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TomatoNut95
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Re: Taiji 2019

Looks great! Lovely peppers!!

Taiji
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I never expected this. Howden pumpkin and a Crimson Sweet melon. Fairly long season things but they made it despite cool summer. Must be the day length.

I remembered reading in the forum before that the way to tell if the melon is ripe ( can't remember if this applies to watermelon or cantaloupe or both) is if the tendril that is closest to the stem of the melon is dead. (left pic)
2019 howden and crim collage.jpg
Somehow too, the Ambrosia has made it. Lots more ears to pick!
2019 ambrosia.JPG
First time Kennebec grower. (left) Can't believe the size of these. For some reason, was always thinking Kennebec was a small, round potato. I wonder if because they are so huge and white that they might be a bit starchier than some other potatoes.

Yukon Golds on the right. Could never grow these in AZ. Too hot?
2019 kenn yukon.JPG

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digitS'
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Well, Kennebec is in Maine. The Yukon is the Yukon and Arizona is Arizona, Taiji.

:D Oh don't pay any attention to me. I'm just jealous of the melon. Even the Howden punkin. I think that was the first variety that I tried to grow. They never turned orange! I have had an earlier Rock Star for years now.

More seriously, the Kennebec look great. Yukon Gold was one of my least productive varieties and I would have another 2 or 3 different potatoes each year (DW likes the Yukon :wink: ). Then, I gave up that garden and began growing the potatoes about 20 miles away. Yukon does fine there. Very little difference in climate but the soil is somewhat different. Lots of Rocks! But, some varieties of potatoes do very well.

You are having some good results from your gardening efforts there on the Upper Peninsula!

Steve

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TomatoNut95
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Very nice potatoes and pumpkin! I wish I could do a punpkin, but no space for one....is there such thing as a bush pumpkin?

Taiji
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Ha ha, was trying to remember where I'd heard Kennebec before, was it a place, or a guy or ...

Yes I was hugely surprised to see the pumpkin doubling in size almost every day and then turning orange. Melon too, almost doubles every day, at least at first. But, I've been lucky; we've been dangerously close to frost already.

Don't know about a bush pumpkin, maybe?


I'm learning that despite the disavantages of growing in this colder zone, there are many perks as well:)

This is where we're at now. Seems like summer just started and already we're at this stage.
2019 fall collage.jpg


Everyone is saying we didn't even have a summer this year with the cool temps. Added to that, a large portion of the summer was in drought. Didn't expect to have to water as much as I did. Luckily I have a good well. People are saying this is the first time they've had their lawns turn brown here.

Taiji
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Macheted down the Black Eyed Pea cover crop. It was just beginning to show a couple of blooms. After a few days I want to sow some annual rye seed among the pea plants. Hopefully it will take hold and grow even after frost completely kills the pea plants. Next spring I will turn the whole mess into the soil.
2019 machet.JPG
Will use these beds and the clover beds for nitrogen loving corn.

Taiji
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Well I guess it's about over for this year. This is my "over the hill" garden. I took out some evergreens that were too close together and choking each other out. They were dead 3/4 of the way up. Opened up a view to a nicer bigger evergreen. Now, am using the trunks for fence posts. Hope to complete the fence next year, although there still hasn't been much damage to the open garden from critters.

Still no frost even as of today, Oct. 9. Can't believe the dozens maybe hundreds of tomatoes I've been getting. This after so many refused to ripen before. I was afraid I wasn't going to have one ripe tomato this year. Our lowest temp so far has been 33. I believe this Friday night though at last the first frost will come.
2019  fall.JPG

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digitS'
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Very pretty location and photos, Taiji!

I climbed out of bed this morning and looked out the window at snow, including 3" on my backsteps! We have had several frosts that would be considered killing and covering the 4 tomatoes in the backyard didn't work well. Burned beneath the tarps, they began dropping their fruit. The distant garden is a wreck but garden-cleanup has begun.

My garden probably rates a C- this year. That isn't from anything happening in the last few weeks (frost dates were close to normal). The up and down temperatures in the spring were just too much stress on some plants. I was surprised that the sweet corn did just fine (SE varieties), the late planting of potatoes did good and the early planting did okay after I knocked all the potato beetles off them, and I had the dang pumpkin vines running ALL over the place producing more punkins than I can think of what to do with!

The new-to-me pumpkin related spaghetti squash grew and produced well, also. I must find an earlier-maturing variety, however. About half the fruits were still green as frost threatened. Oh yeah! It was a good year for green beans and carrots. In my Rocky Ground - nice, long carrots!

I won't be giving up on some of the tried-&-true varieties like Buttercup and Cha Cha squash or .... well, not those anyway, despite their 2019 problems.

Pests - those beetles and aphids. Wiley Coyote was a regular visitor and welcome - by this gardener. Frequent tracks, he broke some stakes used for trellising and later left a dead Benjamin Bunny in a garden path. (I buried it and Wiley came back and dug it up when he was hungry!) Plentiful rabbits early in the season ...

Steve

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TomatoNut95
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I am in love with those gorgeous autumn-colored trees! Beautiful!

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Pumpkins around here are unbelievably popular, Steve! The other day saw a couple of ladies loading about 50 into the back of their pickup. Everyone around here must have pumpkins displayed. They take it seriously. You could probably set them out someplace with a "free" sign!

We are expecting the remnants of the Midwest snowstorm tonight and tomorrow. But, I think it is just going to be slushy stuff. Tonight's prediction is @ 28 degrees. Today I must go out and get the rest of my peppers. (Jalapenos, long red cayenne, serranos, Big Jims) Hope to put all of them in paper bags and take back to AZ. Hope it works!

One thing we notice here Tomatonut as far as the fall colors go, is how strikingly beautiful the oranges, yellows and reds are against the dark green evergreens. Such a wonderful contrast!

Taiji
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The last of the Big Jims. Picked just before heavy freeze and snow flurries! Already used these up in a Mexican chicken dish. I got the seeds for these from someone in Tucson. I'm not sure if they were all Big Jims or not. Some have absolutely no heat at all, some do. And the size and shape varies too. Good though.
2019 last big jims.JPG
This guy is camouflaged pretty well, but it's Mr. Porcupine up in the apple tree. He was feasting up there all day. I asked him if he was getting enough to eat, but he seemed really unconcerned! Just looked down at me.

I first noticed him in the morning climbing up the trunk and thought it was a little bear cub.
2019porky.JPG

imafan26
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I remember carving green papayas instead of pumpkins for Halloween. Pumpkins are not that common here, but it is fairly easy and cheap to get a green papaya from the back yard.

Taiji
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I wish papayas were doable here!

Just a wild guess, but I'm thinking this might be the end! Foto a couple of weeks old.
2019 the end.JPG

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TomatoNut95
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Snow is beautiful, but sad to see it ruin gardens....



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