Saturday, August 22, 2009

More fall seeds...

Over the past few days I've planted...
  • Beefmaster tomatoes
  • Green Gala cantaloupe
  • Dolma Kabak (Turkish summer squash)
  • Apollo Rocket (arugula)
  • Lucullus and Bionda di Lyon chards
  • Zinnias
  • Pot marigolds (Calendula)
  • Nasturtiums
Shishito peppers are finally up, and I noticed that the atemoya seeds that I planted a month ago germinated. Japanese cukes and Metkis are flourishing. I spent the morning doing a hard prune on my trellised Anna apple, preparing it for the next wire, I cleaned up the main line of my Nesbit grape, which has almost finished fruiting. And I pruned my Flordabelle peach. I've had to trim the peach every month to keep it in bounds--nine feet tall. It's a rampant grower, so I've been cutting back all green growth above nine feet. But next years harvest should be excellent if the weather cooperates--so much two- and three-year-old wood on it!

Willow-leaf lima is still producing very well. It's my favorite new plant this year--three vines planted sometime in late spring have taken over TWO ten-foot trellises. It produces in big bursts, nice full pods with three or four beans in each. Peppers, especially Sweet Spot, continue to bear heavily, even in the heat and humidity. I transplanted several tomato seedlings into the ground. Mississippi Silver cowpeas are kicking into high gear; the yard-long beans are finally setting beans. I planted both of these very late in the season, but should still have plenty of beans.

Always a dilemma this time of year--where to put plants for the dry season while wet-season crops like malanga, cassava, sweet potatoes and pumpkins ripen?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Michael,

I'd love to see some pictures of your Japanese and Metki cukes.

Michael said...

they're still seedlings!

Teresa said...

Aren't you lucky that the weather there lets you garden year round. That would be great, but of course our season is short here so I will have to take comfort in the sight of a good snowstorm instead. Brrrr. Good luck with your planting

AchillesRules said...

I've shifted my allegiance from calendula to Lemon Gem marigolds. They're very different from regular marigolds - very floriferous with small yellow flowers, growing about knee high. They grew very well in containers but I had a compost them as they grew leggy after missing a couple of waterings.
-Mark