Thoughts from Starlight Cascade

The garden walkabout on August 6th 2011, showing what is happening in the veggie gardens.

Cold frame: Picked off seed heads of the Bibb and Salad Bowl lettuce, North side coldframe empty.

Garden 1:
Green Goliath Broccoli, coming on and flowering for seed, and some heads ready to eat. These were interplanted with the potatoes, as the book “I Love Carrots” state they are companion plantings….verdict still out on this.

Potatoes:
Caribe- green and some down
Morning Glory-all up
Warba-still going down, 3 hills dug up to eat-very small
Bluenose-still green and growing
Superior-Still up and some down
Epicure- all down
Norland-all down
Irish Cobbler(FF)-all down- 1 hill taken to eat- small potatoes

Garden 2:
Cabbage- Early Jersey Wakefield- going to seed
Dill- slow , too shaded-stunted growth
Potatoes:
Yukon Gold: up and down
White Rose- almost all down
Carola-almost down, 2 still up
Briggus: still up, green and growing
Norgold Russet: up
Irish Cobbler (SCO2010) up

Garden 3:
Potatoes:
Yukon gold- up and down, 1 hill used, avg size to small potatoes
Green ice lettuce- going to seed and still up.
Musilein mix- going to seed
Beets:
Cylindra- growing and have been eating – green leaf with red veins
Bulls Blood- growing and have been eating – red leaf
Golden Beets- all for seed, many seeds off the 5 beet plants.- some seed still green.

New plantings in Garden 3 – on July 31
Musilein mix up August August 4th
Spinach- Broad leaf not up
radish-french breakfast- up
White Top Purple Turnip- up
Parsnip(Student) not up
Cylindra beet for seed not up

East Cold Frames:
Broccoli coming along
Leeks- Giant Careentan coming along-over winter for seed
Green onions- still eating

Garden #4
Shallots red- starting to go down, all have bulbils
Shallots-french (SCO 2010) originally from Bumblerock farms- going down
Red Onion- starting to go down – sets not heirloom
Yellow Onion- stating to go down -sets not heirloom
Allisa Craig- staring to go down
Red Wethersfeild- 1 onion- for seen only over winter
Trope Ana Lunga- red med size starting to go down
Southport red- really Leeks- so eat these
Tomatoes: Brandywine experiment- two tomatoes have the red plastic dish around them to see if they grown better?? as claimed, three without , all growing well

The tomato hornworm has been found and picked off of Garden 4 & 5 tomatoes.

Garden #5-

Early Blight on the tomatoes, and blossom end rot showing up. Planted too close together, and the string idea not working, going back to individual stakes per tomato for 2012.

From the University of Colorado-“Early blight (Alternaria leaf spot) (Figure 5)

is caused by the fungus Alternaria solani. Symptoms become prevalent during the hotter months. This disease produces brown to black, target-like spots on older leaves. If severe, the fungus also attacks stems and fruit. Affected leaves may turn yellow, then drop, leaving the fruit exposed to sunburn. Sanitation is the best control. Remove all diseased plant tissue on the ground, as the fungus overwinters on leaf debris. Do not plant tomatoes in the same place next year. Space plants farther apart to improve air circulation. Avoid overhead irrigation. If the infestation is heavy, sulfur dust may help protect new leaves from infection.”

Acorn squash one in SW and NE corner growing and squash showing up.
Cucumber: Early Russian- 3 cucumbers ready to eat, ate one, yumm, keep next two for seed, more flowers have been pollinated and have small cucumbers starting.

Beans growing well, Dwarf Horticulture leaves are mottled, and bumpy leaves…there are also spots on the leaves, some kind of disease- look it up – looks like a blight or a mosaic disease caused by aphids, but only seems to be attacking this plant.

Herb Garden- sage, thyme, egyptian onions doing well. Sweet Fennel over 6ft high and flowering, some seeds getting ready to come off but need to turn brown. Eat the seed, tastes like licorice. This plant overwintered with no cover on it but snow, lets see if it does it again.

Bush basil doing well, the scared basil did not come up, the seeds may not be viable- have some left will try in the green house in 2012.

The loveage is starting to grow and flower, it has a wonderful purple flower. The Tansy is up to 5 ft and it has been hacked this year when the new deer fence went it. Getting ready to flower. It has a tight bright yellow flower, has an awful smell, but keeps the cucumber beetle away. This plant was transplanted from Garden #4 in 2009, and overwintered well.
The herbs in the ceramic dishes, not growing well, to hot, and the dirt is too hard.

That was the walkabout.

I did plant the purchased biennials as well, and cut out the dead lily stocks. Tried to pull the grass out of the ground, gave up too hard, and breaking the roots off. Still have some double pink poppies showing up the seeds have been reawakened.

Garden #6-
Beans:
Mossouri wonder bean (climber/pole) purple flower bean green with purple stripes
White Dutch Runner- white flower , green large beans
Peppers- doing well- but some blossom end rot

Garden #7
Potatoes:
Russian Blue: all up green and growing, got 4 seeds balls- these were purchased from the TSC Coop
Green Mountain: Still up and growing
Blue Victor: still growing

Garden #8
Potatoes:
Green Mounting up and going
Blue Victor(FF) have seed balls still growing
still getting off hard shell and immature potato beetles.