Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Garden update: August
The zukes are prolific, though I planted only 1. Thank goodness I didn't plant more - I'm perfectly happy with the production of this single plant, especially considering I haven't been really successful with zukes the past few years. The plant grows, and is happy, but the zukes themselves usually start off well and then peter out and shrivel up before they reach an edible size. Really bizarre, but I'm happy this year.
Gophers - we typically get 3 gophers a year. I trap/kill each one and then I'm done - no more til winter. Well this year, we have 4. And since this last one has left my plants alone, I've been too lazy to try and catch him. Not to mention that because his mounds are very small, that means he is very small and it would be a major pain to dig out the hole to insert my trap. Lazy, remember? Oddly enough, the first 3 gophers this year ate half of my bean plants and left the other half alone. What is so odd about that? Well, what's odd is that the half they ate were my Bluelake bush beans, and the half they left were the Tendercrop. Both types planted right next to each other, side by side, only the BL were wiped out and the Tendercrops spared. Methinks I'll be saving seed from the Tendercrops and planting them next year since the gophers don't seem to like them.
In other bean news, the plants are not producing very much (or maybe I just haven't ventured out far enough to lift up leaves and find beans) but the plants look fabulous, dahling! I promise to make my way over/across/past the zuke bush to see what the beans are doing. It's been a lesson learned not to put large plants on the outside of the garden because I don't make it over them to see what the smaller plants are doing. Next time.....
The volunteer pumpkins are doing well, but they are still that light orange sherbert color. Who knows what kind of mixed inbreeding happened there.
I had my first ripe Sheyenne tomato this past weekend, and it was really delicious! I was pleasantly surprised that the flavor was mild yet quite fulfilling. The plant itself is small with a thick stem, almost like a little tree. It only grew about knee high, and has more fruit to harvest tonight when I get home. The Campbell's 1943 that grows next to it also produced fruit 2 weeks ago and surprisingly, the tomato in this case is little more than golfball size with a dark pink skin. It's very much like my Odoriko's that I've been growing the past two years. Just when I thought I may have gotten the tags mixed up (I swear, I was SO careful and even kept the plants in separate growing areas of the yard when they were seedlings) someone posted to my Tomato forum and said that they had also rec'd these Campbell seeds from the seed bank and were small and pink. Whew! It's not just me... Boxcar Willie has yet to provide me with a taste test, and Aker's West Virginia just barely ripened and will be available for harvest this evening. The Odoriko's are doing well, though some of the toms were scalded by the sun, and I will be saving seeds from some of the larger fruits that grow. They range from a small baseball to a small golfball variety - not very consistent.
After finally providing them with enough water, the canna's that JW gave me bloomed. While the ones at both friends, all divided from the same plants, bloomed 2+ months ago, mine just bloomed 2 weeks ago. Better late than never, eh?
Gophers - we typically get 3 gophers a year. I trap/kill each one and then I'm done - no more til winter. Well this year, we have 4. And since this last one has left my plants alone, I've been too lazy to try and catch him. Not to mention that because his mounds are very small, that means he is very small and it would be a major pain to dig out the hole to insert my trap. Lazy, remember? Oddly enough, the first 3 gophers this year ate half of my bean plants and left the other half alone. What is so odd about that? Well, what's odd is that the half they ate were my Bluelake bush beans, and the half they left were the Tendercrop. Both types planted right next to each other, side by side, only the BL were wiped out and the Tendercrops spared. Methinks I'll be saving seed from the Tendercrops and planting them next year since the gophers don't seem to like them.
In other bean news, the plants are not producing very much (or maybe I just haven't ventured out far enough to lift up leaves and find beans) but the plants look fabulous, dahling! I promise to make my way over/across/past the zuke bush to see what the beans are doing. It's been a lesson learned not to put large plants on the outside of the garden because I don't make it over them to see what the smaller plants are doing. Next time.....
The volunteer pumpkins are doing well, but they are still that light orange sherbert color. Who knows what kind of mixed inbreeding happened there.
I had my first ripe Sheyenne tomato this past weekend, and it was really delicious! I was pleasantly surprised that the flavor was mild yet quite fulfilling. The plant itself is small with a thick stem, almost like a little tree. It only grew about knee high, and has more fruit to harvest tonight when I get home. The Campbell's 1943 that grows next to it also produced fruit 2 weeks ago and surprisingly, the tomato in this case is little more than golfball size with a dark pink skin. It's very much like my Odoriko's that I've been growing the past two years. Just when I thought I may have gotten the tags mixed up (I swear, I was SO careful and even kept the plants in separate growing areas of the yard when they were seedlings) someone posted to my Tomato forum and said that they had also rec'd these Campbell seeds from the seed bank and were small and pink. Whew! It's not just me... Boxcar Willie has yet to provide me with a taste test, and Aker's West Virginia just barely ripened and will be available for harvest this evening. The Odoriko's are doing well, though some of the toms were scalded by the sun, and I will be saving seeds from some of the larger fruits that grow. They range from a small baseball to a small golfball variety - not very consistent.
After finally providing them with enough water, the canna's that JW gave me bloomed. While the ones at both friends, all divided from the same plants, bloomed 2+ months ago, mine just bloomed 2 weeks ago. Better late than never, eh?
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