There's Always Something

[digitS']

Wow! Weather! It was 79F yesterday - far and away the warmest temperature this year! But . . . average wind speed was 18mph with gusts to 41! There's always something.

Cucumber, melon, pumpkin starts are in the greenhouse. The lemon cuke seed must be defective - terrible germination :/! I'd hate to be without that one. There's always something.

I already found some more lemon cuke seed. I'm convinced that most people grow this as a novelty but - ya gotta eat them before they look like a lemon! Anyway, that's my preference .

New-to-me, Santon Charentais melon from good old Ferry-Morse Seed Company just kind of fell into my hand at the garden center. It looks like this is kind of an exclusive for this seed company. It has stayed completely under my radar as I've desperately sought a replacement for Honey Girl Charentais which Burpee seems no longer willing to make available. Five years out of 6 (or so), I could count on Honey Girl to ripen in my garden. Charentais melons have to be picked at full ripe and just before they start going downhill. I'm really hoping that after a swing-and-a-miss last year with Edonis, I've really got my fingers crossed for Santon. There's always something.

I'm dragging my feet about getting the tomato plants out to harden-off with some continuing wind this morning. So, I've been searching Gary Ibsen's Tomatofest catalog and drifting off to Laurel's heirloomtomatoplants.com. These people !! It really hasn't been very many years where I only had one slicer variety and one cherry in the garden each year. This year, it's something like 24.

I'm reading about "Black Ethiopian." Why? I just happened on it . I mean, how could a east African variety be appropriate for my garden? Turns out, it's from the Ukraine! Well, that sounds appropriate!

There's no, zero, zilch, nada heirloom cherry tomato in my garden except for something called "Wow!" Not only was the seed given to me by someone who has never grown it but, how much faith can you put in an heirloom called "Wow!" . . ? Anyway, I'm looking at Blondkopfchen cherry to try next year. And! Tobolsk just kind of jumped out at me! Maybe that yellow slicer, too. And, I really should get around to trying Azoychka !

Haven't even got all my seeds in the ground nor all the plants in the garden .There's always something . . !

Steve

edited to add: there are plenty of hybrid cherries for my garden, including continuing head-to-head competition between Sungold & SunSugar. there's always something . . .
:rainbow-sun

 

[thistlebloom]

I was on Ibsens site last week looking at tomatoes, and
Blondkopfchen and Azoychka are on my list too, as well as about five others .... my list is around here somewhere...
At least Wow is easy to pronounce!
My tomatoes spent their first complete night outside,not just in the garage. Hopefully they'll get in the ground this week, I'm just insanely busy with my business, and my sister and family are coming to visit sometime around the middle of the week. I wanted to start some melons inside, as well as more peppers, but my list of "have -tos"is longer than my arm...sigh...
You're so right Steve, there's always something!

 

[digitS']

More peppers, Thistle' . . ? Approaching June . . ?

My son is supposed to show up in about 2 weeks . I wonder if I can draft him into some garden work !

Just happened onto the Perpetual Spinach seed I ordered. A beet/chard relative, that should really go out into full sun but I'm trying to figure out if'n there's enuf room for all the tomato plants on that ground! And, what about the corn and, after decades, a 2nd try at the 3 sisters garden?

It was so wonderful last fall but I can't find the Komatsuna seed I was going to try this spring!!

Why haven't I got my wheat planted?! There's always something!

Steve

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

My "there's always something" is that it was 80 degrees here two days ago. All week I got my raised beds ready with humic acid, earthworm castings, some bone meal for the toms, and some all purpose old veggie fertilizer. Then on Thurs and Fri transplanted the seedlings, planted all the seeds, sweated all day (cus I sweat alot via my face), placed all the drip hoses, swore at a few gophers, built my own version of a potato cage and planted a bag of Lowes yukon golds, and then sat back and admired the hard work. Still one big bed to turn, and plant.

Today woke up to 1/2" snow, and a temp of 36 right now at 9 a.m. WTHeck? There was NO forecast of snow at our elevation, but lots of rain, which is why I got the garden mostly done, the roses got some granular fertilizer, etc so that the forecasted RAIN would give everything a good drink.

Aauuughhh.....It looks like a war zone out there. Baby dogwoods bending over, the 6 flowering plum trees drooped like they are broken, the blooming azaleas drooped. Aaauuughhhh....

 

[thistlebloom]

Steve:
Yeah , I know it's late but some of them (peppers) will be in large nursery containers that I can pull into the garage and maybe eke a few ripe peppers off. I have the seed, I think it's worth a gamble.
Speaking of gambles, my tomato experiment is sauntering along with some interesting results. I have a 50% success rate so far, although I don't know that I gained much over the ones I kept in to plant out after the last frost.
We'll just have to let the season play out to see the actual results.

 

[digitS']

. . . Today woke up to 1/2" snow, and a temp of 36 right now at 9 a.m. WTHeck? There was NO forecast of snow at our elevation, but lots of rain, which is why I got the garden mostly done, the roses got some granular fertilizer, etc so that the forecasted RAIN would give everything a good drink.

Aauuughhh.....It looks like a war zone out there. Baby dogwoods bending over, the 6 flowering plum trees drooped like they are broken, the blooming azaleas drooped. Aaauuughhhh....

Well, I'm having a 2nd breakfast, Murphysranch . . . Maybe that would be of help to you, also .

36 isn't terrible. The snow will serve as moisture. It could be, everything will be okay.

Steve

 

[skeeter9]

You're not kidding, Seve! It really is ALWAYS something.

It's been beautiful and in the 70's here for the past several days and my garden has been very happy. Then another blasted storm showed up last night and we have high winds, rain and hail. As I'm sitting here typing it's hailing so hard I can hardly see out the windows. Murphy's - this must be the same storm you guys are having. Can't wait to see what this does to the babies in my garden! It's always something.

Yesterday I went into the spare bedroom that I'm using as a seed nursery to decide what to seed next. I need to get some more flowers going so I can spruce up the front of our house a bit. Apparently I got the lables on the little seed bags damp when I watered the cherry tomatoes that are currently in there, and the ink smeared so bad on most of them that I have no idea what's in the bags. Great! It's always something.

Steve, sounds like you've got some interesting tomatoes to try. I'm so used to growing things in our long, hot season that I can't even imagine trying to grow tomatoes where you are. Now that is something!

 

[wifezilla]

Charentais melons have to be picked at full ripe and just before they start going downhill.

Fortunately you can smell it when it is ready from several feet away!

Mmmmmmm charentais melon. I can't wait
(I have Baker Creek seed)

 

[marypboland]

Well you all have to pray for my tomato plants. I live at 6500 ft in the Colorado Rockies not far from Aspen. This has been my first year starting stuff in my new grow light setup I got my husband to make for me. Three shelves of 4ft long lights. It has been great since we have had the spring from Hell, grey, grim skies five days out of six and some cold, cold fronts. Only problem is I discovered that things grow much faster under 14 hours of growlights than they do on a windowsill. My tomato plants got so big I just had to put them out the other day. We're having a warm spell now but another cold front coming. I have hoops over the tomato bed and will cover the plants with double layers of agribon. Wish me luck!!

I mean I put out 12 big tomato plants of various varieties. That's over $100 worth bought at the nursery. I don't want to have to replace them. I have Siberian Red, Silvery Fir, Moskovich, Siletz , and some hybrids, Early Girl and Oregon Spring. I'm going to look up the ones you talked about, maybe I can replace the hybrids.

 

[skeeter9]

Good luck, Marypboland. We sure are at the mercy of Mother Nature, aren't we? Hope you don't lose any of your maters.