Taiji
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Re: A Bit of my 2017 garden (Taiji)

Thanks! In this part of the country a lush green garden is always so nice to behold. The area outside the fence, (what I call the forbidden zone :) )is sand, rocks, shrub oak, juniper and pinyon pine. Sometimes I just go down and sit in the middle of the garden and have the morning cup of coffee.

Taiji
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Showing the bad stuff too. Ugh. Was once a nice Early Girl til the unexpected 27 degree freeze. Was actually pretty lucky though; out of about 12 tomato plants set out, only lost 2, but they were totally lost. Others untouched, go figure.
frozen.JPG
About the third time this poor Red Norland was hit. Wonder if it'll come back?
freeze.JPG
On a positive note, healthy Ambrosia stalks, thick as shovel handles. :)
amb stalks.JPG

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digitS'
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A June freeze in the 20's? Or, was this earlier, Taiji?

I have Early Girls every year among a number of varieties. A favorite - Bloody Butcher. It has lots of flavor for a very early tomato and stays healthy in my garden.

One year, I moved plants out of my heated greenhouse where they have 60 degree nights, and no colder. Set lots of plants in an unheated hoophouse. It was 37° in there that night and there were lots of wilted tomato plants! Many leaves did not recover. The Bloody Butcher were in the center of the hoophouse and beside the remote thermometer. They died!!

Here was several plants that could grow through the spring and produce early. They were the only casualties out of about 20 tomato varieties and they weren't close to the outside or colder than 37°! But then again, there was lots of damage, all were tender seedlings and had never experienced temperatures anywhere close to that.

I think that there must be tolerance differences in varieties and intuitions may not hold true. Maybe someone has done research on this and has some guidance but, I'm still gonna like Bloody Butcher (even if DW hates that name ;)).

Steve

Taiji
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Actually, the freeze was June 13th. I know, hard for me to believe too. I'm sure people are saying, what, Arizona, June...get out! But I've noticed at my particular location at 5530 feet, our overnight temps are closer to Flagstaff forecasts than they are for our own zip code. Our thermometer read 27 just at dawn. I know it was darned cold since some of my corn (not the corn in the above photo) was frozen and is now crispy and crunchy. I'm sure too, most of us have noticed that even within our own gardens, there are cold spots.

Sometimes it seems there is just no rhyme or reason to the stuff that happens!

Thanks for the Bloody Butcher tip. I've been following the Siletz discussion too. I see its time frame is about the same as Early Girl, but looks like the fruits are about twice as big. :)

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A view of my smaller, lower elevation garden. It's only about 13 X 28. Everything at this garden must be in a complete enclosure. Ambrosia corn down at the end doing really well. Tomato plants on left side. Other stuff is Candy onions, rhubarb, potatoes, Scarlet Nantes carrots, etc. Red Norlands getting scraggly, and falling over. This is normal for them; very early. Only planted them 65 days ago; I know there are full sized potatoes under there. I like to let them get as big as possible though.
2017 WV.JPG
Luckily some Early Girl, Rutgers, Jubilee, Cherry and what I think is a Black Krim were able to set some fruit back when conditions were more favorable. No fruit set now though at 100+ degrees. Photo is of EG.
EG.JPG
First year growing tomatillo. Just planted some seeds from a tomatillo bought at Sprouts. Makes a really pretty, healthy plant. Have had about 3 blooms but I don't think any fruit has set yet.
tom.JPG

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applestar
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Looks very well designed @taiji -- so you get to plant earlier and harvest earlier at the lower elevation garden right?

Personally, I would find it challengingly fun to try to figure out the differences between this and the upper elevations, though I do realize you had some bad luck with the uncooperative weather up there this year.

Taiji
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Yes, for example Ambrosia corn at 5530 feet is only about knee high, some not that high. Ambrosia in photo is just about ready to tassel; in fact I can look in there and see tassels.

It is challenging and once in a while it's fun! One major difference is of course, the length of the growing season. I never dreamed there would be such a difference. For example, last year the first freeze at the higher place was on Sept 15. At the lower elevation, not til Nov. 18! Seems incredible for only about a 400 foot difference. If that holds true for always, my higher garden will only have around a 90-100 day growing season. You gotta be more precise with plantings. Sometimes you only get one chance, so make it good!

Not quite as wild at the higher elevation though, only need a fence for javelina 4 feet high around the garden instead of a complete enclosure. There are deer, but so far they haven't jumped it.

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Looks good!

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digitS'
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I find Taiji's gardening personally, very interesting.

First off, well over 1,000 miles distant - my environment here isn't a lot different. Also, I garden in more than one location. They are nearly at the same elevation, however. What is most striking to me is the difference in the amount of wind. I'm also surprised at times by first frost and how that will vary over the nearly 20 miles on those still, clear mornings when the growing season can come rather suddenly to an end. I've had this separation in my gardens for quite awhile.

This valley is between mountain ranges. I once lived on the level valley floor but at 500 feet higher elevation. My gardening experiences there might have been rather similar to Taiji's higher elevation garden.

I believe I messed up badly on choosing warm-season varieties there the first year. I came to realize that it also had about a 90 day growing season and changed my expectations. At that time, I could buy Polar Vee sweet corn seed. It was listed as only 3 1/2 feet tall. My tomato variety of choice was Sub-arctic. The names give you an idea of the gardening conditions ;).

Steve

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Here's a garlic harvest. Not too bad. Planted last fall. Hardneck, Softneck, Long Day, Short day...I don't know; just some I bought at the store last fall. Left photo is a few weeks ago.
garlic harvest.jpg
Tomatillo plants at 2 different gardens. One almost perfect; the other horrible from some pest. (flea beetles?)
Clipboard.jpg
All of my Ambrosia in this group have 2 ears per plant, but a couple have a 3rd ear. Not sure I'm too thrilled about this, but I think I'll let those 2 plants go all the way with the 3rd ear just to see what happens instead of breaking off that 3rd ear.
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3 ears.JPG

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KitchenGardener
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Wow, your garden (I guess the lower garden?) is so neat and organized. Looks like it should be the cover of a gardening journal somewhere... :wink:

Taiji
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First Red Norland harvest. Actually, a little disappointed with the size of the tubers, but then I dug them before I really wanted to. It's just that the Butternut squash are starting to encroach on the potato beds and you know how they are! If I don't do it now, forget it. Still, not all that bad for one plant. Will make some nice boilers. Largest is about 3 1/2 inches.
rn.JPG
Finally got some beans to sprout and make it. Stringless Green Pods. Wanted to try some Strike and Jade this year too, but made my usual cheapskate mistake of ordering from private vendor online. No germination. When will I ever learn; too much time and trouble invested to take a chance. Next year all orders from viable companies!
sgp.JPG

Taiji
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First Ambrosia harvest. These are the best I've grown. This year increased spacing between plants to about 10-12 inches instead of 8-10. Think it made a difference; these ears are about 9 inches long. Still had good pollination. Not sure why I always get 2 ears per stalk. These are what I would call the primary ears; the second ear is maybe 1/2 inch to an inch shorter. I leave them on a bit longer. Bigger ear is always the one highest up on the stalk,
amb 2017.JPG
Some kind of bug ( highly scientific description, I know!) on the tomatillo plant and their eggs. They're eating the leaves but not really harming the plant too much. Think I may have sprayed once with neem or alcohol. I think the eggs hatch into a nasty slimy looking larva. (no photo) Thought maybe this might be the striped cuke beetle, but not on the cukes; in fact, not on any other plant. Sometimes I see 2 of these bugs with one riding piggyback on the other. Tomatillo plant still going to town with growth and tons of blooms but no fruit set yet. First year I've tried them, so don't know what to expect.
Clipboard.jpg
Not really a part of the garden, but interesting. Native plant, Jimson weed. (Sacred Datura) I'll be relocating my tomato hornworms onto this (if I get any). Bees enjoying big blossoms. This plant is about 8 feet outside the garden, but they are everywhere on my property.
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ji,msoon.jpg

Taiji
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Sometimes Sprouts stores have heirloom tomatoes on sale. I planted some of the seeds from one I bought and got this. I thought it would be a black krim; the tomato the seed came from was a smooth tomato with black shoulders. So, I don't really know what this one is with the big ribs!
heirloom.JPG
These were supposed to be Big Jims, but now I'm not sure. The Big Jims I've known are thick walled and have a little bit of heat. These are thin walled and sweet. Maybe they still are Big Jims, but whatever they are, they're very prolific; the plant is really loaded!
big jims.JPG

Taiji
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Another couple of hills of Red Norlands dug. Though I'm happy to get these, I'm still a little disappointed in the sizes of the tubers. They're mostly small to medium. Last year they seemed to be quite a bit bigger. The only thing different this year is that the big box stores I got them from called them Red Norlands. In previous years they were only called early red potatoes. Maybe a different type? I've read that Red La Soda and Red Pontiac are more prolific but they are later.
rn 2017.JPG
The usual explosion of growth that comes with the onset of the monsoons. This garden has received about 3 inches of rain in the last couple of weeks. Where did I leave that spading fork again? :)
mon gar.JPG

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digitS'
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Taiji, the monsoon season is a distinct difference between my area and yours. We have officially had a "trace" of July rain. That's it! If there is more than an inch of rain over the next 9 weeks, we will count ourselves lucky. The likelihood is that it will fall 1/10 of an inch at a time. That will not do much more than bring the temperature down.

The early potato harvest is in full swing in my garden. Since I only have earlies, it won't take too long but I'm not willing to carry out many at a time ;). Viking Purple, Red La Soda & Yukon Gold

These are from a different garden than in past years. I was truly ready to give up on the Yukon Gold, altho they are DW's favorite. They had miserly production in the other garden where I grew them 3 or 4 times. They did much better out in the heavier gravel of the big veggie garden rather than in more fertile soil and pea gravel in the other garden, I don't know why.

The very productive Viking Purple has performed as usual, altho some have split. I don't know why that happened - a first.

The Red La Soda look fine but are quite small tubers this season. I suppose that I like them a little better than the Red Norland but there hasn't been much difference between them.

Different locations and everything is a little different in the spud patch. There is less than 20 miles between my gardens. Your recent weather changes would probably make for dramatic differences, by comparison.

Steve

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digitS' wrote:I was truly ready to give up on the Yukon Gold, altho they are DW's favorite.

...

The very productive Viking Purple has performed as usual, altho some have split. I don't know why that happened - a first.
That's funny, I had the exact opposite experience this year in my garden. I tried Purple Viking and they did horribly, barely even germinating. It's possible the seed potatoes I got were not of great quality.

Yukon Gold always crushes it in my garden, and I plant it every year.

Just goes to show you how everything we do in gardening, even picking varieties, is incredibly dependent on many variables and you should always experiment with what works best for you, and never take something as "the only truth"!

Taiji
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This is more like it. Red Norlands the way I like to see them! Greater percentage of larger potatoes. I think the first ones I dug just needed a little more time and more water. The summer rains get the credit for these I think!
red nor good.JPG
Tomatillos setting fruit finally! Only one plant in this garden.
tomati.jpg
Butternut squash coming on great. Unfortunately, taking over the whole garden. But this is normal in my smaller fenced in space. :) I forgot to train them up the fence; I've found they hang there nicely without going out into the forbidden zone. But one managed to do it on its own.
butter collage.jpg

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Looking very good!

Taiji
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Today's haul. First bean harvest nothing to write home about, but am expecting bigger things from my other bigger garden! Golden Jubilee are great. Lots of cracking on this year's tomatoes; think it has to do with 100+ heat for 3 wks. then tremendous rains suddenly. Love the tasty green hybrid cukes. I know, hybrid, but worth it to me. :)
2017 golden.JPG

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Can't believe you already have butternut squash that big! Mine haven't even produced fruit yet...

Taiji
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Yes, they are really doing very well. These are at my hotter garden. Those I have at my cooler place really are way behind. No fruits yet there for me either. Even if I get some fruit set, I doubt that they'll mature before 1st frost. But we'll see!

If I had my way, I would have my larger (or only) garden at the spot with the longer season. But, my well is not good enough there to handle any more watering. My well at the higher elevation runs forever thankfully. :)

The 2 gardens are only 10 miles apart, if that.

Taiji
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At last! Tomatoes. Plants had to overcome 27 degree freeze June 13; then endure 3 weeks of 100+ temps a week later. Finally setting and ripening fruit. Never start getting good tomatoes here til late August and thru Sept.

These are mostly destined for the stew pot. It's easiest for me to stew tomatoes, then freeze in bags. Use them thru the winter for spaghetti sauce, chili, and vegetable soups. I think I'm going to lose a lot though; going on vacay in a couple of weeks for 3 and a half weeks. :(

My 3 favorites: Rutgers, Golden Jubilee and Large Red Cherry.
cherry rut, jub.JPG
cherry, jub, rut.JPG

Taiji
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This year's squash harvest despite the late, hard June 13th freeze. One of my best ever. First year I've grown what I think are called the Amish Crookneck Butternuts. They're huge and heavy. I hope they are as tasty as the regular butternuts which are my favorite. I got the seeds from a grower in Penn. and wondered if they'd run true since they were grown in his home garden. But, they seemed to.
2017 squash.JPG
2017 squashes.JPG
And, the Candy onions. Some softball sized globes this year, but consistently a little smaller this year than last. Still, a very good harvest! I love it.
2017 candy.JPG

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Wow those squashes should last you for a while — they look wonderful!

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Where ..

. is the ..

LIKE button?!

Steve



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