Author Topic: Cohutt builds a garden, Chapter 2 (Read 207063 times)

KYdoomer · « **Reply #330 on:** June 15, 2010, 07:49:42 PM »

Missed a carrot? Trust me, you can't get them all.

I've got two with huge flowers on right now. I did not know a carrot plant got that big.

J

jawjaboy · « **Reply #331 on:** June 15, 2010, 07:52:37 PM »

cohutt · « **Reply #332 on:** June 15, 2010, 08:01:02 PM »

Quote from: KYdoomer on June 15, 2010, 07:49:42 PM

Missed a carrot? Trust me, you can't get them all.

I've got two with huge flowers on right now. I did not know a carrot plant got that big.

J

Yeah, after all my carrot box is a HUGE 2' x 3'; only someone with special skills could find all the carrots in a space that large.

LvsChant · « **Reply #333 on:** June 15, 2010, 08:29:33 PM »

Quote from: cohutt on June 15, 2010, 07:47:39 PM

St Valery and Dragon from SSE

The few carrots that germinated this spring have been putting some significant tops up. Germination was decent last August and the carrots were a sweet treat for most of the winter. When I seeded again this April I got spotty germination (time to actually read up on the proper planting times for North Georgia I guess).

I was impressed with the superior growth of the few tops this spring vs last fall although the first carrots pulled were long and skinny. (Edible, but not of braggadocios picture posting quality.)

Here is the rub:

At least one, and actually probably most, of the robust topped carrots were not spring germinated seeds.

DUH

Carrots are biennial, in that the flowering and seed cycle takes part of two seasons to complete. In other words, seeds planted this spring might generate some tasty carrots but if left to grow the tops would not flower this year. The carrot has to remain in the cool ground over the winter in order to turn on the flowering switch.

So in my slackness, i must have missed a few carrots last winter because I have a carrot stalk almost 3 ft tall about to flower:

God sometimes rewards the incompetent eh?

I have a parsnip doing the same thing -- I'll have to post a photo. Beautiful thing!

KYdoomer · « **Reply #334 on:** June 15, 2010, 09:24:43 PM »

Quote from: cohutt on June 15, 2010, 08:01:02 PM

Yeah, after all my carrot box is a HUGE 2' x 3'; only someone with special skills could find all the carrots in a space that large.

LOL, I tend to put things wherever I have space. Sometimes I forget where that spot is later. May you break an errant root and it comes back later to haunt you.

J

cohutt · « **Reply #335 on:** June 16, 2010, 05:37:02 AM »

Aunt Mollie flops again

Earlier I posted something about how the ground cherries seemed to grow tall, spread a little then "flop over" and start the cycle again. I guess I assumed that the initial episode of this was going to be the only one and that the plants would be more stable as they grew.
Wrong.

The weight of the individual fruits has been increasing as the plants grow and season rolls on. It is easy to look at them and thing "paper" weight since they even rattle like dry paper when you pick them up after they've ripened and hit the ground. However, once a couple of dozen are collected the cumulative weight becomes more obvious.

So anyway, the plants had all grown to be 3-4' tall and were spreading out as they grew. Two days ago most all the plants on the fence side of the bed just flopped over towards the fence. No rain, no wind, even water application.... hmmm...

The stems of the plants were all healthy, no crimps or breaks or weak spots, they just rolled over.

After 48 hours it looks like everything is growing upwards again (imagine that, towards the sun) but the foot print of the bed has greatly increased. Sneaky these things are.......

The big flop and resulting mid-bed gap:

The little culprits collectively clinging to the underside of the exposed plants:

KYdoomer · « **Reply #336 on:** June 16, 2010, 05:48:20 AM »

That is interesting. I grew the Pineapple variety for the last two years. I grew them spaced quite a bit apart and with no support. They seemed to bush out quite well and I didn't worry too much about any fruit touching the ground because they have that nice little wrapper on them.

That's pretty effective use of upward growing space though.

J

Roswell · « **Reply #337 on:** June 16, 2010, 07:12:18 AM »

Are you going to put any supports in or just let them be?

cohutt · « **Reply #338 on:** June 16, 2010, 12:04:25 PM »

I'm going to leave them as they are- it might actually make picking the fruit up easier once they start growing vertical again. I have flower beds on the other side and the two big Red Brandywine plants staked at the ends; if they gravitate from the bed there is a lot more room the way they fell....

Ros, the thing on the right side of the picture is the edge of the stump that had the yard salvaged bottles on it, right in front of the tool shed.

Roswell · « **Reply #339 on:** June 16, 2010, 12:42:09 PM »

Wow those things really have grown. When I last came up they were a pretty good distance from that stump. BTW, what are you going to do with that stump? make it into a sundial. Major PITA to move and the way those bed are I don't think you can. Sundial might be kind of cool though.

Let me know if you need any help with those ground cherries come picking time.

cohutt · « **Reply #340 on:** June 16, 2010, 09:10:11 PM »

The stump will become a soft depression filled with compost prolly by about 2016..... in the meantime it displays the vintage collection of beverage bottles from the 60s and 70s uncovered in the privet removal effort last fall.

cohutt · « **Reply #341 on:** June 16, 2010, 09:11:17 PM »

"Dragon" carrot cross section for the curious:

martomic · « **Reply #342 on:** June 17, 2010, 07:22:22 PM »

Awesome! How does the carrot taste compared to the "regulars"? I planted some cosmic purple this week. They are supposed to look pretty similar.

cohutt · « **Reply #343 on:** June 17, 2010, 08:03:46 PM »

They are pretty good actually. The ones we left in the ground last fall were smaller and sweeter. This one was a beauty for the camera but was a little big for my tastes.

outdoorlady79 · « **Reply #344 on:** June 18, 2010, 02:02:27 PM »

Quote from: cohutt on June 16, 2010, 09:11:17 PM

"Dragon" carrot cross section for the curious:

Thnking I shouldn't let me daughter see this picture :-)

TwoBluesMama · « **Reply #345 on:** June 19, 2010, 08:07:07 AM »

Nice carrot! We ended up leaving a section of carrots in the ground all winter (deep snow hit early in October and DH was headed hunting and so it went). As soon as the ground thawed a little DH dug them up with the intention of giving them to the chickens. I made him bring some inside and they were so sweet and good and surprisingly not harmed by the terrible winter weather we'd had so he dug them all and we ate some and canned some. Yum!

Thanks Cohutt for taking the time to update with pictures. Your garden is so wonderful - I think I could walk around out there for hours and plan dinner! Blessings TBM

cohutt · « **Reply #346 on:** June 19, 2010, 09:04:08 AM »

Quote from: TwoBluesMama on June 19, 2010, 08:07:07 AM

Your garden is so wonderful - I think I could walk around out there for hours

Not in the mega humid heat wave we're having right now

TwoBluesMama · « **Reply #347 on:** June 19, 2010, 02:22:40 PM »

Yeah this Mama doesn't do heat AND humidity very well - that's why I ran out of Nebraska as fast as I could (well that and those pesky tornados). It's been humid here for Colorado - but I like to go out early in the morning when it's just me and the birds and the sun isn't real hot yet. Nice time of the day. Anyway again thanks for taking the time to post pictures - I love seeing them. Blessings!

cohutt · « **Reply #348 on:** June 20, 2010, 08:06:56 PM »

I was away from the garden most of the weekend due to work commitments

When I came home this evening Mrs C said the 3 squash plants wilted badly this afternoon so I went out to inspect. I was hoping that I wouldn't find what I already knew it was-

Unfortunately, the signs were there on all three- the bases had been bored into noticeably and in 2 cases the cheesy "frass" was accumulated at the holes. If you haven't figured out what frass is yet, it is bugchit.

Even though the plants are probably too damaged to survive, I decided to try and surgically remove the grubs by slitting open the vine longways and physically removing the invaders. ; even if it doesn't work there is some modest satisfaction to be gained in destroying the destroyers.

I took a mug shot of one of the guilty and have graciously used the clickable thumbnail format instead of embedding the full sized picture. Don't open this picture if you are planning on eating cheese grits or anything similar in the next 48 hours. Consider yourself warned.

fritz_monroe · « **Reply #349 on:** June 20, 2010, 08:18:27 PM »

Oh, man. That sucks. Hopefully those are the only victims of the SVB. I'm losing a zucchini to what appears to be cucumber beetles. I'm working on it, but not having much success.

Roswell · « **Reply #350 on:** June 21, 2010, 08:17:28 AM »

Ugh! I can't stand SVBs. I haven't gotten any this year but they slammed me hard last year. Next year I am going to try, "Zucchini Rampicante" Allegedly they are basically completely resistant to SVBs. I also heard that you can cut it half and it heals in a way so that it doesn't even need to be refrigerated. I heard about it on that iTunes U Permaculture class.

http://www.kingsseeds.co.nz/shop/Vegetables/Alpha+Search+for+Vegetables/Veges+T+to+Z/Zucchini+Rampicante8740.html

fritz_monroe · « **Reply #351 on:** June 21, 2010, 08:19:50 AM »

Interesting. I'll have to keep that type in mind. I'm trying Trombocino squash as an alternative to zucchini. That's the squash that Jack dehydrates in that one video. They are supposed to be less susceptible to SVB because they put down roots along the vine.

evilphish · « **Reply #352 on:** June 21, 2010, 01:46:09 PM »

Cohutt. now i'm really jealous

between the rabbits, bad germination, and now a horrible thunderstorm, there is hardly anything left of my garden.

cohutt · « **Reply #353 on:** June 21, 2010, 08:15:02 PM »

Welcome to my moment of zen this evening, when I took a break and sat on a garden bench. I've lived here for 23 years and as far as I can recall, this is the first time I've actually put my rump on the bench. go figure.

pappabear · « **Reply #354 on:** June 21, 2010, 10:01:12 PM »

wow...what a photo, and let me be the first to say, from what i've seen you deserved a well earned break. keep it up. you continue to be an inspiration.

pappa bear

Roswell · « **Reply #355 on:** June 22, 2010, 06:36:22 AM »

You really have a nice little slice of heaven up there Cohutt.

outdoorlady79 · « **Reply #356 on:** June 22, 2010, 11:27:36 AM »

Quote from: Roswell on June 22, 2010, 06:36:22 AM

You really have a nice little slice of heaven up there Cohutt.

I second that thought, I'm continually amazed by what he's doing on his city plot.

cohutt · « **Reply #357 on:** June 22, 2010, 07:34:55 PM »

Thanks.
You guys are just a few months behind me that's all; my garden project just now finished its first year earlier this month.

Tonight:
Squash bug egg patch discovery and elimination x 5. All on the gourds.

(the bastiges!)

Gourds made a break over the fence lol

I have a nice gourdish christmas tree now too:

squirrel patrol in action:

cohutt · « **Reply #358 on:** June 22, 2010, 07:37:48 PM »

I almost forgot- the vine borer emergency surgery didn't help much with the yellow squash, but, (keeping fingers crossed) the zucchini looks remarkably good two 95+ degree days after the "procedure"

cohutt · « **Reply #359 on:** June 24, 2010, 08:49:50 PM »

The squash continued to improve, including the one I didn't even want to show a foto of.
I really expected all 3 to be composting by now but it looks like the emergency field surgery may have worked.

Also, this is what happens in my back yard if I spend too much time inspecting squash and picking up ground cherries:

What a kitteh sees

News:

Author Topic: Cohutt builds a garden, Chapter 2 (Read 207063 times)