New England September 2017

This was lovely to read  I was feeling sad about the arrival of fall but then when I checked my garden this morning, I saw that the carrot and radish and lettuce seedlings are doing well and more are coming up. The promise of a fall harvest has given me a new spark! I need to research how I'm going to protect them from the first frost.

Rock,  a wonderful read.

Nice sonnet to the change of seasons, Rock!  I love seasons!

I found these late season unwanted guests on my tomatoes today!

Plants OK?  At least you found them!

They the whole plant in 3 days

bigdogrock wrote:They the whole plant in 3 days

Yep.  I had it happen the first year I did SFG.....voracious critters.  

Everything was fine and dandy on Sunday afternoon. I have been putting in the hours at work and other chores, Just happened to notice I see a lot more tomatoes, the leaves were gone. After checking, it was localized to one plant. The tomatoes that are on it will ripen then the frost will do all the other plants.

bigdogrock wrote:Everything was fine and dandy on Sunday afternoon. I have been putting in the hours at work and other chores, Just happened to notice I see a lot more tomatoes, the leaves were gone. After checking, it was localized to one plant. The tomatoes that are on it will ripen then the frost will do all the other plants.

Me too, it was one plant...and one of mine had the wasp thingies on its back so I left it.  That is what you are supposed to do.  The wasp things are predators and parasitze even the host.....IDK.

Rock,

bigdogrock wrote:I found these late season unwanted guests on my tomatoes today!

Oh...so glad you didn't post their cute little faces.  My guess is they weren't long for this world after this photo was taken.

OK, it's that time again - The Good, The Bad and the Downright Ugly.  (theme song begins here)

THE GOOD

Cherry toms are always good.  But this year I had to take into consideration the cooler than normal temps which is why they are later then usual. (this goes for everything actually)  

The April planted carrots on the right half of this box in front of the cherry toms did beautifully - best ever for me!  The Danvers 126 are good, but I won't grow A-1 again as they are pretty much flavorless.  I'm hoping a bit of frost will correct that.  Volunteer toms in the middle.  The left side of the box are the KY Wonder pole beans.  Second year of so-so growth.  I think I'll abandon Burpee's  KY Wonder next year and try another  company.


Tromboncino is FINALLY showing up and not aborting...yet.


Gergana cukes are still producing.  They stopped and rested for a bit so it's a nice surprise that they are starting back up again. [

Only 3 Gilbertie off of 2 plants this year, but the reason they are in the good section is because the experiment of watering them with boiled egg water worked - no BER!



The kale is growing beautifully of course.   I'm thrilled with the Red Baltic kale (purple) this year.  Never had a purple that was so prolific.  I'll be saving the seeds next year fersure.  Collard greens all have PM.



I'll have to post this before it says I can't anymore.  The bad and ugly will be in the next post.

THE BAD

OK, so these crazy beets across the center of the box were planted in April.     About 3 or 4 different varieties.  Nada!

Lettuce starts and peas...not much happening and they've been in there for about a month or more.

The peppers are just now flowering.  The succession planted cukes are about 3 inches high as are the peas.  The April planted Chantenay carrots are so-so, still kinda small.


THE UGLY

Yeah, well...sometimes you just have to call it quits. No baby aspirin at planting time = disease:

Even tho they did well, it's game over for the delicata.   I think it's just too cold...or at least my hose water is.
I got 7 squash from 7 plants.  Is 1 per all they give ya???  Is that normal?

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Meanwhile, in the kitchen garden...my first ever sunflower!
and the grapes on the right are grape-ing!  blueberry sized mind you but they taste like Welches grape jam!

Haha!  Spaghetti Western music in my head now!  OK, so the aspirin, what is the deal there????

My 2 delicata both died, one in infancy, and the other just like melted in the SFG.....??????

My big tomatoes didn't do squat this year.  Cherries went wild but I can't eat 'em all...

Peppers are good.

Scorpio Rising wrote: OK, so the aspirin, what is the deal there????

In the Answer Book Mel says that baby aspirin helps tomatoes. I can't remember it exactly but I throw one in the hole at planting time and usually water mid-season with aspirin water blend.

Scorpio Rising wrote: 
My 2 delicata both died, one in infancy, and the other just like melted in the SFG.....??????

When mine melt you can bet the SVB is to blame.

CC your beds look so neat, compared to my tangled mess! You give me something to aim for next year. My Italian landlord used to grow those grapes, I can still taste them. There's nothing quite like that flavor. If I remember correctly, the yellow jackets loved them too.

I am so glad you brought up aspirin! I didn't get to it this year (like so many other things-life can be a wild ride and sometimes you just have to hang on and enjoy what ya got,) but I have the scientific work up on it somewhere in my notes, I will post it when I get the time. It basically says why it is good to put a HIGHLY diluted amount of aspirin dissolved in water on your tomato plants. I think I crunch up a half (it might be more or less) an aspirin into a five gallon bucket of water and spray it on the leaves. I talked to a chemist who knows about such things as how to measure and apply solutions in parts per thousands or millions. Me and math, well, I can count to 20, if I got my shoes off...

bigdogrock wrote:I am so glad you brought up aspirin! I didn't get to it this year (like so many other things-life can be a wild ride and sometimes you just have to hang on and enjoy what ya got,) but I have the scientific work up on it somewhere in my notes, I will post it when I get the time. It basically says why it is good to put a HIGHLY diluted amount of aspirin dissolved in water on your tomato plants. I think I crunch up a half (it might be more or less) an aspirin into a five gallon bucket of water and spray it on the leaves. I talked to a chemist who knows about such things as how to measure and apply solutions in parts per thousands or millions. Me and math, well, I can count to 20, if I got my shoes off...

Yes, that would be great!  There are a couple threads on here about it, but I would love to hear more about the science!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Cherries went wild but I can't eat 'em all...

"Sundried" cherry tomatoes - halve em and put them skin side down (pulp side up) in the dehydrator (or oven.) Store them in small quantities in sealed containers so they stay dry and you are only exposing small quantities to humidity from the air (because having a batch in a big jar go moldy is sad.)

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Cherries went wild but I can't eat 'em all...

"Sundried" cherry tomatoes - halve em and put them skin side down (pulp side up) in the dehydrator (or oven.) Store them in small quantities in sealed containers so they stay dry and you are only exposing small quantities to humidity from the air (because having a batch in a big jar go moldy is sad.)

I did that last year and they are so yummy. I store them in the back of the refrigerator and I'm still using them. I also dehydrated beets at the same time and they're like eating special raisins. But those are gone now.

CapeCoddess wrote:

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Cherries went wild but I can't eat 'em all...

"Sundried" cherry tomatoes - halve em and put them skin side down (pulp side up) in the dehydrator (or oven.) Store them in small quantities in sealed containers so they stay dry and you are only exposing small quantities to humidity from the air (because having a batch in a big jar go moldy is sad.)

I did that last year and they are so yummy. I store them in the back of the refrigerator and I'm still using them. I also dehydrated beets at the same time and they're like eating special raisins. But those are gone now.

I am gonna do it!  Thanks so much for the idea!!!  They are all hitting at once, and for some reason don't stay well.  One goozes open and then the stupid fruit flies invade...grrr!  Thanks for the great idea!

Since Hurricane Jose is knocking on our door, this morning I harvested things I needed or didn't want to lose:
No worries though, it's only supposed to be a tropical storm by the time it shows up - gusts 40 - 60 mph.  The Cape eats winds like that for breakfast.

Woops...almost forgot the delicatas:

I left more delicatas and all the cukes & tromboncinos in the garden as they are so skinny and/or small still.  I'm hoping they'll go crazy with the Jose charged 3" of rain we are expecting.

That's a great looking harvest CC.  

I think I got all I'm going to get off my determinate tomatoes this year. There are still some greenies but their time has past. It sure is different growing in pots. Mine, unfortunately, did NOT do as well as I expected. I'm just grateful I was able to get a few quarts roasted and frozen this year.
The Better Bush are a very tasty tomato. To me Red Pride had too thick a skin not to my liking. The Patio didn't do well at all but tasted OK.

I love seeing your garden CapeC. Things are rolling along as usual for you with a few things not doing as well as you'd like. I still love the pix.

CapeCoddess wrote:Since Hurricane Jose is knocking on our door, this morning I harvested things I needed or didn't want to lose:
No worries though, it's only supposed to be a tropical storm by the time it shows up - gusts 40 - 60 mph.  The Cape eats winds like that for breakfast.

Woops...almost forgot the delicatas:

I left more delicatas and all the cukes & tromboncinos in the garden as they are so skinny and/or small still.  I'm hoping they'll go crazy with the Jose charged 3" of rain we are expecting.

Dang, girl!  Look at you and your squashes!!!!  And what are those mammoth carrots?  Danvers?  Nice haul, good for you!

QB, containers are just different;  I think they need more replenishing of nutrients.  I think I under fertilized my goundcherries.  I did fish emulsion once, and I think it needed to be like every coupe weeks in all honesty.  Melons too....