Friday, November 12, 2010

2010 Garden Review Part II

2010 REVIEW
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BIGGEST HITS
Salad Bush Hybrid Cucumber - Excellent production and flavor. A must-have, compact cucumber. Vine are about 3’ long. Has yet to disappoint me like other varieties. Canned TONS of pickles using these (not picklers) and they were excellent. Maintained a pleasing texture and crispiness with canning. Seed is a bit pricier and has to be ordered online, but it will definitely be returning next season.
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Reliance Grape- Newly planted in the beginning of the season. Very vigorous, disease resistant. Very happy with its growth so far.
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Apache Blackberry- I planted one in the beginning of the season. It is an upright variety, healthy, and growing vigorously. Branches topped at around 4 feet to encourage laterals. Fruits on previous years growth.
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Red Norland potato- Good production and flavor in container. Beautiful color. Will be back.
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Russet Burbank potato- Very large potatoes in ground. Good flavor and great production. Rough skin. Will be replaced with Yukons.
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Yukon Gold potato- Good production and flavor in containers. Will be the staple potato here next season. Love it!
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Golden Acre Cabbage- Small cabbage that produces quickly. Very easy to grow with great flavor. Successful in Spring and Fall. Will be back.
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Lady Emma Hamilton rose- An excellent David Austin, disease resistant shrub rose. I don’t spray, so this is important. The heavy humidity didn’t take a toll until very late in the season. A light spotting of black spot. No big deal. New foliage is a gorgeous burgundy which sets of the deep apricot-colored blooms. A stunning rose. Branches form a nicely rounded shape. Heavy bloomer. Strong, citrus scent. Love it!
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Scarlet Nantes carrots- I could place these in either category. Last year these were fantastic. Sweet, large, they froze well. A huge hit. This year, well…black swallowtail butterflies used the to lay their eggs on. They would devour all of the young, supple foliage. I would bring them indoors and raise the cats…picking off the young foliage myself to feed them. Although the plants kept pumping out fresh leaves, it took a huge toll on the size of the carrot. Would I have changed a thing? Not for a second. We may not be eating homegrown carrots this winter, but we have lots of great memories of the butterflies we raised and released.
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Sterling onion- from Dixondale Farms. Large, white onion. Storing well so far. Only a few
Began to spoil. Great flavor.
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Red Zeppelin onion- from Dixondale Farms- still storing well, very strong flavor. Lovely red rings.
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Copra onion- from Dixondale Farms, yellow, long storer, small size, but weather was quite dry.
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BIGGEST MISSES - A large part of these varieties landing in the “misses” list was due to the weather. Record heat. Drought. High humidity. Not exactly a recipe for success. Another huge factor was the soil mix that was filling the raised beds. I used Mel’s Mix. A combination of 1/3 peat, 1/3 compost, and 1/3 vermiculite. The peat portion was detrimental to many of my plants because it refused to stay moist or remoisten despite repetitive, deep waterings. My recommendation. DON’T USE MEL’S MIX. Half of the soil in these beds will be removed and mixed into spots with heavy clay soil. The other half will stay in the beds and get mixed with my existing clay soil to help it retain water and nutrients better. With that said, here were the biggest misses:
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Spirit Hybrid Pumpkins - All three plants succumbed to borers early in the season. Willing to try this shorter-vined pumpkin one more time next season.
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Black Beauty Squash- I must be the only one that has yet to grow a successful squash. Of the two I planted, one was eaten by rabbits. The other….just barely hung onto life until the drought hit. Then died. Not willing to save space and try it again. I like zucchini bread, but not that much. I’ll just ask for one or two from my in-laws. They can’t get rid of their fast enough.
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Serendipity Corn- Bicolor, synergistic. Started out so impressive, but it was impossible to get the peat in Mel’s mix within the raised bed to moisten. Would try again. The few ears produced were filled out well with excellent flavor.

4 comments:

  1. I love the taste of Red Norlands also, I should grow some in the garden next year.

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  2. Mine were in containers this year and did well. The looked really pretty and healthy too. Next year I am going to try them in one of my raised beds along with some Yukons.

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  3. That soil mix sounds like it's very light and would dry out like a cellulose sponge and get hard. The the water would run right off of it unless you submerged it to let it expand and soak up the water. I mainly use compost from my "facility" where I process it. My soil isn't bad, but I think there's no such thing as too much compost. When I planted my grapes, I made a 50-50 mixture of compost and soil. The grapes love it! Next year my grapes will be in their fourth year, so I'm expecting GRAPES!

    I don't like using vermiculite because in my experience, it works its way to the top of the soil, then it's a mess that never goes away.

    The swallowtail butterfly caterpillars got to my Chantenay carrot foliage and had a feast! I have the carrots in a deep 12 inch diameter container, and there were as many as 17 caterpillars on there at one time! But, they're worth it. I put bird netting over the top to protect them. It worked!

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  4. The "Mel's Mix" was expensive to put together. Not worth it. Plus, my own soil enriched with homemade compost did so much better. Live and learn I guess. I plan on taking out half of the soil from each bed and topping them off with compost and some of my native soil that was displaced after planting my new fruit trees.

    The vermiculite hasn't been a problem, but I can say that I've noticed it was an asset either. The peat, I can safely say, was a disaster. Last year it was fine, because it was such a rainy season. It never had a chance to dry out. In a dry season, it was nothing but a headache....even with repeated heavy, prolonged waterings. I would never recommend to anyone to add peat to their garden.

    All of my carrots were small compared to last season. The black swallowtails were out in force. I would sacrifice all of my carrots every season just to see the smile on my kids faces when they find the eggs and cats on the foliage. This past summer was the first time we brought them in to raise them. What a fantastic experience for all of us. I can't wait to do it again next season!

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