Wow! Early Winter :(

Winter has made a very early arrival this year.   Last week on Monday it was nice and warm but extremely windy.  I knew a strong cold front was coming, with temperatures going down to 31 that next morning, and then upper 20s the next few days.  So we had to pick all the pumpkins... fortunately they were all pretty much ready.  Here is my daughter with 3 of them.  The big one she is holding is the biggest one we got.  Interestingly, it never did get the deep orange color.  Its more of a "rainbow" of green, yellow, and pale orange, even though it sat on the vine  just like that for at least 3 weeks.

Here are all the Rouge Vif d'Etampes pumpkins we got, except one, that was picked and made into pie a few weeks ago, because I discovered a small hole in it, and didn't want it to rot.

We got 9 Rouge if d'Etampes pumkins of various shapes and sized. One got eaten earlier and is not shown.

So overall, it was very successful, compared to last year, where I only got 2 of these.  If I try again with C. Maxima varieties, I think I will try maybe a week earlier, and completely avoid that part of the garden that gets shaded in the fall.  

The sad thing is that my poor pole beans had just started producing very well.  I had been picking nice sized bean pods the past week, and there were tons of flowers and tiny pods forming.

before the freeze, the pumpkin vines, okra, and pole beans

  I tried covering the bean vines with a large plastic cover, but could not get the whole plant covered easily, plus it was just too cold.  Today here is how they looked, all dead :(

dead pole beans killed by freeze

Lesson for next year... start pole beans earlier!  I should have started them at least 2 week earlier than I did, maybe in mid August.   You can see the broccoli, peas, lettuce, and spinach too.  These were pretty much unaffected.  

dead okra and pumpkin vines, but brussell sprouts unaffected.

So fall growing season has pretty much come to an early close.  Its been in the 30's and 40's for highs this week, and pretty much freezing every night, for the last few days.   The cool weather plants will keep growing, and I have some spinach and lettuce in pots I might transplant as soon as this particular cold snap is over.  Hopefully we'll get some milder weather the next few weeks, and those can grow well.

Were is what remains in the garden:

• cabbage - should take cold down to lower 20s
• broccoli - should take cold down to lower 20s
• lettuce - as long as we don't get too much below freezing they'll do OK, otherwise I need to cover them.
• snap peas - just hoping we don't get lower 20s anytime soon. If its in the upper 20s and above these do fine.
• spinach - going good, they can take a lot of cold, so I expect these do to well 
• brussels sprouts - from early spring... survived the summer but not sure if it will ever give us any sprouts?

 But much of the rest of the garden I started clearing out,and bringing in the chickens to work the area.

Area where I had cherry tomatoes, basil, and pumpkin vines growing... being cleared out.  

Oct18 update

October 18th update 

It's mid October already, and we're having awesome weather,  upper 70's and lower 80's, and some nice rain last week.   Everything is grown well except still battling some pest issues, especially with the spinach and somewhat with the cabbage.  

This weekend we picked out first Rouge vif d'Etampes pumpkin.   This is one from the hill that Andrew planted back in August.   Most of those plants have been in the shade for a while, due to the lowering sun and shorter days now.   So I think that is why this pumpkin didn't grow very big.  But it's very pretty. 

Andrew and his first pumpkin this year from. 

Close-up of the pumpkin.  Love it's shape

Here's another one in development.  This one has quite a different shape. 

One thing I like about pumpkins is that even within the same variety, the shapes and sized of the fruit vary so much.   Each pumpkin is unique.


Early in the spring I had planted a few Brussels sprouts seeds, and they had been growing all year, surviving the Texas heat, and the harlequin bugs too.   Here they are below.  Not sure what to expect...   I'm thinking that when we have real cool weather I might top these off and see if the sprouts start forming.

Surviving Brussels Sprouts plant. 

Okra is still producing 

Here is a picture of the spinach plants. They have been hit by pests, and some of them have been chopped off at the base mysteriously...  But a few are all alive.   I do have a bunch of other ones in pots that I plan on planting in the garden as soon space is available.  (when the pumpkin vines die probably).

Spinach next to mustard, lettuce, and some radish plants..

Mustard plants.   We've eaten lots of mustard greens this fall! 

Cabbage plants. 

A wall of Kentucky wonder pole beans.   No beans yet, but should be soon 

Young pea plants.  Sugar snap peas.   

In the peas above,  I'm  using the chicken wire cage as both a trellis, and for protection from either rabbits or rats that seem to love young pea plants. I lost some this spring so I've been real careful.

Lady bug eating aphids on the pumpkin plant. 

This is the latest pumpkin to set.   The plant is looking rather ragged, but I'm surprised it still set this fruit.  

Early October Quick Update

Been about a month since I last posted.  The garden's doing well, as we enter early fall.  Only problem has been the ongoing battle with controlling the rats.  I've killed a few more with traps, and lately I haven't seen many issues from them, but I continue to keep my pumpkins covered with netting to protect them, and especially the new female flowers, which they seem to love.

Pumpkins

The Rouge Vif d'Etampes pumpkins are huge plants.  I have 2 hills, one of them is on a side of the garden that doesn't get good sunlight anymore.  The plants don't look as healthy. But there are about 5 pumpkins growing on them, including the two below. 

This one is done growing.  Its color is deepening.  Unfortunately it didn't get very big. probably due to the lack of good sunlight.

Another one on the same vine.  This one probably won't get much bigger either.  

The other hill gets much more sun, and they plants look a lot healthier.  The healthiest section of the vine is now growing among the okra plants.   It makes it hard to harvest the okra.

pumpkin vines among okra plants.

There are some nice pumpkins developing there, including this one, which looks to be the biggest one.  Might end up as big as last years 25lb one.  The yellow color on these means they are still growing, as that picture below is about 5 day old, so its gotten bigger since.  Pretty excited about this one. I wish I could turn it over so it doesn't sit on its side, but its too late now.  Its too big now to move without breaking the stem.

the big one.

Okra

I mentioned the okra above. They are doing great.  Still have lots of aphids on them but doesn't seem to slow them down much.   I really like their flowers too. Every day I harvest a handful of okra.  I've frozen some, and we've cooked them in a number of different ways.  

Other Plants

The other stuff I planted late summer is doing pretty good.  The mustard plants are super productive.  We have cooked greens about twice a week.  The turnip greens are getting in the mix too.  I see some nice turnips forming too.  

Mustard, with turnips behind them

The cabbage is doing well too, except for some caterpillars attacks which I've dealt with by spraying some BT.  Some of the plants look like they are starting to form tiny heads.

Cabbage plants

I also have some snap peas growing.  Notice the rat traps in the picture.  Rats (or rabbits?) seem to like young pea plants too, unfortunately

And my pole beans are doing very well too. No signs of spider mites, and they look nice and healthy. No flowers yet though, but there's plenty of time.

Kentucky Wonder pole beans.

My spinach plants are still pretty small.  They have fallen victim to rats or rabbits, so I covered them with tulle for a while.

Sept 6th Garden Update

Its been a fairly mild summer, but nevertheless summer is still hanging strong.  Its been the upper 90s for the past two weeks but we are forecast to get into the 70's and 80's by the end of this week as we get our first decent cool front... first sign of the coming fall season.  Fall here in Texas is the second big growing season.

Pumpkins

The big thing, and I mean big, that I am focusing on this fall is the Rouge vif D'Etampes pumpkins. Its been a while since my last post in early August, but back then I had mentioned these plants, and how they were just a few weeks old, and how they were being covered with tulle fabric to protect them from SVB and Squash bugs.   About two weeks ago, I could not contain the plants with tulle anymore... they had gotten way too big, and some of the leaves were starting to break, and the netting was being pulled up.    In the meantime I had been working on exterminating the squash bugs. I had crushed hundreds of them wherever  I found them, and I think that got them under control by the time I removed the tulle.

As soon as I uncovered the vines,  I started covering the exposed vines and base with dirt and compost, and also leaf mulch, and I've been doing that the past two weeks, because SVB are out and about big time.  I have killed some of the moths with a fly swatter, and every time I go out there I find eggs to pick off, plus as I bury the vines, I check for and remove eggs that are attached.

The two big hills are growing like crazy.  Here is one of the hills, composed of two plants (the other two plants were runts and I thinned them out.)  Its starting to creep into the Brussels sprouts plants that are still alive, and waiting for cooler weather to hopefully start producing.  They are also getting pretty close to the okra, so I might thin out the lower leaves of the okra and let the pumpkin vines grow underneath.

One hill composed of two plants.

 The other hill I believe is still composed  of 4 plants, also I can't tell since the base is completely covered in mulch and compost, which I have piled on it.  Its also growing like crazy, and overtaking the area.  Its growing among some of the volunteer tomatoes which I recently staked up to allow the pumpkins to grow underneath.  My basil plant is still going strong, and is pretty much a bush now, as you can see in the picture.

So far a few male flowers have opened, and I see some small female flowers forming,but none have opened yet.  That's OK since its been too hot for pollination anyway.   Hopeful to get some nice pumpkins this fall, but with all the pests it will be a challenge.

Recent Plantings

I am giving pole beans another chance.  A few years ago I remember getting a very good fall harvest of beans, so hopefully I can duplicate that.  Here are the seedlings, Kentucky wonder pole beans. 

I've planted a bunch of them, and covered them to prevent critters from munching on them.  I recently  sowed another batch of them next to this one, and they just started sprouting too.    I also planted some snap peas, which I started indoors in pots, and just transplanted, but am concerned because of the heat that is still lingering, that they might not make it.

Around mid-August I sowed some mustard, turnips, and broccoli seeds.  The mustard did well. But the others did not unfortunately.   Only some of the turnip seeds sprouted, and many that did were promptly eaten by some mysterious pest.  The broccoli also suffered from being eaten by some mystery pest, but some did survive, until a couple of  my chickens found their way inside the garden, and ate the remaining plants.  They have acquired a taste for cabbage and related plants, so I have to watch them carefully now to make sure they don't get into the garden and cause havoc.

my small mustard patch

So I just recently sowed more cabbage, broccoli, and turnip seeds.  Many sprouted but I am still battling something that eat them when they are tiny. So I dusted with insecticide today.  Arg!!  Fall planting is tough due to all the pests!!

Tomatoes, Okra

Heirloom tomato plants propagated from cuttings from the original plants, next to my basil bush.

I've begun pulling up most of the old tomato plants to make space for the sprawling pumpkins.  But the past month I had been taking cuttings, and rooting them in water, and then planting them in pots.  Only a few have survived, but they are doing well.  I have 4 good plants which I planted in the ground on the other side of the garden, and am hoping they start producing a nice fall crop.  

The okra is doing amazing.  Its "emerald" okra.  Its been producing tons of pods for us this second half of the summer. Every day I go out and pick a handful from the seven plants.  I may need to start freezing some.  Interestingly the plants are not as big as they were last year.  They seemed thicker and taller last year. I think its because they were spaced apart more.  This year I have them growing in a single row, and they are closer together.

Revenge on SVB

Revenge on SVB

For the past week weeks I have begun pulling out parts of old pumpkin and acorn squash vines, and some round zucchini plants, because they are getting pretty infested with squash bugs and squash vine borers, and I want to clean out the garden to reduce these pests for the fall plantings of Cinderella (Rouge vif d'Etampes) pumpkins. I planted those seed about couple weeks ago, and  the seedling are growing quickly,  currently under the protection of some tulle covering to prevent them from  getting attacked by these pests.

As I clear out the old vines, I have brought my chickens over to eat the SVB I find, and they have quickly learned that me breaking open vines means yummy treats.  Unfortunately the chickens do not like squash bugs.  I bet they taste terrible, because since are also called stink bugs, and when I crush them they smell like nasty cherry coke.  

I took a video yesterday morning, but it didn't come out very clear.  I think my camera was set to low resolution.  Bummer.  I will try to shoot a better video later this week, but for now I will post what I have.

Garden Bounty - July 10 Update

  What's Going On at Christian's Garden 7/10/14

The second batch of sweet corn is growing very well. I see some nice ears of corn that have developed. Just hope there are enough plants to fill out the ears well, and that the corn ear worms don't get all of them.  I have not sprayed anything, so keeping my fingers crossed.

Sweet corn (2nd batch) is looking good. Hope to get some good ears in a few weeks

Ball zucchini plants, next to sweet corn.  Tomatoes and bean in background

ball zucchini ready for picking

My beans, which had been hit hard by spider mites, and took forever to start any production, have finally started producing well.  They also seem to have overcome the spider mites damage.  Not sure what happened but the spider mite populations have really declined, even though its really hot.  The last few morning I have picked a nice big handful of beans.

Pole beans are doing better, finally producing well.

My tomato plants have outgrown their cages so much you can't even see the cages at all, and I have had to use various large stakes to hold them up.  There are not many tomatoes left.  So I have started to thin the plants out, and am trying to take some cutting and plant them in moist soil to see if I can get them to root, and plant them for the fall.  If successful, I might pull out all these plants, because I don't think I want to spend all the water that will be needed to keep these plants alive through August.

Tomato plants are huge, but not many tomatoes left on the plants. 

Same deal with the acorn squash plants.  They are huge, and sprawling, and hardly producing anything, so I might pull these up.  Its hard because the plants look so nice, and I am hopeful more fruit will set. But I hate using up so much water to keep these alive through the hottest part of the summer.

Acorn squash plants have overflowed into the yard. 

The volunteer plants...

This pumpkin is pretty much ready to pick

volunteer Milo (sorghum)

finally a pumpkin from our volunteer sugar pie pumpkin plants

Some of the harvests this summer

Recent harvests: ball zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, and assorted tomatoes.

After looking at pictures of heirloom tomato varieties on Google, I decided that some of my tomatoes are actually "cherokee purple" variety.  Here is a "C" shaped one.

I got a "C" tomato.  "C" is for Christian  (or Cabal) ;)

Bug battles

War on Harlequin bugs 

Last fall I remember noticing some very colorful looking stink bugs  on my  turnips.   There were just a few of them, and winter came and they were gone, so I didn't think much of them.   I was not sure what if any damage they were causing so I didn't think much of it.

Well, this spring I started noticing more of them on my mustard plants.  I should have waged war on them back then but I didn't... big mistake!  In the past month, they have just exploded in population!
Now all the mustard and turnips are long gone, but they have moved on to my Brussels sprouts and remaining cabbage plants.  Together with cabbage worms, they have torn up my plants.  So I decided to wage war on them.

I first did some research on them, and found out they are called Harlequin bugs.  They are indeed related to stinkbugs, but instead of having a preference for the squash family, their preference is for the
cruciferous vegetables, (such as cabbage, mustard,turnips,broccoli,etc...)
Since I want to be as organic as possible, I have not wanted to try any chemicals against them.
So for the past month or so I would go out every few days and kill them whenever I saw them, usually by just crushing them with my fingers.  I have killed probably a couple hundred by now!
 My Brussels sprouts plants have gotten quite big, and it became very hard to inspect every leaf for the harlequin bugs, especially the baby ones.  So I decided to pull up some of the severely damaged plants, and the remaining ones, I gave a major pruning.  

Chopped off a bunch of leaves, to make finding bugs more manageable

Harlequin bug on cabbage (lower center)

The pruned plants will hopefully be easier to inspect, until I can get rid of the bugs

A juvenile one on  a stalk... Wonder if this plant will recover?

I have tried giving these bugs to my chickens, but they won't eat them.  I read that they probably taste pretty bad because they make use of the plant's chemicals to create a strong taste that makes them unappetizing.   But at least its not a total waste.  I gave the pruned leaves, and pulled up plants to the chickens, and they like them, and  especially the cabbage worms that are occasionally in the leaves (which is what makes many of my leaves look like swiss cheese!)

Corn Ear-worms

We have been eating some of the tiny ears of corn we have gotten from our first corn planting, but some of them have had corn ear-worms in them.  And with the second planting of corn, I have seen some damage on the top of the plants.  I sprayed some BT on these, hoping that will take care of the problem.. but I may have to do more research on these, and organic ways to control it.  I have hopes for this next batch of corn,  The plants are looking much healthier than the first batch. But hopefully the corn ear-worms can be controlled. 

Corn earworms have attacked some of my corn plants

Pumpkin Updates

Here is my jack-o-lantern.  Its starting to to orange-up now.  Its about the size of a basketball. 

The ball zucchini "pumpkin" is starting to get more of a pumpkin-like coloration.  

Speaking of pests, this ball zucchini plant has just been ravaged by SVB, and I am surprised its still alive. I did spray soapy-water inside its main stem, and did see some earwigs come out.  I also extracted a couple SVBs from some side-shoots with a piece of wire, and fed them to the chickens.
But as soon as this "pumpkin" seems to be ripened enough I will pull out this plant to make room for other plants. 

The other pest I had much problems with last year was cucumber beetles.  They are still bad, but  I have not noticed them causing much damage yet.  So I have not been too worried about them.  I know they can transmit mosaic virus to plants, but so far, none of my squash/pumpkins have had any symptoms of it.

my volunteer sunflowers