Applestar’s 2024 Garden

[applestar]

Apparently a strong gust came barreling through my VG area because the last remaining three corn were leaning, melon leaves had been whipped about and a couple were broken, and one panel of fabric barrier I’m using to minimize accidental drift from next door neighbor’s lawn service had been torn into shreds.

Replacing that was an extra job I hadn’t anticipated.

When I got to the other side of the house, bunch of tall stakes that had been stashed leaning on the fence had blown over into the tomatoes, but luckily no damage… but couple of long squash vines had been lifted off of the trellis and were draping down the side.

When I tried to lift them back up, I found out that several of the vines’ tendrils were ALREADY tightly holding onto anything they could reach — other vines and leaves, trellis netting… even a pear branch.

I forgot to take a pic yesterday, but I had tied on a support hammock for one of the Greek Sweet Red squashes because even though it was laying on top of one of the bamboo cross beams, it looked like it might slip off and damage the vine in the process. As it turned out, it DID slip off during the storm, and the hammock had caught it perfectly.

But the worst damage was actually discovered INSIDE the Sunflower Hoophouse — upper main trunk of one of the zucchini, with two fruits developing on it and having about 10 leaves, had been blown over — fully bent and kinked.

I had to cut it off at the kink — the bottom half of the trunk has maybe another 10 but older leaves. It’s possible it might grow a side shoot, but I’m not very hopeful.

Later, looking over the garden from the window, I realized I’m seeing far fewer pears on the espalier pear tree than I should be. I don’t plan on going out anymore today, but will look on the ground first thing tomorrow morning. The pears wouldn't have become ripe until early September, so there’s a chance that if they had been shaken off the tree by the winds, they might not be munched only by animals and bugs yet…. If they are in good enough shape, I could at least make pear butter with them.

[applestar]

We’re continuing to experience hot temps (although a couple of days of relief ahead in the high of 70’s but accompanied by all day storms).

I’ve resorted to running my underpowered 2xFan-cooled vest on highest setting and switching out the power packs when the battery runs out. Doing this, sometimes I forget to soak down my hair, and I can keep going all morning.

Here are a couple of photo album screenshot collages from yesterday —

• First one shows the developing squashes in VGD. The NutterbutterX squashes that set earlier are much smaller than the HBR squashes even though the shapes are similar, but the last one that developed on TOP of the upper trellis netting and is safely supported is growing much bigger and has a large bulbous bottom.

• I did look for dropped/fallen pears. And I found both chewed up ones and mushy, rotting ones, as well as whole and mostly undamaged ones.

— I had to clear the undergrowths around the tree and fence with a hand sickle for better view, and eliminated some honeysuckle vines that had gone wild and were wrapped around the American Hazel bush, tying the hazel and pear branches together over the fence, and generally everything else in the area.

— Hazel nutpods are developing — some are almost full size. They should be ready to harvest at end of August

— Once I had the pear tree and branches free of all distractions, I also took the time to look over how the remaining fruits were doing, and culled some clustered fruits that were overbearing and generally took off any that lifted off willingly. Past experience — these have something wrong with them, although none of them floated in the bucket so I don’t think they are hollowed out by worms. But the prematurely colored ones are likely affected by brown rot. (The sole floater in the bucket is a very green apple— which naturally floats — that I accidentally cut off with a low apple branch — possibly a root sucker branch — that had grown through the fence and laying inside some undergrowth)

• I also went to check on the overflow microdwarf tomatoes in the new front yard flowerbed, and discovered 7/8 had recovered from being munched down to sticks by the deer, and are now full of floral trusses.

— I weeded all around them so now they stand out again — if those deer come back. I might try interspersing them with soda bottle windmills — I wonder if that would help?

• In the Sunflower Hoophouse, there was another female Kurin mini kabocha blossom to hand pollinate. Eggplants and Y-star squashes also yielded harvest.

[applestar]

Harvest photo collage from past few days —
• Last of the blueberries came in on Sunday, fully ripe or not. DD2 and I have been collaborating to turn any berries that we don’t want to eat fresh into cordials by layering with sugar in a jar and then cooking into syrup once enough have accumulated. (Unripe ones contribute some flavor, but mostly aroma and acid as well as pectin.) She’s been making individual as well as mixed syrups.
• In addition to the windfall and culled pears from yesterday, I found another perfectly unblemished on today.
— Small eggplants are first fruits on eggplants that are trying to catch up to the other Money Maker plants. Shoya Long has started producing, so if Kamo would get going, I’ll have all three varieties in production.
— That half sized melon (Haogen I think?) is from two of the branch vines of one plant that suddenly wilted overnight. They have been exhibiting weird browned/scraped drying stem so I think some kind of pests have ben at them and introduced a disease. There’s a 3rd branch that isn’t marked like others, but it’s possible this is a wilt virus and the entire plant should have been pulled, roots and all. I don’t know if anything can be made with half-size premature melon. Aren’t they bitter? I did try slicing and salting some of the smaller but not tiny — maybe pecan sized — fruits from these vines to remove some of the moisture and bitterness, and adding to a premature cucumber relish I’ve been making. (a scaled down adaptation of the 6-stage bread and butter pickle prep recipe in Ball Blue Book)

• I got worried about the several days of rainy/wet weather forecasted for the remainder of this week, and harvested the biggest NutterbutterX. It’s not fully colored and the vine is not dead, but does pass the yellowed stem at fruit attachment and the thumbnail test at which I NORMALLY harvest them in the fall. (Still second-guessing myself about this, and will leave the other earliest fruit on longer, maybe.). C.moschatas DO generally cure well and sweeten in storage, and keep for months and months into next the growing season.

• I started Cheong Du Korean daikon in the remaining insectmesh low tunnel bed in VGA.

• Hummingbird MOTH

[Gary350]

Half size melons? Watermelons? How many days to harvest? I can't find short season 75 day melon seeds all I find are 120 day melons. Cantaloupe size watermelons would be great.

[applestar]

According to Baker Creek where I got the Kaho watermelon seeds I’m growing:

RareSeeds
https://www.rareseeds.com ›
Kaho Watermelon Seeds
75 days

This one is an old heirloom. I’m sure there are others including hybrids that may have guaranteed features and disease resistances.

But there are many smaller sized ones categorized as “icebox watermelons” that are around 90 day dtm.

Get seeds from reliable sources that use proper seed saving practices and test them, so they are true to type and not crossed.

For relatively inexpensive prices per packet, since I don’t need big packets, I often buy seeds from Pine Tree (superseeds.com). This works out for buying the more expensive hybrids to try, as well as getting OP and Heirloom varieties that I can save seeds for future use.

[applestar]

• I made the pinwheels to hopefully protect those microdwarf tomatoes in the front yard gardenbed

• While out front, I noticed the little bed my DD1 made to preserve a satellite patch of thyme she noticed had somehow started way over, halfway across the front lawn. She said her ambition is for the ENTIRE front lawn to turn into thyme lawn.

• VGA low tunnel of leftover Alcosa savoy mini cabbages that are still hanging on and maybe trying to form heads + the Cheong Du daikon and Scarlet Ohno Revival turnip

• I set up two mini low tunnels in the VGB where corn had been growing. I did plant/sow some Miyashige daikon but am planning to fill those with the new seedlings I started in the house

[applestar]

Weather was pretty miserable this morning — hot and muggy, with occasional gusts and eerie quiet from wildlife.

I told myself to just do the minimum needed to harvest and tie up loose plants — including squash vines — before the storm blows through.

…I did note that all three pinwheels were spinning as gusts of wind blew through, including one that didn’t turn well when I tested, but set out anyway. So there was that bit of satisfaction.

It felt a bit more comfortable inside the Sunflower Hoophouse, where I fashioned another hammock for the third Kurin Kabocha, and noted that the eggplants are growing well.

Based on last year’s comparison, they do better inside the higher daytime and especially the nighttime temperatures and humidity of the hoophouse, rather than the outside.

Zucchini takes up a lot of room, but this particular support method creates an “espalier” effect.

Both eggplants and zucchini need to be hand pollinated for best results. I’m looking for good parthenocarpic zuke so I won’t have to.

For the eggplants, I use an electric toothbrush just to be sure. However, eggplant fruitset failure/blossom drop may have other reasons even though there aren’t really pollinating insects and there isn’t as much air movement to dislodge the pollen. I’ve increased frequency of supplemental feeding, but signs indicate I might still not be doing enough….

[applestar]

Forgot to add — I’d noticed some excessive black ant activity in the hoophouse — they are swarming the cucumber and kabocha blossoms. Maybe only for the nectar and “harmless” but it could indicate sucking pests and I might only be seeing them when they are noticeably in the blossoms. Plus powdery mildew was lightly starting to spot some of the Y-star summer squash leaves.

— So I sprayed with the standard potassium bicarbonate solution with a touch of neem/canola oil and liquid soap and just a bit of borax added against the ants. (I tried spraying some small crickets that were also starting to be a problem but the solution wasn’t strong enough to even slow them down — I need to set some sticky traps)

[Gary350]

Forgot to add — I’d noticed some excessive black ant activity in the hoophouse — they are swarming the cucumber and kabocha blossoms. Maybe only for the nectar and “harmless” but it could indicate sucking pests and I might only be seeing them when they are noticeably in the blossoms. Plus powdery mildew was lightly starting to spot some of the Y-star summer squash leaves.

— So I sprayed with the standard potassium bicarbonate solution with a touch of neem/canola oil and liquid soap and just a bit of borax added against the ants. (I tried spraying some small crickets that were also starting to be a problem but the solution wasn’t strong enough to even slow them down — I need to set some sticky traps)

Is this the ants you have. Also known as creosote ants about 3/8" to 1/2" long. Diet. Black garden ants eat anything from, leftovers, soft fruits, seeds, and other small insects.

I see creosote ants in my garden often, I never kill them, they never seem to hurt anything. I never see creosote ant hills, I have no clue how far they travel to my garden. I was always told creosote ants are my garden friend they eat other ants and rotting fruit & vegetables.

[imafan26]

I like partenon zucchini. It has good disease resistance.

[applestar]

Oh yeah! I remember you recommended it before. I couldn’t get seeds last year. Will start looking early for next year. Thanks!

…@Gary350, I have to look up creosote ants. I think the ones in the hoophouse are a bit smaller, but I’ll look.

[imafan26]

Yeah Partenon is hard to get but more companies offer it now but it sells out fast.

[applestar]

With all the recent rainstorms, the tomatoes have been splitting and cracking, and the Y-star squash have been prone to waterlogged spongy fruits that get moldy in the fridge within a couple of days. << I probably have to pull the plug on the Y-star squashes soon. Zukes too. And some of the cukes looks spent as well. (It’s time for turnover to Summer-started Fall/Winter veg)

I made a jar of salsa and a pot of fresh blushed tomato sauce for a pasta salad with the barely blushed and barely colored ones.

I’m also continuing to pick tiny Adam gherkins that only infrequently develops into 2~3 inch fruit and processing them into this “Sweet Gherkin Pickles”

I have a small gourmet mayo jar full in the fridge now.

• Sowed shungiku and lettuce seeds next to Scarlet Ohno Revival turnips, and a mini row of mixed carrot seeds in theSunflower Hoophouse
• …and planted Tokinashi turnips and a mini row of mixed carrot seeds in VGB mini low tunnel… plus have reserved the green box mini row for a leafy since there is a fence post plank about 4 inches deep under there that had been part of the edging but is now in a way.

— I separated first true leaf seedlings of mixed salad brassica and lettuce greens into individual cells and easily separated groups in cells this morning.
— Emiko mini napa are doing well and Japanese scallions have sprouted.
— I probably should plant the Bora King mini purple daikon today

[applestar]

Bora King seedlings have been planted, along with old radish seeds for German Giant and Green Meat filling empty spaces to see if they’ll germinate. Only one Miyashige seem to have made it (old seeds).

— I did a pretty thorough germination “test” of these older packets of seeds to see if they’re worth keeping, and have discarded a bunch already.

(I think I might be justified in getting some new seeds/varieties and restock — Mwahahaha )

There were two more female NutterbutterX this morning — on the vine (and branch vine) that the first squash had been harvested from in HBR. Not sure if this plant can sustain both, but I guess we’ll see.

[applestar]

This morning, I decided to process those windfall and culled pears. Some of them had spoiled (brown rot like the apples get) and others had ripened to various degrees. Some were absolutely perfect for fresh eating and DD2 and I shared those (privilege of being up so early )

Most were not hard green anymore so I didn’t have to make pear butter, …and after cutting out the bruises and other defects, I had more than enough diced to bake a small loaf pear cake (and still have about a dozen+ unblemished ones left to ripen some more in a large coffee pod carton).

Since those earlier fruits had ripened, it seemed to me that there should be more that are ready to be harvested on the tree, and after lift-testing several, it became apparent that ALL would be willing to come off the branches. So I harvested them all.

These are ‘Tyson Antique’ pears — also called ‘Summer Seckel’. I thought they were going to be ready at more like end of August, but this is better. I didn’t lose as many to the animals as I have done in the past.

A few of them were swarming with 1/4” black ants or with 1/16” sugar ants. The black ants came out of these holes in the pears.

I tossed those in a bucket of water where they sank, and waited until all the ants came out. I have those 4 submerged in salty water now, and will cut them open to see if there are any salvageable parts.

[applestar]

Was anyone interested in seeing this? — It was worth examining the extent — inside two of them, the holes led to series of tunnels that looked like ant nest. They were the ones that ants swarmed out of.

One that looked like a just a black hole from the outside (and looked pretty suspicious) was actually minimally affected.

I sliced up the good portions and layered in a small glass bowl with sugar to keep in the fridge until morning. I’ll heat them up into a quick fruit compote with butter to eat with toast or maybe pancakes.

I didn’t bother to take pic of the one that was scarred all over and needed extensive surgery by thickly peeling the skin but was undamaged inside — I quartered that one and put the pieces wi the some rock sugar in the small bottle of apple and pear scraps for brandy/rum extract, topping with more white rum.

They were all firm to hard. Softest of them was still crunchy and somewhat astringent.

…In all cases, if left unprocessed for days in or out of the fridge, they would have continued to deteriorate and probably led to the kind of wholesale spoilage that the previous culls and windfalls ended up with.

[Gary350]

Was anyone interested in seeing this? — It was worth examining the extent — inside two of them, the holes led to series of tunnels that looked like ant nest. They were the ones that ants swarmed out of.

One that looked like a just a black hole from the outside (and looked pretty suspicious) was actually minimally affected.
EDC2AB16-7F48-44D3-AD0E-4E134AECB655.jpeg
I sliced up the good portions and layered in a small glass bowl with sugar to keep in the fridge until morning. I’ll heat them up into a quick fruit compote with butter to eat with toast or maybe pancakes.

I didn’t bother to take pic of the one that was scarred all over and needed extensive surgery by thickly peeling the skin but was undamaged inside — I quartered that one and put the pieces wi the some rock sugar in the small bottle of apple and pear scraps for brandy/rum extract, topping with more white rum.

They were all firm to hard. Softest of them was still crunchy and somewhat astringent.

…In all cases, if left unprocessed for days in or out of the fridge, they would have continued to deteriorate and probably led to the kind of wholesale spoilage that the previous culls and windfalls ended up with.

Sweet ants like sugar. Pour a 5 lb. bag or sugar around the tree that will stop ants from climbing the tree for sugar. Pour sugar next to the air hills that stops ants from going in search for fruit on the ground.

[pepperhead212]

Can you still find 5 lb bags of sugar?

[Gary350]

Can you still find 5 lb bags of sugar?

NO 5 lb sugar for several year. They are 4 lbs and 8 lbs now. About 30 years ago we had ants at the other house, I put several bags of sugar under the house and we never had ants again inside the house.

[applestar]

• Downy mildew has started on the cucumbers. It’s a tough fungal disease to beat, and both China Jade in VGD and Suyo Long in VGB have been slowly succumbing.

Having daily cut off all spotty leaves, the vines are bare to the top of the trellis with all but the topmost leaves intact, and two of the CJ vines have been culled (Once the leading growth point and sucker buds have been infected, they are not going to recover).

There are a few more that have half dozen leaves left — I’m trying to see if cutting off all of the affected leaves as well as any developing baby fruits, and then foliar treating and feeding could lead to some kind of recovery as long as growing tip is still active and green.

At least 5~6 healthy leaves are needed to support growing fruits, so that would be the point to decide if baby fruits should be culled (you can still make gherkin-type pickles with them).

— NutterbutterX are also getting tired and are not likely to set/develop any more fruits.

The fruits that developed earliest are looking almost ready to harvest. I’ll wait for the fruit attachment tendril to brown and dry up as 1st indication, and then maybe corking on the stem. (With kabocha, you’re not supposed to harvest until it has fully developed corked stem if you want them to cure sweet after about a month.)

• Over on the HBR trellis, two tiny new baby NutterbutterX DID set fruit, and that other oldest fruit looks like it could be ready to harvest.

• I’m still so bad at growing melons. Out of the entire VGA watermelon and melon trellis. Jubilee melons have been 1/4 to half sized and ended up with blossom end rot.

Only this one melon is looking really good. It grew from mixed old seeds that I didn’t have much hope for germination and I’m not sure what it is … At first I thought it was Haogen, but thinking it might be Ananas D'Amerique A Chair Verte?

Surface netting is developing more every day, and there is a faint melon aroma from the blossom end … Attachment tendril has browned and dried, but I believe it’s supposed to slip? Online ripe melon photos show bright yellow rind.

• Kaho melons in the Spiral Garden are doing better. I think the palest colored one which set fruit first might be ready soon. None of the tendrils have browned yet, but the leaves are affected by rapidly spreading black spots (what’s this disease called?).

…I’ve sprayed them all with diluted vinegar and cultured rice bran yesterday. Will alternate with baking soda or potassium bicarb + oil solution in a couple of days.

…Some of the radishes and turnips have sprouted inside VGB mini tunnels, but the turnip and daikon seedlings in VGA low tunnel are slowly being chomped down — not sure if this is due to cutworms or crickets.

…Carrots will take a while longer to sprout I think. But there are some that sprouted and are growing in VG.SIP

… I sowed some bush beans in available spots in the Sunflower House yesterday.

…There were three ripe Chicago Hardy figs on the small tree by the Vegetable Garden area. I’m trying to see if there are any on the big tree by the house, but I haven’t been able to spot any.

…The red shiso is growing vigorously. I made some “red shiso juice” yesterday. It’s touted as good “tonic” for summer heat stress, blood sugar, and allergy relief, as well as appetite suppressant. Not sure if any of them are true, and blood sugar isn’t going to be helped when you add as much sugar as I did with the recipe I used. But I did like the result from this recipe better than the last time I made some a couple of years ago. I used bottled lime juice and raw apple cider vinegar instead of citric acid. (I’ll report if I’m feeling more energetic after drinking this for a couple of days )

[Gary350]

Southern Illinois where I lived 50 years ago is melon country, also Indiana & Mississippi are melon country with melon fields next to the rivers. I learned from the melon growers land is very sandy next to the river, melon roots like water, the plants do not like rain. Melon fields are about 5' to 6' above river water level roots get lots of water, the melon fields are dry as desert. I can not duplicate mother nature very easy in TN years ago I put 2" of sand under each melon and give plants calcium for BER, I had very good luck with melons. Its nice to have melons in the garden but they are too much work for me now. My neighbor cuts his melon vines short 1 melon per vine. Best melons I ever grew was in AZ 114°f temperature full sun low humidity all day is perfect for good melons.

[applestar]

Ooh, sand, eh?

I don’t think I can do the truckload for entire garden but maybe get a few bags to put just on rows they’re planted next year.

[applestar]

I just saw a bright fresh-looking Monarch butterfly from the window after coming inside.

I didn’t see any yesterday but saw one for two consecutive days earlier in the week.

They might have been here and these could be newly eclosed hatchlings, or they could have come from elsewhere. Hopefully they will stay and lay eggs (today’s was a male — looks like he’s doing territorial sweeps to attract females ).

There’s plenty of time for one and maybe two full generations before it’ll get too cold/late.

[imafan26]

I saw one in my garden yesterday. I also see gulf fritillaries. Monarchs are not endangered here. They do not migrate in Hawaii and a lot of people raise them.

I am not good at watermelons either, but I only grow sugar baby and another melon called sun something. They are small ice box water melons but they only get one or two on a vine so not worth the space and time. Chayote and gourds have better yields, but now that I don't have my community garden anymore, I cannot grow those either, they take up too much space.

[imafan26]

For downy mildew on cucumber, Soarer and Progress does the best. It is not immune but if caught early it remains mild. Suyo is not very resistant. I also had good luck with Beit alpha with both heat tolerance and mildew. Suyo is very heat tolerant, but my mom does not like the ridged skin. General Lee and Tasty Jade do pretty well against disease as well. After the rain stops, I go out with hydrogen peroxide and spray the leaves. It kills fungal spores on the leaf and then I use sulfur spray. The tedious part is that you have to do it again if it rains while the heat and humidity are high.

[applestar]

Thanks @imafan! This is a good time to start getting ideas for next year’s seeds so we can take advantage of discounts and sales that are offered from Labor Day and towards end of the year

[applestar]

Haha I can’t catch up. Too many things going on!

Here’s a quick look at the latest summer harvests and what’s growing for my Fall gardens.

Those first two Kaho watermelons had that bottom end rot and slipped off the vine. The BER meant I couldn’t try to ripen/cure some more. And we ate them the next day. They were not exactly sweet, but they were juicy and tasty in their own way, and we couldn’t help reaching for the next slice and the next … until we ate them all. (I saved the seeds and will grow them again next year).

Yesterday, I harvested a whole unblemished one that slipped off the vine, so this one will be given a few days before cutting into it.

I planted some of the seedlings for “Salad Savor mix” — mixture of asian greens that can be cut and come again or grown to full heads — and lettuce.

I also thinned the daikon and turnips (you can see the thinnings among today’s harvest)

And there’s a pic of the extra micro dwarf tomatoes I planted late in the front yard flowerbed, starting to grow green fruits.


…Here are some more starts under the lights —

I tried rooting a sprig of basil, making shallow slashes in the stem (I think @pepperhead mentioned this trick), and it grew roots so I planted it in a pot. (Not ready to try hydro yet, but may try rooting some more.)

[imafan26]

I am doing cuttings to of bay leaf, calamansi, finger lime ( I am not too hopeful), and a native hibiscus. I checked out some of the seed sale offers, but they are sold out of most of the things I would get. It is the good and bad part about the end of the season. You can get some better deals, but you may not be able to find what you want.

[Gary350]

I am doing cuttings to of bay leaf, calamansi, finger lime ( I am not too hopeful), and a native hibiscus. I checked out some of the seed sale offers, but they are sold out of most of the things I would get. It is the good and bad part about the end of the season. You can get some better deals, but you may not be able to find what you want.

About 35 years ago I read in a book how to do cuttings inside of a fish aquarium. I had 3" of potting soil in the aquarium with a glass top to hold moisture. It was Feb or March cuttings were next to a window plants receives lots of sun light but no direct sunlight. 90% of the cuttings grew roots in 30 days and were transplanted into pots. Everything was growing great then something changed and 100% of the cuttings rotted and died. I could never get cuttings to root again so I dump out the potting soil and quit trying.

[imafan26]

I have so much humidity and I live in a relatively wet microclimate that it rains almost every night in the rainy season. I start all my cuttings outdoors in pots and bowls of perlite. I use one of my shade benches with 50% shade cloth for it. I used to keep the cuttings under one of the benches, but with snails and ground mealy bugs, I can't do that anymore. I don't use humidity domes and I only water the cuttings once a day. I tried humidity domes on rose cuttings, but they get moldy because it is too much humidity and it may be too much heat because the average daily temperature is 80-85.

I actually have plants in the cutting box that really needed to go out long ago.

I have a pretty good success rate with cuttings. Much better than my grafting rate. This is the first time I have started bay leaves and rosemary in summer. But, it has been a weird year. I have recent cuttings of rosemary, bay leaf, a couple of lavender (also not something I usually propagate in summer), Song of India, mint, hibiscus, and citrus. I even had a rambler rose cutting ground layer itself into another pot.

[applestar]

It’s always fun to try propagating from cuttings. Different plants have different requirements and it’s rewarding when successful. That said, I’ve never quite reached the level of high tech needed for consistent success, and more recently, have been tending to stick to relatively easy ones.

I guess one on my current radar is to go back to the plan to refurbish an area in the backyard — serious amounts of weeding, clearing, cleaning up, and then digging and shaping a new bed and fencing — to dig up and move the blueberries from their current location. If I can tackle this project this fall, then I’m going to want extra blueberries started from cuttings to plant in the new bed.

…

Here is an update with recent harvests and garden progress —

Due to the delayed planting and the intense heatwave in June, my larger fruited tomatoes and even the cherry tomatoes mostly didn’t have chance to set fruits for summer harvesting, and in fact have slowed down ripening due to the sudden drop in temperatures. BUT they did set new fruits when the temps came down, and there are green fruits that have reached full size and are almost ready to color break. I’m hoping to see unusual amount of tomato harvest this fall if they can stay ahead of septoria and wilt that are creeping up the vines which is typical around this time in the season.

• I had to harvest the single large melon before it was fully ripe, due to sunken spots that developed cracks and started seeping.

• The container figs on the driveway in front of the garage seems to have responded to the cooler temps and have started to ripen, as have the large in-ground Chicago Hardy fig tree.

• This is likely the last of the summer squash. Powdery mildew is starting to spread and I’m starting to clear them out of the Sunflower Hoophouse to make room and plant Fall/Winter crops.

• The “Fall” figs starting and first of Myoga flower buds — plus a couple of Prok persimmons starting to change color— signaled, along with this being the beginning of the last week of August, that the American Hazel nuts might be ready.

I checked this morning, and harvested all I could find. (Of course when I looked from the window after coming inside, there was at least one more… usually this will continue for the next couple of days.)

— a few more NutterbutterX and Greek Sweet Red set fruit after all. And one more kabocha.
— There’s one NutterbutterX that has completely turned color and the vine is dying.
— The vine for the biggest Greek Sweet Red and the other one in the white laundry bag suddenly wilted. It looks like SVB got in via leaf stem (it’s also possible raccoons had trampled around on top of the trellis and on the vines). I’m keeping them going as long as I can, but will likely end up harvesting them before they are ripe.

…The big one might be OK — it has developed waxy bloom on the surface of the rind even though it’s still dark green. But the neck of the less mature one in the bag is actually starting to yellow and wrinkle/shrivel.

— That photo of cabbages is actually from VGC — it’s the stunted Pixie Baby cabbages that were planted in spring. It seems they had hunkered down for the summer and decided to head up after the weather got cooler.

— One of the remaining Kaho got bigger, enough to require readjusting the string around its middle and repositioning the hammock… but the other one hasn’t gotten much bigger at all, and the leaves are continuing to develop black spots and getting cut off.

[Gary350]

It’s always fun to try propagating from cuttings. Different plants have different requirements and it’s rewarding when successful. That said, I’ve never quite reached the level of high tech needed for consistent success, and more recently, have been tending to stick to relatively easy ones.

TN claims to be the nursery capitol of the USA their are nursery's all over the state. A man at the local nursery told me to make 12" long cuttings in the fall stick them 6" deep in the soil and new plants will grow. Some plants need no rooting powder. Make Rose of Sharon cuttings Nov. Blackberry & Raspberry Dec. African Violates Jan. Cactus is the easiest bury a whole cactus cutting or 1/2 of a cutting it will grow with no rooting powder, keep it in bright shade in 70° weather new plants grow in 30 days. I put rooting powder in the raspberry cuttings 90% did good most died when I forgot to water them, I gave 2 plants to my neighbor. African Violates grow best for me with rooting powder, I have not grown them in 35 years. Tomato cutting grow easy but the cuttings know they are the same age as the mother plant that is a problem when trying to grow more tomatoes late in the season especially with determinate plants.

[imafan26]

You still got a lot accomplished in the garden. I am no where near ready to plant next month. I do have some kale seedlings I can transplant but I haven't added the amendments yet. I have a more pressing need. I am working on purging in my house and I need to get it ready for tenting, so I have to move the orchids. I will have to do some rearranging and try to move out as many as I can sooner to the benches. I have to hit them with more snail bait because of the rain and the fact that they love phals. I have to find or make more pot hangers and work on getting the shade cloth on the fourth bench. I have to move those plants somewhere else too.

[applestar]

It’s kind of weird to me that our Fall harvest seems to have started in my garden … even more so when you consider the temps in high 80’s~90’s°F today through Wed.

Harvested these three NutterbutterX and Greek Sweet Red squashes today—

The green tomato may or may not be GWR. It felt soft to touch but it’s actually supposed to be a relatively stable segregate of my “Allons-y, Dr.X” which is a yellow (yellow flesh/pink flesh) bi-color with a scattering of antho shoulders. it would be interesting though, if it might have become crossed with PaddyMC’s Steelhead which is a GWR(green flesh/red flesh bi-color) last time I grew them near each other…..

I’m also looking at that little yellow heart shaped cherry next to it, wondering if I’m seeing a sprinkling — just dusting really — of antho on the shoulders. I’ll save seeds from it and keep an eye on the next gen. This is from one of my S7xA.F4 (F5 seeds) with extra variegation and magenta stem streaks, and the plant is nearly done for this season so not expecting to see many more fruits.

[applestar]

Also, we ate that melon today. I wanted to get it to the lemon yellow ripeness that was shown on the website, but the spots were getting critical. You can see one of the divots forming under the rind along the edge in the photo. I had to cut some bad parts away, but it was delicious, and now that I have fresh seeds, I’ll try growing again next year.

@Gary350, your sand suggestion reminded me of a technique — roughly translated, it’s called “saddle mound” planting method, and basically, you prepare the best melon bed you can, with deeply tilled and fertilized loose soil, then take a bag of sand, cut open top and bottom, stand up the now tube-shaped bag with stakes in four corners and refill with the sand (not sure why but this is said to look like a “saddle mound”).

Then you plant a well-grown 6~7 inch pot, 4~6 week old melon plant with 4~6 pairs of leaves.

I wasn’t sure about the regular watering that’s is necessary in the early stages until the melon roots reach the rich soil underneath and get a bit more leeway, but maybe this will alleviate the clay soil issues….

[applestar]

Couple of photo gallery screenshot collages —

Did a bunch of small tasks here and there, but primary goal today was to clear out the Y-star squashes in the Sunflower Hoophouse and prep for new fall crop in the narrow space (enough for another row of greens)

* Also planted the Derby bush beans started in the house since only one seed sprouted in the Hoophouse (other new sprouts may have been eaten by crickets or something. Hopefully these will be OK.
* Worked inside the Sunflower Hoophouse

* Orange arrows indicate where more carrot seeds were sown

** I was rummaging around in the Hazel bush for that one nut pod I missed — didn’t find it, found another one, then came across a Praying Mantid — it was looking reproachfully at me so I stopped.

** Went to check on the PawPaw instead — I’m pretty sure there were three fruits developing, but was only able to spot two….

[imafan26]

Looking good. I still have pots of soil that need to be dumped so the only plants I can harvest from are the herbs, citrus, okra, eggplant, sweet potato, peppers, kale, tomato, katuk, and cutting celery.

[applestar]

@imafan, the differences in our seasonal chores emphasize the importance of learning/knowing each of our garden’s seasonal rhythms.

My summer garden is winding down, and there are crops that are done and crops that will see resurgence of growth and fruit development with the cooler weather, until they are slowed down by the chilly temps and approaching frost. Some will limp along and others will keep going until killed by frost/freeze.

This means fall/winter garden will depend of the summer garden plants that will live out the season to produce fruits, and those needing judgment calls to cut down/remove because they won’t be worth saving.

Cleared space can be prepped and planted with quick maturing greens and some earlier varieties of heading brassicas and root vegs for harvesting in late Fall IF started early enough, AND with season extending protection.

THIS is the tricky part.

This year, I’m determined to try to get them all started and planted by end of August/first week of September.

• Three of the spring planted Alcosa baby savoy cabbages that didn’t grow fast enough, then hunkered down for the summer and started to head up after mid-August cool down… along with fall crop Cheong Du daikon and Scarlet Ohno Revival turnips. I’ve learned from past mistakes that brassicas MUST be protected under insect netting, and daikon must be started early enough to finish top growths so they will have chance to fatten up roots before the ground temp gets too cold.

• Spring planted runty Pixie Baby cabbages that have started to head up and peppers that are being grown to full mature colors — Ruby Red, ChocolateX, Orange Sun, Jupiter (Red) — and a leftover Money Maker eggplant.

• Single row of unprotected mixed carrots, then Two mini tunnels of fall root and leaf vegs.
L: Bora King and Miyashige daikon, Last of viable radishes which were German Giant and Green Meat.
R: Tokinashi salad turnips, mixed carrots, Asian greens and lettuce for salad and for stir fry/soup,

• Larger fruited tomatoes in the Spiral Garden suffered blossom drop in early summer and are finally starting to produce fruits to maturity, often near the top of the trellis.

• Inside the Sunflower Hoophouse,
L: Scarlet Ohno Revital turnips and some Bora King daikon and Mammoth dill have sprouted. Last of the zuke was removed and a tiny patch has been made ready, 2023 Kale that overwintered here is still growing, Emiko mini napa and Derby bush beans started from seeds in the house have been transplanted.
R: Space that opened up from removing Y-star pattypan squash have been filled with more Emiko mini napa and Green Jewel mini pak choy transplants.

Harvests —
** Daikon and turnip culls, young and tender Tokyo Bekana leaves, cabbage side shoots culled from overwintered Alcosa mini savoy in the Sunflower Hoophouse
** Figs, both from in-ground Chicago Hardy and container Petit Nigra
** Adam gherkin cucumbers are starting to yield larger fruits (I already made two full 8 oz jars of Sweet Gherkin refrigerator pickles from the baby sized ones),
** Almost end of China Jade cucumbers (2 last vines are limping along, but may be pulled soon)
** Two full sized pears are Magness. Only these two set fruit this year probably due to unexpected frost/freeze during full bloom, and lack of appropriate pollinator tree in my own garden (I believe these usually benefit from a neighbor’s street tree Bradford pear). Self pollinating Taylor Antique was originally listed as possible pollinizer — Magnus can’t pollinate any other cultivar — but the company no longer sells it, and not many places list it so I can’t tell. (Most recently, Bartlet is the frequently mentioned pollinizer for Magnus, but I’m not planting a non-fireblight disease resistant tree….)

** One of the Magnus pears was on the ground yesterday morning (it was still in its nylon footie) and I also found a blushed but not fully ripe Prok persimmon on the ground. I don’t know if some critter had pulled them off. The Magnus was fortunately undamaged, and the 2nd Magnus came right off when I “lift tested” so it could have just fall accidentally.

** There is one other Prok fruit on the tree that looks more fully colored than this one and I anticipate it will be ready to harvest within the next couple of days.

[applestar]

A lot to report today, but have to organize pics and write it all up.

For now — I’m stoked to realize these striped fruits are from one of my crossbreeding projects — Maglia Rosa x Stump?HBR/FFS/Manö F2 Big 2”x2.25” VGD’23.

One of the two F2 plants I grew this year has expressed striped fruits inherited from the Maglia Rosa grandmother.

[applestar]

Arbico was doing a BOGO free sale of Assasinbugs, so I ordered some. They upgraded shipping to free 2nd day Air, too.

Looks like they had quality control issue and BOGO was basically one good set of eggs-on-cards tossed in with a bad set of cards which had lost some of the egg clusters and they ended up on the lid.

I stationed several cards in the Sunflower Hoophouse, the coffee plant which still has mealybugs on them, and the fall crop low tunnels in the VG beds.

I put the lid with several egg clusters on it in the VGC peppers and baby cabbage tunnel.

Hopefully they will hatch in time to deal with the Fall outbreak of aphids and other sucking pests. There are flea beetles and whiteflies in the Sunflower Hoophouse too.