Biding time, waiting for melons

My blackberries are suffering from a condition called white druplet (the little individual units are called druplets).

You can eat them, but the more white druplets, the more it tastes like cardboard instead of blackberry.

From a University of Arkansas extension page:

White druplet is associated with a drop in humidity and an increase in temperature. As this happens there is less moisture in the air to deflect solar radiation from directly contacting the berries. This increased solar radiation is blamed on individual or groups of druplets turning first white and then later brown in color. [...] ‘Apache’ is a variety that is more prone to this disorder.

I have 'Navajo', which sounds like it could be a related variety, and we have certainly had decreased humidity and increased temps this year.  Both my blackberries and raspberries (which produced absolutely nothing) would have benefited from watering.

'German Johnson' tomatoes are ripening.  It's suggested that they be picked early when they are just starting to soften and then let them ripen indoors the rest of the way, so that's what I do.  It helps me get them before the raccoons do.  But not always.

Pink celery:

The melons growing up tomato cages aren't producing anything.  They get more shade than the ones on the compost hill, which have several full sized fruits already, so that could be an issue.  However, I haven't grown them sprawling on the ground before, so maybe they just do better that way.  

I have no doubt the raccoons will be after them before they're fully ripe, so I've put several in wire baskets in hopes that will allow me to get some ripe ones.  I've read that, while melons will continue to ripen after being picked, they stop the sugar production process at that point.

I'll wait.

Weed-free again

After 15+ hours of weeding (!) the garden is looking good again.  (Two weeks away at the end of May is not the best plan.)

This is what the whole thing looked like when I returned...

I came back to loads of fruiting blackberries.  My hope now is that I get to eat some before the raccoons eat them all.

'Navajo' blackberries

Bunnies apparently favor green beans.

'Calima' bush beans

'Calima' bush beans

The 'New Red Fire' lettuce looked bleached out, with very little red on it, but the new growth is coloring them up again.

Last year, my wasabi radishes had no bulb on them at all.  I thought I'd give them another try this year, and they did produce radishes.  They don't taste any different from a regular radish to me, but I think they're pretty.

Some 'Tender Sweet' carrots on the compost hill are big enough to harvest.  they're neither tender nor sweet.  They're  carrots.  I keep looking for a sweet variety.  I have some 'SugarSnax' just getting started.  I'm hoping they will be sweet, but I'm not holding my breath.

'Tender Sweet' carrots and 'All Blue' potatoes

The potatoes are tall and lush, but when I dug one up, the spuds were still quite small.  'All Blue' is not a particularly large potato when mature, but they surely will get larger than these are now.  They're a little hard to spot in the dark soil.

 'All Blue' potatoes

The little potatoes taste and have a texture much like a red or yellow potato.

After I got some weed control over on the compost hill, I found the small Persian melons and the one 'Sugar Baby' watermelon plants were coming along just fine, despite the dry heat.

Small Persian cantaloupe

'Sugar Baby' watermelon

The melons are at the top of the hill, which originally when I started the garden in 2014, consisted of sod lifted from the lawn area where I made my garden and was about 5-1/2 feet tall.  I now have a compost crate and use the much reduced hill for planting.

On the left this year I planted some Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia), and running along the south half of the hill's edge are 'All Blue' and 'Yukon Gold' potatoes.  Cilantro grows voluntarily now on the south side, and I sowed carrots on the east.

The pet cemetery grew up considerably in the two weeks I was away.

My vision of Dorothy's skip to Oz through poppies when I planted field poppies has been disappointed.  They're scraggly and kind of sad looking.

The roses were very happy in the dry heat.

'Razzle Dazzle'

'Shazam!'

I was able to put together some bouquets for a craft shop in Arrow Rock at the request of a friend.  I think they're lovely.

 Until next time, enjoy the early summer days.

Early summer vegetable progression

Although my original plan for this blog was to grow and discuss vegetables, most of my posts in the last year or two have been about flowers.  

This post is going to be all about vegetables.  (And berries.)

I grew some long sweet peppers from seed I collected from a grocery store pepper.  They're nice and long, good sized, but haven't yet colored up.  They should mature as red peppers.  I have a feeling they're going to fall short of the store bought ones in quality because we have been in such a dry spell for so long.  I've watered the garden well twice during this long heat spell, but I think that still won't be enough for nice thick-walled peppers.

I also planted some chilis, jalapeños and short sweet peppers.  All are fruiting, and all are still green.

Jalpeño peppers

Thankfully, even with the incredible heat we've been having, I do have some tomatoes that set fruit.  I've read tomatoes will only ripen at temperatures between 50° and 80° F, so these may take a very long time to get to harvest.

'German Johnson'

My pink celery didn't grow any larger stalks than all my previous green celery, but like the green ones, it has a nice strong celery flavor.  I've let it flower, and I'll try and collect the seed for future planting.

Still no fruits on the cucumber plants, but they're flowering nicely and climbing the makeshift trellis I created out of pliable forsythia limbs early in the year.

'Marketmore' cucumber

I plant okra every other year when the farmland abutting my garden is sown in corn.  (The alternate years it's in soybeans which attract hordes of Japanese beetles, and they also infest okra.)  I direct sow both the okra and cucumber seeds, and while it's recommended to soak okra seeds overnight before planting, I don't bother.  I just keep the soil from drying out until they sprout, and I haven't had any trouble.

This year's variety is 'Carmine Splendor'.  I recently harvested a half-dozen pods, so they'll be coming on strong now.  

I've grown several varieties over the years, and the red ones are my favorite.  They're always tender, with a lovely size and shape. Plus, they're pretty plants.  All varieties have been harvestable by the first week of July.  'Jing Orange' was a tall variety, and this year and last, I planted a short variety, 'Carmine Splendor'.  Tall is nice for the fact that you don't have to bend over to harvest, but they got very large, taking up a lot of space and resulting in a lot of plant material to clear after the season was over.  I prefer this compact variety.

'Carmine Splendor'

I had a couple of varieties of cabbage selected to grow this year, but failed to get the seed, so I just started what I had left over from last year: red 'Omero' and green 'Primo Vantage'.

The 'Omero' didn't grow or produce well last year, and I thought maybe I had just transplanted them too early or too densely.  I corrected for that this year, but they're behaving pretty much the same way.

You can see the difference in the varieties in the following pictures:

 

Green 'Primo Vantage' and red 'Omero' cabbages

'Omero'

'Primo Vantage'

Winter killed one of my three raspberry varieties: 'Latham Red'.  The other two, 'Glencoe' and 'Fall Gold' survived, but certainly aren't flourishing.  A few 'Glencoe' recently ripened and were tasty, but they were very small and shattered when picked.  I think I recall them doing the same last year.  'Fall Gold' hasn't yet set any fruit.

My 'Navajo' blackberry bushes started out beautifully, and then one day after I got back from a week away, I went out and found much of it broken down.  I don't if there was a microburst storm event, because there apparently was a storm while I was away, but I suspect raccoons.  They do so much damage.  Nevertheless, there are a good many berries on the plants, and four of them have ripened.  They were delicious.

I don't know when we'll ever pass out of this heat, hovering around 90° every day; I just hope August isn't even hotter.  I'm not going to count on it.

Still roasting, no rain

I went away for 10 days, watering the vegetable garden to almost an inch of water by sprinkler before I went.  Everything there looked fine when I returned.

Not so lucky in other areas.  I didn't realize there was a raccoon trap propped open.  I know there was no bait in it, but during the wild tear they went on, one got itself trapped anyway.  I feel badly because I assume it starved to death in the hell heat we had while I was gone.

On the other hand, I'm really pissed at them for digging up and killing five potted saplings and for what they did to my new roses:

Also, before I left, there were beautiful white flowers on the 'Navajo' blackberry.

It looks like the raccoons took out their aggression on it while I was gone, breaking down large branches.  Maybe they were retaliating for their trapped comrade.

And, of course, that was the week the Japanese beetles showed up.

They hit the roses, which were looking really good before I left:

But, the vegetables were unharmed.  There was a load of 'Calima' green beans ready for harvest.

And some volunteer 'Cardinal' basil, which I was happy to see, because I didn't get any seeded this year.

All the tomatoes look great.  And there were three little ripe 'Supersweet 100' cherry tomatoes.  

'German Johnson' tomato

Before I left, I netted the 'Golden Muscat' grapes in case they got ripe enough to attract raccoons and crossed my fingers, thinking they'd probably just tear the whole thing down, trellis and all.  Fortunately, they were unscathed.  But I'm not holding my breath they'll remain that way.

The perennial bed, which didn't get any water, looks lovely.

drumstick allium

If anyone knows a rain dance, please do it.

The garden doesn't mind when the temperature holds in the 90s

It grows abundant.

Come on in...

I keep cutting back the grapevines or they'd be in the neighbor's yard by now.  (I'm slightly exaggerating.)  I'm trying not to be impatient for the grapes to ripen.

The 'Henderson's Bush' limas I planted from last year's saved seed are perking along.

The peppers are fruiting...

And the cucumber vines are at the top of the trellis.  I've harvested already a half dozen cucumbers.

Onions are doing well.

As I need them, I'm thinning out the rows.

Okra plants are just about knee-high.

'Carmine Splendor' okra, jalapeño peppers and 'Purple Ruffles' basil

The Mexican sunflowers (tithonia) were spreading out and covering the basil in front of them.  I should never have planted the basil there.  It gets crowded and shaded from all sides - something it really doesn't like.  Now that I've ruined the tithonia, I'm going to have to try to transplant the basil anyway.  

I'll move it to the better spot where I have other basil growing and hope for the best.

The marigolds I planted around the melon cages have filled in beautifully, and if they're capable of discouraging raccoons, they'll certainly be well positioned.

I saw a new insect pest the other day.  I had to search out its identification online.  It turns out to be the milkweed tussock moth (aka milkweed tiger moth).  Very pretty, but also very destructive.  Unfortunately, I had to spray them, because they were set to strip the milkweed, which is food for monarch butterflies.

 

They look like fishing lures.

I didn't see any adults, so I had to look those up online, too.

Interesting, but not worth providing habitat for.

I harvested five whole blackberries recently.  This is the second year for the 'Navaho' blackberry shrubs, and the first time more than one blackberry at a time was ripe enough to pick.  They didn't have a lot of flavor.  It's a thornless variety, and often, breeding to change characteristics of a plant loses another characteristic.   So, it's a bit disappointing.

Over on the compost heap, a lone 'Jarrahdale' pumpkin is growing.

Looking forward to more harvesting.  And lots of weeding.

Stay safe.  Stay well.  Till next time.

'Yellow Butterflies' mullein

Happy Birthday, Jean.