Applestar’s 2022 Garden

[applestar]

I think I saw TWO Monarch butterflies in my garden today.

First one was very nervous and flighty, and I only got a blurry glimpse, but I had the impression that it was a ragged, tired female, and she was flitting among the common Asclepias milkweed stand along the NE foundation bed. Hopefully, she was laying eggs.

I believe the second time, I saw a different one, because this one, also a female, was struggling to climb up the 2 ft. Kitchen Garden wire fence. She was trying to extricate herself from the grass etc. at the bottom when I first saw her, and while I watched, she languidly flapped her wings as she climbed.

When I got some good photos, I could see her wings were bright and fresh. If I were to search the area at bottom of the fence, I will likely find an empty chrysalis.

Once she reached the top, she flew off towards the Butterfly Garden/Milkweed patch

Freshly eclosed female Monarch butterfly July, 2022

41D10B3A-305D-4D3C-948D-570AAA80EDAF.gif (2.43 MiB) Viewed 542 times

[applestar]

Harvests from Sunday and today.

Forgot to note that the earliest batch of figs (Chicago Hardy) came in.

The fig tree is planted near but not against the SW facing wall of the Family Room, and provides much needed summer shade as it grows, but can be cut short to expose the wall to even the weakest, wan winter sun.

These figs had ripened early because they were on branches that were pushing nearly up against the window and the wall, protected from cooler temperatures and receiving reflected intense heat. (In fact, I missed three earliest of them that had become overripe and fell from the branches).

…actually there were two more figs that I’d harvested today, but I forgot them outside — they missed the photo shoot, but were successfully retrieved by DD1

First big fruited tomato to ripen was a Neves Azorean Red.

A Hummingbird hovered over my head again, this time while I was working in the Spiral Garden

[applestar]

Fantastic SUNRISE yesterday

• Eggplants in the Spiral Garden are looking like this now — 2 sad-looking Money Maker plants in front (I may try renewal pruning one of them since the new growths look better, but some of the smaller leaves have been affected, too. I think mite infestation might be the correct diagnosis), and 3 somewhat better looking Shoya Long plants in back. Shoya Long are starting to show yellowed large lower leaves.

• Finally got around to paying attention to the sweet peppers. They were pushing up against the insect mesh tunnel, so I rigged a temporary headspace. I need to get in there and prune, as well as inspect more closely. I did notice aphid infestation starting on those upper leaves and new growths

• Spiral Garden from the upstairs window view. All of the large fruited tomatoes are near color-break, and many of them as well as cherry tomatoes have reached the top of the trellis and needed to be pinched back.

[applestar]

Preview of the avalanche— and struggle to keep the varieties and cross-breeding segregates identified and labeled

(The characteristic metallic sheen on the Molten Sun and Li’l Wild Rosa, as well as Sun Dews makes me smile )

[applestar]

I harvested on Saturday but didn’t have time to wash or sort/ID the tomatoes (based on photo records of gardening activities) until yesterday (Mon).

*Non-tomatoes from Sat. were not photographed.*

Upside to this is that I got a rare full group photo of the “ripened a couple of days indoors after picking” tomatoes

— first Terhune, Caspian Pink and a deformed runty Sgt. Pepper’s

— first harvest of Edamame ‘Tohya’

[applestar]

Life has been keeping me on pretty tight schedule with limited time in the garden, PLUS THIS HEAT!

This was the second time I barely had time to harvest, then had to wait to wash, process, and photo them until a couple of days later.

I didn’t get the chance to water the garden yesterday either …and today is not our watering day. I had to go outside for something and looked in on them and some areas of the garden looked pretty bad.

Will not be able to assess until tomorrow morning…..

[imafan26]

We are in drought 3 status, but so far, they have not gone so far as to have watering days. They penalize people with $ if they don't cut their water bill. The ones who are most affected by the water restrictions are in town where the Navy contaminated the well with jet fuel. This week more fuel was found in a monitoring well, not good news.
Most of what they are asking are for people to cut their bills by 10% which is hard to do in summer. It means no car washing. You can go to a car wash company, they recycle their water. They are asking people to take shorter showers and wash full loads of laundry, use gray water to flush the toilets, check for leaks, and cut back on watering lawns. Someone asked and were told that the board of water supply is not asking people to stop watering any food crops they depend on, but to be mindful of not watering more than they need to.

You still have a nice harvest despite the weather.

[applestar]

Thanks @imafan. We finally got nearly 1.5 inches of rain Wed~Thursday. But now, I’m having to monitor for split fruits.

I went on Wed to help my mom in her apartment, and the scheduling disruption has left a gap in my harvest reports — Can’t miss a single day. Also, I’m not used to this pace of ripening fruits when night temps are in upper 70’s to 80’s even! — I have pics but haven’t been able to edit them…. I also forgot to take a group photo of Thursday‘s harvest. (I might collage them together and add to this post or another post later …I also want to talk about a neat mosquito repelling tech I’ve been experimenting with )

The heat finally broke after the storm system blew through, and it’s even cooler tonight — down to 61°F

Here’s yesterday’s: That Suyo Long cucumber was 16 inches long.

[imafan26]

It is a nice harvest. I am also experiencing feast and famine. Now, I have a feast of cucumber and tomatoes because I have 5 of each type. I am going to cut down to about three and try to stagger the planting so they do not peak at the same time. I don't grow nearly as many fruit as you do so my collection is a lot smaller.

[applestar]

The tomatoes are at their peak… just look at these harvested yesterday and today!

Also harvested first chamoe— this is a hybrid Dae Jang Geum. Not pictured are one Suyo Long cucumber and two green Doux Long d’Antibes peppers (harvested to encourage better production).

— I took the insect mesh cover off of the sweet peppers since @pepperhead said he doesn’t usually see the pepper maggot flies by this time. They had been pushing up on the fabric anyway, and had grown up past the wire fence tunnel (so I’m going to let the fencing act as their support )

— As usual I was peering into all the vessels that might hold rainwater to check for mosquito larvae infestation — I wasn’t too worried about this bucket since I’d put some guppies in it earlier. I WAS surprised to find they are sharing the habitat with tadpoles

[applestar]

Here it is, mid-August, and my impression is that the tomato plants (and cucurbit plants) are healthier than average years.

I can’t say for sure what are the mitigating factors ….

* Am I spraying / did I spray with better home made combos and at better, more timely frequency than other year? (potassium bicarbonate, diluted milk, home cultured probiotics including natto powder (fruit scraps/whey/natto powder/raw sugar), super diluted (X200 vinegar extract of eggshells), aged cultured green juice

* we did have drought conditions this year with no rain for days/weeks and ground so dry it had developed dried fissures

* less overhead sprinkler watering, mostly drench-flooding the swale paths, sometimes with probiotic and bokashi teas

* liberal use of dolomitic lime powder at least twice during the growth period — fling-scatter at knee height, covering lower leaves

* black eco-plastic mulch used for all solanacea and cucurbita beds

* AND SPECULATION BUT — NO CORN THIS YEAR


The last is still very vague in my mind, but I have considered whether the liberal amount of pollen that covers the garden plants might contribute to fungal growths and diseases — they allow the fungal spores to gain foothold on the leaves and then proceed to infect the leaves themselves…. I’ve wondered if this is another factor that adds to the idea that corn and tomatoes don’t make good companions in the garden.

* I suppose the abnormally lengthy heatwave with daytime temperatures in the high 90’s and overnight lows of upper 70’s to 80’s must be considered. This is in combo with NO ACCOMPANYING daily/frequent thunderstorms or rain.

[applestar]

Sweet pepper arc of the Spiral Garden is starting to produce. Some of the first green peppers were harvested to encourage the newer flower trusses to set fruit.

This bed is growing Oda (it might be a hybrid — these are from saved seeds), two accidental crosses Chocolate Cake X and Chocolate Cake NOT, and Doux Long d’Antibes.

There WERE mass infestation of aphids in here earlier, but I tucked a couple of leaves with some unhatched aphid mummies on them under here, and also left the netting open for a little while to let some predators in — I think hover flies and those metallic little flies happily obliged. Yesterday, there were some ant activity but nowhere near the number of aphids as before.

The overnight temps suddenly got much colder — low 60’s°F — but mature peppers don’t mind cooler weather.

[applestar]

After complaining almost non-stop that I was tired, I crashed last evening (literally, falling asleep on top of bedcovers, not changing, not brushing teeth, ) for 8-1/2 hours! I remember being awakened a couple of times — once by my daughter who had marched in saying “…where am I supposed to put this [Amazon] stuff? — WHY are you sleeping!?”

I suppose it was accumulated toll from several days of only about 5 hrs of broken sleep …anyway, I woke up a couple of hours ago, refreshed but stiff jointed. Getting old….


Here’s an overview of how the VG beds and the Spiral Garden look right now — All tomato and cucumber plants are being regularly trimmed of leaves below blushing and harvested fruits and any leaves showing initial signs of spots, etc. Mostly looking pretty green and healthy.

With the compact/dwarf/micro determinate tomato plants in VGA, the leaves are deteriorating rapidly ahead of presumably the final harvest of blushing and ripening fruits….

But I’m trying to retain at least some leaves above fruit clusters, based on the principle that the leaves above the fruits are what gathers the sun’s energy and feeds the fruits.

I took pics while tip-pruning the indeterminate and cherry tomatoes (currently a regular task ahead of approaching autumn and expected first frost in mid to late October) based on this principle — find a floral truss, then count two more leaves above it and pinch/cut the stem along with the next nascent floral truss and growing tip (you need to wait to prune until those elements become discernible).

Also inside of the Sunflower Hoop House now, with sweet potato vines climbing up and crowding the north trellis*, and the zucchini’s tied up and trained to grow more-or-less “straight” in tree style.

* Apparently I’m still aleep — on closer inspection, the photo is NOT the sweet potato trellis, it’s the Arrowwood Viburnum fruits starting to turn blue/purple — this explains the daily commotion of birds (catbirds, cardinals, others) below the upstairs window.

[applestar]

Please excuse the blurry photo — this was my first shot of the day at 7:37am and I was in a hurry to water the garden before the 8AM deadline ….

But spotting this 4th instar Monarch butterfly caterpillar on a milkweed that had started to fall over and was leaning in my path was truly “a sight for my sore eyes”

Later on, I was treated to overhead whirring and chittering from a hummingbird who wanted access to Cardinal flowers that were blooming behind me

[applestar]

Here’s a collage of a mini harvest on Wed. and a bountiful harvest today.
Those zucchini, especially the bigger one, didn’t look ready to harvest two days ago… nor those cucumbers! The longest cuke is 17 inches

I hand pollinated a zuke the other day, and another one today. I always leave the male blossom anther stem inside the female blossom so any visiting pollinators will spread the pollen around some more, and so I can tell later which ones I took care of.

I also added a couple of panels of the sweet potato trellis which I missed posting last time , a photo of … I’m pretty sure this is GOLDFISH pepper, and tragic end of a Todd County Amish, found this morning on the ground with fresh wounds and being swarmed by sugar ants…. It could have been an overnight raccoon raid.

[imafan26]

I know how you feel. It is so hot outside, that I don't even want to work in the yard. On most days I get the watering done, but not a lot after that. If I am lucky, I will go out for an hour or so once or twice a day. At least you are exhausted because you have been doing a lot of work.

[applestar]

Yep. It’s satisfying to see all the work from earlier in the season reach “fruition” … and even more satisfying when eating the harvest and they are good.

We had that little watermelon shown above — it had a “healed” (not black, soft and spoiled, but grey, dry and firm) blossom end rot so I didn’t have high hopes and was prepared to be disappointed, but when cut off with 1/2 inch buffer, there was no spoilage, and the flesh was sweet, aromatic, and delicious. Not absolutely the best, but actually better than the last icebox watermelon we got from the grocery store.

[applestar]

In only a week, since I “dared” to say out loud that the tomato and cucumber foliage were looking pretty good, they rapidly deteriorated.

Since the weather forecast called for several days of rain starting today, I trimmed all spotty leaves and then sprayed with a potassium bicarbonate-cultured probiotic (+phosphorus) combo with calcium nitrate added for fungal preventive/foliar recovery+supplemental feed to support these worn out summer veggies in full production mode.

— Made note of Nutterbutter butter nut squash female blossom that I hand pollinated. Another one had flowered and closed when I wasn’t in the garden, so it’s a toss-up whether pollinators took care of it or not.

— And here’s a photo of a Six Pound Giant tomato next to an ordinary looking TerhuneX. Sure looks like it has the genetic traits prized for giant tomato contests, though this fruit isn’t super huge. (The original seeds had been obtained a long time ago in a round robin from a tomato grower ‘seamsfaster’ who runs delectationoftomatoes and sells contest-quality giant tomato seeds.)

— Harvested a still-a-bit-small Shoya Long eggplant, nice sized/quality zucchini, and 2 more Dae Jang Geum chamoe. We ate the first one yesterday and loved it, so looking forward to these fully ripening on the kitchen counter.

[applestar]

I forgot to mention — yesterday morning, when I opened a window, a Monarch butterfly flew up from the milkweed patch in the foundation bed

[imafan26]

Interesting, you are seeing more butterflies. I am seeing less. I am spraying Bt on the cucumbers, but there are still moths and cabbage butterflies around. I don't spray the kale or Asian cabbages. I see a monarch once in a while. The peak season for them seems to have passed. They are even leaving the crown flower alone and I have not had to spray that all.

However, the snails are starting to come back. I still only find less than one a day so it isn't bad. I haven't seen the toad in a while.

[applestar]

In this area, this is almost the last chance period for the Monarchs to lay eggs and expect the resulting, typically diaspora-ready off springs to emerge in time for the end of September-beginning of October mass migration that is observed via the Cape May Point, across the Delaware Bay, and down the Eastern seaboard. Some groups from this area will head west and join the Appalachian migration route that ultimately funnels through Texas.

I saw another one yesterday, flitting among the milkweeds, so likely female and hopefully laying eggs. Males usually fly territorial patterns around the garden.

[applestar]

Here is the latest harvest collage —

- Top right is my collection of fall greens seedlings that are ready to be planted. These will go in the Sunflower House Hoophouse as soon as I get the beds ready.

- I decided it might be time to check on the American Hazelnuts, and although this is a tad earlier than usual, they were ready to be harvested, and in fact, some critter HAD already started. So I picked the bushes clean

- Dae Jang Geum chamoe have decided it’s time to ripen LOL. Since it’s a hybrid, presumably it’s expected to be harvest-ready on schedule.

- That first butternut squash didn’t make it, but the one I hand pollinated looks good.

- The Greek Sweet Red (another butternut type squash) arc in the Spiral Garden is getting ready — there have been male blossoms opening for the last three days.

[applestar]

Here’s a collage of the zukes in the Sunflower Hoophouse during August.

This has worked out very well to exclude the Squash Vine Borers, but the stinkbugs did sneak in early August.

Luckily, I spotted the hatching event before the nymphs spread, and destroyed all egg clusters I could find. If the stinkbugs were still inside, I didn’t see them, but there hasn’t been an additional egg laying mischief so far.

The egg layers and some of the nymphs I think were responsible for the yellowed leaves, as well as embryonic squash with still-unopened female flower buds to yellow. I pulled these off before they shriveled and rotted, but there were some that had turned brown and mushy.

Zukes in SFHH, 2022

As I mentioned before, I’m trying growing them vertically by training them into a “tree form”. The biggest plant is now over 5 feet (nearly 6 feet) if you measure to tips of upward growing leaves.

This is only my 2nd time, and I’m struggling with the technique — pictures of commercial/market farms in Japan show neat rows of perfectly straight “trunk”…. Still, these are growing much better than the ones from last year which were subject to storm winds and fungal issues, and ultimately SVB’s.

[applestar]

The key seems to be to sort of “handcuff” 2 leaves by their “arms” to a sturdy stake , approximately 20 cm to 30 cm from the main stalk/trunk.

Out in the field, 2 stakes on either side are recommended, especially in wind/storm-prone areas.

One interesting additional maintenance point that is recommended by some, is to cut off the leaves at the base of the leaves, leaving the leaf stems on the trunk, when the leaf stem begins to droop and sweep downward and/or any leaves below a fruit has been harvested — those are cut off at the stalk/trunk. (In addition to any diseased leaves)

BUT, you are also supposed to limit to only three leaves per day. Apparently, cucurbits are sensitive to mass defoliation.

[applestar]

Harvested 8/27 and 8/29 —

This is a Fall, 2021 planted Aspabroc plant that survived the winter in the Sunflower Hoophouse.

8/27 and 8/29/2022

I should have remembered when the hazelnuts were ready that the Chicago Hardy fig will also have started to ripen. There was one fruit that had become overripe and burst, hanging way up high beyond reach, but I managed to harvest the first batch. There were a few more yesterday, including the odd looking ripe one that, I think was almost a double.

Most of the Dae Jang Geum chamoe were harvested between the two days.

I found a recipe for a spray that might repel flea beetles*, so I was meticulously spraying the eggplant leaves, topside and bottom, when I discovered this little hornworm!

I harvested fully colored one of these Fish peppers — these are two super-variegated plants that I have been overwintering for the past 2~4 years (but I don’t know anymore how old they are). IME, variegation becomes more pronounced on new leaves that are growing on older branches. You can see the distinct striping that are still visible on the 2nd fruit.

—
* In 2 cups of water, boil 4 large cloves of garlic sliced thin and 4 dried hot peppers sliced in 1/2 inch rings (Include the pepper seeds and membranes) for 20 minutes. Cool and strain into a storage bottle. To use, dilute by 5~10x (e.g. put 50 ml in 500 ml spray bottle, then fill with water)

[applestar]

I’m calling these two “Chocolate Cake X” — the parent plant was grown from saved seeds, but the fruit had turned from green to red rather than brown … I saved the seeds because it had thick juicy sweet walls. I assumed it had been accidentally crossed with another variety.

This year, I’m seeing light green and dark green fruits on #1 and #2 plants that seem to want to start out growing pointing up rather than hanging down. This if I remember correctly is either Pimento or Lipstick characteristic.

What do you think?

[applestar]

I’d mentioned in another thread that I harvested some sweet potato leaf stems and tried making a simple pork dish with them.

Since they went over pretty well, I tried again yesterday, peeled them with DD1’s help, and this time, paired them with some store bought rotisserie chicken cut up. I also saved the leaves and made the blanched salad mixed with tomatoes and onions, with ginger dressing recipe that @imafan posted. I shared this one with DD2 — she said she liked it.

You can see the Chicago Hardy figs are ripening. Most of these are the ones on highest branches and some are really good size due perhaps to effects of apical dominance.

I may have to rethink pruning the branches shorter. It turns out the fig branches are flexible enough to bend way over down to my eye level when longer….

I took the time to clear two beds inside the Sunflower Hoophouse, loosen the soil under the mulch and work in some of my home made bokashi fertilizer (a new modified batch made with used coffee grounds and that rice bran based horse feed, which has been culturing inside the Patio Hoophouse all summer, plus some dolomitic lime) I’ll let these beds rest for a week or so under the plastic mulch.

When I was clearing these beds, I found a couple of sweet potato vines that had snuck past me and had grown all the way to the opposite walls. I pulled them up and turned them back. This is a process called “Tsurugaeshi” and is supposed to be done in early September to limit the vines from setting down any more satelite roots and try to grow potatoes that won’t have time to mature, only taking away nutrients from the potatoes that are already developing. I just watched a video which said in Tokyo area (Washington DC climate), you should test dig around end of September, to see how the tubers are growing, but expect to harvest in October or November before the frost arrives.

I’m hoping that inside the Sunflower Hoophouse, the temperatures will stay at least one zone but hopefully even two zones warmer as long as I add additional greenhouse poly on the outside as the weather starts to cool down.

[applestar]

Harvest pics from 9/5 and 9/7


— There were some apples that had come loose or had been knocked off — but the footies seem to have deterred the raider

— A 1/2 sized watermelon was ready to harvest… also pulled a couple of beets to make room for others to grow bigger, and test dug up ginger and turmeric

— zucchini has been suffering from mold that grows on the flowers sometimes even before they open, and rotting the baby fruits. You can the blossom that I hand pollinated on Monday had gone moldy by Wed, although the other fruit had grown big enough to harvest.

— harvested 28 Chicago Hardy figs yesterday Some of them had accelerated and split due to a little over 1” of rain we had on Tuesday.

— You can see a lot of tomatoes, even some that don’t usually split, had split by the time I got to them as well

— Sunburst yellow patty pan wasn’t as big as could let it become, but I didn’t want to take the risk of finding it gone moldy next time, so I harvested it.

— the central Aspabroc broccoli head was ready to harvest. This one is more grown for the numerous side shoots that should be developing from hereon. Also, this is that plant that survived the winter in the Sunflower Hoophouse so it’s in 2nd year.

[applestar]

I borrowed @Gary350’s idea and soaked fall greens seeds then made seed tapes using a bit of starch and water as glue and strips of paper towels.

I’m continuing the “hassle-free” intentionally not individually separating and keeping track of varieties or even what kind of veg — these were sorted into groups by in-row planting distances — (1) 4-6 inches, (2) 12-18 inches and (3) 18-24 inches.

I planted/sowed them in the bed at the back (east end) of the Sunflower Hoophouse — this area might get some sun during the winter. The smaller crop should be done and harvested by the time the larger crops need their space….

I loosely covered with garden fleece to keep them from drying out and keep pests away while they sprout. I also spread Sluggo plus to keep down sow bugs and pill bugs as well as slugs.

[applestar]

Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday —

— 9/9 —
- eggplants are getting tired (or it’s been getting too cool during the night) and can’t seem to fully develop the fruits — they turn dull and stop growing, so I culled them. I want to try to overwinter maybe two of the plants — hopefully one each variety — so I’m looking more towards gradually pruning and styling them to smaller more compact size to pot up.
- Found three apples on the ground. One was eaten up (not pictured).
- Test dug some myoga flowerbuds. Most are still small. Suspect rush of them after next rain (not for a while).
- Only one of this melon had survived and was growing in the Sunflower Hoophouse but the vine suddenly wilted before the fruit had chance to grow to full size . Have been finding stinkbugs and juvies.
- I let these kohlrabi and cabbage — and asian greens — seedlings get too lanky, but they seem to be establishing. Also sowed pre-germinated lettuce, salad greens, and turnip seeds along the front with the struggling asian green onions

— 9/11 –
- found some figs that had been eaten. Raccoons?
- Big cucumber was hiding behind the fence
- Accidentally cut off a green chamoe melon while trying to clean up powdery mildew- spotted and yellowed leaves
- Havested a NOT Goldfish (GoldfishX or a reverted Fish) pepper. Variegation is fantastic on this plant.
- tiny tobacco hornworm found on under an eggplant leaf

— 9/13 —
- More zucchini’s but there is powdery mildew spreading and a few more stinkbugs juvies
- These apples came off when tested — apples easily break off when lifted up if ready to harvest. I think it’s a bit early for these Arkansas Black
- harvested firsts of the biggest carrots and beets
- seed tape seeds have started to sprout

[imafan26]

You have been busy. These are the hottest months to work in the garden, but it is also the time when everything comes in all at once. It is hard to get to everything before it is gone. It looks like the pests helping themselves to some of the bounty.

[applestar]

I’ve been sticking to every other day gardening, but when I looked out of the window today, I realized that a female Greek Sweet Red squash — which is trying to take over a second trellis panel by climbing over the struggling tomatoes there — has FINALLY successfully opened. (There have been at least 4, maybe 5 embryo blossoms that dropped without opening), so I went out and hand pollinated it, then checked inside the Sunflower Hoophouse and hand pollinated 2 summer squash that also had opened.

Yesterday, I harvested my “token” rice. I dropped the ball in spring and never managed to prep my little rain garden rice paddy, so I stuck the plug tray of rice starts in the shallow ledge of the pond.

I also harvested full sized Kyoto Red carrot along with a slightly shorter one, as well as a full sized Golden Detroit beet … and some Prok persimmons that have started to ripen on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s find was by pure chance — I happened to go around to the front yard side of the fence to work on edging my Dads memorial garden bed, and noticed a perfect looking good ripe persimmon on the ground. So when I returned back to inside the Side Yard garden area, I looked around for more and found one that had been eaten and another good one on the ground, plus a couple more that was ready to be harvested with my hand made picker. I’m not expecting a lot this year since I failed to summer prune the tree (plus we had a bumper crop last year, so the tree isn’t likely to produce as much).

I also “test dug” along the OUTSIDE of the hoophouse in case sweet potatoes escaped and produced tubers under the hardpacked path. There was a small harvestable sized tuber and several fat sharpie marker thick ones, but it IS a little early. Hopefully there are many more to harvest inside the Sunflower Hoophouse when I will try to harvest in 3 to 4 weeks.

I’m finding Jubilee watermelon difficult, with tendency to blossom end rot. This was was an anticipated biggest melon, so it was very disappointing when the end rot which had seemed to heal over started to progress and soften before it was fully ripe….

The ‘Flying Dragon’ trifoliate orange is loaded though not quite ready as of yesterday. I’m hoping to freeze the juice to use like lemon juice again this year.

[applestar]

I was afraid I lost all my Goldfish (an orange-fruited sport of ‘Fish’ ) — new seed grown plants from saved are looking like they had become crossed (which is not entirely a bad thing, but I wanted to keep the Goldfish line too)

Tah Dah! An overwintered Goldfish plant which had been devastated by mite infestation has recovered (yeah I need to fertilize it more):

[Gary350]

You have so much going on in your garden how do you keep up with all of that. Wow amazing.

[applestar]

Thanks, @Gary350

Objectively speaking, I have too many things I want to try — and not enough space, energy/time to get them all done.

Every year I (force myself to reduce to) do 10 things and maybe get 5 projects go reasonably well

Things that fall through the cracks get another chance, higher in priority, next year.

BUT! None of my vegs are very many or in very big beds (except maybe tomatoes, but that’s because I have trouble reducing number of varieties )

I think someone else mentioned this, but growing perennial crops that virtually take care of themselves adds to the fun and sense of satisfaction— this includes fruit trees and shrubs. This also involves experimentation, though, to identify what is most suited for your gardening style and for climate:conditions in your garden. It’s particularly important to research for disease (and pest) resistance.

[applestar]

I’ve fallen behind again with my garden report and activity summaries. It’s been a bit rough for the past week+ with maybe last summer hurrah severe pollen allergies and resurfacing of my hip joint pains/bursitis (I’ve learned that tightly wrapping the upper thigh muscles to the hip joint with ACE bandage while gardening helps, actually… then wrapping again in the morning on the off day. Both only until/if swelling or itching makes the bandage unbearable, then staying off my feet to allow recovery.)

Not keeping up makes it hard to remember details …

- I feel like I shared that 9/19 harvest photo before elsewhere, mentioning that the broccoli is the one Aspabroc that overwintered and survived in the Sunflower Hoophouse?

- Prok persimmons and Chicago Hardy figs are rapidly ripening

- We’ve had our first significant dip in the temperatures — down to 42°F — Ahead of this forecast (48°F) on 9/21, I harvested almost all of the Dae Jang Geum Korean chamoe. It turns out that these taste like overmature cucumbers when still green or underripe (and are tasty when cut into cubes and cooked in tomato-based or light broth soups)

- I also harvested the one Nutterbutter butternut that fruited and matured

- I was able to hand pollinate two more Sweet Greek Red butternut type C.moschata squash blossoms on 9/21

- I’ve added multiple layered clear plastic as ground mulch for them to hopefully increase and retain ground temperature. The leading vines have now extended to the third panel on the trellis. All three fruits seem to have been set successfully as of 9/25

- The watermelon and chamoe vines were not able to withstand the low temperatures and they have declined to the point of no survival. Remaining fruits have been harvested (except for just one more chamoe not pictured).

- Powdery mildew (and the low temps) are overtaking the zucchini in the Sunflower Hoophouse. There were no male blossoms to pollinate this female embryo yesterday.
I intend to pull the plug tomorrow — There are two more fruits that will be harvest size today or tomorrow, and other small ones will be harvested prematurely.

- This leaves the cherry tomatoes that are continuing to produce, and hopefully these large fruited tomatoes will manage to develop to at least blush stage and come in before frost.

- Oh, and the sweet peppers. Let’s not forget the sweet peppers even though I forgot to include them in the collage I’m leaving them to fully color and mature hopefully. I might put up a tunnel or a windbreak surround….

[applestar]

I fell behind and was a little late starting — I really should have had seeds sown and seedlings growing by the end of August, ready to transplant by beginning of September….

As it is, in addition to the starts and seedlings sprouting already in the Sunflower Hoophouse, last Thursday (9/22) I started the pre-germinating process for seeds of early maturing fall to early winter (and possibly overwintering) crops —
* Chinese cabbages (Mini Kisaku 50 and Mini Napa No.2)
* Early Mizuna
* Winter Bloomsdale spinach
* German Giant radish
* early daikon (Korean Fall Storage 60d, Miyashige Winter 65d)

- All of them except the spinach and Miyashige should really have been sown day before yesterday (9/24), but I got them sown in deep cells and in the Sunflower Hoophouse yesterday (9/25).

… The Chinese cabbage etc. cells will be kept in the Patio Hoophouse which stays warmer, and the cells partially sown with spinach will be kept in the Sunflower Hoophouse which stays cooler, and will be additionally sown with lettuce and maybe more Asian greens.

- I also have a small spot prepped outside and covered with clear plastic mulch to keep the soil warm, that I haven’t decided what to do with yet

- Last winter, my well intentions to actively utilize the Sunflower Hoophouse was partly defeated due to difficulty getting in/out of the Sideyard Garden area. So I redesigned the entry area and built a gate.

… The Spiral Garden is pictured beyond the gate — maybe if you zoom in, you can see the peppers on the other side and the Greek Sweet Red vines taking over the trellis on the far side?

[applestar]

I made a collage of all of the fall-winter starts.

Seedlings from 2 days ago have sprouted —

- Dry-sowed some Cimarron, Marveille de Quatre Saisons lettuces, Kyoto Red and Mokum carrots, Detroit Dark Red and Touchstone Gold beets in the little bed.
- Dry-sowed backup/succession lettuces (same 3 varieties) in half of the remaining cells sown with (soaked but not yet germinating) Spinach seeds — it’s too early for them to sprout


I probably won’t start anything else, so as to focus attention and energy on the remaining tasks for this season, getting ready for the BIG MIGRATION of container plants into the house to overwinter, and then end of the season chores ahead of frost, readying the hoop houses, and final clean up.

[applestar]

Harvest report collage from 9/25, 9/27, and today. I had severe bursitis and had to skip yesterday, but now that it’s October and water restriction is no longer in effect, I think I’ll just transition to gardening on even-numbered days.

— I harvested the last two big zucchini, then culled the plants which were rapidly being overtaken by powdery mildew. There was no point in continuing to let the spores contaminate the inside of the Sunflower Hoophouse, and besides the plants were over 6 feet tall and taking up considerable amount of space and blocking the sun from the newly planted fall-winter veg.

— Last of the Arkansas Black apples, most of the persimmons now (a few green ones left high up in the tree), but the Flying Dragon has been ripening and starting to easily come off the branches.

— The cold weather has slowed down the sweet peppers, so I harvested some of the green and purple fruits where there were doubles or multiples on a single branch.


We have been getting the remnants of Ian since yesterday. On Friday, DD1 helped me replace the thin nylon string tiedowns for the Patio Hoophouse (which snapped when the last hurricane remnant passed through) with a heavier rope tie down so the hoophouse wouldn’t blow away.

I got outside during a break in rain this morning, quickly harvested from the VG beds and the Trifoliate Orange ‘Flying Dragon’ on other side of the house, then harvested the Spiral Garden and took refuge in the Sunflower Hoophouse.

Spent all morning cleaning up, culling extra seedlings (harvested as micro and baby greens), planting empty spots, weeding, and hilling up the floppy seedlings, fertilizing, etc.

I stayed dry but the path was flooded so it was a bit tough not being able to kneel.

[applestar]

…I forgot that I assembled this collage on Thursday. The Greek Sweet Red squash vines have completely taken over the three trellis panels, but only two viable squash have formed on 5 vines…and they are not fully mature yet.

Although I admit they might not be getting quite enough full sun in this location, at this point, I’m leaning towards retiring this variety and growing something else from here on that matures earlier and are more productive.

Most heirloom C.moschata’s are late maturing, so I suspect I’ll have to choose from hybrid varieties.

More Trifoliate orange ‘Flying Dragon’, some Myoga (Japanese ginger) flower buds … Red Shiso gone to immature seeds — which will be turned into pickled and dehydrated seasoning with the myoga. Tomatoes are trying their best, but the massive Ian hurricane/tropical storm system had passed to the southeast to northeast of us, completely blocking the sun — which meant we had three days of dark and chilly and rainy.


…My Sunflower Hoophouse was flooded for several days, and although the mounded beds protected the most of the plants (and probably was good for keeping the seedlings from drying out), the two Sergeant Pepper’s tomato plants with fruits (that had escaped their cell trays and rooted in the path) suddenly went limp. I don’t know if these fruits are mature enough to ripen inside….

…The path was still treacherously mucky, but I was able to prep the second half of the bed where the zucchini had been growing, and dig up some of the sweet potatoes today. (It’s a little hard to see, but I’m cutting up and trampling all of the sweet potato vines and into the muddy path. They’ll be freeze-killed during the winter, even if they try to root.)

I had heard that trellising the vines vertically concentrates the energy and results in small number of large tubers, but I didn’t expect one nearly the size of my boot!

The chilly temps and rain, plus the warm sunny last couple of days have been signaling the ‘Flying Dragon’ to finish maturing. These fruits won’t come off even with a tug, but fall right off when ready — in fact, if I’m not diligent about testing each fruit, I’ll find them all on the ground the next day.