Experiments, observations, and lessons learned

[baymule]

I’m going to prep my big tubs for early spring planting. I love broccoli and English peas.

 

[Zeedman]

A new year, new things to try.

Since my garlic actually over-wintered in good shape, I am attempting to grow some Spring planted, to observe how it performs vs. Fall planted. Potato onions (which I am also growing) tend to flower if Fall planted, but not if Spring planted... so what will be the effect on bulb growth & scape formation for Spring-planted garlic? Three cloves each of three different types (Artichoke, Porcelain, and Marbled Purple Stripe).

The potato onions are the survivors of seed-grown onions from the Experimental Farm Network last year. This was all open-pollinated seed from Kelly Winterton's potato onions X regular yellow potato onions, so the results will be variable; but none were white. Kelly's spectacular potato onions seem to have disappeared (which doesn't speak well of their hardiness) so I'm hoping to breed something which will survive my winters & produce a decent increase. The first generation bulbs were wintered over indoors, to test their winter storage; about 1/2 didn't make it. Now they will be multiplied for observation, and a few of any promising line will be Fall planted. Since not all bulbs were the same size to start with, I won't eliminate any lines until after 2024, by double elimination. My previous experience with multiplier onions was that initially large bulbs tend to produce a cluster of smaller bulbs, and smaller bulbs tend to produce 1 or 2 larger bulbs; so I'm giving the smaller onions a chance.

New trials this year will be three hyacinth beans (to test for photo-period sensitivity), a new luffa (likewise), two favas from @heirloomgal (to see if they can tolerate my summers) and a peanut from @Eleanor (to see how well they do in my climate. Also testing the peanuts, bush hyacinth beans, & soup peas at two different spacings for comparison. Also attempting to get a good seed crop of Sugar Lace snap peas, to test whether its short seed storage life can be improved.

 

[heirloomgal]

This is such a great thread title @Zeedman. If I had a gardening motto, that would probably be it.

I'll be surprised if you have trouble with the favas; when we had a week of that nearly 90 F weather awhile ago my Fingerprint favas wilted during mid day but perked all up by late afternoon, when the heat began to lessen. Do you get really extended periods of 90F+ weather like that? I plant mine in areas where I know they will get a bit of shade for part of the day. Maybe that helps.

 

[Zeedman]

The favas so far are healthy, doing well, and apparently loving the cooler weather right now - so I'm cautiously optimistic. They are planted in areas where they will get 1/2 day shade from pole beans (although that probably won't happen until close to flowering). We actually just finished a stretch of 80F+ weather, where my A/C couldn't keep up; we normally have 2-4 weeks of the "hot muggies" each summer. Peas seem to do OK here, but some cool-weather legumes (like grass pea and garbanzo) really struggle.

On the other side of the temperature spectrum... I grow quite a few Asian vegetables, including water spinach, a tropical member of the morning glory family. I start them indoors about May 1st, and transplant them when the weather warms. They were outside hardening off when the cold front came through - and dropped to lower 40's. Like okra, they wilt in anything below 50F degrees. I brought them in & gave them a day in the seed-sprouting greenhouse at 80F, where they recovered. Keeping them under the high bay lights now until it warms up. They look like willow seedlings. All the curling & leaf deformity is the result of their one night outside in the 40's.

 

[Branching Out]

This is such a great thread title @Zeedman. If I had a gardening motto, that would probably be it.

I'll be surprised if you have trouble with the favas; when we had a week of that nearly 90 F weather awhile ago my Fingerprint favas wilted during mid day but perked all up by late afternoon, when the heat began to lessen. Do you get really extended periods of 90F+ weather like that? I plant mine in areas where I know they will get a bit of shade for part of the day. Maybe that helps.

I read somewhere that fava is sometimes planted under grape vines in Italy, so I tried that this year and they are loving it under the tall canopy of the grape vines. The grapes are planted against a cinder block wall that likely radiates some heat through the night as well. The fava pods are growing absolutely huge.

 

[flowerbug]

almost all the onions that survived the winter are flowering or have already flowered.

i'm really interested to see how the onions i planted from some specific heads turned out because the top had both seeds and bulbules. so it is a dual purpose plant, if you need it for cross breeding it gives seeds and if you want it for more clones for increase you can use the bulbules. except, as of yet, i can't tell what they are going to do, so i'm trying to be patient and having to wait... anticipation...

so far (on the bean front) i have a good germination going of most of the beans i planted that are experimental or potential outcrosses and new varieties. also have to see how they do, so more waiting.

as some further experimentation with interplanting with adzuki beans (that worked very well last year when planted with the lavender bush beans) i did more patches like that to see how they do. having more adzuki beans to cook and eat would not bother me at all, but mainly what they are for is providing more shade and biomass when the plants are done. more nitrogen fixing, etc. they are not huge production plants for sure so my main interest is as a companion planting to cool things off in the summer heat, which they seem to enjoy more than the bean plants.

the adzukis are a blend of the Early Takara and a commercial adzuki i got from the asian food market store. if i can get them to cross it would be interesting but as of now they are still pretty distinct from each other when harvesting and shelling.

and the massive plantings of thyme all around are definitely spreading and flowering. some worked out really well... so well that i need to move them from where they are because they'll take over quickly (i don't want that area to be taken over quickly! the other creeping thyme is slower).

 

[SPedigrees]

Lessens learned for me (from observations and experience) are that plants and trees have good years and bad years for inexplicable reasons (at least I don't know the reasons why - the plants alone know), that raised beds are good protection against slugs (not complete protection but definitely helpful), that diversity is key to a healthy forest, and that garden art is never permanent. I agree - great thread title!

 

[Phaedra]

Lessens learned for me (from observations and experience) are that plants and trees have good years and bad years for inexplicable reasons (at least I don't know the reasons why - the plants alone know), that raised beds are good protection against slugs (not complete protection but definitely helpful), that diversity is key to a healthy forest, and that garden art is never permanent. I agree - great thread title!

Can't agree with you more! I think we have to respect plants, other creatures, and nature. None of them is born to be controlled or managed by us.

We don't have late frost this year, but most of the fruit trees (also in neighbors' gardens) didn't have flowers, and of course, very very few fruits were set. Maybe it's a bad year, or a year they need to take a rest.

For example, in the recent two years, the concepts of raised beds and gardening changed a lot to me - they are bigger bottomless planters and can be a tiny universe on their own - this eventually changed what I chose to grow inside them.

I am happy to keep learning and adaptive.

 

[digitS']

 

[SPedigrees]

We don't have late frost this year, but most of the fruit trees (also in neighbors' gardens) didn't have flowers, and of course, very very few fruits were set. Maybe it's a bad year, or a year they need to take a rest.

We had a very unusual late Spring hard freeze here in northern New England USA this year that damaged the blossoms on apple trees. It damaged the apple crop this year which was devastating for orchard growers.

This year the forsythias here had very few blossoms, oddly. Perhaps it is as you say, the bushes just needed a rest and took the year off. I've learned not to get upset over seasons like this, but to just wait for a better year, because it will come.