Blitz

Been busy lately, no shock there, but I have some catch up to do here, so I'll update as my memory allows.

First the tomatoes...oh the tomatoes. Here's a taste of one evenings take.



not sure what my final poundage was for the year as I still have a few out there, racing the weather to ripen. But there was enough to can about 4 quarts of the most delicious garlicy sauce courtesy of my brother from another mother's recipe. Next year there will be twice as many vines.

The last corner of the potato patch got dug up. Thar be monsters!
granted 1 lbs 1.25 oz may be pedestrian by onestraw's standards...but its a record for me. no final tally yet.

Even more significant. I have achieved a benchmark. I have made a succession plan work. Previously I was just shy a few weeks time to have a good crop of beans after potatoes. I am fairly confident I can repeat the results now. We've had a cool gray wet summer, so even with that taken into account, I can fit the two crops in the same spot and avoid the frost. Yeah! This year, the first major harvest day for the green beans planted after potatoes came in at a touch over a pound. This is enough to have a couple good meals at home and give away the rest before they go bad. Not enough to can though (nor do I have a pressure canner). Thankfully...I only planted about a third of what I could have, so next year we should have enough for fresh and putting aside. Here is about one half the take on saturday morning.



Speaking of beans, the vermont craberry shelling beans were sufficiently dry to pick and shell. It was so much fun that my wife insisted on finishing shelling the rest. Pretty productive, I got a good cup and a quarter of shelled dried beans from about a 10 foot row. Next year I'll buy more seed, since I'll likely use up all these beans in cooking, though I could technically save it.



And lastly, the sunflowers did not happen this year. I think my seed saving methods may be at fault. I only saved one head a year, so I'm betting the lack of diversity lead to an inbreeding depression. Spindly little things that couldn't stand on their own. Here's the real surprise. My wife remarked that she missed seeing them around the house. The same wife who in prior years remarked that their presence was a bit hippyish. I just smirked, she insisted that I not read to much into it...yeah right.

Bliss

Yesterday I tasted a cherokee purple for the first time. This was the most delicious tomato I have ever eaten. Hands down, end of story.

I picked just under five pounds yesterday of Amish paste, Cherokee, and Brandywine bringing my total tomato harvest a touch under six pounds. I havent weighed the spuds I dug two days ago but I figure its just south of 10 pounds. And the blackberries are slowing up now. 5 and a half cups now and probably another one or two on the canes still. Based on the number of new canes this year I expect almost double the yeild next year (3 large bearing canes to go away this fall, 7 mixed size new canes).

I started seed for the fall about two weeks ago but so far very little has sprouted. Might be the heat. I'll be trying something novel with parsnips. As I understand it, the Japanese grow them in wooden boxes to make for easier harvest. ( guess they are somewhat brittle) I got a wooden ammunition crate from my friend in the marines that would be perfect for this. Pictures to follow.

Wow

Jim Cramer, whose prior contribution to society was serving as fodder for the Daily Show appears to think trouble is ahead for Monsanto. Well duh. Anyone in the Justice Dept with half a brain and a shred of ethics is probably eyeballing that beast for antitrust...at least.

I harvested my first tomato yesterday a nice ripe 14 oz brandywine. Cut it up and ate it straight up. Its been almost a year since I have had a real tomato. The pale mealy crap in the stores doesn't even come close. I've got another couple brandywines getting close and a cherokee purple that I think is probably ready too. I cut away all the foliage infected with early blight and so far the last few days have not shown further infection. I can only hope...



The vermont cranberry beans are doing great! Look at those gorgeous pods. My green beans have started flowering now too.

still going

I know Its been quite some time since I updated, in the meantime the beans are definitely flowering and I am showing a few beet leaves, still no hoophouse yet. And I have taken in another 3lbs 12 oz of tomatoes making my total almost 49 lbs, soooo close! oh wait, one last take of yellow squash gave me 1lb 6oz.

drumroll....

51lbs! whoohoo! (yes I know its not the 100 I was hoping for but I'm off to a good start)

heard any good news lately? I haven't. On the one hand its nice to know I was not part of some shared delusion, on the other hand, it looks like being right is going to be painful. I have to balance my participation in discussions and desire to stay informed, with the essential human need to not be completely swept up in a fear soaked paralysis. So if my posting here and commenting on your own sites is a tad sparse, I'm just trying to get a mental handle on everything, and I'm likely doing what has worked for me to get through times like this.

Stay Busy

fast approaching fall

As much as I don't like to admit it, the weather is getting colder. And I have been scrambling to get things done before it becomes impractical given the weather. Thankfully some of those things include projects that move us forward, like making the platform section of the outdoor shower. The garden has shifted into low gear, it looks like we'll be getting about 3-4 yellow squash before the plant goes the way of the zucchini. I must say I am very happy with the production level of summer squash/zucchini this year. Two plants seems to be a good fit for us. It guarantees that we have squash as a minor ingredient every week, and a major every other week. Thats enough to make a significant contribution to the dinner rotation without people getting really sick of it. Tomatoes are coming now, brought in a 15oz beauty and I probably have 3 more this week. Thats almost 3 pounds of tomatoes from only 3 tomatoes so far. The total now stands at 45 not counting whats still on the vine. I WILL make 50! If I include everything overwintered up until next april 15th (on full year of gardening) I might make 70 but I doubt it.

I'm also happy to report that the first of the green bean "catch crop" is beginning to flower. It is taking a little longer than the mid summer plantings, but I think it will produce. I'm a bit worried about the leeks, beets and carrots, I don't see many sprouts right now, but as you know I'm prone to unnecessary worry. As it stands, one broccoli plant survived caterpillar assault so I will have to fill in the row with three more. I'm going to start my lettuce and spinach indoors this week, the nights are getting too chilly i think.

And here is the lone bottle gourd that pollinated. They are a night bloomer so that probably doesn't work well in their favor. At any rate it is quite heavy, and the fierce windstorm dislodged some of its tendrils, so with a little plastic meshing and some string I made it a hammock. Hang in there baby, you're only half as big as I need you to be.



By the way if anyone knows of any good types of onions that will grow well in the north I am looking for sets. I tried Stuttgarts last year but they did not do very well.

back in the saddle

Wow where to begin...at the beginning I suppose. We went on vacation last week, spent several days at a place called Taughannock Falls near Ithaca NY. Its about an hour drive from our home in Syracuse. It was great to turn the volume down on life for a few days. But before leaving I scored another 6 oz cuke and 1lbs 5 oz of zucchini and summer squash, but I missed one that was ready and waiting on the vine (I think you know where this is going).

Anyway, off to Ithaca. I feel this needs a disclaimer, I have been there before and will say upfront that I love it there. There is a distinct crunchiness to the city. First of all they have the all vegetarian restaurant Moosewood (which was fantastic) and serves hot cocoa that is out of this world. Of course the food is great but check this out.


There is a fantastic place called "The Children's Garden" which is a community garden of sorts cared for (If I understand the posters correctly) kids. During our visit my wife claims I fell into some kind of altered mental state of ecstasy so my memory of it is sparse but here is what I remember from the pictures.

The main growing area. Personally I think there is too much walkway, but with the intended audience being kids I can understand the need.

This is made from bamboo, those are cucumbers climbing the pyramid. What a fantastic idea!


Of course they compost! are you kidding? They have 3 big bins of it.



Not 50 feet away is a created wetland swale. And just past that is the wildflower zone. Holy permaculture kiddies!



What monument to a sustainable future is complete without a strawbale house on the premises.


Who doesn't love sunflowers? Lemon Queens if I'm not mistaken.

Ithaca has great hiking, we walked trails to Taughannock and Buttermilk Falls, some really cool second hand clothing and book stores, and a really cool children's science museum. We joked that it must have been adoption day because most of the kids in that place didn't "match" mom and dad. It was actually pretty funny, at one point one of the workers was trying to find the parents of a child who had wandered off the beaten path, and they were befuddled without the usual clues. I say its funny because the search was short and not at all urgent, but the situation was hysterical in a very ironic sort of way. Or at least it was hysterical to be in a situation where our family arrangement was not in the minority and hijinks ensued. Other than that it was a nice quiet break from the world, a good recharge if you will. And even though I did not hit my reading mark (I brought/bought 2010:Oddessy Two, Shogun, Chapterhouse Dune, 2061: Oddessy Three, and Prelude to Foundation. I got through 2010 and most of Foundation), but it was great nonetheless.

After coming back we had a few days of staycation before returning to work. Unfortunately the cucumbers did not do well in my absence. I think they are done. On the bright side all of the beans are up , the peas are poking through, I've got itty bitty beet and carrot seedlings. A small green caterpillar type beastie appears to be ravaging the broccoli seedlings. I'm going to start some more tonight just in case they succumb to infestation. And finally at long last, the first of the brandywines is FINALLY turning pink!

And that zucchini that escaped scrutiny before I left...a 3.5 pound monster as long as my forearm. That makes my harvest total for the year at just a touch over 43 pounds.

evening

I managed to have a decent digital camera in hand friday evening while I was out in the garden,
My actual reason for being out there was to apply about 3 wheelbarrow loads of compost to the area the potatoes were occupying. This is now holding the fall crops and about 15 sq feet of green beans. The "provider" variety is fast enough I think I can get a crop out of them and still have time to get lettuce and spinach sprouted before I have to put up plastic to keep the cold out. You can see the dark is of course compost, and the brownish is the "wonderful" clay soil that we are blessed with here in Syracuse.


Katydids can either be a nuisance or a boon depending on the variety, but I've seen two of these this year, and so far, neither really cared about the foliage, so I think they may be of the predatory variety, in which case...please make yourself at home.



Cicadas on the other hand are completely benign, as long as you don't mind the constant chirping hiss on a summer evening. 120 db at close range, these suckers really hum. This is not actually the bug itself, just the shell of the last nymph phase, they are everywhere this time of year.


these baby's are soooo sweet, its hard keeping enough ripe one on the vine, which I moved over next to the brandywines, in the hopes that some of their ethylene will start ripening the other tomatoes.


This is a bottle gourd flower, you don't see many unless you're out at dusk. They're a night bloomer, an uncommon but not unheard of practice in the plant kingdom. and the flowers, much like the rest of the plant are covered in a soft fine hair. Much nicer than your average squash leaf. This one is a male by the way.


This is an immature female:




In Other News:
A sad day as natural farming legend Masanobu Fukuoka died at 95. Domo arigato gozaimashita Fukuoka sensei.


Looks like my frontyard orchard will be at the forefront of the next emergence in home food production.

And just in case you thought it was going to be all high quality pictures from here on out...

The swiss chard plants that had gone to seed well, finally produced mature seed. A lot of it.

Want some?

And speaking of seed, the fennel flowers that are mostly pods now have started to dry into seed. When I cut the stem I could smell the liquorice, and having sampled a few, these do not disappoint. I'm going to be setting aside more for a special winter project.



And remember the sweetpea flowers of which there were two, well apparently there were three, I'm wondering if maybe this was a sign to not give up on them yet. I might just plant these next year to see if my luck improves.


I got another 2 cukes totaling 1lb 1 oz bringing my total to 38 lbs. More yellow squash (prolific indeed) is about two days away. Still no sign of the brandywines grrrrr.

And someone want to tell me what the hell this is doing in my yard in the middle of august!?

uuuugh.

nothing new to report really, brought in another yellow squash at 12 oz. some of the greenbeans left from the providers at just a touch over 4 oz. Brings the total up a pound to 37. Those will be coming out as they are spent at this point. I've got enough time in the year to pop some more right back in the same spot. The corn isnt big enough to block them out, which worries me, Its been so dark and rainy the corn seems to be in a holding pattern. This does not feel like august, more like september. No signs of ripening from the brandywines, I am going to set the cherry tomato basked in their midst to see if that can jump start the process.

The green beans I started more than two weeks ago have yet to show more than a few seedlings. This cold and wet weather is doing more than wrecking my mood. Its august for crying out loud.

I've finally got a cantaloupe growing and a bottle gourd female flower, but at this rate there will be frost before they are ready!

oh by the way

I made the prediction here that I had 3 more pounds of spuds in the ground. Try 4.5lbs bringing my total to 36! I might make fifty yet!

They taunt me

The brandywines are getting big and heavy, but not yet ripe! I am not going to be swimming in them, the excessive rain caused a good deal of flower drop, but I do have about 8 on the vines right now in various stages...but NONE RIPE!

Zuchinni on the other hand...



thats 1 lb 4 oz today for a total zucchini tally of 3 lbs 9 oz and 9 lbs for the day when I add in the cucumber, some early beans, and 7 lbs of potatoes. The other cucumbers all seem straight, so my initial worries about soil fertility seemed premature. And by the way



The first of the cherry tomatoes is getting ripe! at last!

And now I broke the 30 pound mark coming in at 31 lbs. I have probably 3 more lbs of potatoes in the ground still. The melons and winter squash are not fairing well, will I make it to the 50 mark? who knows.

Theory and Practice: onion edition

The onion tops had bent over and are now showing signs of withering, so out they came, apparently I have to dry them off for about 2 weeks before braiding them and putting them in storage but I can't say they lived to my expectations. I don't fault the method for this, I'm sure it has more to do with the clay they were planted in than its companions or spacing. I ended up with just a touch over 4 lbs from 5 square feet, some formed what I would call decent size but a lot were no bigger than a large shallot. I have family a couple towns over in what is locally called "onion country" so I will consult with some of the locals there about variety, planting times etc. Things I should have done this year basically.

Got the first cucumber a 4 oz curved specimem. The variety is not known to be curved and in the past, curvy cukes were a bad sign, but so far the babies that are following it all seem straight. No word on taste yet. I'm leaving that to the expert, my wife.

And of course another yellow squash, 11 oz, bringing the zucchini/squash total to 2lbs 5 oz. With more likely a few days away.


My total just a touch below 23 lbs, not what I had expected, but I don't think I was being realistic in the beginning. After all prior to trying the grow biointesive method I had never done a succession, never grown most of the things I have this year.

from the dept of weights and measures

I wasn't lying about the rain, 2.5" in 3 days.



Saturday thankfully it was sunny long enough to get at some of the potatoes. I got about 16 sq. ft. dug up. Behold the results.


Thats what 12 lbs of blurry potatoes looks like. Based on the picture you'd probably guess there are slightly more of the purple caribes than the yukon golds. You'd be right, especially when you consider that I pulled up 4 more yukon plants than caribes. The yukons were an abysmally poor producer. And given that I like the taste of caribes better, yukons are out of next year's plan. Originally I picked two varieties for earliness, in accordance with the plan in Jeavon's book. The bottom line is that I simply do not have time in the season to follow potatoes with something so long growing as corn. Next year it will be potatoes first and then something like beans, or maybe a second potato crop. Suggestions are welcome of course. I will say that having never tried the caribe I was pleasantly surprised by the fine texture and taste. The skin however, is frail I don't think I pulled a single one out of the ground without scratching or nicking the skin. I did however notice a couple yukons and caribes having what looks like the early stages of scab. A season or two away from spuds is in order. I may have to dig another bed to make a three year rotation in coming years...aw shucks

So what did I do with the spuds, well all of the small ones and some of the medium ones went into the briny deep of my stock pot for some NY salt potatoes. Well recieved at the picnic, though I was left with several of the larger caribes left floating in the salty, buttery, oh so healthy slurry. What to do? We had friends coming over for dinner so I figured a little recycling was in order. I cut up the potatoes into smaller pieces, (almost losing a finger in the process) pulled a couple small onions from the garden, cut a handfull of garlic chives, reused the aluminum foil that covered the salt potatoes to make a pouch for the melange, drizzled some of the butter over it with a little poultry seasoning, and threw it on the grill. Behold the attack of the 50 foot grilled potatoes. It was delicious even if I do say so myself.



By the way, since I haven't exactly been forthcoming with my totals I am at about 18 lbs of produce for the year, the inaccuracy due to an old scale which has been replaced now. I know it looks light, but please remember most of the things I have been pulling up were light, like lettuce, peas, broccoli, etc. There are ten more pounds of spuds in the ground, the onions ought to get me a few pounds, and the zucchini...well, I think we all know how that is going to end.

100 pounds from 100 square feet in upstate NY seems a bit high in retrospect, but I think its possible, maybe not this year, but with experience and improving soil, possible.