Applestar’s 2023 Garden

[applestar]

It’s that time of the season when everything grows in leaps and you’re constantly tying up new growths or guiding the vines, etc.

…I’m mostly finished with initial care for the 3 varieties of winter squash — selecting the two 2ndary vines to grow from the pinched main vine and culling all extras, then guiding those up their respective trellises. Watermelons should be done next week.

…Also removed the vented poly tunnel over the Country Gentleman corn along a longer arc of the Spiral Garden.

…That first zucchini to be hand pollinated was ready to harvest today. A little smaller but it’s the first one so better to pick early than late.

…A 2nd female blossom was ready to be pollinated, and today, there was no lack of suitors.

… Today’s harvest of
* the smallish zucchini,
* all the male blossoms including petals from two I used for pollen donors and petals from the female blossom,
* tip tender cutting of basils to make them bushy
* another kohlrabi in the Sunflower Hoophouse that managed to fatten up,
* young plantain flower stalks I’m going to try eating as wild forage
* Yellow Anne raspberries (so yummy)
* a bucket of pruned citrus branch tips — mostly lemon …I wonder if there’s anything you can do with them?

…AAAANNNND… I DIDN’T NOTICE THIS —?just inside the door screens on the stepping block to the Sunflower Hoophouse — until I had already stepped in and out maybe 4 times.

I’m SURE this snakeskin wasn’t here last time I was in here…. So the snake has a way to get in? Or it’s been here all along …and still ate enough to grow and shed skin?

If I don’t forget, I’ll take a tape measure and see how bit it is tomorrow.

[applestar]

Today was FINALLY the day to build the overhead string support for the HBR (Haybale Row) large fruited tomatoes.

First I looked in the Sunflower Hoophouse and hand pollinated two zucchini.

Over on the tomatoes, bumblebees and metallic green sweat-bees were taking care of the task.

…Sidebar to make note of the lovely Faelan’s First Snow

The design I had in mind for the bamboo support needed to be tweaked a bit because the bed is actually wider than I thought, but I think it turned out even better.

I took care of some of the plants that are in the center of the row today. Outside ones are easier and can wait.

You can see how many green and other stakes I’ve already replaced with the jute string tied to the overhead beams.

I had ran out of stakes before… now that these have been recovered, I’ll have plenty for other projects. (I AM running out of the bamboo poles and will have to replenish my stock when they go on sale)

In addition to saving me from having to buy more green or metal spiral stakes, I really like the clean look of the string support — they are nearly invisible and look much less cluttered.

[applestar]

Most recently updated overlook photo and map-collage of the Spiral Garden

[applestar]

A quick recap

— Corn in VGC are starting to sprout!

— Spotted first female flower bud on Suyo Long cuke

— Cut off 4 or 5 well-grown suckers from Shimofuri(霜降り)F9 that were way too low on the main stem to stay — predict would get infected by fungal issues — but we’re too pretty to discard. Am water propagating them in the house to grow roots then pot up as “back up” plants — possibly to grow in fall garden or in the house for “winter indoor” garden. This early summer step to grow and harvest the best suckers may become my “de facto standard cultivation procedure” for the variegated tomatoes.

— started seeds of mini napa, cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower in a larger cell tray, as well as a quart berry container of mixed beet seeds. I normally don’t bother with the lunar cycles but noticed it’s was full moon and supposed to be best time to start seeds so why not? It’s a little earlier than my normal tries, but my timing had been a little late, so this may work out better?

…Had a panicky feeling when I realized the temp in the Patio Hoophouse had gone too high today when it unexpectedly cleared up and become sunny

But the seed tray was earliest to become shaded, and based on these numbers for hot water treating seeds, I think at least the brassicas are OK and hopefully the beets too.

It’s gonna get too hot in the Hoophouse. I’ll take them out of there and put them in the screened picnic saver mini-tent elsewhere.

[applestar]

THESE have been back on the Queen of Malinalco tomatillos. I’ve dispatched the adults several times in the past couple of weeks, and yesterday? Found the telltale leaves being munched by the mass hatching of the nymphs.

They are helpful in that they cluster together on the leaf they hatched on and munch a big hole together. Turn over the leaf and find the emptied orange egg cluster and the nymphs. So if you catch them in time, all you have to do is pluck the leaf off and grind it into the dirt.

I did that to two leaves and then one more leaf with I hatched egg cluster, plus an adult.

No time to take pics. Especially the adult which will scuttle if you give them a chance.

I forgot to mention — today, I spotted what looked at first glance like striped cucumber beetle on the Queen of Malinalco Tomatillo, but when I was capturing it, I remembered — this was the small Potato Beetle that I had to research to find what it was before. The size is like cucumber beetle but the spotted one, not the smaller striped one, but the coloring is bright orange-brown (kind of like barbecue sauce color) and stripes are tan.

After dispatching a couple more — they are slower than cucumber beetles — I started noticing the egg clusters on the underside of the leaves. Easily rubbed off the leaves but sticky.

Later on, once hatched, they will turn into grey grubs that pile their own poop on their backs. So disgusting, and they eat in swarms and can decimate the tomatillos. They also attack ground cherries, potatoes and eggplants.

Not cucumber beetle —

Subject: Spotted and striped cucumber beetles

That's a kind of a potato beetle -- NOT the more familiar Colorado Potato beetle. Let me see... ah ha! -- THREE-LINED potato beetle https://extension.unh.edu/resources/fil ... ep1517.pdf

[applestar]

Yesterday’s gusty thunderstorm and pounding rain FLATTENED the Country Gentlemen .

Also was confronted with the major limb of one of our European plum blocking my way to the Side Yard Garden… which turned out to be pretty major damage. (At least it didn’t fall in the pond or crush the neighbors fence. It fell squarely in the biggest Milkweed patch for the Monarch butterflies )

… I haven’t tried to see if anything else is down in the woods behind our house, but I was out this morning and driving along a stretch of county road, there was a bunch of orange emergency tree work trucks. Branches were scattered everywhere, then tree limbs grown from trees and trees laying on the ground uprooted with root mass sticking up in the air … small, recently planted roadside trees by a development at first … then MASSIVE trees … one was leaning on the street power lines and pole … and then what looked like the center of destruction— a farm with limbs and trees scattered along the drive between street and gate by the barn … with a big tree looking like someone had twisted it and ripped the top half off to throw it on the ground.

I have to guess that what is for us a rare twister touched down.

ETA — This was apparently due to phenomenon called “downburst” according to NOAA Storm Reports

A downburst occurred in [-] ... NJ on Tuesday ... July 4 ... 2023 resulting in multiple downed trees in the area around [-]

We’re not that close, but maybe the plum tree got caught up in a wisp of a violent gust.

…(without trying to sound like I’m celebrating— totally feeling for that damaged property owner and probably others) Silverlining in all of this in my garden is that a week or so ago, I decided I wanted to try some of those green immature plum recipes I’d been researching, but was having to acknowledge that all the still good looking fruits were way too high up in the branches to get at easily … then this happened.

[applestar]

I’m water-rooting these nicely variegated sucker/secondary side shoot branches in a pasta sauce jar (to keep from tipping over) and am keeping them under a supplemental light in the house.

No roots yet….

[applestar]

Clockwise from top-left —

* Beets and brassicas sprouted inside the tabletop screen tent.

* ‘Wild Rosa’ and ‘Molten Sky’ are my (Maglia Rosa x Coyote) cross segregates at F6/F7 generation.
— ‘Wild Rosa’ is characterized by the stubborn lack of conformity among the abundant trusses of elongated cherry shapes. Swirly stripes should show up as these green fruits develop and mature.
— ‘Molten Sky’ is developing the characteristic metallic sheen and more defined stripes. The fruit shapes should be relatively uniform among the same truss, though there will be environmental factors that result in pointed fruits and rounded oval fruits.

* I forgot to harvest this zucchini yesterday and it’s bigger than I intended.

The Suyo Long cucumber has reached the top of the trellis and the main leading vine was cut to encourage the side/children vines to develop faster.

* Two photos of the Money Maker eggplants inside the Sunflower Hoophouse. As might be expected, they are bigger and sturdier than the ones planted outside in the Spiral Garden. Those blossoms are huge!

* I cut some of the plum branches that were blocking my way to the Side Yard Garden shorter — just enough to clear the path because I had too much to do to give the plum too much attention.
… The limb split pulled apart the trunk, and considering the annual gummosis-canker issues, etc, We’ve decided to chop down the entire tree, so it’s been put on lower priority. It will be a big project, not only for the cutting work, but also sorting the healthier vs diseased branches, burning the bad and chipping the good, then what to do with the rest — Firewood? Mushroom logs? Properly dry large chunks for wood carving projects?

* Other harvest today includes the big and small zukes, zuke blossoms, a small heads of cabbage and napa cabbage, bolted lettuce, some wild forage, a green scallion/onion, failed but still usable clusters of small garlic, handful of raspberries….

[applestar]

In order to grow the three zucchini plants inside the insect mesh screened Sunflower Hoophouse to protect them from Squash Vine Borers (and squashbugs, leaffoot stinkbugs, etc.)

— Cashflow is supposed to be a relatively compact plant,

— I am refining the vertical trellising using the STRAIGHT main stem method
… Even when training the stem to grow upwards, if done casually, the stem will lean this way and that way, resulting in the stem hardening into snaking curves back and forth. This leads to those big leaves reaching wider on either side of the plant.

— Inches (and feet when added up) of hoophouse interior space can be saved by maintaining the stem to grow straight up in a disciplined straight line.

— You might think this would be best achieved by splinting the stem against a stake, but actually, it can be better accomplished by gently pulling on the leafstems to guide the direction of the main stem growth

— This means you can also bundle and tie two leaves at a time to keep them out of the way

— The stems can be kept uncluttered because the zucchini growth habit and cultivation requires all of the leaves below harvested fruit to be removed. Another indicator for removal is when the leaf stem starts to droop downward. In this way, zucchini plant can be grown in a “Tree form”

[applestar]

This wasn’t what I had intended to do today, but by the time I went outside, the ideas that had been simmering on the back burner wanted to be implemented.

Initially drawn up as bamboo stakes and cut pieces, as referenced in this post (click on uparrow link to go to that post)

— Sketched idea to build a support trellis for the VGA. Loosely basing this in reference to method by this couple who have been using obelisk trellises to grow fridge/personal size watermelons for several years at a community garden, by winding the vines up the support to save space
[…]

…Since I need the bamboo for the Sweet Greek Red and Nutterbutter squash trellises and the VGA Kaho watermelon trellis still, I used the metal Spiral stakes instead to build a 5-sided mock-obelisk/tower frame.

I’m not entirely satisfied and will be making changes and adjustments, but this was enough to sort out the Blacktail Mountain watermelon vines in the middle of the Spiral Garden and cull to two 2ndary vines each. I’ll let them recover and then thin the number of plants to three or four.

[applestar]

Original forecast today was going to be rain rain and more rain starting around 9~10am, but now it’s not starting to rain until 5pm or so, and I was able to do everything I wanted to this morning through lunchtime.

I took care of all the new growth guiding and pruning… including the zukes in the Sunflower Hoophouse.

I was also able to fertilize everybody with home made bokashi mixed with perlite (I’m hoping to provide some silica by using the perlite).

* I then removed the short insect mesh tunnel from the VGA Kaho watermelon plants

* set up the bamboo framework and trellis netting

* Sorted out the vines and culled the smallest of the 2ndary vines.

* Since that extended rainstorm is coming, I rearranged the insect screen mesh over the watermelons to g half cover and protect from excessive rain/wind, as well as splatters from the muddy walkway.

* I was taking pic of the developing female Suyo Long blossoms, and realized afterwards that a honeybee was working on one of the blossoms.

[applestar]

I seem to be having trouble sticking to plan lately. I woke up tired and told myself I HAVE to go out and empty the trays of all that rain from yesterday, but maybe will only do simple, easy things …start by JUST finishing the hanging string support for the rest of the Haybale Row tomatoes, and then see how I feel, but come back inside if to much.

* Well, I never got around to the tomatoes except to trim iffy looking leaves at the bottom and take a panoramic photo.

* Instead, I built the bamboo framework for the squash trellis in the Spiral Garden and attached the netting. This is a heavier netting than the white ones I’ve been installing for cukes and mini watermelon.

* I also hilled and got the Country Gentleman corn to stand up

* And while I was at it, stood up the Mirai 421 corn in the Sunflower Hoophouse, as well as clear away some older Aspabroc branches for better sun exposure for the corn behind it and airflow for the squash, which has taken off.

* Eggplants are looking good. Moneymaker is blooming. Shoya Long has finally decided to start grow and form the first branch. This one seems to need a long time to establish — it took a while for them to start growing last year too.

—

Here is a (crappy) over watch view of the Spiral Garden — looking at the time stamp, I think I didn’t wait long enough for the sun to clear the window screen so there is a flare on it from reflection….

[applestar]

I stuck to my schedule today — it’s been a week so my garden was due for a probiotic microbial tonic.

I combined about a cup of my home made bokashi and 1/4 cup of neem cake pellets with a sprinkle of natto powder, then soaked them in a bucket of water while I went around tying up new growths, etc.

Then I diluted the liquid about 1:10 while also adding hot pepper/garlic vinegar at about 1:500.

I thoroughly micro misted everybody with a pump sprayer.

[applestar]

Kaho watermelons in VGA (Vegetable Gardenbed A), along with the Suyo Long and China Jade cucumbers are loving the heatwave. Cukes have a bunch of female flowers on and harvest should begin soon.

I peeled back the insect mesh (literally since Kaho tendrils were starting to poke and wrap on), and tied the vines to the trellis netting to guide them the way I want them to climb.

I also set down a big tree pot of sweet potatoes and set up a simple string trellis for them to climb, I’m going to attempt the vertical trellising method for two of the vines and expect them to form tubers in the tub as a container growing experiment.

Two other vines have grown out over the rim and escaped the pot, so I pulled up the pins and tucked them under the black poly mulch, pulling the growing ends through the pre-existing planting holes… I’ll tie on a string trellis for them to grow up as well after a while. Hopefully these will set down satellite roots and form tubers in the bed.

Bottom two photos are. VGD on the left and VGB on the right, after pruning/cleaning up the bottom leaves of the tomato plants below first fruit truss to increase airflow and, according to the Japanese videos I’ve been watching, to accelerate these first trusses which are mostly full sized green to start ripening.

(They say these leaves are no longer contributing to the fruits growths since ripening nutrients come from leaves ABOVE the truss, and in fact, the leaves divert energy and minerals (including calcium) that are transported from the roots — So it’s best if the fruit truss is the first stop from the roots.

[applestar]

With help of DD2, measuring the jute strings to length and stocking them in a zip bag for me, I finished replacing all of the tomato stakes with the hanging string support between yesterday and today.

The proximity of the Sunflower Hoophouse doesn’t let me take a good overall view photo, but I’m very pleased with the result.

— Only additional feature needed is to secure a low level tight span of rope or poly tape to secure the bottom of the strings and stems to. This helps to stabilize the vines so they are not flapping in the wind, and moreover, in case of severe gusts like tropical storms and hurricanes, they won’t be ripped out of the ground by the roots. Not an immediate threat, but better to have protective measures in place.

* Top-left photo is a zoomed in pic of VGC Mirai 421 corn starting to poke tassels up… and the Bottom-left photo is a zombie fly infected by the mind-controlling fungus that made it climb up to the top of the corn and perish. It’s creepy and weird, but I imagine this is what’s helping to keep the local fly population down….

* Top middle shows the first large tomato to color-break — a Mikado White PL, and FFSX fruits next to it

* Inside the Sunflower Hoophouses, I set up a simple support to string guide the Otohime Early Girl watermelon vines,

*and harvested the two female zuke blossoms that opened without any male suitors. I also harvested the runty fruit
that haven’t gotten any bigger after four? days — it probably didn’t get sufficiently pollinated.

* A “portrait” mode photo of Faelan’s First Snow.

[applestar]

I’ve been wanting to push more nitrogen for the corn (not green enough) and did apply some home made organic bokshi a couple of days ago, and it did rain, plus I showered them with epsom salts + neem cake solution yesterday.

But now that they are forming tassels, is it still OK to give them high nitrogen — I was thinking maybe sprinkle some Calcium nitrate pellets and neem cake pellets….

I really need to learn to fertilize the corn (and probably eggplants) better….

[Gary350]

I’ve been wanting to push more nitrogen for the corn (not green enough) and did apply some home made organic bokshi a couple of days ago, and it did rain, plus I showered them with epsom salts + neem cake solution yesterday.

But now that they are forming tassels, is it still OK to give them high nitrogen — I was thinking maybe sprinkle some Calcium nitrate pellets and neem cake pellets….

I really need to learn to fertilize the corn (and probably eggplants) better….

Corn needs 3 heavy doses of nitrogen, 1 before seeds are planted, 2 when corn is 30" tall, 3 when ears have silks. Corn will make tassels first then when ears have silks corn needs a heavy dose of Urea nitrogen 46-0-0. My corn ears started making silks a few days ago. I put 1 pint of 46-0-0 in 5 gallons of water then squirted liquid nitrogen directly on 300 corn plant roots. 3 days later I fertilized corn again 1 more pint of Urea fertilizer. Corn is an extremely heavy feeder it needs a lot of nitrogen to produce big ears with large kernels.

Laundry ammonia is excellent fertilizer for corn.

Google search for Epson salt.

Epsom salt can improve the blooms of flowering and green shrubs, especially evergreens, azaleas and rhododendrons.

Epsom salts can be harmful to soil, plants and water. ... Do a soil test and add fertilizer according to recommendations and fertilizer label instructions.

Epsom salt – actually magnesium sulfate – helps seeds germinate, makes plants grow bushier, produces more flowers, increases chlorophyll production and deters, it is not a fertilizer ...

Photo of farm tractor pulling a tank of liquid ammonia to fertilize soil before planting corn seeds.

[applestar]

Thanks @Gary350! Sounds like I CAN and SHOULD give them all more nitrogen, and will start with whatever I have available to throw at them

[imafan26]

I definitely agree corn is a heavy feeder, but you do have to be careful how much you use and it works best in divided increments at specific periods of growth. Excess nitrogen in the soil leaches into ground water and can be detrimental to the environment in the long run. Gary grows really nice corn.

I have a little different schedule. I use sulfate of ammonia, 21-0-0 because urea was a bit too strong for me. I use the lower requirement because I have a lot of residual nitrogen in the soil based on the soil test. It comes out to be 2 tablespoons of 21-0-0 per 100 sq. ft. about every 3 months. For corn, I don't need to add a starter because of the high baseline. I give the first increment when the corn puts out true leaves or about 4 inches tall, the second, would be just about a month later (6 weeks from germination). If this is the last corn crop of the year, then I would follow with a scavenger crop, usually cabbages to clean up excess nutrients.

I do have a heavily amended clay soil and the organic matter in the soil holds on to nutrients for a long time. Gary has a different soil type than mine and his soil requirements are different.

[applestar]

For today, I took about 1 gallon that was left of the concentrated and cultured soaked bokashi and neem cake plus a handful of Calcium nitrate, dissolved in about 2 gallons of liquid total after adding water and soil drenched all the corn, then thoroughly watered in. (Today was watering day.)

I also proceeded with the summer pruning of the container and in-ground figs I posted about elsewhere. Ha! just now realized I forgot the small Chicago Hardy outside VGA…

… Today’s Collage …

* Suyo Long cucumbers were ready with first harvests (3)

* 2 Kaho (VGA) and 1 Blacktail Mountain (Spiral Garden) watermelons had female blossoms to hand pollinate

* 2 suspected yesterday’s and 1 today’s Cashflow zucchini in the Sunflower Hoophouse needed to be hand pollinated as well, but there was only 1 male blossom today. I don’t know if it will help, but I also dabbed them with additional pollen from a C. moschata male (Korean Ae).

I’ll watch closely and cull/harvest them if they don’t develop properly.

* First tomatoes to blush were some of my S7xA.F3 projects — looking like pink or red as well as yellow fruits?

* and I think this pink? cherry is probably a runty Wild Rosa or Li’l Wild Rosa, but I’m not sure because it’s in a mixed growbag of unlabeled cherries. It *could* be a latest variant of the still-unstable Moona Mints — hopefully the “official” growout in VGB will also exhibit the same striped characteristics.

* I saw one bright yellow Queen of Malinalco pod on one plant, yesterday near lunch time from the window, then through the afternoon, some of them had fallen on the ground every time I looked out the window. I thought maybe those cardinals were pecking at them, but today, realized these are falling off on their own. So I knocked off any that were ready today.

Earliest ones that I controlled/culled and limited the fruits per branch are much bigger. Some of them are tiny. I need to hurry and cull them heavily to get them back to size for harvest.

* I took a pic of the. VGC corn for comparison later to see if they will green up.

[applestar]

Yesterday and today —

Preliminary excitement for the S7xA.F3 — {Shimofuri(霜降り)F7 x Aztek} F3 segregates!

One of the (FT3) line yielded the VERY FIRST tomato to be harvested this year.

It has swirly markings which may just mean its epi is clear, revealing subcutaneous veins, and this is a pink fruit.

The fruit is definitely larger than Aztek but smaller than Shimofuri(霜降り). Keep in mind the fruits may develop pointed blossom end when temperatures are cooler.

This plant has a medium stature among the three heights represented — Not quite the shortest micro-dwarf type in the front to the right (a BS6 line). You can see some foliage with variegation — not a lot but enough to work with.

Upper branching stems are longer and arching — a wispy line — so may still turn out to be “sprawling” and suitable for hanging basket cultivation.

Although tallest plant type among them, I’m super intrigued by the plant with fruits that are ripening yellow (a BS6 line). This will introduce a completely different fruit color from Shimofuri(霜降り) to a plant that is showing promisingly variegated patterns (This one was the best out of all of them.)

The taller growth pattern and size/shape of fruits so far are reminiscent of Shimofuri (霜降り) and may offer a yellow fruited selection.

Kaho and Blacktail Mountain watermelon vines are producing female blossoms!
I’ve hand pollinated ones that I saw were open, but some of them are already hanging downward and looking pollinated. There were honeybees, sweatbees, and hoverflies working the blossoms too, so my assistance actually may not be needed.

Most mini watermelons are described as harvest ready around 35 days after hand-pollination, or 25 days after fruit set. So if all goes well, I might anticipate first harvest around August 20.

After yesterday’s excitement about the first S7xA.F3 project to mature, 2nd fruit from the same truss as well as three of the yellow fruits were ready today.

Both of the long Asian cucumbers seem to be ready to provide steady harvest for a while. Still waiting on the H-19 Littleleaf.

It’s turning into a jungle inside the Sunflower Hoophouse and regular housekeeping is necessary to keep the pathways clear.

I began prepping the Southwest corner bed to plant the fall crops I have started.

Hope to get it done in the next couple of days so I won’t have to separately worry over the little seedlings any more….

[applestar]

All of the in-ground tomatoes:

Tomatoes

Eggplants inside the Sunflower Hoophouse are definitely growing better than the ones outside:

Eggplants

.
… I’m trying a new idea roughly translated as “Doho-san’s Perpendicular Cultivation” — concept is that by bunching and tying all of the plant stems together, you can create the least paths of resistance for auxins and gibberellins, resulting in stronger plants that resist pests and diseases and produce more and larger. The method maximizes/saves space in the hoophouse so a perfect opportunity to experiment.

More watermelons have bloomed and have been pollinated:

Kaho Watermelons

Blacktail Mountain Watermelons

…I can even see the baby watermelons from the upstairs window when the sun is shining directly on them from the West

Overlook

The biggest one is most definitely set, and the other two look likely. That means I might be able to adjust eta of first fruit to 25 days from a couple of days ago (2nd week-August)

[applestar]

Starting to fall behind with reporting on the garden …

I may add a few from last couple of days, and more from yesterday, but I’ll start with this —

Yesterday during first morning inspection, came across yellow egg mass-looking goop on the best Shimofuri(霜降り)F9. At first I couldn’t figure it out.

The big green-black wet pellet-looking things nearby were definitely frass though. They were BIG. I was even thinking tree frog….

Now, this is my 霜降り. You know I’ve been paying more attention to it than any of the others, right?

I rinsed the goop and poop off so they wouldn’t burn the leaves, then began an inch-by-inch search for the culprit….

Well, guess what? This HUGE, near mature tobacco hornworm was on the other side of the plant. I was so mad I didn’t even take a pic before pulling it off to take a good look at it on the birdbath rock.

Went back to crouch and look up from where the goop was, and realized that the bottom half of the fruits were completely munched (couldn’t tell at all from above).

[applestar]

Today, I started with the Shimofuri(霜降り)F9 sideshoots that I had started to water propagate, then had been neglecting, by potting them up before they failed completely. …Our kitty went after them while I was outside and then upchucked. Not an auspicious start, but we’ll see.

* Identified a new Garden Patrol — didn’t know there was a parasitic fly that specializes in carpenter bees — this will save me from having to worry about them as much.

* Worked on the sweet pepper bed. It’s a somewhat shaded arc of the Spiral Garden (by design) — they are starting to bloom and set fruit. I’m still culling / not waiting them to get big enough because I want to get them to grow big peppers if I can.

* No pictures but the Greek Sweet Red and Nutterbutter are continuing to drop barely formed female flowerbuds. To soon? Not sure why.

Is it because I keep harvesting the male blossoms that are not going to be used anyhow? (No lettuce or lettuce substitutes this year, but these giant flower petals actually work very well in salads and sandwiches)

…I fed them today, along with everybody else that are deserving because they ARE now in production mode…..

7/22 collage

* Cucumbers are promising to provide every day or every other day.

* I’m starting the fall-winter garden earlier this year in hopes of actually harvesting in the fall.

CENTER — planted the started mixed beet seedlings under the H-19 Littleleaf cukes yesterday.

~~~

Here is an albeit very confusing collage of the SW corner bed in the Sunflower Hoophouse where I’ve planted started plants/seedlings
-- single stalk and multi-stalk scallions — Flagpole, Ishikura Long Winter, and Kyoto Kujo (9-stalk)
-- brassicas — Alcosa cabbage, Minuet mini napa, Fioretto 60 cauliflower, Eastern Magic and Green Magic broccoli

SFHH SW

These all need to be protected inside insect screen due to impossible pest pressures.

GG

THIS is convincing if nothing else is. I’m pretty sure this is Green Goliath broccoli, only one to survive being overwintered inside this Sunflower Hoophouse and NOT bolt in the spring. I hope it makes it through the coming week of yet another heatwave….

~~~

I’m taking way too many tomato pics. Here is a random gallery of recents —

Tomato collage

[applestar]

After a quick look in the Vegetable Garden beds, I went to see my mom at the assisted living home.

I harvested two Molten Sky cherries and one pretty impressive Shoya Long cucumber for her, along with a handful of blackberries.

* Mirai 421 corn are tasseling and shedding pollen, but I still don’t see any silks. If the silks are delayed much longer, I may only have Country Gentleman pollen to pollinate with, and I’m not sure if they would be compatible.

* Not in pic but the arc of Country Gentleman in the Spiral Garden are growing well. You can see the 3rd group of mostly Country Gentleman in VGC are also greening up nicely.

* Look at the truss of cherry tomatoes blushing. Though they look big, the Wild Rosa fruits in the foreground of the photo (with the typical varied fruit shapes on the same truss) are about the same size as the Molten Sky which are ripening earlier….

After returning home, it was too hot and so was too tired to do more than take pics from the window…..

[applestar]

Most of the Japanese gardening videos I watch are based in middle to southwestern parts of Japan where climate is equivalent to approximately DC area on south. This means I have to adjust for my shorter, cooler growing season.

One technique that I have been studying and wondering about is pruning and culling all fruits and flower buds in mid-August to revitalize eggplants so that new growths that are triggered results in new blossoms starting about a month later (reorganizing, new growth points and side shoots, 2 leaves, then floral trusses) and resume harvest in 1.5 to 2 months until FROST for “Fall Eggplants” which are more tender and less bitter”

Here, with the shortening days and cooling temperatures slowing the regrowth period, the eggplants don’t have enough time to reach the fruiting stage and develop to harvest size.

This year, I was considering trying something NOW. And was watching a video about continuously pruning all of the top growths to maintain plant to less than around 4 feet.

Then came across this video:

In this one, he talks about cutting the stronger of the two main stems to root and propagate a new one, and pruning the remaining plant in the ground in a semi-modified revitalizing cut-back of stems and roots. (Cutting the remaining big leaves in half rather than removing them is another method that I hadn’t seen before)

He mentions that in native India, eggplants are perennials, and you could take a healthy cutting and nurture a new plant over the winter to plant out in spring. (Eggplants won’t grow water roots like tomatoes. He said to keep in water to soak up the water and let reorganize systems, then plant in ground like he does or in nursery pots for better chance of success.



…NEW PROJECT !!

[applestar]

For starters, I’ve started pinching the eggplants at two leaves above an actively blooming blossom — anywhere from about 30” to 42”.

This will encourage side shoots from which you are supposed to grow 2 leaves+floral truss (cull to one that set fruit)+1 or 2 more leaves to supply the fruit, then pinch growth point and any suckers BEYOND the fruit. Harvest just the one fruit with the entire side shoot. Rinse and Repeat.

…

* Here are pics of hand pollinated Ae, zukes, and first Nutterbutter squashes

* VGC Mirai 421 finally started showing silks. I cut off two of the tassels to thoroughly pollinate them yesterday. I dusted the 5th leafnodes down from top where the silks are expected to emerge on other ones too for good measure.

* Kaho watermelons.
* Latest pics of the Side-yard Garden including good view of the Country Gentleman corn arc of the Spiral Garden (tallest is about 4 feet now), and a peek inside the Sunflower Hoophouse to note that I forgot to mention the 4th mini row of corn — Mirai 421 inside (Actually, THIS is the 3rd, and the newest up of mostly Country Gentleman in VGC is the 4th)

~~~

Harvest from last two days — the Haybale Row big tomatoes have started to come in, as well as VGB cherries and VGD cross-breeding project tomatoes.

Also Bora King Korean purple daikon (VG.SIP) and Money Maker eggplants. Lots of C.moschata squash blossoms.

[applestar]

Some progress photos from Thursday and Friday:

Cucurbits inside the Sunflower Hoophouse:

— Hand pollinating Ae (Korean C.moschata harvested young as summer squash) — I bought the zuke-shaped one but one is growing the round version which also exist.

— Cashflow zukes are still healthy but had been dropping female blossoms. They seem to have resumed producing.

7/27 Inside the Sunflower Hoophouse

— Early Girl Otome watermelons — three of the hand pollinated blossoms seem to have set fruit. Not sure if these leaves and vines should be this small. Stunted? Not enough fertilizer?

— H-19 Littleleaf cuke is supposed to be parthenocarpic and are starting to bear fruits. Seems to be slow to mature to fruiting stage and need more warmth than the Asian cuke counterparts in VGA. Outside H-19 in the spiral garden is even slower.

~~~

— Blacktail Mountain watermelons in center of the Spiral Garden have set 6 fruits.

7/27 Spiral Garden center and inner arc S7xA.F3

— S7xA.F3 : All are suffering from Septoria and are rapidly losing leaves
— BS6 and FT3 segregates to the right of the group are showing with microdwarf type determinate characteristics and have been yielding ripe fruits
— the other two segregates seem slower to mature and the fruits are still green to just color breaking/blushing

~~~

— This 1” wasp-looking buzzing and crawling on the rear panel scared me, wondering how it got in … but when I zoomed in, it was clearly on the outside.

7/28 inside the Sunflower Hoophouse

— Ae vines are turning into a monster. They cling to the insect mesh with their tendrils and tris to climb up. I still have a little more room to guidestring them down.

~~~

I cradled three of the Kaho watermelons with hammocks to support their weight (yellow one turned out to be too small and will need a re-do)

7/28 Kaho watermelons are starting to need hammocks

— Three more fruits need attention

~~~

Latest view of the Vegetable Garden area:

7/28 partial view of Vegetable Garden area

[applestar]

I found a leaf footed squashbug INSIDE the Sunflower Hoophouse today Luckily it was where I could immediately grab it with my gloved hands and execute it.

I looked around and found one squash leaf that might have been chewed on by the bug (just holes no yellowing), but no friends and did not spot an egg mass.

So here’s hoping it was a lone male. I’ll keep a close eye on that leaf in case it shows sign of disease transmission, and also for eggs and/or a 2nd bug, then any sign of hatching event for the next week.

Sunflower Hoophouse 7/29

…Looks like a couple of transplants didn’t make it — I see empty spots. I have more Minuet Napa that I can plant there.

[applestar]

[…] one of my corn patches (Spiral Garden) was flattened this morning.

A piece of wire fencing had somehow been blown into the corn. If it had been gusty enough, possibly the vented plastic that was under it had been blown to flap sufficiently and toss the fence over 2 or three feet?

I lifted them up to stand with lines of strings. One fatal casualty — completely snapped — will see if the others recover….

Spiral Garden corn was flattened

…On the bright side, the sweet pepper arc was not damaged

I couldn’t help myself and harvested the darker green pepper.

~~~

The Haybale Row, located between the Espalier Fence Row fruit trees / 5 ft vinyl pocket fence and the Sunflower Hoophouse, is in a well sheltered spot against wind and the overhead persimmon tree canopy protects as well … BUT! In the current heatwave with near 100% humidity, Septoria and Early Blight appeared almost overnight and have been spreading despite my efforts. I’m reduced to clipping individual leaflets and sun-leaflets, and trimming potato leafs in half or parts.

This is not a high resolution image, but you get the idea.

Haybale Row tomatoes + S7xA.F3

Although the apparent microdwarf FFSX in the Haybale Row (located in the extended portion and not sandwiched between the Sunflower Hoophouse) are managing to stave off the worst despite their dwarf rugose type leaves, the poor S7xA.F3 micros are rapidly becoming overwhelmed. I think partly because they are definitely determinate and they have been pumping out ripe fruits… but the later maturing, not as short wispy type which should be semi-determinate are also getting pretty beat up to the point that I’m afraid they won’t have sufficient leaves to ripen the fruits to their full potential.

It doesn’t help that I pushed it and planted them where, even though tomatoes were NOT planted in this arc, the MRxCF segregates planted in the center of the Spiral Garden had grown so rampant that the vines had occupied the support trellis above… and of course this particular arc DID have tomatoes planted in 2021.

Yes, I should know better

[applestar]

The most recent upper blossoms of the tomatoes haven’t been setting fruit since we’ve been stuck in this high-90’s by day/high-70’s to even 80’s night temps.

I’ve been letting some of the suckers grow out to create more floral truss opportunities and fresh new leaves, and now that we finally had our upper 60’s by dawn night time temp, hopefully some of these tomatoes will consider trying to recover and set fruits for fall harvest before frost.

…A few of the plants gave up and have basically shriveled up into dry sticks — mostly ones that had been bullied by neighbors and already weaker and stressed.

I’m going to try to finish giving them supplemental fertilizer between today and tomorrow.

I came across a new easy way to add organic fertilizer. Instead of scratching into the top layer and ideally mulching, the original video recommended using a dibble-type stick to make a 1”~1.5” diameter deep hole, spoon in approximately 2Tbs per plant, then fill the hole with water and fill in the hole with soil cap to mask the odor that might attract pests and animals.

I’m adapting this method with a bulb planter with spring-loaded handle that opens up the bottom of the planter to release the soil plug. I have the organic fertilizers in a pourable recycled widemouth bottles, and I just pour into the hole, generally layer with something inorganic or odor suppressing, then water and top with soil plug release from the bulb planter.

Examples:
* Fish Bonemeal + Bokashi
* Fish Bonemeal + Langbeinite
* Bokashi + Neemcake meal

…I found out yesterday that for Eggplants, I should be giving high K and then N, but less P, Ca, or Mg. Who knew? I thought you’re supposed to be pushing P, K and Ca, Mg right now. — I guess that would be Langbeinite and Neemcake, maybe a bit of Bokashi. Hm where does S fit in? Maybe I should stick to Potassium bicarbonate?

[applestar]

I don’t like to complain, but it’s a bit disconcerting when seeds don’t grow what you are expecting. I had what I thought was zero germination of Korean King Ka Ae F1 C.moschata summer squash and I complained since zero germination seemed a bit much. The company refunded immediately, which was a pleasant surprise. But then it turned out that what I thought was Japanese Hokkori kabocha F1 wasn’t (probably I mislabeled). And here I do have King Ka Ae growing … but one of them turned out to be the round kind of Korean summer squash. The blossoms are C.moschata, so it still isn’t Hokkori, which is a C. maxima, but the blossoms are smaller than the King Ka Ae, and the fruits are round. Presumably it’s Teot Bat Put. (And now it turns out I had zero germination of Hokkori )

I feel like the Ae isn’t as productive as it should be for a hybrid.

(…so I decided to keep the refund …even though all of this is tickling my curiosity….)

2nd little H-19 Littleleaf cuke, there are 6 baby eggplants like this in the Sunflower Hoophouse, and they look big but what you are seeing are actually jawbreaker size Otome watermelons.

7/30

* The Spiral Garden arc of Country Gentleman corn were able to stand up straight after 2nd round of lifting with two string lines.

* I called it on the mini Napa and Mizuna bed yesterday — they were just burning up with no chance of recovery, and loosened the soil and incorporated fertilizer to prep it for planting. I left the broad leaf shungiku standing to go to seed.

— I know I want to sow some carrots here. Maybe also daikon and lettuce, and cover with insect mesh tunnel?

~~~

Recent harvests with zoomed tomatoes labeled:

7/27~7/30 Harvest

[applestar]

DD2 and I did a tasting of the Cashflow zuke and the zuke-shaped Ae plus eggplants, all marinated and then coated with potato starch and pan fried.

Turned out crisp/crunchy on the outside, tender and creamy on the inside — yummy!

And we agreed the Ae is sweeter and creamier than regular zuke, but eggplants were the best.

[applestar]

Wah! Got stung by a wasp while enthusiastically pulling weeds along the strawberry bed — on my lip no less.

Panicked when it got in my hair just above the ear and kept buzzing and couldn’t get it to leave — did NOT follow my usual advice not to swat at it.

Didn’t realize but must have disturbed a nest since more than one, but luckily only the one lip sting.

They must have sprayed me with attack pheromone because after getting away, got buzzed by a random wasp (maybe from same nest heading home), then yet another one on the other side of the house, and finally by normally indifferent Carpenter Bee while on the patio.

Then I wised up and soaped up my hair at the faucet.

Never saw what it was but likely a yellow jacket or paper wasp consistent with location location….

Immediately gathered plantain leaf and chewed and kept the wad on the lip sting, then got DD to bring me homeopathic Apis and Ledum. Continued to refresh the poultice adding Jewelweed to Plantain leaf and a bit of Peppermint for anesthetic. So kept the swelling down.

Guess I’ll have a fat lip for a while….

[imafan26]

I never really fertilized eggplant much, but it good to know I probably need more potassium. It seems to be a common theme with most of the fruit bearing and root plants, that they need more potassium, calcium and micronutrients and less phosphorus than I thought.

Sorry, to hear you got stung. Wasps have a bad temper, unlike bees they attack first and ask questions later.

[applestar]

Thanks @imafan. With my many allergies, I’m always a bit wary of developing anaphylaxis-level sensitivity, but so far no.

Harvested a tiny head of cabbage today, so have added raw cabbage leaf to help keep down the swelling. Right now, I only look more like I might have just come back from a dentist appointment.

[imafan26]

Except for Kale and alyssum. I have no cabbages. It is too hot to grow them. Even though you have hotter days than I do, you probably have cooler nights. Even semposai and Komatsuna which are the most heat resistant mustards for me don't make it past May. But in September, I can plant them again. I haven't tried to plant a head cabbage in years. I only got a baseball sized cabbage and the snails ate out the center of it. Your garden harvest is peaking, while I am in transition.

[applestar]

This was another one of the overwintered Sunflower Hoophouse experiment surprises — these early, mini cabbages had bolted from neglect in spring, and instead of digging them up, I tried cutting down the stalk without entirely removing — each stalk produced 5~7 side shoots so I culled them to 3~4 and they are slowly heading up — baseball size at most.


The wasp-stung lip had swollen in similar way to if you accidentally bit the inside of your cheek or lip — swollen enough that the sensitive tender area rubs against, and can be accidentally pinched by teeth. So I gave up on eating solid food and made a big pitcher of cooling anti-inflammation smoothie (cucumber, handful of thinned/culled Aspabroc broccoli side shoot leaves, a few sprigs of pepermint leaves, banana, plain yogurt, blueberry preserve, pepitos, a tiny splash of rice vinegar, rice milk).

Sipped on the smoothie all day — kept up doses of homeopathic remedies Apis (bee stings, hot swollen skin rashes, allergies) and Ledum (insect bites, itchy skin rashes, allergies), Hitaminum (basically antihistamine; any histamine-related systemic reactions) as well as Hypericum (nerve pain — because my teeth were starting to hurt as heat expanded out along the jaw) … also Arnica (mainly used for muscle pain but also relieves swelling and bruising).

Applied the poultice of the herbs wrapped in piece of cabbage leaf when tender lip in contact with teeth caused irritation.

By dinner time, I was able to have a small serving of (cooled) ramen with wonton and a little bit of cooked spinach — did not require vigorous chewing. It’s not hurting as much (but that might just be the remedies still in effect).

[applestar]

Ground-level view of the Spiral Garden. I kind of rushed it, but I dry-sowed carrots, turnips, beets, daikon, and Umaina (Japanese leaf chard), directly covered with a piece of floating cover, then an insect mesh low tunnel.

[applestar]

Daikon and some of the turnips have sprouted already. I still need to keep up with watering everyday until the carrots sprout.

… my wasp-stung lip is better BTW. Swelling is completely gone … I just have to catch myself from trying to itch with my teeth when occasionally feels itchy…

In the Sunflower Hoophouse, zucchini have all decided to start blooming again — maybe they didn’t like the 90+°F temps and are appreciating the cooler upper 60’s night temps we’ve been having?

Only problem is they are mostly female blossoms with only one male or even none. I’ve tried using butternut squash and Ae male blossoms (better than nothing and culling if they don’t take in next couple of days so we can still eat them as baby squash), and now that I’m REALLY comparing, am wondering if that round fruited squash might actually be C.maxima after all. It seems like the zukes are setting fruit when I use those blossoms.

Which means I prematurely harvested the only Kabocha I had so far. The 2nd one aborted even though I had pollinated.

…I may have lost the first couple of Minuet Napa starts to crickets. They’ve eaten the center of the rosette to a nubbin, and I think that means the central head won’t form. I have I think 4 more starts. But I’m trying to eradicate the crickets by setting roach traps near the damaged napas before replacing them.

Here are the harvest photos for the past week