What Did You Do In The Garden?

[flowerbug]

...
One long-DTM soybean (PI 427088 I) is still in the green stage, and is in a race against frost. That was 2012 seed that I had to start as transplants, so it will get whatever TLC it needs, even if that includes a tent & heater to survive the frost. Like the other soybean transplants this year, it has been surprisingly productive; and DD, who really loves edamame, asked me to cut a couple plants. This is not an edamame variety, and the seeds are rather small... but they are fat, often 4 in a pod, and 2 bushes yielded a big bowl full of pods. I steamed them for 6 minutes - and they are really good! A pleasant surprise, from a variety I'd almost given up on. This will make a great end-of-season edamame in the future.

the only soybeans i've found to be inedible are the oil type seeds that are sometimes planted around here which are used as oil and animal feed stock. i made the mistake once of planting some of them after gleaning them from the south field and then trying ot use those to make soymilk. ick. not good at all cooked up and used as a dry bean or for soymilk. luckily i didn't plant a large plot of them. after that i went to the health food store and they had baggies of organic soybeans for a few $ and i took those and planted them and ended up with 44lbs from a 6x6ft plot - i used those for years before finally feeding the last of them to the worms one late winter - buried deep enough they'll soak up moisture and then ferment and then the worms move in and feast. their version of natto i guess...

 

[digitS']

44lbs from a 6x6ft plot

Good Heavens. I would never expect that from any seed crop! Roots, yeah.

We made a run to our big garden but it was a short stay - supposed to meet DD here at home (then, she was 2 hours late ). The grab wasn't seriously limited, however. Big haul of 8 heaping buckets with only one as melons. Only one Gris de Rennes melon altho there are several more very green out there. They better hurry!

The tomatoes are in a rush altho I can hardly believe how late they are! Peppers are reeaaaddy! The second planting of bush beans doesn't look like it will produce. They have fooled me before in how well they can produce a crop with nighttime temps just short of freezing. They seem kinda stuck right now and point to my very real 15 July deadline for the last sowing.

Lots of split carrots again this year but they are densely planted with a real haul coming out of there at some point. Potatoes have quickly gone down. Maybe I've had better potato years but some have really produced and I only dug one plant that had died back to nothing and did not find the slightest problem with the big, fat tubers. It's gonna be a big load to carry down to the basement, soon.

Steve

 

[Zeedman]

Potatoes have quickly gone down. Maybe I've had better potato years but some have really produced and I only dug one plant that had died back to nothing and did not find the slightest problem with the big, fat tubers. It's gonna be a big load to carry down to the basement, soon.

Oh, how I wish I could grow my own potatoes. My soil is high pH, dense silt/clay loam, and too poorly drained. I tried potatoes years back, and almost had to dig them out of the muck... couldn't tell the difference between a dirt clod, and mud-covered tuber.

I would need a raised bed to grow potatroes, and have given that thought. If lumber prices come down again, I might extend the raised bed I use for garlic & plant potatoes in the other half.

 

[flowerbug]

Good Heavens. I would never expect that from any seed crop! Roots, yeah.

they were loaded! i've never had any soybean crop since then do as well. they were in the middle of the strawberry patch as it was filling in and i used them in a dense planting to encourage the runner to go along the edges instead of heading inwards. that did work as intended. ever since then the strawberry patch has been full and no more soybeans in there, but i did try some peas as a mid-summer shade crop and i don't think the strawberries really liked that much at all.

We made a run to our big garden but it was a short stay - supposed to meet DD here at home (then, she was 2 hours late ). The grab wasn't seriously limited, however. Big haul of 8 heaping buckets with only one as melons. Only one Gris de Rennes melon altho there are several more very green out there. They better hurry!

it seems like they ripen all at once in groups. i've found that if picked when too far orange they're not as sweet and firmer when they have a bit of green still on them. they are still edible as orange, but get them sooner - IMO.

The tomatoes are in a rush altho I can hardly believe how late they are! Peppers are reeaaaddy! The second planting of bush beans doesn't look like it will produce. They have fooled me before in how well they can produce a crop with nighttime temps just short of freezing. They seem kinda stuck right now and point to my very real 15 July deadline for the last sowing.

Lots of split carrots again this year but they are densely planted with a real haul coming out of there at some point. Potatoes have quickly gone down. Maybe I've had better potato years but some have really produced and I only dug one plant that had died back to nothing and did not find the slightest problem with the big, fat tubers. It's gonna be a big load to carry down to the basement, soon.

Steve

fat tubers! haha! perhaps a shute? with a clothesbasket at the bottom to catch them and some nice towels as a cushion...

be careful on those stairs!

 

[heirloomgal]

Oh, how I wish I could grow my own potatoes. My soil is high pH, dense silt/clay loam, and too poorly drained. I tried potatoes years back, and almost had to dig them out of the muck... couldn't tell the difference between a dirt clod, and mud-covered tuber.

I would need a raised bed to grow potatroes, and have given that thought. If lumber prices come down again, I might extend the raised bed I use for garlic & plant potatoes in the other half.

I bet you could do it. Potatoes seem to be able to grow in about anything; some do it in hay. I tried that once. (Not easy if v/moles take notice.) Variety can make all the difference. A friend of mine grows hers in large raised ridges instead of hilling, to prevent waterlogging in heavy rains, and it makes them MUCH easier to find at harvest.

 

[flowerbug]

Oh, how I wish I could grow my own potatoes. My soil is high pH, dense silt/clay loam, and too poorly drained. I tried potatoes years back, and almost had to dig them out of the muck... couldn't tell the difference between a dirt clod, and mud-covered tuber.

I would need a raised bed to grow potatroes, and have given that thought. If lumber prices come down again, I might extend the raised bed I use for garlic & plant potatoes in the other half.

my first potato harvest here (many years ago now - maybe 20 or more) was out back in the nearly all clay subsoil. it lasted five minutes as i broke the heavy duty fork that i was trying to use. we've only grown potatoes once since then and that was up in the front section where sand and topsoil were brought in. the wild animals feasted upon them too much and Mom got mad and said she'd not do it again. some year i may try some northern adapted sweet potatoes, but don't hold me to that...

 

[flowerbug]

yesterday was another bean picking day to get the gardens checked for dry pods before any rains can show up again (next chances forecast for tomorrow afternoon but i don't rely upon them to be that accurate).

i also tend to do some weeding while i'm doing that as if i can get any weeds out of the gardens before they drop seeds all over then that makes the next season much easier. chasing after the rolling green and black berries from the common nightshade plants is one of my garden gymnastic exploits after unthreading the plants from where they've grown up through the beans.

with fall cooler weather it also means it is easier to get the gardens prepped for winter. i also start the gradual process of incorporating wood ashes or other amendments if i have them ready and available. with gradual gardening i may not completely get a garden mixed for several years (and by the time that might appear to have happened i might start in on another round).

 

[digitS']

Potatoes seem to be able to grow in about anything; some do it in hay. I tried that once. (Not easy if v/moles take notice.) Variety can make all the difference.

Exactly my experience with hay, HeirloomGal. Many years ago, I was near a cattle outfit with lots of rain-spoiled alfalfa hay by spring. I don't suppose it seemed like a lot to them but I had a lot for my 1/4 acre garden . Trying to grow potatoes under a hay mulch was a complete disaster ... my two cats on vole patrol received a good talking-to ...

I never understood the idea of piling deeper and deeper soil around them to, kinda, grow potatoes thru the season vertically. Probably, it was growing Yukon Gold that clued me in -- some varieties grow tubers very close to the main stems. Burying good leaves still doesn't make sense but the lower ones do lose efficiency as they age. Also, a nice long season with a variety to match would help.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

i did some reshaping of part of the north garden and transplanted some creeping thyme to start a new filter and diversion strip up high on the garden (to divide the flow in half and send it around the garden on either side because it is getting too much water still when we have heavy rains). it will take me a few years to get it filled in and properly adjusted, but any bit i can get done this fall helps a lot for the coming next season. i've been trying for a few years now to get a small filter strip set up at the top for all this water but it keeps getting washed out. i really need to build up the entire edge about six more inches. that means lifting the creeping thyme that's already there up that far - somehow have to find that much dirt? lol...

picked some dry beans and lima beans including some shellies. there's more out there to pick but i ran out of oomph for the day. rains forecast for today and cousins are visiting so i doubt i'll get much done outside.

shelling beans.

 

[digitS']

A little work in the garden beds here at home.

The 2021 composting has all but used up its space under the greenhouse and chicken house decks. So, plants are being buried in the beds. That means shovel work for the digitS'. I'll need to run some water out there very soon so my little bit heavy lifting earlier this week and my light lifting today will be back on the heavy side of wet soil. The plants that are still to be harvested and the ones that can be left thru the winter, need the moisture!

Fortunately, this isn't a garden of much size so doing 1/3rd of a bed at a time amounts to less than an hour of work! Figure that I'll get 'er dun as needed. Lots of amaranth is flowering and we sure don't need to fill this little garden with those next year - gotta get 'em into the ground or they will have to go in the garbage can. That's not how I want to roll.

Out to the big veggie garden for harvesting, tomorrow!

Steve