellis was built.

…


I was nearly wiped out by this time, but I did manage to

— removed some suckers from tomatoes in the Haybale Row

— hand pollinate a zucchini (Cashflow),

— cull excess side shoots from Greek Sweet Red and Nutterbutter squash vines in the Spiral Garden,

— and cull the first baby peppers

… Todays harvest were
* a few raspberries and strawberries,
* a big bowl of tender and clean purslane (garden source of omega3), and
* another big bowl of shungiku, cabbage hearts, lambs quarters, zucchini flower petals, and culled baby sweet peppers
* and a bucket of more bolted celery

…by the time I had changed and returned to the kitchen,,DD2 had made herself a salad with the purslane, zucchini blossoms, and other greens

[applestar]

I WAS going to build support trellises for the HBR (Haybale Row) large fruited tomatoes as well as the Greek Sweet Red and Nutterbutter squashes in the Spiral Garden, but when I went over to make “a quick fix” for string supporting one of the VGB cherry tomatoes, I discovered that one of the “Kiki’s Sunnyspot” F6/F7 was completely wilted even though everybody else looked fine.

Now, I had just yesterday, described the stem borer to my BIL, so my suspicion was immediately raised, and … what do you know and sure enough

…I ended up closely inspecting every single one of the VGB as well as VGD tomatoes and adjusting all of their supports, as well as trimming all lowest leaves for airflow as well as easier visual line of sight.

VG.SIP (Vegetable Garden Sub-irrigated Planter) which sits between VGB and VGD also received attention and I culled some of the daikon (BTW, those leaves and even the central leaf veins are so tender and tasty I had some as salad for dinner).

We had an air quality alert that pushed into orange later in the morning today, so I had to quit early and go inside.

Upside to all this — a salve to the disappointment of the stem borer victim — was seeing this particularly outstanding Shimofuri(霜降り)F9. It appears to be an excellent patio size beauty that, in hind sight, would have benefited from being showcased by itself in decorative planter.

[applestar]

Going to try making/using this —



Home made pest/disease spray for summer vegetable crop (tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, etc.)

* solanacea (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants)
* cucurbita (cucumbers, squash)
* corn

* preventative against aphids and leaf-eating beetles
* preventative against fungal infections like powdery mildew, gray mold

— 500 ml bottle of genuine brewed rice vinegar.
— Add garlic and takanotsume (seeds removed)
— extract for 30 days in hot shade like shed
— use in 1:500 water dilution

** Use on mature plants about 3 weeks after planting out
** spray no more than once a week