Applestar's 2016 Garden

[applestar]

This is my Kikuza x Tromboncino F1. Like most of my crosses, it was mostly chance -- Kikuza female blossom opened, but it didnt have any male blossoms, and Tromboncino male was available.

This fruit has the looks of Kikuza, but is bigger than last years though I failed to measure or weigh it. I think it might also be a bit taller/rounder. I was hasty in harvesting this since it was still greenish on the top side which had been turned away from me, and then there was a problem -- SVB tried to chew its way into the fruit and had to be extracted. It didn't get far but I did have to make a shallow 1" square hole so I had to put it in the fridge, meaning it had no chance to ripen any more.



Today, I noticed whiteness in the cut and fearing mold, decided to cook it. When I cut it open, I was further disappointed by the solid core with no seed cavity and the greenish cast to the flesh. When I pulled out a few seeds and chewd on them, the hull was soft and edible, though filled.

Totally convinced that I had picked this immature, I proceeded to cut it up -- edible rind, solid flesh and seeds and all -- and cook it in a pot of Ao shiso (green perilla) decoction and honey. It wasn't until I had only a few pieces left that I decided to save a few seeds just in case they are viable.

...yep, they passed the float test. -- I saved enough (about 3 dozen seeds) but that was REALLY stupid. The flesh had a pleasantly mild sweet flavor and fragrance to it raw, and cooked this way, it is delicious (yes, I'm still eating it right now )

--- I"m wondering if the interior appearance and soft seed hull is coming from the Tromboncino which I find better eaten as summer squash than winter squash. If C.moschata can cross with C.pepo, last year's Kikuza was skirting a large 6-8 plant patch of Kakai Hulless Seed squash with no shortage of blossoms, so it might have been bee-pollinated as well as my hand application of Tromboncino pollen. It will be interesting to see what these F2 seeds will produce next year. I believe if this IS a Kakai cross, then these seeds will be sterile.

[applestar]

Harvest update


Clay pot saucer of dried or yellowed adzuki beans. Pretty White Comet eggplants and likely the last full-size Butta zucchini.

Giant yellow cucumber was allowed to mature for harvesting seeds.

Big tomatoes are a twin Bulls Heart on the left, smaller Berner Rose on the right, and first Gary'O Senna with a bit of skin-deep crack. The last remaining Butta zucchini plant was not exacly wilted/collapsed but laying on its side yesterday. This might be it. I harvested the female blossom that would have opened yesterday or today, but hadn't yet.


Volunteer corn in the Spiral Garden with SFH bed in the background



I think some of the cobs on this tiny patch of corn in the VG beds on the other side of the house might be ready to harvest. These are isolated KKxGG.F1 that shouldn't have been influenced by pollen from any other variety and they grew too tall to hand-pollinate. So I'll be able to report on how the F2 kernels turned out.

I think I'll try growing a little patch from the colored (purple/lavender) dented kernels from the volunteer in this area next year.

[applestar]

I harvested the third Carnival/Delicata-looking volunteer fruit (presumably fully ripe since it passed the thumbnail test) and removed and trashed its seriously SVB infested vine since the leaves had collapsed overnight. I also took out the last Butta zuke plant after harvesting one more immature female blossom (and a male blossom after extracting and dispatching a pair of cucumber beetles ).



Now the sweet potatoes can grow and roam to their content. The succession is also working out in that most of the corn in the row closest to the sweet potatoes are finished so I am able to cut down the stalks and let more sunlight reach the bed. I hope the sweets will have enough time to make some tubers.

[applestar]

Harvest updates:





...made a jar of refrigerator dills with the picklers.

...Gary'O Senna tomato in the bottom right.

...I definitely have two different varieties of Okra growing. I think one is Jing Orange and the other is probably Burgundy, but I cant tell one from the other....


Views of the Spiral Garden and the '16 Cherry Lane:

[applestar]

Spiral Garden melons and squash --



...more grapes --

[BU54]

Applestar you must be retired to have the time for all those WONDERFUL fruits and vegetables.
Not to mention canning the jellies ect.
If you need any extra storage space you can ship directly to me.

[applestar]

I'm thinking of writing a book. Only ideas and snippets so far, though

...sometimes I wish we already have the transporter technology

[applestar]

Harvests from yesterday and today:





-- Something new this year -- first harvest from the American Hazel bush. Only these and maybe four more this year, but I'm excited

[lakngulf]

Beautiful produce you have there. Gotta love the colors of nature!

[applestar]

Thank-you

[applestar]

Cucurbits -- cucumbers, squashes, melons -- are filling in the Spiral Garden

[applestar]

First sheaf of shortgrain sweet rice today



Longer redder Sun Thai and the shorter Hanoi Market g2 hot peppers, some more Kaleidoscope carrots, one tiny cabbage that managed to survive the caterpillars, more pickling cukes (making relish with some of these), runty White Comet eggplants -- maybe running out of fertilizer in the SIP, more grapes and a fig Petit Nigra.

...

Earlier, 8:30am, I saw from the window that a chipmunk was inspecting the pears but by-passed them and ate some Coyote. So I thought they were safe. Looked out the window around 5pm, and the biggest Magness pear was MISSING!

Rushed outside to find It was on the ground half-eaten. Critter had nibbled around the stem to drop it. Thats it! -- Harvested ALL the pears. They actually came off easily so they WERE ready to be harvested. I also harvested the last three apples (Enterprise) since we have a scanty harvest this year and I would rather not lose them to critters.



I trimmed away the gnawed part and we shared the rest of the prematurely "picked" pear. Although it was far from fully ripe, texture and taste are similar to Asian pears at this stage. Plenty sweet to enjoy.

Found this while researching what to do with these pears: https://usapears.org/pear-ripening-and-handling/

[applestar]

[applestar]

Review of this year's succession process for SFHX (Sunflower House Annex) bed







Subject: Applestar's 2016 Garden

Harvest updates


(Duplicate vegs, one photo with cucumbers, etc. one with fig and onion)





...yeah 3 Butta zucchini plants pumping them out now...

[applestar]

Spiral Garden, etc. Loving the new texture of the spiral made up of various cucurbit leaves -- cukes, squashes, melons



- I haven't been using the rudimentary "gate" since all the major hauling and work were finished back in spring, and have been using the two old picnic table benches as step-over stiles.

- The weeds got the best of me on this side of the garden enclosure, so I'm suppressing them with series of flattened pizza boxes.

- If the raspberries cooperate and grow some new shoots, I'm going to expand the bed along this side of the enclosure to at least where the bench is right now... And maybe start a narrow bed for growing some bunny-safe stuff like onions, garlic, and hot peppers.

[applestar]

I have ideas and intentions -- sometimes even good ones -- it's at *Implementation* phase that the project stalls out sometimes....

Here is that little nursery bed of "fall" crop which I FINALLY dug up and spread out to plant in the bed and cover under an insect barrier tunnel today. I really should have done this a month ago.

[applestar]

More short grain sweet rice and figs today:




Harvest updates:

[applestar]

Not a very good photo, but I found this squash -- it's very unreliably labeled "Thai Kang Kob #2 Bucket (xSeminole?)x Kikuza?" -- among the weeds today... About size of a baby's head right now and needed two hands to pick up so I could put a brick under it.

[lakngulf]

Beautiful produce. Nature really knows how to color. And then you color outside the lines.

[applestar]

[applestar]

Akashiso - Japanese red/purple perilla - while useful, they are weeds when they enthusiastically self seed and come back every year like this:


--- I'm intrigued to note that this one has a taller blocky profile compared to the others

Here are the rest of the squashes:



...and melons (so disappointed to lose the watermelon to BER )

[applestar]

Super excited to spot these super dark colored peppers as well as others growing in the Sunflower & House (SF&H). the dark ones should be Sweet Chocoloco. Upward-facing round ones are one of the unID'd -- maybe Peppadew or Minibell.

[applestar]

Lamb's Quarters' lovely magenta hearted cousin Spinach Tree/Magenta Spreen:



The magenta is only in the new center leaves and mostly disappears during the summer, but even the mature stems are interesting. I'm saving seeds.

[Lindsaylew82]

Those Apple melons are getting close!!!!!

[applestar]

Yep! -- Wait until they turn yellow, right?

[applestar]

- More rice -- you want to harvest when 2/3 or more of the grains have turned from green to yellow/dried/ripened -- so far, looking for lower leaves with yellowed tips -just like corn- seems to be working to find most of the correct stage mature sheafs.

- I harvested a nearly mature regular lambs quarters from the HBR -- I should have taken a photo... It was towering OVER the tallest indeterminate tomatoes so approximately 7-8 feet tall? I only cut off the shoots with immature seedheads, then left the remaining stalk in the path to be trampled. I also harvested some from Tree Spinach in the SF&H. These are good when washed well and then allowed to dry, then pulled off and mixed into pot of cooked rice or soup so that the hot food will 'cook" them a bit. Nutty. If left too late, chaff will be too hard and inedible or too much fiber, though may work still in hot cooked whole grain cereal or baked goods where the texture still works with the expected mouthfeel. (They will also start to scatter gazillions of seeds. I want them to re-seed but in manageable amounts. I do leave some stalks growing to mature the remaining seeds for the birds -- finches LOVE these, and I love seeing the Goldfinches along with the more drab house finches, and the rare visits from kinglets and redpolls.)

- Basil sprigs and some garlic chive flowerheads for garnish.



- Yet ANOTHER giant cucumber -- this is a pickler normally harvested in the smaller sizes like the others - hiding at the bottom of the vine. I SWEAR I was looking very carefully last two times I harvested that bed... HOW do they do that?

- shorter carrots that look more worthy of harvesting, but DD said these carrots don't taste good (she had the long orange one). I think its been too HOT and DRY. But I'm starting to see wireworm and carrot fly damages -- they've been in the ground too long, so I'm not sure if leaving them until cooler fall weather will benefit....

- Less Variegated Fish pepper, orangish Hanoi Market g2, corky red jalapeño, long red Sun Thai, and three of the four possible colors of Bolivian Rainbow.

- Big pink heart is Dwarf Pink Passion, smaller pink with split skin is Berner Rose. Next size yellow orange fruit is not a tomato but our first Prok Persimmon of the season. The Kiwi Gold raspberry that escaped or grew from bird dropped seed outside of the espalier fence in the Front Yard Fence Row bed had these three (and a half) ripe berries.

[Lindsaylew82]

Yes ma'am! Bright yellow!

[applestar]

Thanks, Lindsay

...it's been getting cooler here, but hopefully we will get something.

.........


Here is a latest photo of the Bed designated Sunflower House. The corn is done and gone, leaving some carrots to try to grow some more despite the Black Swallowtail caterpillars, carrot fly and wireworm, and occasional nibbled shoulders. There are some beets left in the rows as well as runty cabbages that are more than likely just incubating cabbage whites and slugs. But the Sweet Potatoes are flourishing at the near end of the bed (it's hard to see them because of the telephoto lens edge blur and the '16 Cherry Lane cherry tomatoes blocking the view) The Christmas Lima beans on each end of the CRW panel trellis at the fence posts are intent on swallowing the trellis and are finally starting to bloom and produce pods.



The runner beans on the green arch trellis started blooming unusually early and have bloomed steadily all summer, but something is wrong because almost none of them are setting pods. I might have picked 3 or 4 pods altogether so far. I guess they crossed with some other pole bean or possibly these are F2 of TenderStar -- supposedly runner/pole bean hybrid -- which I grew last year. At least they have been absolute magnets for hummingbirds and bees.

[applestar]

Harvest updates:

9/17 -- duh Nasturtiums, Aka Shiso and Ao Shiso (Red and Green Perilla), Myoga (Japanese ginger flower buds), Garlic Chive blossoms, etc.


Clemson Spineless okra from HBR, Gave away three figs, two cuke, and a De Arbol pepper before before taking photo...


Prok persimmons, Kiwi Gold raspberry, White Soul Alpine strawberries, container Petite Nigra figs split from all the rain... Some runner beans have set since cooler -- maybe they don't set in 90°F temps... Homer Fike's Yellow Oxheart tomato, mytery brown/black tomato from SF&H that was labeled Cream Sausage (extra dark blue-ish foliage), Seasoning Naga peppers (or possibly crossed Bhut Jolokia)


Prok persimmon, Myoga, Aka shiso, Runty Uncle Davids Dakota Dessert buttercup-type squash that was grown in 2nd year (insufficiently fertilized) Rubbermaid tote SIP with two vigorous eggplants, Hanoi Market g2 still pumping them out, Mini Bell Red (SF&H)



...dithering about picking these...

[applestar]

...those are Akashiso - Japanese red/purple perilla - and while useful, they are weeds when they enthusiastically self seed and come back every year like this:


--- I'm intrigued to note that this one has a taller blocky profile compared to the others

I was looking at this squash vine yesterday. I didn't take another photo, but the amazing thing is these squash leaves are not showing any sign of powdery mildew even though they are barely growing above thick stand of these akashiso and I regularly overhead sprinkler this area when watering, and we just had 1 inch of rain on Monday.

I was ready to believe it's the cross-- (Thai Kang Kob x Seminole) x Tromboncino -- but then it occurred to me to look up possible fungicidal property of red perilla... And look what turned up in search -- This DOES say perilla essential oils has fungicidal properties, right? I know all I have to do is brush against them to be enveloped in the akashiso fragrance.

The vapor activity of oregano, perilla, tea tree, lavender, clove, and geranium oils against a Trichophyton mentagrophytes in a closed box. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17235639

J Infect Chemother. 2006 Dec;12(6):349-54. Epub 2007 Jan 18.
The vapor activity of oregano, perilla, tea tree, lavender, clove, and geranium oils against a Trichophyton mentagrophytes in a closed box.
Inouye S1, Nishiyama Y, Uchida K, Hasumi Y, Yamaguchi H, Abe S.
Author information
Abstract
The vapor activity of six essential oils against a Trichophyton mentagrophytes was examined using a closed box. The antifungal activity was determined from colony size, which was correlated with the inoculum size. As judged from the minimum inhibitory dose and the minimum fungicidal dose determined after vapor exposure for 24 h, the vapor activity of the six essential oils was ranked in the following order: oregano > clove, perilla > geranium, lavender, tea tree. The vapors of oregano, perilla, tea tree, and lavender oils killed the mycelia by short exposure, for 3 h, but the vapors of clove and geranium oils were only active after overnight exposure. The vapor of oregano and other oils induced lysis of the mycelia. Morphological examination by scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that the cell membrane and cell wall were damaged in a dose- and time-dependent manner by the action of oregano vapor, causing rupture and peeling of the cell wall, with small bulges coming from the cell membrane. The vapor activity increased after 24 h, but mycelial accumulation of the active oil constituents was maximized around 15 h, and then decreased in parallel with the decrease of vapor concentration. This suggested that the active constituent accumulated on the fungal cells around 15 h caused irreversible damage, which eventually led to cellular death.

[applestar]

Here's an update collage. I did see some mild spotting, but those could also be from stinkbugs/squashbugs/cucumber beetles.



I'm woking on a fitted together collage of the Spiral Garden, but here are some random photos. I do think the (Thai Kang Kob x Seminole) x Tromboncino is showing better resistance to powdery mildew and the sucking bugs. Most of the worst yellowed leaves are on the Kikuza cross vines.

[applestar]

...I'm running into limitations of the app I'm using to do this (losing bits and pieces from the edges, can't go back and remove when I forget to turn off watermarks, etc.) but I like this effect

[applestar]

- I was going to wait until all of the dark green markings faded, but *something* tried nibbling on this Apple Melon so I had to harvest it. The White honeydews are sadly undersized.
- Dwarf Poncirus trifoliata (trifoliate orange) "Flying Dragon" fruits are starting to ripen


- Camera's exposure setting was off and I can't correct the persimmon and fig colors with post-editing. Persimmon should actually look frosted deep orange.

This Apple Melon was not as sweet as I had hoped but I think ideally, I would have given it a couple more days or more. And the now cool night time temps can't be helping. (It's even colder this morning -- currently 50°F and probably will dip down to upper 40's before dawn) There's a bigger one I have my eyes on out there. Hopefully it hasn't been nibbled on -- I should have implemented protective measures. )

We ate that green Faelan's First Snow with beginning of BER starting to spoil it after cutting off the bottom 1/3 -- BER was only just starting and the rest of the fruit was firm -- as fried green tomato sautéed under sauce-poached eggs.

[applestar]

Harvested more rice -- almost last -- and some peppers. Jalapeño had been pretty significantly sucked on by stinkbugs. Since I'm only out in the garden every other day, I really need to check every plant, but the jalapeño is out of the way and I have been too lazy.

- Clockwise from top: little Bolivian Rainbow, Jalamondo with mite russeted/stunted blossom end (I think it should have been bigger/longer), wrinkled Seasoning Naga or Bhut cross, Hanoi Market g2, Yatsufusa "Yatzy" from Helpfulgardener give-away , and the stung Jalapeño



- Dwarf Mr. Snow managed to ripen these two then died (not mottled or bicolored like last year). Good "white" color comparison of with Raymondo's Australian Mist (which split again in the rinse bucket ) and my MRxZC.F2.1F-P1.
- more Kiwi Gold raspberries from the single escaped plant outside the fence in the Front Yard Fence Row, one little Maid of Orleans jasmine blossom, 2 Chicago Hardy and 3 Petite Nigra figs, runty White Honey honeydew.

Some pepper plants. Brazilian Starfish DOES grow tall and "vine-y" like cherry tomatoes

[pow wow]

Enjoy your harvest. Looks great and I bet tastes even better.

[applestar]

Thanks, pow wow

[applestar]

Yep. Definitely needed to start melons much much earlier. Tiny runty White Honey melons. Figs are continuing to do well, and this is the last persimmon. My girls are loving the persimmon and I hardly get to taste them. Seedlings I started last fall have grown some more. I need to secure them in their permanent location this fall and hopefully, they will start producing eventually (they take a long time to mature).



Flowering myoga. Cucumbers have slowed down and I think Shintokiwa in the Spiral Garden is done for -- too much powdery mildew, cucumber beetles, and stinkbugs/squashbugs. But the Pickarow have climbed to the top of the overhead bamboo trellis in the VG garden area where they have better sun despite the lengthening shadows, so I can hope to see more fruit production. And this is where I saw the tree frogs, so they are getting some Garden Patrol protection.

[applestar]

I can't seem to keep myself from taking pictures of the squashes -- so skip over this is you've seen enough of them already

[applestar]

Yesterday, I went out in a drizzle to hand-pollinate that female squash blossom since there were only two male blossoms on the same vine and with the rain, I was afraid pollinators may not get around to it. It was a good thing because one of the two male blossoms had collected water and the pollen was uselessly waterlogged. Even in the other one which was dry, the pollen was pretty clumpy so I'm not 100% about success. Only insects in the blossoms were what looked like fruit flies. But I hope it worked because the baby squash on this blossom has the fig-like shape that tells me this is a successful Thai Kang Kob x Seminole F2 (or F3) cross -- like the one that lasted in storage all summer. (In fact, I dug up an entry that we ate the squash the seeds came from in May)



It's late in the season so I'm not sure if this fruit will make it to full maturity before frost and freeze, but it should still be good eating.

There was a juvie stinkbug on the female flower stem, which I plucked off and squished. I started to look around for others and got a couple more, but then I spotted the treefrog on a nearby leaf. So I figured this area is adequately being Patrolled.

[applestar]

Another female blossom opened this morning. This one will be interesting, because the female is a bit of a mystery --mpossible 3 way (TKK x Seminole F2) x Tromboncino F1, but only blossoms available were TKKxTromboncino F1. The pollen grains were dry and plentiful so unless the temperature becomes an issue (but I don't think so), it should take.



Neither of these two vines seem as resistant to powdery mildew and the bugs as the straight TKKxSeminole, but if the resulting cross could grow larger fruits like the one in the kitchen garden, it might be worth it. I'm still hoping for prolific/productive trait that Seminole is supposed to carry. At some point I would like to introduce "earlier maturing" trait into the mix, though maybe there will be some adaptation to this area's climate over the years as well. (But then again, this one might not make it to full maturity.)