Applestar's 2016 Garden

[applestar]

Today's harvest




Random photos from today ...

[applestar]

Well, Butta zucchini plants are still trying to produce --



But the volunteer squash outside the garden fence wilted overnight, so I decided to pull it. It didn't get a chance to grow a female blossom -- not even a bud, so I never found out what it was. Oh well.

I hunkered down in the hot sun and dissected the basal stems so I could take pictures and post.



After finding 5, I began to wonder what the heck I was doing -- it was nearly noon and miserably hot, ...so I called it quits, fed those to the goldfish , and bagged all the suspect parts and composted the upper good portions -- not even one diseased leaf. What a waste.

-- you can see near center of the bottom photo where I cut the vine and found evidence of burrowing further up the vine (to the right) so I cut a little further up to where the cut was clean. There were TWO SVB's in that little segment. Also notice in the left middle photo there is a leaf with brown evidence of burrowing in the leaf stem. You need to watch out for those, too.

[applestar]

Today's cucurbit gallery:

- There was an open female blossom on the Thai Kang Kob cross, but when I went to get a male blossom, it was occupied by 2+ bees and they wouldn't leave even though I clipped it off and carried it to the female blossom... and the female blossom was occupied, too, so I simply placed the male blossom over the female blossom. The bees can sort it out.

- There was a maxima buttercup type fruit clinging to the VGE fence. The blossom had already shriveled so hopefully it had been pollinated by the bees and is set to grow.

- When I noticed this female Orangeglo watermelon blossom, it was closed and so were the male blossoms, it seemed late - 11AM -- for them NOT to have opened yet, so I thought I might have missed them while they were open. In any case, I hand pollinated it -- with any luck, this will work

- Butta is still producing



- A proper harvest sized Shintokiwa cucumber
- completely overgrown and already starting to yellow Shintokiwa (see below)
- my Kikuza x Tromboncino F1 C.moschata cross fruit is starting to yellow. It needs to turn completely buff color to be completely ripe.


...HOW is it that cucumbers are so good at hiding? I noticed this cucumber TODAY for the first time. It had already started to yellow so I decided I might as well let it mature completely for harvesting seeds since I have multiple plants. I was pretty sure this is Shintokiwa, but it's actually shorter than it should be and it has set fruit WAY earlier than the other Shintokiwas.

_ center photo shows that it's larger than the Butta zucchini I harvested. right photo shows a Shintokiwa at correct harvesting size.

[applestar]

Oh! I forgot this -- first Apple Melon blossom! ( it's a male of course, but it's an auspicious START )

[applestar]

[applestar]

This little Apple Melon plant is already promising two female blossoms -- one on each of the two side shoots that just started to elongate.

[applestar]

L: Thai Kang Kob cross seems to have set fruit. (Note the long finger-like tips on each of the calyces -- I think they are cool.)
R: Orangeglo watermelon also seems to have set fruit.

[Lindsaylew82]

get ready for runners!!! Those Apple melons are running everywhere!

[applestar]

Here's a fun new project
I hand pollinated a Mirai350BC with pollen from this super dark, short runty corn which I'm reasonably certain is Double Red Sweet corn. Harvested this cob for seeds today and when I shucked it, it looked like this

[applestar]

Yeah the Apple Melon is making me very happy -- Hand pollinated a first female Apple melon blossom today
Top Left is my Kikuza x Tromboncino F1, looking like its about ready to harvest



Bottom Left - Thai Kang Kob x -- although it doesn't say on the label, "#2 on bucket" means this should be the cross with Kikuza as the pollen donor.

Bottom Right - This is Thai Kang Kob (possibly crossed with Seminole) (possibly crossed with Tromboncino). Right away, it's showing the spots characteristic of TKK.

[applestar]

I was curious about the significantly purple color of the corn above vs. the nomally burgundy red color of Double Red Sweet. I think this color demonstration might explain it when you remember that Mirai350BC is a yellow-white bi-color.

Complementary colours - yellow and purple acrylic paint - YouTube



[youtuDOTbe]https://youtu.be/x38ZrGTK58k[/youtuDOTbe]

[applestar]

Harvest collages --

- The NOT Kakai. Has anyone ever grown a yellow summer squash to full maturity? Do they turn out looking like this?
- long red pepper is Gochugaru yong Gochu -- Korean pepper for making red pepper powder -- supposed to be sweet with a mild building heat. Not tasted yet.

- Bottom Right: Harvested for seeds Ashworth corn x hand pollinated with self as well mixed pollen including Mirai350BC.

With C.pepo squash, you also have to watch out that the SVB's don't try to get into the almost mature fruit via the stem. I decided to harvest it when I saw this :

When I cut off another half of this stem, there were TWO SVB's inside. But they had not bored all the way into the fruit.... Yet.

THIS one had Squash Bug eggs on the stem as well as wet sawdust clinging to the side. But closer inspection revealed that there were no SVB bore-holes on the fruit. Looking at the photo, I think the wet sawdust dripped from somewhere above. They try get into leaf stems, too -- usually, they make their way through the hollow stem to to where the leaf attaches to the vine or to the leaf.


- Bottom: Harvested for seeds Mirai350BC x Double Red Sweet Corn, and some yellowed mature pods of adzuki beans

...in case I didn't mention, adzuki as green snap beans didn't work out -- stringy and hard pod and interior shell unless harvested as something like fillet beans and then they are too small.

[applestar]

My little rice paddy

[applestar]

More fun with corn





...and what's with these Ashworth kernels that have started to sprout on the cob? last one I harvested half them too.

[Lindsaylew82]

It's all so beautiful! My garden is pretty much toast except for the peppers. We are getting some really subpar tomatoes, riddled with feed holes from various insects.

My turn to be jealous! My season is over, yours is beginning!

[rainbowgardener]

Love how you do all those experiments ! Great photos of the SVB's and the damage they do . Know the enemy !

[applestar]

Thank you @lindsay and @rainbowgardener

[applestar]

Kakai went down today - the fruits didn't make it to fully mature stage, so I will be cooking them immature. Good thing with them is that, no matter what stage, the seeds are edible whole. The flesh is somewhat spongy and not much flavor, but works well in sauce like pasta sauce or curry. The smallest one had a SVB hole in the side, nit to mention being a bit soft, so I fully expected it to be rotting inside, but when I extracted the two tiny borers and cut it open, the rest was unharmed -- immature and looking like a round zucchini.



- I removed two of the Butta zucchini a few days ago, but the last one is still producing. Squash bug eggs are daily find and some newly hatched juvies have been dispatched. But I'm sure I've missed some.
- Blackberries are finishing up. Maybe another handful left to harvest. DD has "discovered" Blackberry sauce/jam. She's putting it on everything and starting to make small batches every few days to keep in the fridge on her own.

- More elderberries -- we have enough to make syrup or jelly.

- more cucumbers! (I pickled these with the butta zucchini - and peppers, carrots, okra, onions, garlic - today... Just 3 waterbath canned pint dill pickle jars and one refrigerator bread and butter jar with cauliflower added to the mix)

- more adzuki beans are stating to mature. I have to be vigilant because these pods shatter when dried out.

- Cherry tomatoes -- mostly my crosses. I love the tear-drop shaped one but haven't had one to taste yet. All of them are bigger without the TRM.

[lakngulf]

What a variety of items you have. Beautiful picture. I really like the color of produce this time of the year. Down our way it is beautiful okra blooms, late tomatoes, purple egg plant and peppers of all colors.

[applestar]

Yes, I love it when the garden starts producing -- and the varieties of plant forms and flowers as well as fruits make everything look beautiful and interesting I really like the edible landscaping concept.

Here are my okra

[applestar]

This is my Kikuza x Tromboncino F1. Like most of my crosses, it was mostly chance -- Kikuza female blossom opened, but it didnt have any male blossoms, and Tromboncino male was available.

This fruit has the looks of Kikuza, but is bigger than last years though I failed to measure or weigh it. I think it might also be a bit taller/rounder. I was hasty in harvesting this since it was still greenish on the top side which had been turned away from me, and then there was a problem -- SVB tried to chew its way into the fruit and had to be extracted. It didn't get far but I did have to make a shallow 1" square hole so I had to put it in the fridge, meaning it had no chance to ripen any more.



Today, I noticed whiteness in the cut and fearing mold, decided to cook it. When I cut it open, I was further disappointed by the solid core with no seed cavity and the greenish cast to the flesh. When I pulled out a few seeds and chewd on them, the hull was soft and edible, though filled.

Totally convinced that I had picked this immature, I proceeded to cut it up -- edible rind, solid flesh and seeds and all -- and cook it in a pot of Ao shiso (green perilla) decoction and honey. It wasn't until I had only a few pieces left that I decided to save a few seeds just in case they are viable.

...yep, they passed the float test. -- I saved enough (about 3 dozen seeds) but that was REALLY stupid. The flesh had a pleasantly mild sweet flavor and fragrance to it raw, and cooked this way, it is delicious (yes, I'm still eating it right now )

--- I"m wondering if the interior appearance and soft seed hull is coming from the Tromboncino which I find better eaten as summer squash than winter squash. If C.moschata can cross with C.pepo, last year's Kikuza was skirting a large 6-8 plant patch of Kakai Hulless Seed squash with no shortage of blossoms, so it might have been bee-pollinated as well as my hand application of Tromboncino pollen. It will be interesting to see what these F2 seeds will produce next year. I believe if this IS a Kakai cross, then these seeds will be sterile.

[applestar]

Harvest update


Clay pot saucer of dried or yellowed adzuki beans. Pretty White Comet eggplants and likely the last full-size Butta zucchini.

Giant yellow cucumber was allowed to mature for harvesting seeds.

Big tomatoes are a twin Bulls Heart on the left, smaller Berner Rose on the right, and first Gary'O Senna with a bit of skin-deep crack. The last remaining Butta zucchini plant was not exacly wilted/collapsed but laying on its side yesterday. This might be it. I harvested the female blossom that would have opened yesterday or today, but hadn't yet.


Volunteer corn in the Spiral Garden with SFH bed in the background



I think some of the cobs on this tiny patch of corn in the VG beds on the other side of the house might be ready to harvest. These are isolated KKxGG.F1 that shouldn't have been influenced by pollen from any other variety and they grew too tall to hand-pollinate. So I'll be able to report on how the F2 kernels turned out.

I think I'll try growing a little patch from the colored (purple/lavender) dented kernels from the volunteer in this area next year.

[applestar]

I harvested the third Carnival/Delicata-looking volunteer fruit (presumably fully ripe since it passed the thumbnail test) and removed and trashed its seriously SVB infested vine since the leaves had collapsed overnight. I also took out the last Butta zuke plant after harvesting one more immature female blossom (and a male blossom after extracting and dispatching a pair of cucumber beetles ).



Now the sweet potatoes can grow and roam to their content. The succession is also working out in that most of the corn in the row closest to the sweet potatoes are finished so I am able to cut down the stalks and let more sunlight reach the bed. I hope the sweets will have enough time to make some tubers.

[applestar]

Harvest updates:





...made a jar of refrigerator dills with the picklers.

...Gary'O Senna tomato in the bottom right.

...I definitely have two different varieties of Okra growing. I think one is Jing Orange and the other is probably Burgundy, but I cant tell one from the other....


Views of the Spiral Garden and the '16 Cherry Lane:

[applestar]

Spiral Garden melons and squash --



...more grapes --

[BU54]

Applestar you must be retired to have the time for all those WONDERFUL fruits and vegetables.
Not to mention canning the jellies ect.
If you need any extra storage space you can ship directly to me.

[applestar]

I'm thinking of writing a book. Only ideas and snippets so far, though

...sometimes I wish we already have the transporter technology

[applestar]

Harvests from yesterday and today:





-- Something new this year -- first harvest from the American Hazel bush. Only these and maybe four more this year, but I'm excited

[lakngulf]

Beautiful produce you have there. Gotta love the colors of nature!

[applestar]

Thank-you

[applestar]

Cucurbits -- cucumbers, squashes, melons -- are filling in the Spiral Garden

[applestar]

First sheaf of shortgrain sweet rice today



Longer redder Sun Thai and the shorter Hanoi Market g2 hot peppers, some more Kaleidoscope carrots, one tiny cabbage that managed to survive the caterpillars, more pickling cukes (making relish with some of these), runty White Comet eggplants -- maybe running out of fertilizer in the SIP, more grapes and a fig Petit Nigra.

...

Earlier, 8:30am, I saw from the window that a chipmunk was inspecting the pears but by-passed them and ate some Coyote. So I thought they were safe. Looked out the window around 5pm, and the biggest Magness pear was MISSING!

Rushed outside to find It was on the ground half-eaten. Critter had nibbled around the stem to drop it. Thats it! -- Harvested ALL the pears. They actually came off easily so they WERE ready to be harvested. I also harvested the last three apples (Enterprise) since we have a scanty harvest this year and I would rather not lose them to critters.



I trimmed away the gnawed part and we shared the rest of the prematurely "picked" pear. Although it was far from fully ripe, texture and taste are similar to Asian pears at this stage. Plenty sweet to enjoy.

Found this while researching what to do with these pears: https://usapears.org/pear-ripening-and-handling/

[applestar]

[applestar]

Review of this year's succession process for SFHX (Sunflower House Annex) bed







Subject: Applestar's 2016 Garden

Harvest updates


(Duplicate vegs, one photo with cucumbers, etc. one with fig and onion)





...yeah 3 Butta zucchini plants pumping them out now...

[applestar]

Spiral Garden, etc. Loving the new texture of the spiral made up of various cucurbit leaves -- cukes, squashes, melons



- I haven't been using the rudimentary "gate" since all the major hauling and work were finished back in spring, and have been using the two old picnic table benches as step-over stiles.

- The weeds got the best of me on this side of the garden enclosure, so I'm suppressing them with series of flattened pizza boxes.

- If the raspberries cooperate and grow some new shoots, I'm going to expand the bed along this side of the enclosure to at least where the bench is right now... And maybe start a narrow bed for growing some bunny-safe stuff like onions, garlic, and hot peppers.

[applestar]

I have ideas and intentions -- sometimes even good ones -- it's at *Implementation* phase that the project stalls out sometimes....

Here is that little nursery bed of "fall" crop which I FINALLY dug up and spread out to plant in the bed and cover under an insect barrier tunnel today. I really should have done this a month ago.

[applestar]

More short grain sweet rice and figs today:




Harvest updates:

[applestar]

Not a very good photo, but I found this squash -- it's very unreliably labeled "Thai Kang Kob #2 Bucket (xSeminole?)x Kikuza?" -- among the weeds today... About size of a baby's head right now and needed two hands to pick up so I could put a brick under it.

[lakngulf]

Beautiful produce. Nature really knows how to color. And then you color outside the lines.

[applestar]