Garden 2017

Spung-Man

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Jan 5, 2009
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Richland, NJ
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How’s are the 2017 gardens?

Every darn time I want to post on the topic—distraction. Here’s a couple 2017 photos before anything else wilts, gets eaten, falls over in a storm, or is incinerated by an asteroid. It’s a toss up every year as what works and what doesn’t. 2107 cucumbers were a bust, attacked by stinkbugs. Radishes and daikons all bolted due to temperature fluctuations. Voles proliferate. A piebald deer continues to snack along the fence.

Beans Chard.jpg


JULY 7 [above] — onions (stuttgarter), wax romano bean (capitano), swiss chard (rhubarb), kale (roulette), lettuce (loma, matina, mainland girl. seven wonders, “A” choy, fragrant choi, manoa, okayama salad), collards (tiger, flash), daikon (good luck), baby corn (bonus), mustard (chirimen hakarashi), scallion (guardsman, summer island).

As one crop goes, the void is quickly filled with another.

Lettuce.jpg


JULY 7 [above] — lettuce (left—matina, right—loma )

By far, lettuce is what my friends and family enjoy most from my garden—hence all the cultivars.

Chinese Lettuce.jpg


JULY 23 [above] — lettuce (new yu mai), cabbage (taiwan express), eggplant (kamo, ichiban, harabegan, gretel, aswad).

We had a prolonged hot spell since July 7. Asian vegetable varieties perform in heat that send their European cousins into bolt.

Corn:scallion.jpg


JULY 23 [above] — scallion (summer island), baby corn (bonus), collards (tiger, flash), kale (roulette), parsnip (gladiator).

Vole trench.jpg


Voles, voles, and more voles…

This year the smoke bomb were a waste. Then I dug a trench, which help the buggers at bay for just three days. Then Patty set traps: fifteen beasties by day three of trying something new.

Duck.jpg


Spot was carried off by a coyote. We forgot to pen the ducks up and at 10:00 I heard a noise, and ran out to chase the beast. It was a young pup that, now startled, ran off without its bounty. For the last month we’ve doctored big puncture wounds on Spot's back and belly.

The coyotes have never come this close before.

S-M
 

NJChileHead

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Dec 22, 2011
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Hey Mark, looks great! Sorry to reply so many months later. Hope you had continued success throughout the season.

Our garden went pretty well this year, I didn't expand (still 6 raised beds) but we got some good stuff from it. Collards were outrageous this year, I still have the same plants from the spring growing and I plan to overwinter them. Some good turnips from early in the season, unfortunately I couldn't keep up with them and some of them got woody and went to waste, shame. Russian red kale fell victim to the worst aphid infestation that I've ever seen in the beginning of September, and both kale and collards got the caterpillars badly but I administered something similar to BT (forget the name) and it worked well for them. Three shots of insecticidal soap and the aphids are still unbelievable. Tomatoes and peppers did very well. Some fungal issues early on but they outgrew them. The scotch bonnet peppers did very well this year. Tried a new variety of cherry tomato (called sweet aperitif) and couldn't believe how sweet and tasty they were. Even the kids were popping them like candy.

Best,

Chilehead
 
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Spung-Man

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Chilehead,

I will try Sweet Aperitif next season. The tomatoes went bust early. It is the first year that I lost every last one to Fusarium, but the peppers are the best ever!

IMG_6548.jpg

(above) White Thai pepper is a favorite!

IMG_6552.jpg

(above) Asian varieties continue to perform, plants like white bitter gourd, Malabar spinach, and hybrid Jupiter luffa.

IMG_6541.jpg

(above) And yes, this is a current photo of blueberries in mid-October, Vaccinium virgatum ‘Powderblue’—a Rabbiteye cultivar.

S-M
 
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NJChileHead

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Dec 22, 2011
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Chilehead,

I will try Sweet Aperitif next season. The tomatoes went bust early. It is the first year that I lost every last one to Fusarium, but the peppers are the best ever!
S-M

Hey Mark, you won't be disappointed! They are delicious. Funny that you mentioned fusarium, my tomatoes and peppers both struggled with a fungal infection early in the season and managed throughout the season to stay just ahead of it. It actually killed one of my tomatoes (coyote white) and the others responded positively with some compost, aeration (took off all of the lower branches) and a little fish emulsion. The leaves are still yellowing and have the spots but are producing like a champ. The peppers, on the other hand, took a harder hit except for the scotch bonnets, which did very well. I think it was the soaking rains and humidity early in the season that was the culprit. I have to rotate out of those beds for a few years! Look forward to your thoughts on the sweet aperitif. They are small but again very sweet. They were the gateway tomato that got my 6 year old eating cherry tomatoes.

Best,

Chilehead
 
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