August 1, 2011

Growth Notes: August 1st, 2011

I’m quite pleased with how the garden is shaping up this year. Despite the fact it was a barren wasteland of morning glory, ivy, oregon grape, and other sundry weeds and annoyances when we first moved in. The weather has been cool here, and rainy, and to my shock and awe, plants have not succumbed to blight or any other various diseases, *knocks on wood*. There’s a bit of a problem with powdery mildew on some of the bee balm and columbine, but even the squash only have minimal tellings of it. Things are going pretty damned well, and I thank the excellent natural soil of the area, and a bit of hard work to keep it all going.

Now, for a few updates!

Tomato ‘AP2’ – This plant is a sprawler, sending large, huge vines everywhere. Next year I’m going to make a point of caging this one rather than trying to stake it. Fruit is currently taking on a rather heavily pleated shape (love it!), so a grow-out next year with the actual ‘Americke Pyramidni’ will let me know if that fruit is heavily pleated as well (according to PGRC fruit shape is “oblate” and fruit smoothness is “rough”). Tons of flowers, some blossom drop but this might be more due to the weather than the actual tendencies of the plant (as several other varieties are also dropping buds). Can’t wait to see how these fruit mature.

Pole Beans ‘Irish Conners’ – doing a lot better here than when I tried to grow them in Nelson. Vines are about 6ft tall currently, immature pods are flattish and medium sized and taste very sweet. Flowers are white, with 4 flowers per shoot. Most set with no problem, but there are a few dropping. Once again, might be due more to the weather than actual growth.

Pole Beans ‘Oma’s’ – Very strong grower, vines are currently between 7-8ft and seem to grow several inches over night! White flowers, immature pods are rounder and fatter than Irish Conners, and currently seem to grow longer.

Beans ‘Poltschka X’ – Very, very slow growing (once again, possibly due to weather, although all the other beans have outpaced these). While the other beans started flowering weeks ago, I just saw the first blooms open up on these yesterday. Flowers are white.

All the tomatoes have had at least some flowers isolated now, and are growing fruit. I had some problems with a few, most notably ‘Coracao di Boi’ and ‘Antonovka’ with blossom drop. Once again, hard to tell if this is weather related or not, but since it’s been warming up and days haven’t been so cool, both are setting fruit much more easily.

Site update!
I thought it was high-time to start producing a quarterly newsletter. In it we’ll have updates on the bank, new additions, and special projects and plans. There’ll also be things that are announced there first (like looking for growers for instance!), as well as highlights and features on varieties in the bank. I’m even hoping to feature one family heirloom per newsletter with stories, historical info, growth info, etc. Imagine it like a mini magazine that finds its way to your inbox!

Of course all information will be kept strictly private, I’m not even using a third-party service to keep the email addresses, they’ll be stored with me, and I will never release them.

The first issue will be in October of this year – and yes I would love to feature your family heirloom! If you have one, please use the contact link located in the side bar to get a hold of me.

Want to sign up? Here’s the form (all fields required):

I’m excited about the first issue, which is already being worked on as I type this.

Stay tuned for more growth notes from the gardens coming this week.