Last Cantaloupe --- End of Season Thread

[jal_ut]

We had the last cantaloupe for breakfast. We have sure been enjoying these melons. I still have some watermelon, but the wife won't eat it.

I just picked the last bushel of tomatoes, and six heads of cabbage. That was the last crops on my plot for this season. So out came the tiller and I tilled everything in. We haven't had rain for a long time and the soil was dry and dusty. I will likely till again after we get some rain, but for now I can plant the garlic.

[gixxerific]

I'm right there with you my friend. I have one pepper plant 3 tomatoes hanging on for there dear life and some volunteer garlic growing. The rest has been manured and mixed in.

Time to plant some garlic, mustard etc. and forget about that part of it till next season.

See ya than, well hopefully before but you know....

[jal_ut]

Well, time now for planning next years garden, shopping and swapping for seeds. I joined a market this year and have been making notes on what I could have sold had there been more of it. Also noted what did not sell well. My garden next year will be some different than it was this year.

I don't grow enough to make loads of money doing it, but it gave enough to cover all out of pocket expenses for the season, plus a little.

I suppose there will be some activity on this forum all winter. I will likely check it daily as always.

[ReptileAddiction]

And even if you have nothing to post about you could still watch all of us southerns still garden at ful force

[rainbowgardener]

And share the planning for next year and what you will do differently.

I have the last tomatoes ripening indoors. Still bringing in herbs to dry. Lots of swiss chard still in the garden, which I think I will bring in and freeze - the leaves toughen up after some frosts. Have lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and garlic sprouted to over winter. Lots more work to do pruning, trimming, grinding up branches into wood chips, weeding, mulching,

I ordered new tea canisters in two sizes, to pack with my herbal tea blends that I will start making, begin the Christmas gift basket production.

[applestar]

I really enjoy gardening vicariously, and to get ideas for my own garden. And I also enjoy helping out when I can. So I'll be here every day too.

I'm still waiting to see if the last watermelon will turn out any good. the bed is under a double cover tunnel, but the leaves are starting to yellow so it's likely futile -- I'll just kep it going and see.
The next to last one developed a quarter sized sunken black spot, and worried that it had rotted, I cut it off the vine. But it was a false lark of sorts in that the damage was only on the skin surface, and interior was split and unripe. I think the black spot would have ruined it anyway so no win either way.

I also have a small bed of sweet potatoes and winter squash under cover. DD and I tried digging for potatoes but they really could use another week or more. Another bed of peppers with green and blushing fruits (harvested a 5-1/2" fully red ripe Corno di Toro yesterday), beans that I'm letting mature, overflow late planted sweet potatoes, Malabar spinach which turned out to be pretty cold hardy, roselle, Swiss chard, beets, and new carrot, radish, and verious greens -- all under protective cover.

Another bed is full of new seedling carrots, onions, and greens, and I just replaced the patio windowboxes that I pulled the peppers out for overwintering with broccoli starts. These are experiments to see how long I can keep them growing. The SE facing brick patio has a warmer microclimate, and I'm using the cages I used for the peppers to support slitted and solid plastic covers. I sowed more lettuce and Asian green in between them for good measure.

Next year's potato bed has 4-5" winter covercrop of triticale growing, as do the clubroot affected beds. And I have a row of leeks 'n' greens. Another bed is still working on bush beans and runner beans that are being allowed to mature for next year's seed. Back of that bed where the tomatoes were and another couple of beds are already to be cleared, composted, and planted with garlic....

So just a few beds that will remain empty over the winter. Those areas will be sheet composted over the winter for heavy feeders next spring.

[rainbowgardener]

I hope to still do a bit more planting. And I forgot, the container that I grew potatoes in, still has thriving potato plants that came back where I must have accidentally left a potato behind when I harvested them. They haven't been frost killed yet, so I'm leaving them as long as I can, to see if I will get a few more potatoes.

Elsewhere I made the suggestion that while traffic is slower here, we do another book club discussion. ...

[jal_ut]

And share the planning for next year and what you will do differently.

Ok, I will just share a few of the notes I made as I went along.

Broccoli is a good seller. Plant much more.

Kohlrabi sells good. Plant more. Surprise!

Corn is not only a good seller, but a money maker. Plant more and stagger the plantings so you can have corn every week once it starts.

Plant small winter squash, not the large types. Not many people will buy a large one. Spaghetti, acorn, butternut, delicata, went well.

I could have sold more chard. I only had a 4 foot row, and could have used a 20 ft row. One customer took all I had all season. Nice thing about chard, it just keeps coming. New leaves every week.

OK, that is some of my thoughts. Now I need to diagram the garden space and see if I can fit in everything I want to do. (either that or cut it down to about 1/5 and just grow a small garden for us and never mind the market.)

I guess this morning I will go plant the garlic. Have a great day!

[ReptileAddiction]

What crops did not do well? For me it was me tomatos. For some reason they jus never took off. My fruit all had the biggest harvest yet

[edelweiss]

I tried to grow cantaloupe and I had a view, unfortunately only the size of extra large grapefruits. I wonder why?

[jal_ut]

What crops did not do well?

For some reason the corn did not do as well as expected this season. The peppers did not do well either. The tomatoes were slow to do anything, but I finally did get some by covering them just before frost and letting them ripen under cover.

I tried to grow cantaloupe and I had a view, unfortunately only the size of extra large grapefruits. I wonder why?

Could be the variety. I had 3 or 4 varieties and the size was different on all of them. The one early one was small and didn't have much flavor either. The variety I liked best was Burpee's Hybrid Cantaloupe. Good sized and good flavor.

[edelweiss]

Oh mei, Just finished dinner and look at all the responses. You think I can get the Burpee's Hybrid Cantaloupe here were I live?

[rainbowgardener]

Some of my musings for next year:

What did not do well? Still have not been able to grow summer squash, because of squash bugs and vine borers. May give up again. Otherwise pretty much everything did well and I had a bumper crop of tomatoes. The two tomato plants in the front lawn bed produced so many tomatoes, I think I will give up on growing tomatoes in the shady backyard and plant something more shade tolerant in that space. Beans got shaded out by rampant tomato plants, need a new place for them.

Celery was my new wonder crop, that I had not grown before and now have to grow every year.

One container of potatoes did pretty well for a small space. The other one did nothing, I think they rotted out. So need to get the second container working and make a third one. The container that made potatoes is now full of potato plants again, presumably from some potato that got left behind. That indicates to me that I might be able to do two crops of potatoes.

I still haven't figured out planting for a fall crop. At the time I should be replanting spinach, broccoli etc, for fall, it is hot and the beds are full of productive summer stuff. So I end up planting late, just for them to overwinter.

[TheWaterbug]

What crops did not do well? For me it was me tomatos. For some reason they jus never took off. My fruit all had the biggest harvest yet

My tomatoes all [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum//viewtopic.php?p=271942#271942]got wilt and and died[/url]

I did get some great tomatoes out of them, but not nearly enough considering where I live. I _should_ be able to eat fresh tomatoes from about April through November, and I really got tomatoes for less than half of that.

My [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum//viewtopic.php?p=259629#259629]potatoes were an utter failure[/url]. The potatoes I dug out were smaller and fewer than the seed potatoes I put in.

My [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=276264#276264]sweet potatoes[/url] may be the same way.

My corn was pretty good, except that I picked it about 2 weeks too late, due to me being out of the country for more than 2 weeks.

My cantaloupes and watermelons also were utter failures.

But my [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=257041#257041]corn[/url], [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=46295&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0]pumpkins[/url], zukes, and butternuts were all good, so I'll plant those again next year.

p.s. does this deserve its own "end of season" thread? As opposed to it just being about cantaloupes?

[edelweiss]

I so concur!

[ReptileAddiction]

Off to go start one!

[jal_ut]

Done.

OK, chime in.

[ReptileAddiction]

As I am writing the other one *face palm*

[gixxerific]

Good luck at the market James you should do fine with your crops. Lets hope for a better season than this year.

I have been planning and trading. For me it's tomatoes first and whatever else I can fit in second. Well onions and garlic are a must lettuce as well.

I will be getting some Big Daddy onions after seeing yours for years I must try them.

Still working on getting a new garden section going to put the sprawlers that will give me more tomato room yet still have other crops I want.

I want to do more melons this year. Ehh...sprawlers right.

[jal_ut]

Well, I did manage to get the garlic planted today between showers. Rain? Yes! That is fantastic. We only got about 0.03 but that is the first rain since September 10. We only got 0.04 then. It has been dry.

Big Daddy Onions. Yes they are amazing and sold well too. I must make a note to plant more.

[ReptileAddiction]

How do you guys keep your garden notes?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Mostly pictures.

Eric

[jal_ut]

How do you guys keep your garden notes?

3 ring binder.

[TheWaterbug]

How do you guys keep your garden notes?

helpfulgardener.com

[ReptileAddiction]

How do you guys keep your garden notes?

3 ring binder.

I like this idea. Mind posting a pic so I can see the format you put it in?

[jal_ut]

I found a small bag of garlic, more than we need for eating this winter, so I planted that today. I guess I am done until April.

[jal_ut]

I like this idea. Mind posting a pic so I can see the format you put it in?

Format? Nothing special. I just put some lined paper in the 3 ring binder and write notes as they come to mind. If I have info like seed lists or variety info, I can punch the page and put it in the binder too.

I usually note things like planting dates, weather patterns, harvest dates, how varieties performed, costs, income, plus any thoughts I may have about how to improve things, etc.

Some people are big on spread sheets for this and that. You won't find me doing that.

Hey, if you start a book, its your book. Put what you want in it.

[ReptileAddiction]

I think I will try that to this coming season. I never really record anything (:oops:) but right now as I am going through things I wish I have been...

[Cactusflower]

This has been a great melon season for us. I have a small garden. Hubby and I finished the last of our five watermelons in August. Last cantaloupe was harvested last week. In my fridge sits the last honeydew melon.

[jal_ut]

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/melons_wagon.jpg[/img]

These are Charleston Gray Watermelons. I have had good luck with them over several years.

Yesterday was our last Farmers' Market for the season. I sold squash, watermelon, carrots, tomatoes, onions and honey. It was a good market day.

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/table_oct_20.JPG[/img]

[gixxerific]

That is a lovely table you have there James. Nice selection, what are those white onions in the bowl?

[ReptileAddiction]

Nice! Your farmers markets close their in the winter? I have never heard that before.

[rainbowgardener]

Nice! Your farmers markets close their in the winter? I have never heard that before.

Of course they do... nothing grows when the ground is frozen solid!

[DoubleDogFarm]

James,

Last market, sorry to hear. Are the reasons because, no shelter or road hazards.

You would think any serious vendor would have product to sell. Squash, onions, potatoes, honey, dry herbs, eggs, garlic, root crops, fruit and etc.. Anything that has storage life.

Eric

[jal_ut]

Not my decision. I suppose weather has much to do with it. It is an outdoor market and things can get rough this time of year. There was a good amount of winter squash, apples, turnips, radish, and onions at the market. Yes, I suppose most of the garden vendors would have things to sell for a couple more weeks at least. I sell honey, plus veggies and will have honey. I am out of veggies though. Worked out just right for me. I didn't see much garlic at the market this week and people were looking for it. I made a note to plant more garlic for next year. This market is a craft market too. Those folks who do crafts would definitely have things to sell.

[jal_ut]

Nice! Your farmers markets close their in the winter? I have never heard that before.

Making me giggle here. You Southerners don't quite understand the climate here. We had our first frost in the third week of September, and now it is freezing every night. There will be no gardens growing anything but ice here until April. If I am lucky I get a season of 120 days between the last frost in the spring and the first frost in the fall. My idea of a winter garden is to plant some garlic in October to come up in the spring!

[jal_ut]

Nice selection, what are those white onions in the bowl?

In the bowl are a couple of Red, some Yellow Spanish, and some Big Daddy onions. I didn't grow any whites.

[ReptileAddiction]

I forgot that you guys cant grow things now. A 120 day growing season? Wow. I don't know how you do that! You must have great planning!

[DoubleDogFarm]

Nay, We just plant more of everything.

Eric

[jal_ut]

Yesterday I threshed some of the carrot seed I had harvested earlier. This morning I prepared a germination test on it. This is my first experience saving carrot seed. Will see how it pans out. It is hard to separate the seed from lots of the other stems etc I got after threshing. I guess it really won't matter if it is really clean as far as planting it goes. I tried dropping it from one container to another with a gentle breeze and that took out a lot of the smaller particles. I guess I need a sieve the right size? Do you save carrot seed?

Here is my winter garden!

[img]https://donce.lofthouse.com/jamaica/garden_10_24_2012.jpg[/img]

Main crop? ICE!