Monday, May 31, 2010

Long weekend

We were away too much to do anything gardenwise, but i did get to look things over and take a few pictures. The Roma tomatoes don't look like they ever endured a frost.
 The weeds are starting to really ramp up too.


The brassica row has grown noticeably.



Its been dry though. We have been watering and i'm sure the covers are helping too.  I think the Parsnips are sprouting, the radishes are almost 6 inches tall now.

This coming week is supposed to be warm and it is almost 100% certain to rain tomorrow and the rest of the week looks like half the days are going to be rainy. We could use it so i won't complain.

I planted the Zsa Zsa peppers today, they acclimated to full sun over the weekend and did well, i also planted the Graffiti Claulflower and the Bubbles Brussels sprouts. The cauli and the brussels had just begun to sprout last week , but they were  drying out too fast in the flats so i put them in the rows before i lost them entirely.

The Salsify are looking good, no seciond leaves yet, but they are giant seed leaves.

While i was gone, hubby said the cover over the cukes and melons kept blowing off. They did get some flea beetle damage where they were exposed the most, but it does not look too bad at all.  The bush beans also sprouted, i think the rutabagas and beets are too, but i had to get back inside before i could check closer  to be sure.

Oh, and i put in the Siberia and Empire tomato plants, got the clothes bar rack things in there too...  i don't think they will work great, but they will be better than nothing.

The rest of the seedlings will go to my parents' garden, if they have time to come get them and then plant them. I don't know if they have had time to get their garden ready much past tilling it.

Other than sweet corn...  my planting is done.  I will do  that this week.

Well, maybe a few lettuce seeds will go in.

Weeding is next.

4 comments:

Faith said...

Hey, I was at a friend's house today and she showed me a mulberry tree she had not known she'd had before. We found another while looking. I saved a few berries for seed. The trees must be a native variety, and will probably grow true to seed, so I already know how they look and how they taste. It was cool to see one in person. :o) Very different than what I thought they looked like.

~Faith

icebear said...

Since you saved a few berries for seed, i suppose they were yummy? That's pretty cool, you should be able to try growing some from cuttings if you like them enough to try.

I saw a white mulberry tree (the berries were a waxy pinkish white) at a botanical garden in Massachusetts i think, it was a pretty plant and i remembered the berries were unusual. I wasn't sure what it was at the time so i didn't do a taste-test! :o)

Faith said...

The tree was not especially pretty. I did like the leaves, though. It was growing in among other native trees so it was reaching for the light.

I found that the branches are not sturdy. They seemed to have broken off a lot through the years. It might be different, and better, if the tree grew alone.

The fruits were about 1 to 1.5 inches long and a little less than 1/2 inch across. They dropped on the ground, no way to pick them. The color of the ones one the ground ranged from light pink in spots to blackberry color.

The outside of the fruits were very good, but it was interesting, as the flavor did not seem to go all the way through them. Once you got that initial burst of flavor, it became very diluted. Juicy, but diluted. I guess that's what the description I kept finding, "insipid", meant.

The fruits were also quite spread out. If you were to climb or use a ladder, you'd have to move every minute. Really hard to figure out how you'd get a harvest from one, unless you rigged some sort of cloth below.

When they fell, some of the little fruit nodules burst at impact and ejected the seed that is in each one. Quite large, but when I ate one they were not noticeable.

Yeah, they asked if I wanted cuttings. We'd have had to get a ladder, and I had to go. Still thinking about it, though they'd be nice to sell as well.

I wonder if it was the rubris. Hard to know exactly, as they cross with the whites. I think so, though.

My friend mentioned fox liking them, so they must see them out there sometimes.

~Faith

icebear said...

the way they easily burst must (along with that *insipid* flavor) be the reason they are often used in preserves, blended juices and wines. i think i did read that using a catch cloth was considered the simplest and most effective harvest method.
My sister had some mulberry trees in her yard when they lived in MO, but the fruits were not ready at the time i visited. the tree at the botanical garden was expertly pruned i'm sure, but i don't think the MO mulberries were bad looking. Your neighbor's trees are probably at a disadvantage from being in among other trees.
I still haven't planted any seeds, i'm considering seeding them in the fall and letting them overwinter in their flats outside. Richter's gave me so many seeds (a few tablespoons full), i could try a hundred methods and still have a bunch left.
I'm saving those plastic coffee 'tins' to use as nursery pots for all the stuff i am trying to grow. I keep trying to save milk jugs, but i don't think hubby is on board with that, lol.