Garden Notes

   It's a sunny, warm (20 degrees C), breezy Sunday afternoon.  The air is clear - no smoke from wildfires - and we had a bit of rain yesterday.  I thought I would write some notes while things are still fresh in my mind from this morning's stroll around the garden.  

   In this summer's garden, it has been The Year of The Volunteer Sunflower and BER (blossom end rot).  The weather has been hot and dry, with one decent rainfall in June and a second light rainfall yesterday, August 24th.   We have done our best to keep up with watering (a daily - sometimes twice daily - effort) but some crops have suffered, nevertheless.  Many of the crops that are typically "no-brainers" - easy, reliable, and productive (like carrots, fresh beans, and garlic) really underperformed.

 

 

 

Cabbage 

Early in the season, a large number of the cabbage were chewed on by deer.  R. covered what survived in floating row cover for the rest of the summer.  The deer mostly ate Early Jersey Wakefield, which were planted in the raised beds, but missed the Copenhagen Market, mostly planted in-ground.  The untouched cabbage – particularly the Copenhagen Market – has done well, with very minimal damage from slugs or worms.  At this point, some of the heads have begun to split; it is an early variety and the heads are now larger than they typically grow.  It is still so nice and tender.  I think I will grow Copenhagen Market and maybe a later variety (Brunswick?) next.

Dry Bush Beans

The majority of varieties planted are behind this year.  Ireland Creek Annie is the only one that seems to be “on schedule”.  Many varieties hardly have bean pods growing yet; at this point in the season during other years, the pods were already at the drying-down stage.  Coco Jaune de Chine is doing better this year (taller, healthier – hopefully, more productive) than the two other times I grew it.  The tops of a section of Tene's Beans (planted in a raised bed) were eaten by a deer mid-summer, but fortunately, there is another section of them growing elsewhere in the garden

Snap Bush Beans 

Uhg.  It has been a poor year for fresh beans thus far, almost a write-off.  Very few are growing on the plants (variety: Provider) and those I’ve picked are on the dry/leathery side.   The few Roma II plants are small and haven’t produced any beans yet.   Snap beans are usually so reliable and productive.  Not this year.

Carrots

Another crop that is usually easy and reliable, but this year the carrots have remained small despite having been thinned and regularly water.  Even the greens, which usually look tall and lush, appear short and kind of rough. More carrots bolted this year than in the last 5 or 6 years combined.

Green Arrow Peas (shelling) 

Absolutely delicious, as fresh peas always are, but production was very low.  The plants grew about 3 feet tall and then slowed down and began turning brown from the heat (despite being watered).  Considering the amount of work that goes into planting, trellising, harvesting, blanching, and freezing, it increasingly feels like it isn’t worth the effort to plant shelling peas anymore.  When our summers were cooler and damper, we would harvest 30+ lbs of peas a season.  Now, we are lucky to get a large bucketful. 

Gold Harvest Pea (a dry soup pea)

This was one of the few crops that performed as expected this year!  It is early to dry down and thus early to harvest and clean up the spot where it was planted.  Even though the plants were shorter than they would have been in an optimal growing year, they were still quite productive.

Green Beauty Snow Peas  

These require some work up front (trellising) but we might stick with a long row of snow peas rather than planting a large plot of shelling peas next year.  The plants produced well until mid-summer’s heat hit, though didn’t grow as tall as last year’s plants.  Even so, we harvested enough to have with several meals and froze some to enjoy later.

Sweet Meat Squash 

I am used to growing Galeux D’Eysines (and love them!) but wanted to try something different this year.  On four plants, seven squash set.  At this point, two are full-sized, three are medium-sized and growing, one looks alive/set but isn’t growing, and one shriveled up completely.   The large ones are beginning to turn the slate-blue colour characteristic of Sweet Meat squash.  Not as productive or as early as Galeux D'Eysines, but it's a beautiful variety in it's own right and, I have read, delicious.

 

Sweet Meat squash - one of the large ones.

Sweet Meat squash - another large one.

 

 Burpee’s Butterbush Squash

These don’t really get going until August, and this year was no exception.  They are lagging behind the ones that were grown in 2023 and 2022, but are now putting out plenty of female flowers.  Yesterday, I hand-pollinated 8 female flowers in the morning and within the hour, it began to rain steadily (one of only two times this summer!).  I'm hoping that the squash will set despite some of the female flowers having filled with rainwater.

 

The first Burpee's Butterbush to set (and the largest!)

North Georgia Candy Roaster 

There are five squash growing on the single plant in the garden!  Two are full-sized, three are still quite small.

 

North Georgia Candy Roaster

Zucchini and Cucumbers 

These have been on track and have produced about as expected.  The zucchini are beginning to wind down (fewer zucchini on the plants, and they are smaller than the ones from earlier in the summer).  The cucumbers are just gearing up.  Dragon’s Egg cukes are the earliest (we’ve picked three so far).  The “snacker” cuke and pickling cuke plants have lots of flowers and are growing well, but we are waiting for those cucumbers to develop.  We over-planted seeds, and the bed is like a jungle.

 

TOMATOES 

The tomatoes have suffered a lot of BER this year.  So frustrating.  On the majority of plants, there were lots of flowers - and those set - but then growth/development just stopped.  The later-setting flowers didn’t develop much further after early August.  I have pulled dozens of those off the plants so that energy can be directed to the larger tomatoes' development.

 

An example of BER

Dwarf Speckled Heart 

These plants have had harshly curled leaves all summer, no matter how much watering, no matter if sunny and hot or cool and overcast.  It seems like a very productive variety, though many of the tomatoes are misshaped/deeply grooved because of hot, dry conditions.  Though the plants look rough, there is not a lot of BER.  That is surprising, considering how the rest of the tomatoes are faring this year.  I would like to grow Dwarf Speckled Heart again.

 

Dwarf Speckled Heart - leaf curl all season

 

Dwarf Firebird Sweet

These look similar to Dwarf Speckled Heart except they are oblates and the plants are 8-10 inches taller.  The plants are VERY productive (I finally had to top them, even though they are dwarf varieties).  Lots of flowers, most set, but then stopped developing in early August.  Some issues with BER but it looks like there will be a good number of tomatoes without it.

 

Dwarf Firebird Sweet

 

Dwarf Audrey’s Love 

There is only 1 of these in the garden (obtaining seeds for this variety was challenging).  I don’t think it likes the spot where it was planted, in the far corner of the East garden.  The plant is small and somewhat spindly and only a few tomatoes are growing.  Of those tomatoes, only about 4 are “full size” for this variety; the others are very small and very slow to develop.  I would like to try this variety again in a better location.  Fingers crossed I am able to save seeds from some of the tomatoes from this year’s plant.

Dwarf Roza Vetrov

One of the winners of this year’s tomato varieties.  The plants – and tomatoes – have been healthy.  Productive, nicely shaped, no BER, great flavour.  I will grow variety this again.

Linda (Dwarf or microdwarf) 

I grew these in large pots and they were the same size as some determinates I have grown.  Productive, healthy-looking plants.  The tomatoes are uniform; large, egg-shaped red cherries.  Early to mature, around the same time as Scotia.  Firm, almost crunchy.

Gold Dust 

These plants are sturdy, healthy, and productive.  It is supposed to be an early variety, but the tomatoes have not begin to ripen yet.  I hope the they are tasty, as I’d like to grow these again.  The tomatoes are uniform, medium-sized, and almost completely blemish-free.

Scotia 

The tomatoes are somewhat smaller than the last time I grew Scotia, but the plants are full of them.  They have had some BER, unfortunately, but that seems generally pervasive in the garden this year.  Scotia is the second variety to start ripening, after Rozovyi Myod.  It is pretty much tied with Linda for earliness.

Manitoba

This is my first year growing Manitoba.  The plants are quite healthy and they have lots of tomatoes on them.  The tomatoes are smaller than I expected but are uniform and generally healthy-looking.  There have been some issues with BER but not as much as with Ropreco and Velmozha (which are also planted in the East garden).   Because they appear so similar to Scotia and Early Annie (which I have grown in the past), I assumed they would ripen around the same time.  Their “DTM” seems later, though.  I would like to grow this again in a different location.

Velmozha 

Wispy foliage, frequently pinching back suckers.  Semi-determinate.  Very productive, but there has been a lot of trouble with BER (as did most tomatoes I planted in East garden this year).  The best Velmozhas for shape, size, and healthy appearance are on the one plant planted as an afterthought in a bucket beside the north fence!

 

Velmozha

Rozovyi Myod

I find these similar to Velmozha.  The foliage is not as wispy and it has been a bit earlier than Velmozha.  Very productive, some of the tomatoes are quite large.  The first 3 ripe tomatoes of the season were all Rozovyi Myod.  Sweet, tangy, mild flavour.  I didn't find it as sweet as many of the descriptions online indicated; we'll see what the ones harvested later in the season taste like.  Meaty, with few seeds. 

Ropreco

Arhg.  Uhg.  Groan.  So disappointing.  I planted five of these in the East garden and was counting on these to be one of the main tomato varieties for processing this year.  LOADS of BER and the tomatoes without BER are small.  As with Velmozha, the best Roprecos for shape, size, and healthy appearance are on the plant that was planted as an afterthought in a bucket beside the north fence.

 

Ropreco - the good ones...

 

The poor Ropreco plants

One of dozens of Ropreco tomatoes with BER.

 

Japanese Black Trifele 

I should have planted more of these.  Who knew?  One of the few things that performed better than anticipated this summer.  I planted two in the North garden and they have been productive with medium-sized, healthy-looking tomatoes.  The plants have been healthy all summer, too.

Black Sea Man

I love this variety.  I think I have grown it more often than any other.  It is hardy, early, productive, and delicious.  However, for the last few years I have had a lot of issues with BER on these plants. 

Reinhard's Chocolate Heart

This is my third year growing this variety.  It is delicious and the tomatoes are normally medium-to-large oxhearts.  This year, the tomatoes are much smaller but there are more of them per plant.  I prefer the large, pretty, show-stopper oxhearts to the size pictured below, but if I can get these tomatoes harvested without BER, I will be happy, regardless of size.

Reinhard's Chocolate Heart

Striped German 

Only one Striped German is in the garden.  I like how robust/sturdy the plant is.  It hasn’t been all that productive; there are about 6 tomatoes growing on it, all still small-medium sized.  They look healthy and untouched by BER, though (knock wood…), and there is still time for them to fill out.  I grew this variety once before and the tomatoes were very pretty.

Guido and Mrs. Bot’s Italian Giant 

I was seduced by the pictures, descriptions, and reviews of these varieties online.  They are both large, beautiful red beefsteaks with great flavour, according to what I have read.  They are also both described as late varieties, and that is playing out in my garden.  The plants are robust/sturdy, which I like, though they only have a few tomatoes per plant.  The tomatoes are still small-medium in size.  If I had a longer season, maybe there would be more tomatoes per plant.  In any case, the tomatoes look healthy (no BER or catfacing that I see).  I’m looking forward to tasting them when they are mature and hope for at least 1 perfect example of each variety per plant.

Flowers 

Volunteer pansies, marigolds, and sunflowers have popped up throughout the garden.  Sunflowers are everywhere!   They are cheery and delightful, but we will have to thin them more next time, as they crowd (and put into shade) the vegetables in the garden.   

Unwin’s Mix dahlias (dahliettas) have gone well this year, as have the asters (Early Charm – which are, indeed, earlier than the China asters I grew last year, though I prefer the look of China asters).  I love the scarlet and the orange dahliettas that grew, and the one scarlet aster is a knockout.   

 

Dahliettas

I might skip growing calendula next year.  It feels like they constantly need to be dead-headed and the bees seem to prefer other flowers, anyway.

Alyssum (oh, that scent of honey!) and Bachelor Buttons are always winners, for me and for the bees.  The Teddy bear sunflowers (deliberately planted, not volunteers) were late to bloom but are so sweet.  I’d like to grow these again.

 

Alyssum

A Teddy Bear sunflower

Dahlia

Dahlia

Marigolds - Queen Sophia

Garlic

See “Garlic Apocalypse”.  I harvested the garlic rounds and bulbs earlier this year than I ever have, most of it at the end of July and some on August 3rd.  Even so, it looks like they should have been harvested even earlier.  The outer layers of skins, which should have dried and tightened around the bulbs to help with storage, are broken/flaking.  The garlic looks fine, albeit small, but will not store as long as it typically does.

More updates in the coming weeks.  :)