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applestar
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Re: Applestar’s 2018 Garden

Thanks, Gary350 :D
I think partly, my secret is separate beds :lol: Haha seriously, I originally started with one 10 ft x 6 ft area, then relocated the vegetable garden to a 10 ft x 10 ft area, which was expanded to 14 ft wide. Then I had to have a Kitchen Garden — 10 ft circle, then another circular garden this time 12 foot circle... and so on and so on, adding the Sunflower House, Haybale Row, Sunflower House Extension, Then the biggie — Spiral Garden... I think if I added all the areas up, I would be astounded and frankly overwhelmed to think how much area I have in cultivation.

But because they are separate areas and compartmentalized, each space is ....or at least seem... more-or-less manageable.

I plan during the winter with maps and charts, and take lots of pictures during the growing season that are pasted in (I have a thread somewhere explaining the apps I use.) When it gets too much to keep everything in my head, I start keeping ToDo and DoneToday lists.

For the tomatoes and sometimes peppers, I use round removable labels to tag fruits — at least one representative one is tagged — many of my varieties are unique looking enough that that is enough. I also use berry baskets, etc. to keep fruits in groups.

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applestar
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Today’s harvest

- I thought Dwarf Lemon Ice was only blushed, but was starting to give a little to touch. Same with the runty Uluru Ochre. You really have to touch and feel to verify with these unusually colored varieties.
- Many Shimofuri#1, also #2 and Jack Frost’s Early Love —

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... these all come right off with or without fruit stem when certain level of blush is reached, even though they get darker pink n the house after harvesting. I will have to take some photos of the full-ripe ones.

- Kale leaves (Tonchuda and Dazzling Blue) and Solstice broccoli side shoots. The kale are from the insect screen covered VG-A bed (but you can see something got in — I think a moth)
- Napa Rosé and Sweet Aperitif cherry tomatoes, blackberries, Gochugaru yong Gochu pepper, Nasturtium flowers
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Cabbage moths are here, leaving egg clusters that look like dabs of yellow wax. They hatch out dozens of baby caterpillars that mass feed and turn the leaves into tatters. Cabbage Whites are egg dumping and laying dozens of eggs per leaf instead of single eggs here and there. It’s just about time to pull the plug on the unprotected crucifers, but I’m still waiting for the cabbages to head up.... :?

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It is amazing. I am envious of your bounty. I let my garden go fallow this year to try to get rid of the more persistent weeds and because I still haven't fixed the sprinkler valve. I have had to buy produce I would otherwise have grown and the prices are shocking and the vegetables are not nearly as fresh or as good as what I have grown.

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Thanks, @imafan. I do leave some beds “fallow” too, but more to try to leave the weeds to the insect micro-cosm... and give the bed (and me) a break. Typically, I end up using the weeds for cut and come again mulch and compost or sheet-mulched greens eventually.

I know what you mean about store-bought produce. You do get spoiled by the fresh-grown/harvested from the garden, don’t you think? Even when it’s just enough for a meal — or More so because they are right there when you want/need it. I have to admit sometimes, I make something and think “Oooh Naturtium leaves (or ginger, or an herb, or something else) would be perfect in this!” ...then either enthusiastically take the trouble to go out and get it ... or I might become so used to having them that I would be too lazy to go out in the heat or the dark. I shouldn’t take them for granted....

DH likes to tell anyone who brings up the subject that I have “ruined him” where tomatoes are concerned. Especially in the height of the big tomato harvest and fall. He simply cannot eat the poor excuse for tomatoes served in sandwiches and salads, even at some better restaurants, and would turn his nose up at supermarket tomatoes.

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I planted watermelon in the middle of the VG-A bed, thinking the crucifers would be done by middle of the summer and then the watermelons would take over the bed. I was thinking the plentiful nightcrawlers that seem to be living in the clay subsoil under the bed might provide extra fertility. I was thinking that even though VG-A is a high raised bed (12-18 inches deep) the flooding swale-paths water would supply enough water.

So far, I’m not convinced that I was right. The surface of the bed is constantly dry-looking. The watermelon leaves have not enlarged as they usually do as they grow, and the kale and broccoli are still going strong. So the protective insect screen cover need to stay on, But the watermelon vines HAVE been growing. I’ve hand-pollinated 4 female blossoms so far.

Here are Two of them —

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— By their shapes, these are the two varieties — Cream of Saskatchewan and Orangeglo

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So the chipmunk has been dealt with as mentioned elsewhere, but the raccoons came back last night. They made a HUGE mess on the patio — they basically rummaged in and turned over anything with water in it. Dug around in container plants and pulled out anything loose like rocks, cups and containers I left half buried as pseudo-olla watering cup, even some marbles and plastic utencils. The plants had grown enough to escape uprooting, but loose push in soil or stick-type plant tags and labels were scattered. They even rummaged in my broken pottery and ceramics collection bin. They then washed their paws in 2 gal buckets of clean water I leave out to outgass chlorine for watering sensitive plants and topping goldfish buckets.

They caught a goldfish out of one of those buckets and left it dead on the flagstone off the patio. It makes me mad that they killed it and didn’t even want to eat it.

They nibbled at a couple of tomatoes and left them on the ground. But just when I thought my garden mostly escaped with no more than mischief, I discovered that my already lackluster patch of Applestar’s Medley #sweet# had been thoroughly raided. The ears weren’t ready to eat, but they sampled every single one anyhow. “You know, I don’t think this corn is ready.” “Well, try another one.” “OK.”

I can safely declare that this has been a disaster corn year in my garden. (I guess I should have planted 400 :wink:) At this point, I won’t hold out much hope or expectation for the Japanese Striped Maize that are just starting to silk, and the 6 ft and still growing Pink and Purple Mexican corn, both in the Sunflower & House bed.

Why didn’t they wash their paws in the pond — when they pushed the turtle spitter’s birdbath and another bog plant container off the pond-edge ledge into the deeper level.

They did leave the Patio SIP#2 alone, some of those wicked claw-studded trimmings look like they’ve been moved around. I do believe the “Flying Dragon” needs to be pruned a little more. There is also a large bramble-rose that has been left to grow a little too big in the unused corner of the yard, and more of the bristly wild blackberries have been popping up....

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One thing they did that helped — it rained yesterday, so by turning over the water filled, potential mosquito-breeding containers, they took care of one of the tedious chores I would have had to deal with this morning....

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Recent Harvests

7/16
- Runty Prudens Black and Allons-y, Dr.X F4 (these were both deformed by the fused blossoms and delayed development/pollination of the secondary blossom)
- Good looking King Aramis
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Today
- Dwarf Lemon Ice was damaged by some critter (probably the raccoons) and split from yesterday’s rain
- Seeing the xploratory damage to DLI, I decided to harvest the Dwarf Chocolate Lightning Early, since last year, chipmunks favored these and chewed them up at barely blushed state. I think it has great flavor and must develop the sweet front-end flavor early.
- I had an unlabeled purple fruit last year that tasted great and marked it as either Faelan’s First Snow or Bear Creek. Well the seeds are growing into some kind of a cross — one Plant is producing cherry sized fruits, and this one ripened at salad size.
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Female blossoms on Nutter Butter squash and Thai Kang Kob cross —I think/hope there is enough pollinator activity. :D

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Today’s Harvest —

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— you can see the difference in the color of Molten Sky variant F4 when compared to other white and yellow tomatoes here. I’m naming the variant Molten Sun F4

Squashes and melons are starting to take over the garden —

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First two watermelon babies :-()

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Yesterday was rainy and I was under the weather, so I skipped harvesting for a day. I thought the birds would have picked at all the blackberries but I guess they didn’t want to be out in the rain much either because there were many to be harvested. :D

I just love how cute the stem-end sun-print looks on antho cherries — I try to grow at least one variety every year — these are Helsing Junction Blues.

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...the pink-faded jasmine are from yesterday — I picked some up from the ground, though most had fallen on a lower leaf. They only open for one day then fall off.

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Sorry to hear about the critters having a field day.
However, everything looks great.

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I need to be more pro-active about the critters. The raccoons were here again last night. I did some things to deter them but not enough.

Yesterday, I set up three motion-activated closet lights. I like that they are pretty sensitive, bright white LED lights, and turns off again.

This morning, at least two apples were missing, but they made off with the smaller of the two and left a good larger fruit on the ground in blemished condition. (still way too early for this late September ripening variety though) but at least I can make apple butter with this and others.

I think the one on the patio really scared them because the turtle spitter — heavy Cement — had been tilted off it’s pedestal rock and the birdbath saucer under it had been pushed into the pond. I am imagining the light blinded raccoon blundering into the turtle hard enough to knock it off its perch... and falling into the birdbath. I really REALLY hope that’s what happened. :twisted:

I bought 2 more motion sensors, these are intended to be door chime/alarm. Can’t wait to set them up when they arrive. I will also tinker with my two tiny scale electric wire garden barricades and see if I can get them working again. These and the lights are all movable and hopefully by randomizing their locations, they will help to deter the rascals.

I wish they would just stay in the neighbor’s yard and eat the cat food they leave out for the strays.... :?

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I picked some really lovely Triple Crown Blackberries today, so I had to take the obligatory “quarter” scale photo :()

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Haven’t shown progress photo of the entire NE beds in a while — Espalier Fence Row to the north —> then Haybale Row —> Raspberry Lane (it was “Cherry Tomato Lane” 2 years ago and “Melon Alley” last year, but wasn’t planted this year, and the raspberries have taken the opportunity to move in....) + Sunflower House + Sunflower House Extension —> Spiral Garden. The South garden fence-side Spiral Garden Annex was not planted this year and I’ve carboarded it, West garden fence-side Spiral Garden Annex is planted with peppers....

But the shrubs under the window are getting too big and too tall — my cookie cutter developement house has the typical “blank/blind” first floor side wall on this side with no windows, so to fill the space, I planted shrubs that will grow to 15-20 feet. But I’ve been pruning them down to keep them from blocking my view of the garden. The three biggest shrubs under the window are, — from left to right — Alternating-Leaf Dogwood, Arrowwood Viburnum, and (to my surprise because I didn’t think it grew this big) Carolina Allspice. The Dogwood and the Viburnum both grow umbels of white flowers that turn into blue-black berries favored by wild birds in late summer-fall.

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The motion-activated door chime/shriek alarm arrived, and I’ve set them up in conjunction with the motion-activated LED light strip that were already placed in the garden. The light only turns on when dark and was worrying me when it kept being triggered by rain.... I’ve set the new sound alerts for “door chime” for now — best onomatopoeia I can think of is EE-OH, EE-OH...EE-OH, EE-OH! This one is pretty sensitive to windy conditions. At first, both of them was going off pretty often.

... I had to cut down some overhanging branches from a tree at the far corner by the fence. There are a couple more long branches that I’d like to cut, because they wave around and down and trigger the alert, but I have to find the tree-pruner on long pole.
Image ...I moved the light strip from the patio to hanging from a mulberry branch over the side of the pond since the raccoons always seem to mess around by the pond.


... On the other side of the house, at first I hung the sound alarm from an apple branch — top two photos — but it was going off CONSTANTLY. I tried pruning some of the apple branches and dumping out the compost tumbler and removing it, but it was still triggering too easily, so I ended up securing it to the cornerpost of the pallet-sided raised bed as shown in the lower photo.
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— it won’t “see” the apples as much this way, but right now, “something” seems to be intent on picking every blushed cherry tomatoes. There is a light strip on the old hose box next to it, too.

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I planted Mrs. Aquillard’s Striped Cushaw in the middle of this patch, and Nutterbutter butternut squash along the perimeter... with store bought and sprouted slips of Japanese Purple sweet potatoes on one end.

I’ve been watching baby squash develop and thinking they were all butternut... then noticed one developing into “oddball” shape... but it didn’t dawn on me until yesterday that it was one of Mrs. Aquillard’s :D

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I’m going to try to more seriously attempt some “fall gardening/harvesting” this year — more eager to do this because I had planned to last year and didn’t get the chance/had to give up on the experiment due to time constraints.

I started already by randomly sowing seeds as summer succession that were not well documented (I.e. Indidnt bother to make note and write down/I forgot the details already :> ) ...but here are some more — peas, carrots and daikon.
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I realized as I was notating the photos that I had made a mistake — Progress #9 is an extra short variety and I meant to plant them in the SIP for easier harvesting.

So I’ll sow some more tomorrow in the Patio SIP, which I have started to take down — the Cabbage moth pressure on the gigantic Romanesco plant which still hadn’t formed a Head was just too much — they were shredding the inner leaves, so I called it and chopped it down. I had to use long-handled pruning shears. I also harvested a Cuor di Bue cabbage and removed two of the other cabbages — Cuor Di Bue and Kalibos — that had been runty and were not growing well to begin with.

I’ve put them all in the compost bin — :idea: I should toss some bokashi starter in there since cabbages ferment easily — I intend to balance that with the browns tomorrow, and then let it do its stuff so I will have finished compost for fall garden bed work.

I also found the packet of Sugar Magnolia snap peas. This one is extra-tall — 7-8 feet — and I missed planting it in the spring. I want to try growing it somewhere for fall — maybe the Sunflower & House Bed, since the determinate Shimofuri F5 tomatoes are just about finished.

I want to sow more carrots and dailkon as well as some others — Chinese watermelon radish, etc. — also ordered seeds for fast maturing and compact-sized dwarf cabbages and a cauliflower (Igloo) that I am hoping will fit under insect screen covers better.
Kind Variety WksDays
Broccoli Aspabroc (F1) 7w 1d
CABBAGE GONZALES MINI (F1) 7w 6d
CABBAGE QUICK START (F1) 7w 6d
CABBAGE RED EXPRESS 8w 4d
CARROT Bambino
CARROT MINICORE 7w 6d
CARROT MOKUM (F1) 7w 5d
CAULIFLOWER IGLOO 6w 5d
PEA SUGAR SPRINT 8w 2d
PEA SUPER SUGAR SNAP 8w 6d
Here’s the VGA bed of covered brassicas — Tronchuda kale/cabbage is definitely a keeper. The two Dazzling Blue toscana type kale look great — the other two that are in the Patio SIP were stripped of tender leafy parts and are nothing but stem and ribs, though I’m leaving them to see if they might come back later. And look at the Red Chidori flowering kale. Perfect!
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...I’m going to set up another covered bed for the fall dwarf brassicas. Radishes need the cover, too.

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I was looking at that list and was wondering why I couldn’t find a dwarf broccoli, then remembered — I Did, but it must be new or something — it’s listed at U.K. seed sites, but nowhere to be found in the USA

Growing your own Dwarf Vegetable Varieties
https://www.quickcrop.co.uk/blog/growin ... varieties/
Broccoli Kabuki. Specially bred for close spacing, the Kabuki Dwarf will produce a central head, perfect for cutting as a single meal. After the first cutting smaller side shoots will develop for a second crop. This tasty brassica is ready to eat just 8 weeks from planting.

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BTW — I’m going to try this — you start seedlings 2 per cell and plant the 2 together in each hole. A Japanese farmer’s blog and agricultural co-op article explains that brassica seedlings will grow in competition but not overpower/bully each other , optimizing space and soil fertility.

https://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~hyakusyo/20 ... page7.html
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...Roughly translated...
Standard 2 rows per 150cm wide row vs. Aoki’s 1 row of 2xplants per 100cm wide single row —

10 a = 4000 Plants vs. 10 a = 6000 Plants
(1 a = 10 m^2)


- When starting seeds - 2 seeds in 1 hole per cell and grow the two seedlings without thinning in each cell, then transplant out to slightly wide single row. The twin seedlings should be positioned so each plant grows toward the opposite, outsides of the row.
- Culture - fertilization, cultivation work are mostly same as for a single-row planting.
- Harvest - 2 broccoli and cauliflower heads can be harvested from one spot.



***

BTW ... Tomatoes are bullies. 2nd plant may never grow out of spindly seedling stage while one hogs all the water and nutrients and grow into a huge sturdy plant. I have heard —and am finding out— that peppers play well together as well when planted in close proximity — 2 per pot or a few inches apart per planting distance.

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Sowed/am sowing some peas, beets, carrots, daikon radish as space opens up. Daikon already sprouted.

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...will be starting the new dwarf brassicas as above, and will try sowing more peas when night temps go back down to 60’s — of course this week, they have gone up to 70’s.... :?

Here and in the VG Pallet-sided Raised Beds, the Chard leaves are being turned into lace by some kind of beetle grubs. But these are looking pretty good in the patio wooden planter —
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Today’s harvest —

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...past week’s blackberry harvest...
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I took PANO photos of the garden from NW corner and SE corner. If you zoom in the SE view with Spiral Garden in the foreground, you can see some of the green developing tomatoes. We’re gonna get our tomatoes yet 8)

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...I haven’t seen any more damage from nor sign of raccoon visits/raids since those alarm were placed out in the garden. Especially in the first 2-3 days, they needed to be resituated because they were going off so easily. In fact, I think I need to get new batteries for them now since their sensitivity seem to have diminished. But it could also mean that the raccoons went and bothered someone else who was less tender hearted ....

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Wait-a-minute! That top photo is not the PANO — THIS is the PANO :roll:

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For several years now, I have been having mite infestation problem in my tomatoes and peppers (and citrus). At first it started during the winter in the seedlings and overwintered plants, and they were so severely affected that I lost many plants, and the infestation continued during the growing season, taking out entire bed of tomatoes.

The thing is, in the past, when I had red spider mite infestation on winter indoor plants... usually becoming serious in late winter/early spring, most of the time, the plants recovered as soon as they were able to go outside once the growing season started.

The new mites were two-spotted mites, tomato russet mites, and broad mites. Some of the plants still recovered once they were outside, but not all, and I was in trouble once the infestation multiplied in the low humidity of winter indoor garden. I resorted to buying predatory mites and released them among the plants in the winter indoor garden.

Maybe these were species of predatory mites that were more effective against these new pest mites than the native predatory mites already present and effective against the red spider mites. Maybe they were able to settle in. Or maybe the annually released predatory mite indoor garden patrol from the winter indoor garden migrate out with the plants and spread out during the growing season (but maybe are not able to winter-over). At least, the recovery rate during the growing season has been improving.

In VGD bed of 4 cherry tomatoes, Wild Rosa F4 in the foreground had been badly infested but is now growing and trying to catch up. In this case, however, unfortunately, Afternoon Rosé F4 is now becoming overwhelmed. I’m still hoping for recovery, though.
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Most of these peppers in containers were overwintered and had been suffering from mite infestation, but they have recovered. You can see the tomatoes in the SIP are struggling however.

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Took another PANO photo from the stile-bench. I realize you probably can’t see it even when zoomed in, but from where I was standing, that striped hump of Mrs. Aquillard’s Striped Cushaw was clearly visible and made me smile, so I took a closer picture to share the feeling. :()

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...I like that the Spiral Garden is showing good formation from this angle. :wink:

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I was anxious to get the daikon seedlings covered before the cabbage whites and cabbage moths found them. They get desperate enough to lay several eggs on each seedleaf this time of the year.... :roll:

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I also got the fall brassica seeds started.
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...OK, OK, I didn’t think to take a picture until I had the seed tray all nice and tucked under the bag and settled on convenient rungs of the glass patio table support. But there’s a 72 cell tray under there and I sowed 6 kinds

Cabbage QUICK START (F1) 7w 6d
Cabbage RED EXPRESS 8w 4d
Cabbage GONZALES MINI (F1) 7w 6d
Kohlrabi SUPERSCHMELZ
Broccoli ASPABROC (F1) 7w 1d
Cauliflower IGLOO 6w 5d

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The brassicas started to sprout. I was one day late in uncovering them. When I checked day before yesterday, there was nothing, and then yesterday, I had to take a break and didn’t go out to the garden.
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Since they are now sprouting, I took the mushroom compost bag away and put the tray inside the protective bug screen food tent.

The fall peas are up and growing!
I hope they succeed this year.
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There is one other location — in ground inside a chicken wire fence to keep out rabbits — where I sowed some peas. Those are being systematically dug up. Chipmunks? Squirrels? Or Horrors! Voles? ...haven’t ID’d the culprit yet.

...To avoid heavy work, I cut off the previous succession crops at soil level. But these cabbage and kale stubs are starting to grow.... :? (I doubt that they will make it though, since I won’t be making any effort to protect these.)

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This year’s corn has been a bust. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t doing “interesting” things in the garden:
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— as you can see, this corn is only about 4 feet tall, and since all of these tassels are dried up already, there is no pollen available to pollinate these funky 5-ear cluster that are growing at ground level. (Although the Pink and Purple Mexican are starting to tassle in the SF&H bed... hmmm :wink: )

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First time growing these Red Noodle Beans — first pair of beans harvested today :-()

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Mrs. Aquillard’s Cushaw :D
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...not harvesting yet — it’s supposed to be left to mature on the vine for best flavor. But this one is said to be SVB resistant, so I’m not so concerned.

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PEPPERS
Numex Lemon Spice — yellow jalapeño
Doux Long d’Antibes and the DLA cross
Sun Thai — which looked like it barely made it through the winter but is now chugging along....
Unstriped Bill’s Striped - shorter and smaller fruited so unremarkable unless the flavor is superior

TOMATOES
Blackberry
Faelan’s First Snow — considered a Cherokee Purple cross or a sport, the fruit often cracks but not the concentric shoulder cracking which is typical of Cherokee Purple
Dwarf Lemon Ice — has exctremely thin skin and does crack easily from increased rain or irrigation. It wasn’t fully ripe, but I ate it in a BNT (Bacon, Nasturtium-leaf, Tomato) sandwich. It has a strong middle flavor even not fully ripe, plus the citrusy tangy finish stands up well in a sandwich — it was lovely

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Red Noodle beans — look at the curly “S” shaped one :D
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— there are tiny ants swarming all over these beans and I have to be quick to put them in my 2 gallon harvest bucket. I’m not worried because the ants will get washed away when I rinse all the harvest, but I don’t want them running up my hands and under the long sleeves I wear to minimize mosquito bites.

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applestar wrote:First time growing these Red Noodle Beans — first pair of beans harvested today :-()

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They look like "Thai Purple Podded Yard Long Beans"

Same family?

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applestar
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Yep, I see the resemblance — maybe even the same, different common names that have been used to identify them to seed vendors?

I’m not sure if I can go out to the garden today, but from the window, I’m seeing that the few I didn’t pick yesterday are already 1/2 as long and probably ready to harvest today... :shock:

How mature can you let them get?

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applestar wrote:Yep, I see the resemblance — maybe even the same, different common names that have been used to identify them to seed vendors?

I’m not sure if I can go out to the garden today, but from the window, I’m seeing that the few I didn’t pick yesterday are already 1/2 as long and probably ready to harvest today... :shock:

How mature can you let them get?
From what I read is you want to pick them before they start bulging, I had a few last night that were thin with out bulging and were very dense when eating. You can see how firm they are when you pick them, they are not as noodely like twizzlers. My wife said they were earthy tasting, I thought they were sweet and preferred them over green beans, I can't stand green beans unless they are in something like shepherds pie or a stew or something. I was pretty disappointed, anyhow I'm going to can some and make dilly beans..

My mom and SIL couldn't eat them because they were squeaky REALLY!
Anyhow they retained their color better if cooked without blanching the blanched ones lost a bit of color but once reheated in the microwave, they all turned almost black.

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applestar
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Asian style cold green beans are supposed to squeak against the teeth. I don’t like soggy over cooked green beans except in pot/shepherd pies and cream stews/soups.

I don’t have a specific recipe — I Googled “japanese cold green beans with peanuts” and the results look pretty good at a glance. Definitely try the sesame butter - tahini or grind your own toasted black or white sesame seeds if peanuts is a problem. The search result had some of those, too.

My purple, yellow, and green pole beans are starting to produce. They should look great together. :-()

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Cucurbits —

In addition to Korean melon and Nutterbutter butternut squash, these are also finally in production mode :D

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Argh! It wasn’t in focus! But I think I see one Sweet Freckles melon forming

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...this is a “rock” type melon. Seeds from Australia. :D

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I am amazed every time I visit this thread.
Hey, any tips on what type of Melon/Squash to grow on my trellises for next season? Would like to find a good edible nothing ornamental.

I have four trellises
This one I grew Spaghetti Squash on and wont grow it again (I'm going to make it 18" wider next season).
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The one far right of the fence under the arbor I grew Purple Podded Yard Long Beans on and won't be growing them again.
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The third I have by the deck that I am trying cantaloupes this year as a test.
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The 4th (small) I grew beans and a failed attempt at table dainty. Was thinking cucumbers but my family doesn't care for cukes, although they do eat pickles but prefer the store bought stuff.
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