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kayjay
Green Thumb
Posts: 416
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:14 am
Location: Southern Ontario

KayJay's Garden, 2022

Hello all. The weather is still wintery here, but it's time to get thinking spring and gardening.

Previous years' threads:

- 2020
- 2019
- 2018
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015

I wasn't here much last year, and didn't make a thread. I lost a bit of my gardening mojo, though I still did it. I was also just a bit burned out reading/talking about it. It wasn't a great year: the weather wasn't great, and my experiment in direct-seeding my cucurbits failed. They were just too late and succumbed to the usual downy and powdery mildew before producing much at all. So I'm going back to what worked: start them indoors around last average frost, transplant them. It may not seem like a few weeks should make a difference, but I guess it does.

I grew cilantro for the first time. I hate buying a giant bunch of it at the store - what the heck am I going to do with it all? (I do freeze it, but that's only good to add to cooking and I like some fresh on top.) I hear it self-seeds like crazy, so I'll be interested to see if that happens. I might start some in a different container, just in case that didn't happen.

My peppers and tomatoes did quite well. I did potatoes in a giant Rubbermaid container, just for the heck of it. It's probably kind of a waste, considering potatoes are nicer and cheaper from the store, but it was a fun experiment, and the plants were pretty. My sweet potatoes were about the same - not that great, but I guess I'm still waiting for a really nice long hot summer.

To be continued! :)

User avatar
kayjay
Green Thumb
Posts: 416
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 7:14 am
Location: Southern Ontario

Peps:
- Jalapeno
- Orange Mini Bell
- Hot Portugal
- Serrano

Toms:
- Cherokee purple
- Yellow pear
- Tiny Tim
- Sunset Big n' Fat (I don't know the real name of the variety; I saved it from the grocery store just labeled 'heirloom'.)
- "Golf balls" (accidental cross. Really liked it, going to see what it does this year)
- Feuerwerk
- Brandywine
- Mortgage lifter

Cool weather stuff, though this is a big 'maybe':
- Lettuce "Grand Rapids"
- Kohlrabi
- Spinach
- Radish

Hot season cucurbits:
- Cucumber "Picklebush"
- Pumpkin "Jack-O-Lantern"
- Acorn squash, Burpee early hybrid
- zucchini "Dark green"
- mystery zucchini that was supposed to be opo squash

Etc:
- Swiss chard, Fordhook Giant
- Cilantro

pepperhead212
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 2851
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b

Glad to see you back, kayjay! Hope you and your garden do well this season!

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13961
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Welcome back KayJay

I don't have problems growing cucumbers. You have to have the right varieties for disease resistance or yeah, the diseases end them really quick.

I have cilantro now but they are about to bolt. I might be able to get one more round in, but I have cilantro when I don't need it and none when I do. It does not freeze that well unless you want to make recaito. It works better if you soak the seeds overnight so they will germinate faster. They can self seed if you are cool enough, but they bolt when it gets over 78 degrees. For me they will last anywhere from 5 weeks to 2 months unless you do successive sewings and pick them a lot. Mine does not self seed. It gets too hot to grow them past this month.

You have a nice set of plants. The most disease resistant cucumbers for me has been Soarer , Sweet Slice, Sweeter Yet, General Lee, and Dasher II. Suyo is less resistant to powdery mildew but has better heat resistance. Diva is also a good one that was an AARS winner and tolerant to powdery and downy mildew.

I am trying Muncher for the first time since I want a better pickling cucumber, and Shintokiwa, a new selection from Baker Creek. I am not going to grow them until the rainy season has passed since they have downy mildew resistance but not powdery mildew.

Soarer is the best all a round for nice smooth skinned bitter free cucumbers with good disease resistance at least when they are young and healthy.



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