I was excited to try some new plants, such as Crystal Apple Cucumber, Edamame soybeans, Ground Cherry, Golden Sweet Peas, Diana Watermelon and Styrian Pumpkin. It would be unfair to say these plants are not worth growing, given the strange weather patterns this year.
My Crystal Apple Cucumber transplant was not happy with the wind, so I put a few extra seeds in the ground. I ended up with a tangle of vines (not sure I agree it's less scrambly than Lemon Cuke), and most of the cucumbers were bitter! My Edamame beans rotted in the soil in a couple of locations and later seeded plants only set a few small, dry pods.
As for Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry (aka husk tomato or physalis), the plants in the garden did very poorly. The plant in my earthbox is much larger, likely because it's protected on the deck and received more consistent moisture in the earthbox. Production was a bit late, so I rolled the plant into the garage during our early cold nights. The few handfuls of ground cherries have been lovely and they keep and continue to ripen for a long time in the kitchen.
The Watermelon and Musk melons also did not fare well this summer; the plants simply failed to thrive and the 2 melons on each plant were not very sweet. Another disappointment were the Golden Sweet Peas. The peas grew well, looked pretty and we enjoyed some in stir fries. The peas were not very tasty fresh and I had no luck harvesting dry seeds - the pods became twisted and had some mildew late in the season.
WHAT TO DO??? Next year will hopefully be better, so I will give it another try. Gardeners and farmers must be the most hopeful people. In the meantime, I was happy with the bounty hiding under the jungle of squash leaves! I had to pick the Styrian pumpkins before they turned yellow, but hopefully they will ripen nicely in the house. And fortunately, there are plenty of carrots, beets and potatoes, all good prairie staples.
My Crystal Apple Cucumber transplant was not happy with the wind, so I put a few extra seeds in the ground. I ended up with a tangle of vines (not sure I agree it's less scrambly than Lemon Cuke), and most of the cucumbers were bitter! My Edamame beans rotted in the soil in a couple of locations and later seeded plants only set a few small, dry pods.
As for Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry (aka husk tomato or physalis), the plants in the garden did very poorly. The plant in my earthbox is much larger, likely because it's protected on the deck and received more consistent moisture in the earthbox. Production was a bit late, so I rolled the plant into the garage during our early cold nights. The few handfuls of ground cherries have been lovely and they keep and continue to ripen for a long time in the kitchen.
The Watermelon and Musk melons also did not fare well this summer; the plants simply failed to thrive and the 2 melons on each plant were not very sweet. Another disappointment were the Golden Sweet Peas. The peas grew well, looked pretty and we enjoyed some in stir fries. The peas were not very tasty fresh and I had no luck harvesting dry seeds - the pods became twisted and had some mildew late in the season.
WHAT TO DO??? Next year will hopefully be better, so I will give it another try. Gardeners and farmers must be the most hopeful people. In the meantime, I was happy with the bounty hiding under the jungle of squash leaves! I had to pick the Styrian pumpkins before they turned yellow, but hopefully they will ripen nicely in the house. And fortunately, there are plenty of carrots, beets and potatoes, all good prairie staples.
An unexpected winner was Selma Fino Bulb Fennel. I purchased the seeds from West Coast Seeds and planted a handful of seeds in potting mix on March 23. I placed the seedlings under fluorescent lights until hardening off time and eventually they went out into the garden bed May 26. I also seeded some fennel seeds between the transplants for a later crop. In early August, we had some very large bulbs to harvest.
The seeds I had planted in May developed into nice seedlings which I transplanted into an empty bed on June 21. The plants did really well and produced beautiful, tasty bulbs that kept well into September in the garden. I used the bulbs fresh in salads, lightly sauteed in omelettes, and I dried many of the fronds for later use in soups.
The seeds I had planted in May developed into nice seedlings which I transplanted into an empty bed on June 21. The plants did really well and produced beautiful, tasty bulbs that kept well into September in the garden. I used the bulbs fresh in salads, lightly sauteed in omelettes, and I dried many of the fronds for later use in soups.
RSS Feed