Experiments, observations, and lessons learned

[flowerbug]

we gave one of our sort of Hubbard squash to someone and they said they cooked it up and it was almost as good as a butternut. did they save the seeds? i don't think so but i'll ask. all i can do...

i do have a bunch more seeds to use from those squash i got last year that looked good and were heading towards something interesting. i still haven't tried any of the squash we've harvested. it's not quite squash cooking season yet.

 

[digitS']

it's not quite squash cooking season yet.

Well, that's my thought. I need to say that we have already eaten 3 or 4 squash. They are okay, the best was the last one.

For the sake of "curing" them: hoped-for dry, sunshiny weather didn't happen after the harvest and while they spent days under the covered deck. I'd have preferred to set them out under the open sky on the greenhouse deck - couldn't do it with the periodic sprinkles. They are now all given away or down on basement shelves, as of yesterday.

Candy Roaster (Pink Banana) was the first squash that I came to deeply appreciate. Can't grow it here because of the long days-to-maturity it requires. It's C. maxima squash that I especially like. Yes, I've grown and enjoyed Butternut, C. moschata. Standard Butternut is a little late-maturing for here but Early Butternut grows fine. I intended to have that one @seedcorn & @ninnymary were discussing last year - the "little" Butternut. But, with 3 varieties of C. maxima this year, it didn't make too much sense.

BTW - if I was a seedsaver of squash seed, it would have made sense because of the unlikelihood of crossing between maxima & moschata. As it is, I don't want to save seed of the 3 varieties of maxima that I have because they each have valued characteristics . And then, the dang zucchini crosses with the silly pumpkins and I CAN JUST BE SURE OF THAT!

Steve

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

Blame it on the worms...

Whenever I grow a member of the gourd family for seed, I allow the mature fruits to cure for several additional weeks before opening them for seed (or until they start to rot). The seeds generally fatten up during that period. So I am just now beginning to collect seeds from the luffa, which I've never grown successfully until this year.

The good news: it appears the seed was able to mature.
The bad (or less than great) news: wow, is it hard to get those seeds out! I had to cut through those tough fibers lengthwise to expose the seed cavities, and even then had to squeeze the seeds out from their surrounding cell walls.

View attachment 52818 View attachment 52819
Luffa "Joy"

The fresh seeds initially look much like hull-less pumpkin seeds, but will dry to black. Now that I've seen the membrane surrounding them, I might try to ferment them next time (this time I'll rub off the membrane, as I do with squash).
View attachment 52820

The mature gourds are more prone to rot than other cucurbits I've grown, so 2/4 of those let go for seed needed to be done now; the remaining 2 will be done when they too begin to brown. I will boil the sponges in vinegar water to clean them.

By far not the greatest yield of any gourd I've grown; but I am happy to finally find a luffa that succeeds at my latitude. The young fruits are sweet & slimy when cooked, similar to okra... good in soups or stir fried. Filipinos call it "patola", and use it in Misua, a somewhat slimy soup. The vines are really eye-catching in bloom (which DW really wanted to see). The large male flowers develop on long racemes that bloom over a long period. An interesting plant, but not for those with limited space.

I grow luffas and they need along growing season. If you let them completely dry the seeds will separate from the fibers and will make the luffa sound like a rattle when you shake it. Cut one end off and shake the seeds out. The skin also levels off super easy if it's completely dry. The skin turns brown and wrinkly.

 

[Jane23]

With Summer almost over & the end of the growing season approaching, maybe this is a good time to review & share what worked this year - and what didn't.

Last year, I grew a climbing cowpea from @Bluejay77 that did exceptionally well. As it happens, there was a row of chard directly adjacent - and it too did exceptionally well. The leaves were almost perfect; virtually no insect bites, and no aphids. The wasps which were attracted to the cowpeas when they started blooming, crossed over to the chard to hunt - and they were relentless.

So I thought I would repeat that arrangement this year, planting the chard next to a trellis of yardlong beans. The results have been the same - nearly flawless chard, with no caterpillars or aphids. My hand is in the photo to give it scale.
View attachment 52045

I believe this works because the chard, as a summer green, begins its strongest growth just as the cowpeas / yardlongs begin blooming & attracting wasps... and the wasps, as predators, keep the surrounding plants free of most insects. I should point out too that whatever the cowpeas produce to attract the wasps (on the extra-floral nectaries, the bumps on the stems below the flowers) it seems to pacify the wasps. When picking the yardlongs, I can gently bump or shake the wasps if they are on a pod, and they will not become aggressive.

In 20+ years of growing yardlong beans, I've often been harvesting while the wasps were literally swarming around me, and was only stung once. That time I grabbed a pod to pick, and was unaware there was a wasp on the other side... I grabbed the wasp, and it stung me. Even then, it was just what I would call a "warning sting", more like a thorn poke than a bee sting... I let go, and the wasp just flew to a nearby leaf with no further sign of aggression. Someone really should study what the cowpeas/yardlongs are feeding the wasps & market it, since stoned wasps apparently don't like to sting.

It would be really interesting to try this experiment with a member of the cabbage family, to see if the wasps would control the cabbage loopers. That would be good organic pest management.

I noticed the same behavior in my garden. I planted a bunch of Batchelor buttons to remember my mom, and the wasps were all over them. I would have a plant with maybe 20 flowers and there were probably 20 wasps.

It worked out well for my beans, tomato plants, cantaloupes, and zucchini. All grew very well with few pests aside from the occasional grasshopper that ate a hole in a bean leaf. The flowers, zucchini, and cantaloupe also seemed to bloom at the same time, so I wonder if that helped them get going more.

 

[ducks4you]

I still have 13 cabbages that I got on clearance this summer, stuck under the arber vitae in the big garden for shade, and they survived cabbage worms and grasshoppers. I dug deep and planted some carrots.
Not sure if I want to keep the cabbages going until it gets too cold for them, and then harvest, OR, take some to eat, then cover and see if the others survive the winter.

 

[Phaedra]

One thing I have learned better this year - even after transplantation, the plants won't necessarily stay in the same place to grow, whether annual or perennial. This gives even higher flexibility for space utilization.

It doesn't mean that moving plants is a good idea; however, most of the time, figuring out a temporary best solution from the constraints is what we always need to deal with. So is gardening. One scenario is that I "babysat" small Dahlia tubers and peony bare roots in 10L pots as a preparation. It's much easier for me to manage their status this year, and they are also much more ready to be planted in the ground next year.

Another scenario is about spare plants. I stopped sowing new seeds about one week ago. In the meantime, I gradually plant the new bulbs, and there are no ready seedlings for me to transplant on the top of the planters (where bulbs are at the bottom).

However, I did transplant a lot of leafy greens in late September. They were planted at a very close distance - It won't cause trouble because the temperature drops (They grow slower.), and I can always harvest the outer leaves. The worst case is to harvest some as thinning.

In the end, I thinned them (just take them as bigger plug plants and try not to damage the roots) and used them as spare plants.

Now, each of them has more than sufficient space to grow, and the upper part of the planters can produce, too. It's a much better arrangement than keeping the soil on the surface exposed during the entire winter.

I will add the mulch later, too.

 

[baymule]

@Phaedra Geiermann what type of lights do you use in your green house? I used to use 4’ fluorescent shop lights with good results. Then I got a upright small green house with zippered cover, installed LED grow lights and those lights didn’t do as well. What works best for you?

 

[Jane23]

The latest experiment I am working on is turning part of my garden into a tea garden. I love fresh tea. Does anyone have any recommendations on where I can buy quality seeds? Or have any thoughts on the matter?

 

[ducks4you]

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/growing-tea-guide

Grow Your Own Tea

You can grow a tea bush (Camellia sinensis) at home. Learn steps to properly harvest and process your tea leaves for green, black, and oolong tea.

www.thespruceeats.com

Grow Your Own Tea Plant

Growing your own tea plant doesn’t have to be daunting. Get tips for how to make your first foray into planting Camellia sinensis a success with suggested resources for sourcing saplings.

youngmountaintea.com

Tea Plants: Cold Hardy and Easy to Grow

What is the most popular drink in the world? Tea! Best of all, it comes from Tea Plants, which can be easily grown at home indoors or out.

www.fast-growing-trees.com

 

[Jane23]

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/growing-tea-guide

Grow Your Own Tea

You can grow a tea bush (Camellia sinensis) at home. Learn steps to properly harvest and process your tea leaves for green, black, and oolong tea.

www.thespruceeats.com

Grow Your Own Tea Plant

Growing your own tea plant doesn’t have to be daunting. Get tips for how to make your first foray into planting Camellia sinensis a success with suggested resources for sourcing saplings.

youngmountaintea.com

Tea Plants: Cold Hardy and Easy to Grow

What is the most popular drink in the world? Tea! Best of all, it comes from Tea Plants, which can be easily grown at home indoors or out.

www.fast-growing-trees.com

thank you. I need something to think/read about as I watch the snow.