Everybody Love Watermelon

Two varieties of watermelon were planted this season, Malali and Sugar Baby.  I have absolutely no idea what I have growing in the watermelon patch except for a nagging aphid problem.Pests have descended upon the watermelon patch.  Each morning, I spray the foliage with a powerful stream of water to knock off the aphids.  All day long the lady bugs feast.  Aphids can annihilate a crop so persistence is key.   They pierce through and suck out the sap.  Buggers.  Aphids aren’t the only pest grazing on the watermelon vines.I really don’t know what the grasshoppers purpose on this planet but to make my “squashing” skills more keen.

Tootie Fruitie

Fruit in the garden comes in waves.  Boysenberries, apricots, and plums ripen earliest.  Those are all finished for the summer.  Strawberries sustain me until the next wave ripens.  Watermelons, grapes, peaches, and apples are in various states of maturity.

This could be one of two varieties planted – Malali or Sugar Baby.  Malali was planted first; but the pill bugs were getting the better of the sprouts.  Sugar Babies were planted with hopes of filling in wherever Malali failed.  Currently, there is an aphid problem.  The leaves are blasted each morning and that seems to be bringing in more ladybugs to do their thing.  It looks like I have made a friend with a pesky fly.  Geez, I need to file my nails.The grape arbor is bustin’ with loads of Red Flame grapes this summer.  The bunches are in various stages of “redness”.  There was an initial problem of having mourning doves nesting on the top of the arbor; but once the first birds flew the nest the scare tape has helped to keep all other birds away.O’Henry peaches are due to mature sometime in August.  There were many more earlier this season; but the tree has naturally thinned itself down to the size of crop it can hold.  These really are tasty peaches.Granny Smith apples should be ready after the peaches are done.  The tag from Dave Wilson lists maturity “very late” in October or November but our local nurseryman said that we should have harvested in August.  This one will be played by ear (mouth).

There’s citrus to look forward to during the winter – lemons, oranges, and grapefruit.  The mandarin lost all of its fruit for this season.

I know tomatoes are fruit; but like most people, I think of them as a vegetable so they’ll be featured separately.

Pumpkin Planting Time

Planting pumpkins in June should allow enough time to develop some nice squash to enjoy starting in September.  Today, I planted 4 hills (3 seeds each) of Jarrahdale Pumpkins.  Peat moss, sand, and soil amendment was added to help fluff up the raised bed.  Terroir Seeds description on the package lists 95 – 100 days should be allowed to produce 12 – 20 pound blue-grey fruits with stringless, thick, medium-sweet flesh.  The vines are known to give high yields of pumpkins that are good keepers.  I hope to eat the pumpkins as well as use them for decorations.  Aphids, pill bugs, earwigs, and beetles are expected pests.  Yes.  I’m still looking for toads.

In addition to the pumpkins, 2 more rows of Golden Bantam Corn were planted.  When my new order of Borlotto Solista Beans arrive, they will be planted amongst the corn to help establish a second 3 Sisters bed.  A few more Sugar Baby Watermelons seeds were sown in the melon bed.

Now everything is planted and ready for the summer heat although this weekend there is a chance of rain down here in the valley and snow up in the mountains.

Summer’s Cast of Characters:

• Corn - Golden Bantam
• Squash - Lemon
• Beans - Borlotto Solista
• Pumpkins -Jarrahdale
• Bell Peppers – Red Beauty, Red Marconi, Super Heavyweight
• Watermelon – Malali, Sugar Baby
• Tomatoes – Al Kuffa, Beefsteak, Brown’s Yellow Giant, Heinz, Rutgers, Santa Clara, Tigerella,

There will be onions, carrots, radishes, and French marigolds planted whenever the seeds arrive to act as beneficials for the main crops.

Twilight Garlic

I’m out in the garden well past twilight working and inspecting.  It’s about time to harvest the garlic that was planted back in October 2010.  I’m a lousy record keeper regarding the garden; and blogging is helpful but I didn’t note what date the garlic was planted.  At least, I can’t find record of it.  It was sometime in October.  Now the garlic is starting to dry out.  Today the drip lines were pulled away from the garlic and onions because irrigation will switch to automation in the morning.  Prior to that the garden was watered manually as needed. The temperatures are climbing into the 90s this week so it’s time to rely on the water conservation system to keep the garden and gardener happy.  This will help prevent swamp pants.The variety of garlic is a mystery.  In the fall of 2009, I picked up a package of garlic to experiment with.  It grew.  The harvest was dried (cured) then braided and used from June to December.  There was a small, junky head that remained from the braid so I busted it up and planted it in the fall of 2010 to see if it would grow.  It grew.  The circle continues.  From about 40 cloves of garlic came 40 heads of garlic.  The initial investment of 30 cloves was probably no more than $5.  From that came 30 heads plus 40 more.

How much garlic can you buy in the grocery store for $5?  I don’t know.  I believe I’m getting a pretty good return on my investment AND I know how it was grown.  That’s a pretty good feeling.

 

Garden Note:

The summer garden is moving right along.  Here’s what has been going on:

• Tomato starts have been planted in their summer bed.  The supports need to be strung in preparation for a burst of growth.
• Cosmic Purple Carrot seeds from Heirloom Acres Seeds were planted with some of the tomatoes to see if carrots really do love tomatoes.
• Malali Watermelon seeds from Baker Creek were planted along with some French Breakfast Radish seeds.  Last year, this variety of radish was planted with squash as a beneficial.
• Nastursium seeds were planted in the holes of the cinder blocks that form the raised beds to help attract pollinators.  If the pill bugs let some seedlings grow to maturity, it should look good.
• Strawberries received an application of Garden & Bloom.
• Scale was discovered on the grapefruit tree and the orange tree could be threatened.  Take down was applied.  A 2nd application should take place in 10 days.
• Scare tap was tied to the grape arbor to scare away nesting mourning doves.  One empty nest was removed.  The following day a nest with an egg was discovered.  Scare tape does not scare stupid mourning doves.
• Sweet Peas continue to be harvested.  This area will be reserved for more beans this summer.
• Irrigation drip lines are in place to start a regular schedule to begin May 4.
• Bolting parsley was trimmed back.
• Shoots were removed from the healthiest (eastern most) wisteria.  The canopy was adjusted to encourage growth to spread over the top of the pergola.  Tomato cages were removed from the bases of both vines.  Cages were used to prevent puppy from teething on the trunks.
• Received a couple of cherry tomato seedlings from a co-worker.  These have been transplanted into small pots to harden.  They will be used for grilling.

Carrots Love Tomatoes & I Love Carrots/Catsup

On April 29, I planted some Atomic Red Carrots as companions to my Arkansas Traveler Tomatoes.  They were planted simply to benefit the tomatoes by loosening the soil and encouraging the tomato roots to travel deeper.  Success. The tomatoes grew (and continue to grow) so tall that the growth of the carrots was stunted.  Yesterday, I pulled what I could because I needed some carrots for the minestrone soup I was making.  The carrots were small and a deep, dark red.  Wow. I didn’t even think to take a reference photo until I had almost finished chopping up the carrots.  Here’s a couple of examples. I need to order some carrot seeds to plant for fall.

Personal Reveal:  As a child we always had cold carrot sticks on the dinner table.  I liked to dip mine in catsup.  In fact, to this day I believe the reason to eat French Fries is to enjoy catsup.

Note:  The Lemon Squash and Malali Watermelon was ripped out yesterday to make way for some fall planting.

 

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Hot Hot Hot Hot Stuff

Oh sure.  It’s hot.  Gardening happens 12 months out of the year around here and I really get burnout in July.  The heat pushes me to the point of not caring and letting the garden take care of itself (for about 5 minutes).  Like most gardens, tomatoes are exploding along with squash and peppers.  I’ve been canning salsa (both 5 alarm and 1.5 alarm varieties) and tomatoes to preserve summer’s bounty at least until Thanksgiving.  That’s why I haven’t been blogging lately.  Any spare time is used in the garden or canning the harvest.

The heat and my persistence has rid the garden of hornworms for now.  This is good news for the gajillion pounds of tomatoes yet to be processed.  Everything is moving right along nicely.Red Flame Grapes continue to ripen.  This vine really thrives with the hot, hot temperatures.  The grape arbor is laced with scare tape that seems to be keeping the birds out.  This is the 2nd year for the vine in the garden.  Last year there were a few grapes produced to my surprise.  2010’s production  has increased by about 5 times.  The vines were pruned when dormant and fed sporadically with Dr. Earth.  I don’t apply as much water as Farmer MacGregor.  His method seems to be working well.

Malali Watermelon also are going bonkers with the heat.  I counted about a dozen the other day.  Keeping the vines in bounds of the raised bed may be helping but this is the 1st year I’ve grown this variety.  As the vines creep over the blocks and out into the garden paths, I turn the vines back over on top of itself.  This is shading the melons growing below and the blossoms are on top for the bees to handle.

Borlotto Solista Beans were planted on May 18.  Here is the progress 2 months later.  They love the heat too.  I planted Summer Savory around them; but the shade from the vines is preventing its development.

Luffa Gourds are thriving in the heat.  They were planted last month on June 18.  In the late afternoon, the leaves get a bit droopy so I give the 4 vines a little drink and all is well.

Hope you’re thriving in the heat or at least coping.

Nice Melons!

Farmer MacGregor enjoys watermelon; so this winter I searched the Baker Creek seed catalog for the perfect variety.  The Malali seemed like it would fit the criteria.   A small, seeded, sweet melon that grows well in the oven-like garden known as Bakersfield, California.  Sold!  The seeds were planted on April 28, sprouted on May 6, and they haven’t stopped since.

They share a bed with the Lemon Squash (left).

April 29, 2010

 

May 31, 2010

 

June 10, 2010

  June 19, 2010

 

For some reason, whenever I work in the melon patch I have the desire to do a little tweezer work.  Sadly, these will not be ready for the 4th of July; but old MacGregor will have the rest of the long, hot summer to enjoy melons.  I’m now on the lookout for the dreaded pests that are sure to show up.

Tendrils

The recent blast of heat in the garden has the tendrils reaching out and grabbing on.  I’ve watched the tendrils on the lemon squash grow from a fraction of an inch in the evening to about 3 inches over night.  No kidding.  All the plants are growing vigorously; but the vines are really making their move.

Red Flame Grape

Lemon Squash

Malali Watermelon

 Malali Watermelon

The tendrils are almost humanlike.  I can watch them coil around something within seconds and they really tighten their grip. 

There are other types of vines in the garden besides tendrils.  That’s for another post at another time.

Long Live the Queen

The Queen of the Garden celebrated her 19th birthday on Cinco de Mayo.  She enjoyed all the treats she could eat then perched up on the steps to oversee her staff (me) work in the garden.  This is a routing (sans treats) she does most every evening.

Here’s what’s going on today:

The Malali Watermelon have sprouted (05/06/10).  They were planted 8 days ago (04/28/10).

 Lemon Squash is planted adjacent to the watermelon.  It was also planted 8 days ago (04/28/10).

Volunteer potatoes are sprouting amongst the green bunching onions.  They will be removed to make way for the tomatoes.  Potatoes and tomatoes do not grow well together because of the spread of blight.  So…the potatoes gotta go.

The lavender will probably be harvested Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, I do not know what variety of lavender I have.

The Red Flame Grape vine is getting a grip on the arbor.  Color and intensity was boosted to see the twining.

Yesterday, the potted citrus (lemon & mandarin) had all the pansies removed, soil fluffed, and were deeply irrigated.  Today, they look a bit better.  I’m confident the lemon will progress; but the prognosis for the mandarin isn’t good.

As the sun sets, the Queen gives her approval to her staff for a job well done then takes a nap because it’s so tiring being the Queen.

Happy Birthday, Your Majesty.

Summer Crops – Part II

In the last post I highlighted the western most raised bed.  Now let’s move east.  There are still onions developing.  They were planted on September 20, 2009.  The heat has really pushed their growth.  You can easily see the location of the Candy Hybrid onions.  The stakes are placed to prevent garden kitties from littering where they ought not litter.  The bed is trimmed with lobelia, freesia, and strawberries.

From left to right I have planted seeds from Baker Creek.

Crapaudine Beets – are planted under the squash support (4/29/10).  Here’s the description from Baker Creek: In 1885, the French book, The Vegetable Garden stated this is one of the oldest varieties. Today some experts feel this may be the oldest beet still in existence, possibly dating back 1000 years. This unique variety is one of the most flavorful, with carrot-shaped roots that have rough, dark colored skin which looks like tree bark. Inside, the roots are very dark, with almost black flesh that is of superior quality and sought after by chefs who want real flavor. We are proud to offer this rare old selection.

 Beets are cool weather crop; but I wanted to see how they would grow in the shade of the squash as the vines cover the support.  This is a simple experiment.  There’s plenty of seeds to plant at the end of summer if this is a flop.

Lemon Squash – has a custom made support to climb.  Farmer MacGregor installed his workshop creation the same day the seeds were planted (4/28/10).  The idea is to have the lemon shaped squash dangle through the hog wire of the support.  They will stay out of the dirt and moisture and should be easy to harvest.  Lemon Squash has received great reviews at Baker Creek.

The description is this:  The shape, size and color of a lemon, it grows great here, has huge yields and the best resistance to insects I have seen in a summer squash. Very tasty, great fried! A favorite, this is a superb market variety and is very attractive. Our most popular summer squash!

Planting radishes with the squash will help to repel beetles.  I’ll just pick up regular old radish seeds for this purpose.

 

Malali Watermelon – from Israel rounds out the bed.  I picked these because they don’t grow to the size of Guinness Book of World Record prize winning melons and they can take the heat.  The seed company has a wide variety to choose from but these should be perfect.  A sugary-sweet watermelon from Israel; this variety is great for warm climates. Small fruit weigh about 10 lbs. Green-striped rind and delicious light-red flesh is really refreshing. A good little melon for small families and market growers.

I try to mark the date I plant seeds on each packet whenever possible.

Good luck with your Kentucky Derby wager.