Remember Eighteen?

Yeah I know. Couldn't find an "8" candle, so we used his sister's "7" candle from earlier this year, and added one more. Couldn't get much lamer if we tried. But then again we didn't really try.

Happy Birthday to my son.

Squash pollination update: not good

See how it is yellowing? Not a good sign. It seemed to grow at first, it's about an inch and a half long, but it has not grown any in the past several days. I fear it will shrivel and fall off soon. The reason may be because the vine "upstream" from it is actually supporting several very large squashes already, and those have grown surprisingly quickly in the past few days. Perhaps the plant is getting maxed out, the squashes that have already set are approaching maturity and are sending out chemical signals that actually slow/inhibit the newly set fruits. Remember what they say about cucumbers, not to let any of them get ripe on the vine, because then the plant stops producing new ones? Seems to apply to squash too.

I also hand-pollinated another of my squashes, and it took right away and is growing nicely. It was actually the first fruit to set on it's vine. I started out thinking I was pollinating a "Type 1" of the Georgian Chestnuts ("Type 1" is growing on a trellis, apart from the "tangled mound"), but on closer inspection, we might actually be in for a "Type 4". There are actually 3 separate vines growing on the trellis, and the female blossom I pollenated was on a third vine, apparently the latest-maturing of the lot. I used pollen from the "Type 1" plant, though. Hmm. Maybe it's getting kind of late in the season to be doing this.

On a happier note, corn has silked!!! Luther Hill on the 24th, Ruby Queen on the 26th. I think now it's only 15-20 days to wait for fresh corn on the cob.

Well That Explains Alot

The house I live in 11 years old. And I know the way land is developed here is, they scrape away the topsoil (to sell it of course) and leave the hard barren stuff behind. Once the houses are built, it's up to the homeowner to put in sod, grass and whatnot, the builder rarely includes any landscaping in the price; and if he does, you know they're going to cut all the corners thay can get away with, and it's not going to be the highest quality installation. So my yard soil, beneath the 2" of sod, is most likely good ole' pure Michigan clay. High in minerals and pretty fertile, but extremely sticky and unmanagable in the spring, and hard as cement in the summer. Which is why I had some fancy high-priced "topsoil/compost blend" delivered from the local garden center to fill my new raised beds this spring. But I knew something was amiss lately when the squash and melons just weren't doing much.

Tested my soil yesterday with one of those do-it-yourself kits from L*we's. Checked pH, Nitrogen, Phosporous and Potassium. I knew that the nitrogen was probably on the low side, but I had no idea how low. Apparently too low to even register (the 2nd vial from the left). Not a even a hint of pink in the solution.

On the other hand, phosporus (3rd vial) was definitely high, I wonder if it's too high. Too much phosporus can manifest by inhibiting plant's uptake of other elements (such as zinc) and is exacerbated by higher pH, which I also have. My plants are kind of stunted from low N, but there are some weird symptoms that may be mineral-related, like strange leaf colorations on the beans, and some wirey and deformed growth in the nasturtiums. But high phosporus is generally good for things like corn.

And although I'm not sure if I'm reading the card correctly, potassium (4th vial) seems to be on the high side too. High potassium can interfere with calcium uptake, which may be manifesting in the minor blossom end rot I've seen in my tomatoes. Strange, because I have read that greensand, a high-potassium soil amendment, is often recommended for fruiting tomatoes.

pH is around 8, which was a little surprising (1st vial from the left). Healthy soil should have a pH around 6.5 for optimal microbial environment, from what I've read, which means mine is a little too alkaline. Sulfur or peat moss should fix that.

The general data provided by this quick do-it-yourself test is a good starting point, because now I know that if I just bought a balanced fertilizer (with a N-P-K ratio of 10-10-10) like I had originally planned, I would probably not be boosting the nitrogen enough, and at the same time overdosing on phosporous and potassium. Now I am more motivated to have my soil go through a more complete analysis by a laboratory, through the county extension office. Until then, I'm off to buy some slow-release high-nitrogen pelletized organic fertilizer, and maybe a quick-fix high-nitrogen liquid fertilizer too. Elemental sulfur will wait until fall.

Hand Pollinating Squash

After dinner the other night, I went out to the giant tangled mound at the back of the garden to search for a female blossom that looked like it would be ready to open the next morning. I found one: Its a female blossom because you can see at the base of the flower the little bulge that is the ovary, which will grow into a squash if it gets pollinated. So I got out my yarn, mostly because I could not find any tape, and did this to it:

The reason for that is to keep the flower from opening before I am ready. It keeps any bees from contaminating it with unknown pollen before I can get to it with the pollen I want to use. Squash flowers only open in the morning and fade by noon. A squash flower is receptive to pollen for a few hours in the morning; after 11am it's pretty much over. That is the reason for all the fuss.

The female flower was on a vine with "type 3" of my Georgian Chestnut squash, and I want to self-pollinate it, so I went to look for a few likely male blossoms on the same vine, and selected this one:The male blossoms have no bulge in the stem. I tied it up too:

The flower petals will be blocked from unfurling in the morning until I untie them, but the binding does not stop the ripening process. The pollen will be ripe in the morning, and the female flower will be receptive. Nothing to do now but wait until morning.

So after a nice cup of coffee, at about 9:30 the next morning, I went outside to do the deed.

I located the female flower. Yes I was correct, it was ready to open, see how it changed overnight, petals trying to unfurl, color much oranger:
I went and found the male flower. Its petal tips were also straining against the yarn. I picked it, leaving a long stem for a "handle":

The weather that morning was cool, overcast and drizzling but not raining. There were not very many insect pollinators out and about, conditions ideal for conducting this procedure.

I untied the male flower, and stripped off the petals, careful not to knock any pollen off of the anther. This flower was definitely ready, pollen grains were clearly visible and falling off. I untied the female flower, inadvertently damaging the petal tips slightly, it sprung open as soon as the yarn was released. It was definitely ready too. I rubbed the anther of the male flower on the stigma of the female flower, trying to sort of paint the pollen on all 6 of the stigma's lobes.

Then I immediately tied the female blossom petals back closed, to keep bees from contaminating it with other pollen, as the flower would probably remain receptive for a few more hours.

And that's pretty much it. Now I'll just wait a few days to see if it "took". The blossom and yarn will fall off in a few days, so I'll have to be sure and mark this squash somehow, and let everybody know not to pick it-it's being saved for its seeds.

Introduction to Georgian Chestnut Squash (USSR)

Georgian Chestnut (USSR) (c. moschata) is a squash that I have been unable to find out much information, at least through google. It is a variety I agreed to trial for Dave (a.k.a "American Gardener" on various gardening forums), who is in the process of starting a seed company.

There seem to be 3 distinct types of the Georgian Chestnut (USSR) (c. moschata) squash growing in my garden, on 3 separate vines. These were all from seeds from the same packet from Dave. Either this is a variety prone to much variation, or these seeds have been crossed. Here's what's growing:

Type 1. Pear-shaped, immature pale green-almost white, and no silver mottling on leaves:
Type 2. Bell-shaped, immature medium green netted pattern with distinct striping, and no silver mottling on leaves: Type 3. Blocky-oblong shaped, so far seems a little larger than the other types, immature medium green netted pattern, with moderate silver mottling pattern on leaves: Worth noting:

These squash are extremely vigorous growing and fruiting, even the one planted in poor soil. They are fruiting before an "Upper ground sweet potato squash", another c. moschata touted for being vigorous and heavy bearing (who only have male blossoms so far, I have already harvested several G.Chestnuts), and the plants seem a little bigger, and filled out faster too.

We were all very surprised how tasty the immature squash are when prepared like zucchini (c. pepo types). I read that some c. moschatas, like the "trombocino" italian squash, can be harvested immature and used like zucchini, so I tried it with these. I mean it was really good. and who raves about zucchini?

So far, I have only tasted the "type 2" of my Georgian Chestnuts. I'd like to develop the "type 3" shape, as the uniform and blocky shape will lend itself well to uniform chopability for the cook. Did I just use the word "develop"? I guess I did. I sound just like a plant breeder.


I am kind of nervous about being able to successfully isloate and self-pollinate each of the three distinct types I observed in my garden, because 2 of the plants exist in a tangled mound. I'm pretty certain that the different types I observed are from different plants. I would follow a vine from tip as far as I could to its root, and thanks to their extreme productivity there is a squash at almost every leaf axil, and as far as I can tell only one of the types shows up on any given length of vine. I have been watching the blossoms, trying to get a good feel for when they are about to open. I plan to tape closed or tie the selected female blossom bud the night before it's ready to open, and also locate and tape closed a few ripe male blossom buds on the same vine, to ready them for the next morning's activities.

As I have already have requests for seed trades, I shall attempt to isolate and self-pollinate each of the three types, to save seed. The next post will be about an actual pollination exercise. Why not just let nature take its course and not worry about separating types? Well, I may just save seed from some of those naturally pollinated fruits as well. But I am curious to know if I can stablize the different types, perhaps come up with my own strain that grows "true to type".

I never thought I'd be this passionate about squash.

Poona Kheera

It only took a week for the 4" cucumber to go from yellow-white to rusty brown. The russeting started from both tips and spread toward the middle, and it also plumped up quickly. If it were a standard cucumber variety you'd say I let it get overripe and it is now too bitter and mushy to eat. But this is not a standard cucumber, it is an Indian variety called "Poona Kheera" from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds.

The skin is not rough, but it is a little chewy, but not unmanagable. Cut open it released the standard cucumber aroma, but it was so crisp it was almost like cutting an asian pear. Tasting not a hint of bitterness, it was crunchy and light, some might even say bland. And the seeds, although you can see in the picture are not small, at this stage of ripeness the seeds were still immature and tender.

These unique cucumbers are also supposed to keep a long time at room temperature, however this one didn't even make it past 10 minutes, so I can't comment on it's keeping ability. It is now just a crunchy memory. Good thing there are more fruits forming on the plant.

Good News/ Bad News

Good news! I found seed balls forming on 2 of my potato varieties: Skagit Beets and Nordic October. I'm going to save them and plant the "true potato seed" or "TPS" next spring, so I can discover the next great and most unique potato cultivar....the bad news is, I think most of my plants have that Late Blight disease that everyone's been talking about :

***
Good news! Even though it is barely 3' tall, some of my sweet corn, the Luther Hill variety, is going to tassel in a few days and I can see the shoots forming as well, (circled in red), where the silks will form, to recieve pollen falling from the tassel at the top of the plant.
See the new little leaf sneaking out of the craw formed by the main leaf? That is actually the start of the female flower. A close-up of the circled area:

...the bad news is that although my 2' tall (!) Baby Blue Jade sweet corn is currently tasseling and actively shedding pollen, it shows no sign of any shoots or silks.

***

Good news! The Georgian Chestnut (moschata) and the Upper Ground Sweet Potato squash (also a moschata) that I planted on a whim on the sod heap at the back of the yard are going absolutely nuts, with vines completely obscuring the pile and tons of baby squash forming under dark green leaves which measure more than 12" across:

...the bad news is that the same varieties planted in the garden "proper" on the same day, in carefully prepared raised beds with purchased topsoil/compost blend and trained on a trellis, are kind of well, disappointing, underwhelming and a sorry joke in comparison:

I would guess that the compost was of the extremely low nitrogen variety, which rest assured will be diligently corrected in the Fall.
***

Good news! I was delighted to stumble upon a rare, pure white (albino?) Borage blossom the other day in my prolific Borage patch:

...the bad news is for all the blue Borage plants around it, that are going to get mowed down so I can isolate this mutant and try to save some pure seed of this rare strain for next year.

***
Good news! My lettuce continues to look awesome despite the heat!

...the bad news is that the heat has made it too bitter to eat.

***

Good news! It is the middle of July and the cauliflower has not bolted.

...the bad news is its the middle of July and not one of my cauliflower plants show any sign of ever forming a head.

***

Good news! The Danubiana eggplant, which I had completely written off to frost months ago, has actually flowered and is now (gasp!) forming fruit!

the bad news is...well, finally, there is no more bad news!

yeah but...how are you supposed to know when they're ripe?

The Green Zebra:
egg-sized and -shaped fruits on average plants:

or the Green Sausage, which is a small plant with wispy leaves and bushlike habit, spindly and kind of weak-looking but absolutely LOADED with fruit, two trusses of which are shown here (and yes I know, I see the blossom-end rot):

or the Green Giant (a large beefsteak on a large potato-leaved plant)?

...any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Some Really New Potatoes

OK I just couldn't wait, so I started scratching around the base of some of the potato stems and here's what I came up with:

Not pictured: Little Red Riding Hood. That one was the very last one to send up leaves, in fact for a while I thought they had all died. So its plants are still small and the tubers I did see were so tiny I just left them alone.

Remarkable color in the Skagit Beets, considering most "red-fleshed" potatoes are more on the "pink" side, and notice no white ring:

See the marked contrast between the Nordic Ocober, with nearly pure white flesh and the golden flesh of the Skagit Valley Gold. However, the Skagit is not quite as "orange" as I had hoped:

The aptly named "Paint Jar":

Black and Blue (Negro y Azul):

I did heat up some Skagit Valley and some Negro y Azul in the microwave for about 60 seconds, for a taste test. Skagit was fairly dry, and fully cooked, but just moist enough, with a strong and distinctive baked-potato aroma from even such a tiny marble-sized tuber. It was very tasty. It reportedly has some solanum phureja in its pedigree.

The Negro y Azul was more watery and had a decidedly grassy taste. Maybe it just wasnt fully cooked, or maybe it was exposed to the sun and was "green" (but with such dark pigment, there's really no way to know). Hope that the more mature tubers later this season have better results.

The rest of the samples will be lightly steamed tonight for dinner.