Applestar’s 2021 Garden

[applestar]

Some ‘Wild Rosa’ F5/F6 — sister segregate to the Molten Sky, et. al. — were ready to harvest today. Maybe you can see how they do NOT have the metallic sheen that characterize Molten Sky, although the mysterious swirly, more subtle color patterns are intriguing in their own way. Must compare flavors.

[applestar]

This was supposed to be ‘White Wonder’ but looks like I am growing something else. I took this picture but it didn’t seem quite ready to be harvested yet.

I’ll have to judge by feel since I don’t know what the ultimate full ripe color is….

Very pretty striped/streaked fruit so far, but that color pattern alone precludes it from being any variety I intentionally grew and mislabeled, so I guess this is a NOT White Wonder (a possible accidental cross).

…Oh wait, I just remembered— it could be another NOT. A NOT Mikado White PL that I grew in 2015 that I thought I might try growing out the seeds. What do you think? (I have another one growing in the Sunflower House so I could compare when that one’s fruits start to blush….)

...my Mikado White PL turned out to be not really white but ripens to mottled dark pink after undergoing bicolor like blush.

[applestar]

So, I’m comparing the photos above, and this year’s now nearly sure to be NOT Mikado White PL (F2) appears to have strong stripes rather than the vague/blurred color pattern.

I checked the planting map from 2015, and there WAS a striped variety — Pineapple Pig (WHITE with stripes) right next to one of the Mikado White PL plants (ooooh!). I wonder if “stripes” is a dominant trait?

[applestar]

Today, I was covering the new bed I’m building in the front yard with eco-film mulch to keep the weeds down.

While I was amending, weeding and leveling the bed, a Cicada Killer wasp started hovering around. They are not aggressive, so I was maintaining awareness so as not to accidentally provoke it but was unconcerned… but then a SECOND Cicada Killer joined us and that made for a tricky dance.

They are not aggressive and in fact are flighty, but TWO 2-inch buzzing bodies at your knee level become FACE level when you are crouching.

When I got to actually pinning the mulch down, I discovered a still cicada on the ground. Realizing that this must be what they were looking for, I gave them space and worked a few feet away. But they were frightened off by the mulch flapping in the breeze (I had to sneak up close and pin down the errant edge… while calling her a “Nervous Nelly” )

I took live photos and videos as one of them collected the cicada and prepared to take off. They are probably half the size of a cicada, and they can’t just vertically lift off with the burden. I’ve previously watched one laboriously haul the “dead (paralyzed)” weight up to a height where she was able to make a drop-and-glide, and catch an upward air current to fly off.

I could see this one was trying to do the same, and there was a moment when all of a sudden, she focused on a destination and started to scuttle quickly.

It wasn’t until I saw my white booted foot in the corner of the camera frame that I realized WHAT SHE PICKED AS AN IDEAL ELEVATION!

Watch the camera lurch as I jumped up and away before she could reach my boot!

[applestar]

This morning, I used a siphon in-hose mixer and an overhead sprinkler to dilute/apply mosquito lift mixed with Ten’ei green juice and Ehime AI-2 to the garden.

I was tired of being ambushed by the mosquitoes so I thought it might help to cover the plants and shrubbery where they hide with mosquito-lift inoculated drops of water for them to come in contact with and get infected. This method is usually effective against fungus gnats in smaller scale when I deal with them in the Winter Indoor Garden.

Anyway, during a cursory check before turning on the water, I heard scrabbling sounds from the VG beds… and found this little fellow in the mouse livetrap — a mole

… yes, I released it

[pepperhead212]

Apple, I'll be waiting to hear your results with the mosquito repellents. I'm considering using some of my lemongrass - something that I have excess of, and I know mosquitoes don't like it. I'm thinking of thawing what I have from a few years ago, since this year's harvest I will be saving the same way! I have to research it, so as not to damage the plants, though some areas is where I'm not growing, so I could spray heavier!

[applestar]

@pepperhead, ***mosquito microbe lift*** is Bt israelensis— targeted bacteria used to treat ponds and birdbaths to kill the larvae, and also effective against fungus gnats when used as soil drench.

*** aHa — I’m calling it wrong — the products name is actually MICROBE LIFT ***

In the past, I’ve misted indoor plants until dripping with label-directed solution, spraying/wetting all surfaces where fungus gnats lurk and dripping onto the soil, and found that this seemed to dramatically reduce the adult population.

The idea is that while the droplets are still on the foliage and other surfaces, the mosquitoes could come in contact and hopefully infect themselves. Also, anywhere I’m not aware of that would hold rainwater might hold the solution for a time to inoculate, hopefully killing existing and future larvae.

I BELIEVE PART OF THR PROBLEM IS I’M NOT SEEING AS MANY DRAGONFLY AERIAL GARDEN PATROL AS I USUALLY DO.

I would not normally apply any kind of insecticide at wide scale like this — I don’t know what related insects this Bt that affects mosquitoes and fungus gnats also affects (e.g. possibly crane flies which are harmless, or predatory midges which are beneficial….) but selective application has obviously not been sufficient to control the mosquitoes which are swarming in as many as groups of 4 to 6 in a given location instead of ones and twos.



…I’ve tried repellents before with mixed results. I once tried a pelleted product that when spread as instructed, made my entire backyard smell like old garlic….

I question effectiveness of lemon scents to repel from the garden when the mosquitoes are lurking IN lemon balm.

But I do have them growing in strategic areas and smell unexpected wafts lemony fragrance when I brush by it step on them. There is a large patch under and behind the swing set that when my children played and trampled them, helped to create an entire lemony zone, which I believe did help.

I HAVE made my own personal herbal repellant spray mixture of rosemary, lemon, thyme, eucalyptus, cedar, citronella, acv. And this has worked well.

It also helps to switch to eucalyptus, lemon, and tea tree oil scented bath products, and cedar scented laundry products during the mosquito season.

The mosquitoes HESITATE before landing on you, and when/if they do, they squirm around before proceeding to bite, which has given me chance to swat them.

[pepperhead212]

apple. I use Microbe Lift for watering indoor plants, to prevent fungus gnats; also, mosquito dunks, broken into pieces, to put in my hydroponics, large rain catcher, and the SIPs. But I'm not sure if that would work for mosquitoes as a spray, as they describe it as only effective against the larvae of mosquitoes and gnats - the reason it won't immediately get rid of gnats, if present. I just soaked some soil in small pots in a tray with ML, to start some seeds in yesterday! I only use 8 drops to a gallon of filtered water, and only do this every 3 or 4 times, and never have a problem, and that 6 oz container lasts me over 2 years, keeping it on a door of the fridge.

I'm not sure if it's the lemon in lemongrass that is what repels mosquitoes, or something else. I am going to try blending that, some rosemary, and some basil together, along with a little alcohol, and straining it, and spraying an area where I have a LOT of mosquitoes lying in wait during the day, and see if it helps..

[applestar]

Doesn’t lemongrass scent attract honeybees?

… today’s’ harvest included first (kind of small) Chamoe melon and Wes as well as that NOT Mikado White PL.
— It was sweet with a good complex flavor and had a lovely bi-color interior flesh. It didn’t have a lingering tang/acid at the end which disappointed DH, though. Also 2 more Queen of Malinalco tomatillo and runty melon that seem to have ripened prematurely, and a split tiny green Chamoe melon (that one was bitter)

[pepperhead212]

Nice harvest, apple!

I haven't seen any bees, or any insects, for that matter, hanging around my lemongrass stalks.

Friday I made up a blend of a handful of rosemary, a handful of basil, and 8 six inch stalks of lemongrass, from the freezer. I blended it with about 2 qts of water, strained it, then added it to about 1 3/4 gal water, and sprayed it on all those weed areas, and other areas where mosquitoes hang out. I was careful not to get it on plants I'm growing, since I didn't know if damage would be done. Turns out that there was no damage done, and it did seem that
yesterday there were far fewer mosquitoes in those areas, but around all those squash vines, the mosquitoes are all over, as usual, so it seems to have some effect in those sprayed areas. I'll find out today in those areas today, after it rained, if I have to respray. I only sprayed half of it, so far.

[applestar]

That’s great @pepperhead. The combo sounds like it would smell lovely (and delicious!).

Here, I found there were less but sufficient mosquitoes to be bothersome yesterday, but significantly less today. We had over 1 inch of rain overnight, so I would have expected more not less.


…I did breakdown and use organic copper fungicide spray on some of the younger melon vines (ones in the Spiral Garden just starting to set fruits) that have been unable to hold off the powdery mildew creeping up. These were unmulched — maybe that was the problem.

Spiral Garden is far enough situated in the middle of the property that there should be no chance of runoff issues into the street and on to the drainage waterways, and also slopes in opposite direction from my pond, so hopefully no aquatic life endangerment.

Other melons while also showing some fungal issues are full grown and mostly lushly foliaged, so can afford to have affected leaves be pruned off.

I sprayed the Vegetable Garden bed cucurbits and tomatoes with combination of kefir, ten’ei green juice, and a splash of eggshell/crabshell extract vinegar diluted with dechlorinated water in pressure pump micro mist sprayer.


* There was a hummingbird aerial display going on above my head, ranging from one end of the garden to another, chittering on sharp challenge to each other, and occasionally calling for rest breaks in the treetops.

* There is also a male Monarch butterfly flying territorial pheromone sweeps EXACTLY inside the white fenced backyard. He’s been at it for the past 3 days at least.

[applestar]

So far, in the Aug 6th harvest, the FAVORATE designation goes to the Wes. But we haven’t cut open the Chamoe melon yet, so that may alter some opinions.

We would normally wait a couple of days to eat a harvested tomato, but DH made hamburgers for dinner last night, and the tomato-eating members of this family have been pining for good REAL tomato in our hamburgers.

I just now realized I forgot to weigh or measure it but it was a nice size and being a tall heart, I could cut extra number of slices from it. Meaty and super yummy with strong front end BAM and rising umami and lingering finish — enough assertive flavors to shine through the sandwich despite the large kaiser rolls DH used instead of burger patty sized hamburger rolls.

I also included Poona Kheera cucumber pickles lacto-fermented for 5 days with traditional Polish dill/garlic/horseradish spice mix.

[applestar]

Busy, busy! Right?
Since I was a bit late getting started in the garden this year, full harvest is still ahead even though some things have been coming in almost every day. I think making the deliberate decision to NOT plant the outer spiral of the Spiral Garden, the Sunflower & House bed (which is due for a full renovation project) and the small Kitchen Garden and the Patio-side Garden in the backyard , and the Rice Paddy garden (except to maintain the fig tree and eventually harvest the perennial myoga), AND letting go of the blackberry patch (except to harvest “perfect” berries that I can reach easily from the path) is what is keeping me sane (relatively speaking )

So here are the meager (for beginning of August) harvests over the weekend (2nd angle of my elongated tomato crosses Molten Sky and Molten Sun, just because ) —

— but not without highlights like the crazy cucumber . I won’t bother to comment on the sad sad Latte Bicolor (due no doubt to dip in temp down to low 50’s and high 40’s at critical stage that stunted them. Farmer’s corn in the area that were planted around same time are showing similar physiological abnormality. But mine is due to other operator errors too .).

ANYHOO — here are the most advanced melon hopefuls — although we had some low overnight temps dip in low 60’s and even 58°F in the last few days, another heatwave is forecast which should help them get back on track.

. — I’ve thoroughly micro-misted the melons with Calcium nitrate, Potassium bicarbonate, Eapsom Salts (magnesium sulfate), Borax, and eggshell/crabshell vinegar combo to hopefully forestall those watermelon ends from deteriorating further. I hope this works.

A bunch of baby melons and watermelons have aborted and I had thought that was just because the vines can’t support any more developing fruits, but maybe it’s micronutes deficiency…. I’ll try applying more buckwheat bokashi as well. Maybe it’s the heatwave/temp dip rollercoaster ride….

[applestar]

I’m having trouble figuring out what to make of Queen of Malinalco tomatillo. I’m sure part of the problem is I’ve never “cooked” with fresh tomatillos before and had no idea what to expect….

It cuts open like a thick walled pepper, but with its seed placenta completely separated from the wall. Easy to slice off. Tasting it fresh it has fruity intense flavor that tastes very much like a tomato, and thick skin like a roasting pepper.

I’ve tried it in a spaghetti sauce once. Today I tried adding it to a smoothie.

It turned out very thick and delicious, IMHO — one of those “I gotta have more” smoothie that is so filling you feel like you ate a whole meal.

DD2 who likes avocados and tomatoes liked it. DD1 who does not like avocados and calls them “evil slime” was suspicious that there were avocado scraps on the counter, but she tasted her sisters several times and then poured herself a small glass. LOL. She said it tastes like key lime pie, which she emphatically reminded us she DOES NOT LIKE …while drinking her portion of the smoothie. LOLOL

…DD2 and I drank all of the rest.

I think if I have the oppprtunity to make this again, I will try freezing it into a milk-free (Greek yogurt doesn’t count) ice cream. (I only thought of this possibility when there was only another swallow left in my glass….)

Queen of M Avocado / Banana smoothie

2 overripe avocados
2 overripe frozen bananas
1 wedge frozen lemon with peel
1 approx 2”x2” piece of ripe Queen of Malinalco yellow tomatillo (no seeds)
approx 2 cups rice milk
approx 1/2 cup plain Greek style yogurt
approx 4 ice cubes
approx 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3 Tbs cane sugar

Purée until done, shaking and scraping down blender as needed.

[Gary350]

I’m having trouble figuring out what to make of Queen of Malinalco tomatillo. I’m sure part of the problem is I’ve never “cooked” with fresh tomatillos before and had no idea what to expect….

It cuts open like a thick walled pepper, but with its seed placenta completely separated from the wall. Easy to slice off. Tasting it fresh it has fruity intense flavor that tastes very much like a tomato, and thick skin like a roasting pepper.

I’ve tried it in a spaghetti sauce once. Today I tried adding it to a smoothie.

It turned out very thick and delicious, IMHO — one of those “I gotta have more” smoothie that is so filling you feel like you ate a whole meal.

DD2 who likes avocados and tomatoes liked it. DD1 who does not like avocados and calls them “evil slime” was suspicious that there were avocado scraps on the counter, but she tasted her sisters several times and then poured herself a small glass. LOL. She said it tastes like key lime pie, which she emphatically reminded us she DOES NOT LIKE …while drinking her portion of the smoothie. LOLOL

…DD2 and I drank all of the rest.

I think if I have the oppprtunity to make this again, I will try freezing it into a milk-free (Greek yogurt doesn’t count) ice cream. (I only thought of this possibility when there was only another swallow left in my glass….)

Queen of M Avocado / Banana smoothie

2 overripe avocados
2 overripe frozen bananas
1 wedge frozen lemon with peel
1 approx 2”x2” piece of ripe Queen of Malinalco yellow tomatillo (no seeds)
approx 2 cups rice milk
approx 1/2 cup plain Greek style yogurt
approx 4 ice cubes
approx 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3 Tbs cane sugar

Purée until done, shaking and scraping down blender as needed.

“evil slime” that is too funny. I only tried to make good salsa verde with my tomatillos, now I wish I had not cut down my plants. Oh well.

[pepperhead212]

I never got that kind of tomatillo, probably because they are more of a large ground cherry - not the kind usually used for Mexican foods. But it sounds good, and they obviously make things with them, being from Mexico! I really don't see much made with them, except salsas.

[Gary350]

Ebay shows Queen of Malinalco tomatillo as a banana yellow sweet fruit shaped like a jalapeno pepper. Latin name: Physalis ixocarpa

Queen of Malinalco is from the southwest of Mexico.
It is a unique variety with particularly sweet-tasting fruits.
Its elongated, golden yellow, very large fruits sit in a lampion-shaped shell.
These plants continue to bloom and fruit until autumn.
It can be kept in pots or outdoors in one year culture.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184511853070?h ... Sw~pRfmzKO

This could be something new for me to grow next year. I am always limited by what is available in the local stores. Anything that grows like sweet fruit in the garden I will try it.

[applestar]

In my garden they are more or less consistently producing sort of heart-shaped fruits that might be double fused single sausage shape.

[applestar]

Today’s harvest — basically a double harvest since I had to run an errant early yesterday morning that prohibited working in the garden. Luckily with the 1.5 inch all night rain over the week end and then the pop-up showers, I haven’t had to worry about watering.

[applestar]

I’m getting confused by the melons. According to my garden journal, both Montreal Market plants in the Sunflower House had been lost and I only have 2 Honey Rock and one Sweet Freckles melon plants left in addition to the 2 Jubilee watermelons. But I’m seeing three different looking melons developing.
Sweet Freckles is easy to ID but these other two? Not sure if I have ID’d them correctly, but if that’s what they are, I don’t think they correspond with my planting map… Maybe I just got them mixed up when planting…..

[applestar]

Harvest recap — BIG veg’s being harvested now.

• I’ve posted about some of these already. More recent tomatoes while big didn’t exceed the biggest so far.

• Biggest Queen of Malinalco tomatillo so far is 3 inches long x 2 inches wide

• Biggest Chamoe melon so far is next to the watermelon

• The watermelon is biggest of veg but not THE biggest watermelon — this one had to be culled while still pink inside because it developed a bad blossom end rot. The 2 inch diameter black spot had not penetrated the rind when I sliced it off to check, but every reference I consulted said it needed to be culled….

[applestar]

I haven’t seen many Monarch butterflies this year, and my common milkweed patch is standing with mostly WHOLE leaves, not having hosted their caterpillars much at all.

I have been regretting not proactively protecting the few caterpillars that I did see.

There HAVE been sporadic visits by adult Monarchs (or perhaps they were the caterpillars all grown up and taking flight).

For the past few days, I have been happily observing a female flying around in the garden. Yesterday, I watched her laying eggs. At one point, she soared right by me as I was trying to capture her in the camera frame.

[pepperhead212]

Glad you're finally seeing one laying eggs, apple! I've only seen a couple of monarchs, though I'll admit, I have no milkweed growing. The ones that like my garden are the swallowtails - I saw a good number of those on my dill, and I have a bunch of parsley out there for the later flush I usually see. I planted another bunch of dill for them, as well.

[applestar]

Thanks @pepperhead
I feel like I’m not seeing as many butterflies as I should be. It’s worrying.

I do see one or two significant ones almost every day, but just not in any numbers … except for white cabbage butterflies….

I did see a yellow tiger swallowtail from the window today, so yes my daily butterfly quota has been met. Also saw a male hummingbird who was promptly chased out of the garden by another hummingbird emerging from the trumpet honeysuckle gate arbor.


…I planted summer squash late. They are growing well and have started to open female blossoms, including this Sunburst hybrid yellow pattypan. Must remember to harvest at 3” diameter max…

[applestar]

My garden is in full production mode. Harvest from last 3 days with random accompanying photos

It’s always such a pleasure and joy when the big fruited tomatoes start coming in.

I think my hubby is finally turning onto the cherry tomatoes — he has always been disdainfull of those (and how many years have I been growing them?)

He is eager to eat the big tomatoes, so when I pick out one or two good ones for him to eat, I am now also including a selection of the cherry tomatoes for him to taste along with the big tomato wedges… and only complaint I’m hearing is that they are too small.

Not only the big fruited indeterminates with their biggest fruits, but the determinate and semi determinate varieties are all ripening at once in an avalanche. Just fresh eating here and there isn’t going to keep up, so I’ll have to start freezing and/or processing them….

… Chamoe melons are ripening at once, too. These are several generations beyond the original probably hybrid that produced Nerf football sized fruits and they are now producing I guess about mini toy football size — share for a tasty snack, or single serve to fill up.

[webmaster]

That's a great harvest! I'm a little bit north of you in MA and we're a few days to a week from our first modest tomato harvest.

The local farm stands have only this week begun selling tomatoes. I think the heavy rain and overcast days might have had something to do with it.

[applestar]

The roller coaster temperatures also affected fruit set. Mine has inflorescences that didn’t set any fruit, and with the large fruited indeterminates, they only bloom/fruit every 3 leaf nodes or so. That takes a toll.

[applestar]

We LOVE ‘Wes’ tomato here. It is a pretty full-flavored, well-rounded, Front end >> Middle umami >> Lingering finish tomato when eaten a couple of days after harvesting at fully colored, velvety, and “gives” ever so slightly.

BUT if you can restrain yourself and wait about 5 days to a week, it develops a complete, rich, complex flavor experience that is very difficult to match.

Do you remember this “ugly” lump of a Wes I harvested on 8/11?



I was watching this lumpy one like a hawk. It was going to be tricky because one tiny segment of the multi-fused mega-blossom fruit turned red while all others were still green.

Today, I saw that first tiny segment had spoiled. That was to be expected because of the multiple-day time gap when each of the fuses blossoms had set fruit. Luckily due to the fused structure, I could cut off the one compartmentalized segment. It took detailed surgery with a sharp fruit knife to remove the multi-core and the scarred areas and zippered skin. When this ripe, the skin can be pulled right off too. And the juices flow.

…Hubby, tomato-loving DD2 and I shared the many cut up pieces it yielded, and it was absolutely delicious

[applestar]

…I didn’t post yesterday because I was sad. I discovered one of the snap traps had caught and killed a wren — by the time I saw the remains, only the tail feathers were intact.

I thought I had made sure to rig the snap traps from trapping curious birds like titmice and chickadees that might be attracted by the rodent-type bait, but had been too cavalier in counting on them not to be overly curious or go burrowing into tight spaces since they tend to be pretty cautious.

What was horrible was the trap had caught the wren by a toe. It must have squeezed its way into the cut off soda bottle (containing the trap, with its opening pressed against a closely spaced wire fence), and managed to turn around as the trap snapped. It had dragged itself out of the bottle but was stuck on the other side of a wire fence — with extended leg held in the trap by the toe — where it perished. I am mortified that the poor creature must have suffered.

What is worse is I remember a few days ago when I heard a wren making a racket like it was yelling at an intruder — usually a feral cat or the snake — but couldn’t locate it, nor what it was going on about. I’m now wondering if that was when it had been trapped, and had I been more diligent about finding where it was and what the problem was, I might have been able to rescue it…..

[applestar]

I am trying to figure out when to harvest these melons.

If I remember correctly, both Honey Rock and Montreal Market are netted muskmelons and the netting scar should encircle the base of the stem and the fruit would “slip” when ripe.

The base/background color of Sweet Freckles, I believe, is supposed to turn buff … chamois cloth kind of color? Some have described the color as “orange” but I can’t picture that — maybe they meant the interior flesh color.

[applestar]

This morning

3 Lbs. 12 oz. Honey Rock melon

…I realized I somehow missed this melon in yesterday’s lineup

[imafan26]

You are getting a great harvest. Lots of hard work is paying off.

[imafan26]

Take care Applestar and stay safe with the storm coming your way.

[applestar]

Thanks @imafan

We’re getting hit by the trailing rain system, and I’m worried about the “any day now” close-to-ripe melons. But the really windy stuff seem to have stayed further out in the ocean.

This path for a hurricane is really unusual tho, and seeing a storm system approaching from the southeast on the weather radar was startling.

[applestar]

I had to harvest the watermelon that had been deteriorating with blossom end rot. I’ve been trying to stave off the inevitable by micro mist spraying with Calcium nitrate, Potassium bicarbonate, and Magnesium sulfate combo with a pinch of borax. That seemed to have been slowing down the expanding dark area, but with the Henri raining buckets, the surrounding rind started to turn brown and soft.

When I cut off the bad end with about 1” sacrificial buffer zone to see how bad it looked inside, happily, the spoilage had not spread into the flesh. About 1/3 of the fruit is intact.

I noticed this with a previous blossom end rotted Jubilee that was harvested on August 14. I had cut off the blackened end only to find it was all just rind-deep. I had wrapped the cut end and kept the fruit in the refrigerator until a couple of days ago, then I cut up the pink flesh into cubes, deseeded, and froze them.

I turned those frozen underripe watermelon cubes into watermelon sorbet this morning. Made with the added heavy syrup — organic cane sugar and powdered sugar (1/2 cup each + 1/2 cup filtered water boiled, cooled and chilled) — lemon juice, sea salt, and rice milk. It turned out delicious.

We are debating whether it could have been sweeter (I used about 6 Tbs syrup to loosely measured 4 cups of watermelon cubes). MY DD2 said it tastes like ripe watermelon, and hubby said it’s “pretty good” which is high praise coming from him

I suspect today’s harvest will follow its predecessor’s fate.

[applestar]

Gallery of past 9 days’ harvest —

- Melons and watermelons are keeping me anxious
… I mentioned the watermelon dilemma and solution already.
- I harvested some ginger so I can make watermelon rind pickles with the excessively thick white rind of those BER watermelons that had to be harvested before they were fully ripe.
- The Honeyrock was perfect. We ate half of it already and the other half will likely disappear soon.
- Harvested one of the Montreal Market — nearest three tendrils were browned and dry and this one is supposed to be picked before it turns yellow/fully ripe or it will be too late
- Sweet Freckles was starting to “net” and then started to crack with vertical fissures. I was getting nervous because I have been told these can split in the field and rot. One day, it’s tendril was still green, then next day it had browned and I smelled melon! (I think because the fissures had widened). So I harvested it.
- Montreal Melon, Sweet Freckles, and. the fully intact biggest watermelon are in front of an oscillating fan. I’m so nervous about cutting into them too soon. But I think I’ll put the Sweet Freckles in the fridge as soon as we’re done eating the Honey Rock.
- Chicago Hardy figs are starting to ripen
- I harvested the last of the Seckel pears two days ago. MANY had holes and blemishes, so I trimmed all of the ones with serious defects along with apples and persimmons, and cooked them up into a preserve. I pushed the preserve through a medium mesh and used the approx one cup of the skin and fiberous remains along with a thawed frozen banana for a quick bread.
- I’m so proud of the Caramel Crisp Popcorn after the dismal showing with the sweet corn earlier. I’m harvesting them as they dry on the stalk. I think you are actually supposed to wait for the leaf to dry, but I know from last experience I can’t afford to wait that long because the heavy humidity during this time of the year make the kernels either sprout or get moldy and rot. This condition also invites all kinds of bugs. Hopefully they’re are good enough to cure for popping.

[applestar]

Today’s breakfast/brunch —

• Baked quartered Sunburst squash casserole with cored, skin on, ripe (mostly) Shimofuri (霜降り)xAztek F2 cocktail sized red round tomatoes, diced onions, Hari G3 eggplants, Oda, Yellow Cap and n’KOTN peppers, minced green Aji Pineapple and Aji Dulce Amarillo peppers, cashews, candied walnuts, leftover Hummus for protein, sea salt, chinese pepper, garlic and herbs and mushroom powders; olive oil and butter.

• Baked Oda and KOTN peppers stuffed with sausage, eggs beaten with (minced onions and shredded mexican cheese mix, brewed mirin, mushroom powder, sea salt), piece of butter

[imafan26]

What a feast. I love your heart shaped fruit. You have so many interesting things with interesting names.

[applestar]

Thanks @imafan

…here’s ANOTHER new interesting development —

One of the four Queen of Malinalco tomatillos — last to start producing fruits — is showing purplish color when mature. This was gifted seeds from a new gardening friend in Denmark. I’ll try and find out if she was also growing Purple tomatillos in her garden last year

[pepperhead212]

apple, I notice that purple tint getting on the bottoms of many of my late tomatillos - always green early, but the end of the season the green has sort of turned to a yellowish color, with a lot of them purplish on the bottoms. I figure it has something to do with length of day - same happens in very hot weather, or milder times.