There was a mini cold snap in the evenings a few days ago that effectively ended production of warm season crops. I had only a handful of plants still in the ground at the garden site. A late Saturday or early Sunday temperature in the mid-30s wilted most of the peppers, tomato and potato plants. There was not much production on those plants anyway. I haven't had a ripe tomato in a week.
Two pepper plants still are going strong. They are called Garden Salsa. I have grown them the past three years from starts I buy at a roadside plant stand. They are a long, moderately thin, medium heat pepper. I can eat them fresh without too much bodily harm. I harvested a few red ones earlier this season, and now am waiting for a fairly decent crop of green ones.
The cold weather is over. It is sprinkling now and is supposed to rain for the next few days, which will warm up evening temperatures. It has been more than two months since there has been anything but a trace of rain. A mini drought. The mornings have been cool, but without much dew. So the moisture is welcome ... for now.
I delivered my last load of produce to the food bank yesterday. I am 15 pound shy of a quarter-ton. I have an apple tree in the backyard with more apples than I can eat, so I likely will deliver a bag of those to the food bank. It might be just enough to pass the 500-pound threshold.
October 12, 2012
October 01, 2012
Winding Down
It has been a good year. For gardening, that is. The other parts are questionable. Different does not equate to good or bad. Just different.
I had a great harvest. Everything did well except my corn and watermelon, which were grown in the backyard with beds preyed upon by the big-A maple tree. I have written about that in the past. The solution, hopefully, will be to clear out the old soil, put in fabric to block the tree roots and amend the soil with good compost. I have completed one of three backyard raised beds, and seeded lettuce, radishes, onions and garlic last week. I'll check the soil in the spring to see whether the trees roots are prevalent. If not, I'll do the other two raised beds and expect better production in the backyard next year.
Production at the garden site was fabulous. I got bumper crops of everything, even tomatoes, which took a considerable hit from blossom end rot. I still have a lot green tomatoes, but day length is shortening and evenings are cooler, so I'm not expecting too many more ripe ones.
I harvested my last melons yesterday: two Charentais with four mature melons each. Those plants were staggered slightly from the main melon patch, which I finished harvesting two weeks ago.
I'm already envisioning my 2013 melon patch. It will have more plants and more varieties, but fewer plants of each variety, except Lambkin, which is far and away my favorite melon to date. I raised only four Lambkins this year from two plants. I still have three in the fridge. Lambkins are a hybrid of Piel de Sapo, or Christmas melon. As the name implies, they often are still around for the holidays because they are good keepers with refrigeration. The taste lingers long after the last morsel is consumed.
 |
| A veggie mix from mid-September harvest: Lemon and Straight-8 cucumbers, Early Girl and Nebraska Wedding tomatoes, Tropea onions, Charentais melon, a small Howden and Rouge Vif d'Etemps pumpkins and Garden Salsa, Carmen and Beaver Dam peppers. |
I had a great harvest. Everything did well except my corn and watermelon, which were grown in the backyard with beds preyed upon by the big-A maple tree. I have written about that in the past. The solution, hopefully, will be to clear out the old soil, put in fabric to block the tree roots and amend the soil with good compost. I have completed one of three backyard raised beds, and seeded lettuce, radishes, onions and garlic last week. I'll check the soil in the spring to see whether the trees roots are prevalent. If not, I'll do the other two raised beds and expect better production in the backyard next year.
Production at the garden site was fabulous. I got bumper crops of everything, even tomatoes, which took a considerable hit from blossom end rot. I still have a lot green tomatoes, but day length is shortening and evenings are cooler, so I'm not expecting too many more ripe ones.
I harvested my last melons yesterday: two Charentais with four mature melons each. Those plants were staggered slightly from the main melon patch, which I finished harvesting two weeks ago.
I'm already envisioning my 2013 melon patch. It will have more plants and more varieties, but fewer plants of each variety, except Lambkin, which is far and away my favorite melon to date. I raised only four Lambkins this year from two plants. I still have three in the fridge. Lambkins are a hybrid of Piel de Sapo, or Christmas melon. As the name implies, they often are still around for the holidays because they are good keepers with refrigeration. The taste lingers long after the last morsel is consumed.
 |
| A melon menagerie. Clockwise from top, Prescott Fond Blanc, Lambkin, Korean Star, Tigger and Charentais. Each melon is average size for its variety. The Tigger is slightly larger than a baseball. |
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)