2010 - How Does Your Garden Grow?

[SS5R]

We had a windstorm come up Tuesday evening and I thought it was going to flatten my corn but it stood in there against the wind pretty good. Nothing like you had there no other damage. I did have go out and tie it up on Wednesday; it was leaning over but not broken. Last year we lost it all to a windstorm. The ears came out small and sparse so I fed it to the chickens.

[fern]

I tied all the corn up but the ears just don't appear to be growing. We may lose it all. It was buried in the mud though and beat down so hard. I was surprised that only one stalk had snapped off at ground level. We have a ton of ears that I study everyday wishing them lots of positive growth thoughts.

I have a question to you all...where the pool water flooded the garden, we have two cucumber plants that relocated. One into the corn and the other into the beans. They are producing but the cucumbers look like those fancy gourd things with the curvy tail and then the large ball at the end. Do you think they are safe to eat or should I just toss them to the rabbits?

[Toepopper]

I don't know. Rather than chucking the entire lot I would cut into one to see what it looks like, smell the good end to try and detect any chlorine smell and if you feel brave taste it. I have never seen cucumbers do that. Possibly the circulation/nutrient supply was cut off or altered from the pool spill and then jump started again to produce the larger end of the fruit. Maybe the pool spill drug up and released some leftover nuclear radiation from the 3 Mile Island accident in 1979 and your cukes have gone nuclear. Enter them in the county fair as nuclear cucumbers, you may win a blue ribbon. At least that would be something to hang on the wall instead of all the hassle and heartache this years garden has given you.

[fern]

You make me laugh so hard...nuclear!!! I wonder if they have a ribbon at the fair for the most unique??? These cuke-gourds would take it for sure!!

I have cut into a good end and it looks normal and smells normal. I just don't know if I have the guts to down one. I grew a lot of butternut squash for the new grandson and two of those plants moved out through the fence and into the yard. They are finally putting out fruit and growing normally but I am even second guessing giving them to the baby. Their leaves are covered in white splotches that lay in swirls. It worries me.

[Toepopper]

Were you wearing your reading glasses when you discovered those white splotches? Are they some kind of micro critter or is it more like a leaf mold? If you noticed aphids in the spring, they sometimes carry and transmit virus's that don't appear until later in the season. Striped and spotted cucumber beetles can transmit bacterial wilt to some species of squash if you have your cukes and squash planted real close to each other. Is the plant wilted? No hope for it then. I don't know if cucumber beetles live in your area, that is a local pest/problem we have here. I pick bad cukes all the time, deformed, yellow, some are so bitter I can barely choke them down but if I grow it I eat it. I would never experiment on any grandchildren since their systems are more fragile and I would not want to cause them any harm by taking an unnecessary chance, unless we were starving.

[fern]

The white spirals and swashes came after the pool water. They all got it...and most died. The few plants that came out through the fence still have roots in the garden and they have the white swirls and such but are putting out flowers and fruit. Just not sure about it. The squash appears fine and is not deformed at all.

[Watchman]

Update as of Sunday, 22 Aug: A bumper crop of green and yellow zucchini and white patty pan squash. Onions and potatoes as well. Green beans, so-so. The fava beans grew very well considering we only planted half a row. Arugula and lettuce until it was coming out of our ears. Red globe radishes - wonderful! Bush cucumbers sucked. And last but not least, for the first time we planted Armenian cucumbers. At maturity these can grow to two feet long and still remain edible. We have been so busy picking those little suckers (1-1&1/2 feet long) - they are sooooo good and grow in poor soil.

[Watchman]

Today is work day. Am beginning the task of moving the compost pile to another location in the garden; i.e., inverting it with the new growth that I'm pulling up on the bottom. Will be doing a deep tilling of plant growth so it will decompose over the winter. But first, will be digging up the potatoes. They did not grow so well this year and I suspect because we planted them in the same location as last year. Found a small bull snake curled up on our front door step last night. They say where there are bull snakes, there may be rattlers as they sometimes den together. Grandson smashed it with a sidewalk tile. To me the only good snake is a dead snake. Hopefully, now that son is running the business wife and I can get back to planning and growing a garden next year. Just a reminder 2010 garden thread will close out at the end of November and a new one will begin. If you have an last comments to make on your 2010 garden now is the time.

One last thing, I was able to collect seeds for the arugula - nothing else. But have a lot!

[Toepopper]

Todays the day, Sept 21, the fall equinox, about 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. The hardwoods have the first yellow tint on their leaves and the weather has gotten cooler.The vegi garden has almost quit producing, cukes are done and there are a few green beans and squash left. Tomato's are still thriving and we are overwhelmed with the red fruits, more tomato's than I have ever grown before. Today I dug up what was left of the potato's and turned over the spud patch and will dump fallen leaves on it and turn them in also. I am planning on building some new raised beds for next years garden, higher up the hill and planting some blueberry bushes and more table grapes in them. I removed some partially rotted 2x6s from my deck and will use them for the raised beds rather than burn them. Have got to fix the fence where the fox and skunks are getting under it before next spring. These projects will keep me busy through the winter and I am already looking forward to next years garden.

[fern]

An update on my pitiful pool soaked garden: My shell beans and pinto beans grew and sprouted again! They are in flower right now with a lot of young pods growing. Same with the red peppers but only one full pepper so far. I found the butternut squash growing at the far end of the garden...yep...they traveled 20 feet and I have 5 squash about half grown now. About ten of the broccoli and cauliflower have come back up and I have my first head of broccoli almost ready to pick. Nature is really odd. If the frost holds off, I may get some late food. I guess the pool water has dissipated. I certainly have fed the soil enough and kept turning all that I could without disturbing anything that looked like it had an inch of life in it. Oh...I picked enough green beans to have one lone meal. They were good!

[Toepopper]

I hope you have better luck with your garden next season. Have your neighbors put up a new swimming pool?
My garden is still producing, the tomato's are going strong and my wife picked a big bowl of green beans yesterday. Still have not had any frost.

[fern]

No more swimming pools! http://www.preparedness-survival.com/ph ... =5&t=15642#

[SS5R]

I have been harvesting potatoes and have more than I thought. I am getting about 5 lbs per plant and have 11 plants left. I have harvested 5 plants today. I though about leaving them in the ground and covering the area with straw or mulch and digging them up, as I need them. Does anyone know how long I can leave them in the ground with out them rotting or going bad? I’ve never had this many potatoes. I would rather give them away than to have them go bad. The ones I have harvested I am going to store in a wooden box in the basement but I am running out of room. The verities I have are All Blue and Red Pontiac. I have heard the All Blue have a long dormancy and are excellent keepers. The ground freezes here in the winter but that won’t happen for while. I hope.

[side_job]

RE: potatoes
I have had years where I left potatoes in the ground, from what I understand so longs as the area has good drainage, you can leave them until a hard freeze. The other option is to pull them up, and hang them. So long as they are cool and dry they will keep a good while. When winter starts to ease up, I have brought a bag in to let them warm, and you will be surprised at how quickly they go to eyes, and then it is a simple quarter up and plant.

[SS5R]

Thanks. I thought I should get them out before a good freeze.

[Watchman]

This year our potato crop wasn't so good, but last year we home-canned 44 quarts of Yukon Golds.

[Toepopper]

I always planted mine in a raised bed for good winter time drainage and left them in the ground. If the soil drains they will keep and you may dig them up as you need them. However this won't work where the ground freezes and any spuds left in the ground during a freez will render them useless. A mulch of 4" of straw will work as an insulator and protect them from frost this time of year.

[SS5R]

In the end we ended up with 28 lbs of All Blue and 20 lbs of Pontiac Red potatoes. I didn’t weigh the Yukon Gold or the Kennebec potatoes but I would guess we got about 12 lbs. We had good luck this year with Seeds of Change Scarlet and Ox Heart carrots. Their lettuce also produced quite well for us among other things, but especially their Nevada lettuce. Seeds of Change are located in New Mexico where there is very little if any big agribusiness. The terrain doesn’t allow for it so the chance of cross contamination with any GMO product doesn’t exist. They operate a six-acre farm with a 2500 square foot green house and pollination room.
We still have some herbs growing in a make shift green house but I don’t think they will survive the winter some will come back next year. This year’s garden was a struggle with extended periods of heat. We didn’t get the fruit we had last year, apples were down no peaches and the pears were not very big. I learn something every year and that is what it is all about.