New England September 2014

A warm week expected!

I think this week was supposed to be in late July. Someone put it in the wrong place.

Happy September, gardeners!

NHGardener wrote:I think this week was supposed to be in late July. Someone put it in the wrong place.

Happy September, gardeners!

I agree and a few weeks ago, too! August 15 felt like October!

I  feel lucky now, especially if this warmth keeps up.
I planted some cucumber seeds in the middle of July.
After removing garlic and shallots I figured, why not ?
The plants are growing  nicely due to the warm weather, great buds have formed and those
nasty cucumber beetles are done till next season.
Imagine a warm weather crop in the fall ?

jimmy cee wrote:I  feel lucky now, especially if this warmth keeps up.

Imagine a warm weather crop in the fall ?

That's not unheard of in Springfield, in southeast Windsor County, Vermont. It's likely zone 5b. (maybe zone 6 in downtown, but can't confirm)

Usually no hard freeze until at least later October in downtown.

Nothing like St. Albans and the like.

And downtown Springfield was fortunate this past winter! Burlington to the well northwest of me, had a day where it reportedly failed to even reach 1 F!

OTOH, in Springfield, the coldest day is at least closer to 20 F for cryin' out loud!

I would think that roughly the 10 F mark is the worst case. 8 F was the coldest I can confirm maybe 7 F.
Never seen a zero-degree high here! So we were milder than Chicago.

Potato experiment results.

Besides the 4x8 bed, I dropped each extra seed potato against the fence, and then covered each with a pile of hay. When the plant grew, I put more hay on top. Today I dug those piles up.

For one thing, they matured more quickly than the potatoes planted in soil in the beds. Maybe because they were on top of the ground and the heat got through the hay more than those in the dirt. So they were over-mature. Some had eyes and buds of their own.

But mainly, almost all those potatoes were vole bitten/eaten. Being "planted" right there on top of the ground with a hay pile over it was an easy route for the voles, also being right near the fence.

So here, anyway, I won't be throwing potatoes on top of the ground and using hay mulch to let them grow. They go into a bed.

In southern Maine we are having 80s days and 50s and some 60s nites.  I'm still awaiting ripening of my sweet peppers and a few yellow squash and zukes are growing.  My tomatoes are about gone, having succumbed to the blight that hit us hard this year. My Sugar Pot watermelon in the pot didn't grow beyond a tiny golf ball size then died.  Not near enuf heat this summer for my garden.
The few herbs I grew are still doing well in the garden; parsley, rosemary, basil.
Tourists have gone home so at least I can drive on our roads without waiting several minutes to pull onto our two-lane highway and the lines at the check outs are much shorter.
I love the tourists and am glad they have a cool place to visit for the summer, but I'm happy the crowds have thinned dramatically.

We're comparing all our tomatoes here at work today and so far, for big ones, my Super Beefsteak & Super Sonics are the winners.  My Black Cherry wins for the small ones, which surprises me as I thought the Sungolds would be the cherry favorite.

I also enjoyed a large bright orange heirloom called Tangerine.  I saved the seeds. It was low acid & not a lot of seeds and seemed perfect for sauce, as well as very decorative.

Hot here now - 81 & sunny today.  I'm finally seeing flowers again on the bush beans, peas, cukes, squashes & tomatoes.  The lettuce, chard & collard seedlings are completely limp. 

Got a big restaurant compost load of rotten bananas for the new pile this morning. 
 
With all that potassium I'm thinking root veggies galore next year.  Or is it phosphorus that is for root growth?
 
Well, the bananas have to be good for SOMEthing.  Along with the bucket loads of sliced cukes, kidney beans, jalapenos & mung beans that got plopped on there also.  Then the pile was soggy so I poured on a huge bag of shredded office paper and sprinkled it all with a wee bit of mostly finished compost.


CC

CC, how did you manage to scavange the leftovers?

My next door neighbor & his gf run the kitchen at a local camp so he saves any overflow for me in 2.5 & 5 gal food grade buckets...AND I get to keep the buckets!  Sometimes the stuff is still good but they have to get rid of it to make room for deliveries. 

It's sparse this time of year as the kids are gone and the camp is only catering to parties, weddings, etc.  But the summer bucket loads were constant and I finally had to tell him to stop.

Now the gal with the orange toms is telling me maybe they are called Valencia, she can't remember.  Either way, I'm growing them next year.

CC

Wow that's some nice luck, CC. You even got it in easy to carry sizes! That must have been an awful lot of material over the summer. Gotta love the free buckets, too.

Luckee!

Nice score, especially with free "tomato" buckets. Or for what ever you need them.

Yesterday I pulled a zucchini, 3 cucumbers, and some tomatoes from the garden. The party's not over yet. The eggplants are coming along nicely now too. Still having kale several nights a week.

Hello!  My garden is a dud this year, partly due to the weather and partly due to not being able to be outside.  

However, I seem to recall people talking about freezing peaches.  I got a lot of peaches in my CSA today and am now curious about that.

Do you prep them in any way?  What are they usable for after they thaw?  I am thinking that they are not so good for just 'eating' but more for use in recipes.

Thanks.  Glad to live vicariously through all of you this summer.

Enjoyed seeing your thriving garden!

Very nice and neat looking. And abundant!

So healthy and fruitful looking

Wow, nice garden camprn.  Is that a humongous Brussel Sprout I see that looks like a small tree with huge leaves on the top.  Does it grow throughout the summer up there.

yolos wrote:Wow, nice garden camprn.  Is that a humongous Brussel Sprout I see that looks like a small tree with huge leaves on the top.  Does it grow throughout the summer up there.

Thanks and yup, takes months to get sprouts. I just took all the lower leaves off the other day and in a week or two I'll snap off the growing tip at the top.

cpl - sorry to hear about your ongoing saga! But best take care of priorities this summer, there will be next summer for your garden! (I've never actually frozen peaches, but with the blueberries and strawberries I just put them in a baggie and in the freezer)

camprn, it may as well be July in your photos.

I noticed with my gilberties as well, they don't seem to turn a uniform red. Is that normal for them?

And the peppers... oh the peppers...

Gilberties are known to often have green shoulders. But not always.

I never tire of seeing your fabulous garden, camp!  It always gives me hope. 

Sanderson, I use the buckets for watering.  I only have icey cold city water so the chlorine needs to evaporate before I can water with it.  That takes a lot of buckets, especially with the drought conditions we've had here the past 3 springs/summers so I'm very grateful to be getting them. 

Yup, the party's not over!  I'll be harvesting the first batch of fall sugar & snow peas today.  And the maters are coming in faster, so between them and all the maters my coworkers are giving me (from seedlings I gave them last spring that are producing like crazy!) I may get to can some yet.

The 2nd planting of cukes have fruits on them now, as do the first planting.  Needless to say I'm thrilled!  The beans are starting up again with this warm week.  And I see it's time to harvest a few more summer squashes.

Camp, how did you mow under your squash vines?  Moved them into the box?

CC

I mowed 2 weeks ago and won't mow there again 7 til the squash is done.