Garden report

[Pulsegleaner]

Hi all

Thought I was time for an update on the state of things

Grasspeas- Probably the biggest success, there are a ton of them in the barrels and they flowered nicely. Looks like I was right about there being more than one color in the mix there were some all blue and some with mostly white with a little blue and pink (unfortunately they are too tangled to work out which plant is making which.)

The other worrying thing is how few of those flowers actually made pods. There are a decent number but no where near a most to all situation (like one would hope for a self pollinating plant). In fact, I'm not sure if I will get back enough seed to be able to plant at the same level as I did without adding material (that isn't a problem IF I can get back into NYC to the spice store before next spring, but that is, again, IF)

Cowpeas- Finally one of them seems to be getting some secondary leaves. But everything is still really short and tiny, leading to concern with regards to flowers and pods.

Rice Beans- At least one is now pretty decent size, but with the constant mix of new (untested) material and old (grown by me) material to keep the numbers up I don't have any way of knowing whether this is a producer or not.

Bambara Groundnuts- I THINK I have a few of these but they could be long beans (both planted in more or less the same area, hart to tell which is which at this point)

Corn- Currently sitting in the cold frame waiting for me and dad to dig the patch for them. The frame has done it's job and kept the animals from eating it all (like previous years). But not nearly as many seeds sprouted as I hoped. Do you think it is better to plant them as spaced out as I can for best freedom to grow, or closer together to improve pollination? (it's a breeding project, so adding more corn in is not doable.)

The Back

Cucumbers- Another success story, lots of heathy plants beginning to climb on the netting.

Tomatoes- The Green Zebra plants are flowering but as yet none have taken. The Purple Calabashes are still a bit too small to flower.

Lima Bean- Only one of the unknown beads made it through so far (three germinated out of five seeds, but the other two never developed growing tips. Growing fine (was worried about large lesion on stem but seems to have recovered) but needs staking (not because of climbing but it seems to want to grow sideways, so need to prop it up.)

Herbs- All healthy, though the Cuban oregano seems to be being slow to grow (maybe it needs more heat)

Ground Plum- something new I am trying this year. have five sprouts.

Mystery Pot- The thing that is probably a loofah of some sort is getting the start of a tendril.
The thing that may be some sort of rattlebox and the unknown legume both have permanent leaves now.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Forgot the wild soybeans. They are vigorous and twining up the railings.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Cucumbers have flowers.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Finally some progress on the garden producing!

I now have a LOT of cucumbers ready to pick. Most are sort of on the small size, but there one that decent (I'm sort of inclined to let the decent sized one ripen for seed.

Grass peas are now almost totally done. Didn't get a lot of seed, and even less that looks all that good. They seem to be succumbing to drying out no matter how much water I give them (somewhat ironic, given that grass peas are supposed to be SUPER drought hardy, Maybe the more bred they are to have less of the stuff that makes them a little dangerous to eat, the less drought hardy they get)

The wild soybeans are growing like cray, but no flowers as yet (I am a little concerned that wild soybeans may be in the really long day length category.)

The mystery plants are also getting quite large. The probable loofah is already wound around the pot twice, and one of the mystery legumes has developed a sort of split shape (as well as thorns)

 

[flowerbug]

Finally some progress on the garden producing!

I now have a LOT of cucumbers ready to pick. Most are sort of on the small size, but there one that decent (I'm sort of inclined to let the decent sized one ripen for seed.

Grass peas are now almost totally done. Didn't get a lot of seed, and even less that looks all that good. They seem to be succumbing to drying out no matter how much water I give them (somewhat ironic, given that grass peas are supposed to be SUPER drought hardy, Maybe the more bred they are to have less of the stuff that makes them a little dangerous to eat, the less drought hardy they get)

The wild soybeans are growing like cray, but no flowers as yet (I am a little concerned that wild soybeans may be in the really long day length category.)

The mystery plants are also getting quite large. The probable loofah is already wound around the pot twice, and one of the mystery legumes has developed a sort of split shape (as well as thorns)

it can also be that they just aren't tolerant of that much moisture. i also know that some plants produce more seeds when under some stress, but if stressed too much then they can't produce well anyways. finding the sweet spot for each plant is a part of the fun and/or challenge of gardening. also, as i often say, it's a good idea to plant various kinds of plants so that via diversity you cover all the possible conditions you might experience and then get some results instead of putting all the proverbial eggs in one type of basket and then seeing it either sink or float down the river...

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I suppose it is also possible they don't like the heat much. I'm still not used to the fact that many legumes from Mediterranean and subtropical climates are grown over the WINTER, and so are not as heat tolerant as one would expect from something from somewhere so warm. Like English peas, grass peas are a spring crop, and spring may have ended too early for them.

Technically some are trying feebly for a second go around (I see some flower buds) but they are dying faster than they are making.

Oh, and I forgot the rest of the updates

Still, no tomatoes set

Am beginning to get mature seed from my whatever it is (the one I think is Abelmoschus angulosis) it keeps churning out flowers, and the flowers keep churning out pods.

 

[Zeedman]

I suppose it is also possible they don't like the heat much. I'm still not used to the fact that many legumes from Mediterranean and subtropical climates are grown over the WINTER, and so are not as heat tolerant as one would expect from something from somewhere so warm. Like English peas, grass peas are a spring crop, and spring may have ended too early for them.

Technically some are trying feebly for a second go around (I see some flower buds) but they are dying faster than they are making.

My grass peas will likely be failures this year as well. The heat came on too quickly after planting (as it usually does here). A few of the plants are still hanging on & flowering, but it doesn't look like any seed will be produced. The garbanzos are not doing much better, but I might get enough seed to at least try again.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

First cucs picked

 

[Pulsegleaner]

My wild soybeans have flowers!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

One of my white podded cowpeas has a flower! Good thing I left it under the cage, it's flowering REALLY short (again) and I remember from last time how much the critters like to eat the pods on that one)