Well, here it is again. another growing season is just around the corner so I thought that I would put up a diary for 2019. This season will be different for me in a few ways with only two giant pumpkins planned at this time and some changes in what and how I will be growing as well.
I had decided to grow my last giant fodder beet seeds this year but no rutabagas or Kohlrabi this year but I am now the proud owner of a bouncing baby kohlrabi that I got from John Butler at the GVGO seminar.
I was not going to grow giant carrots this year as well, but when I saw that it was the veggie of the year for the EGVGA my competitive side kicked in and I started some as well. Like my beets they are far behind of where I was last year but they are all doing well
Checked out the garden today as it was probably the warmest day today since last October and things did not look too bad but could be better. The soil is only thawed down a few inches and there is still ice in the far corners of the garden. With the forecast not really showing a significant warm up and lots of cool wet days ahead I double covered the hoop house sites with plastic. It looks like it will be a repeat of 2018 with me only getting the hoop houses ready for planting in May.
The super soggy and cool spring has been delaying any major patch preparation and this upcoming weekend appears to be a wet one as well.
Last weekend I was able to add all the amendments to both sites including bio char and nearly 4 cu ft. of perlite to each site. Today I was able to install the soil heater cables and build 6.5 x 8 ft. hoop houses over the sites. The sites are ready for pumpkins to be planted so I will be germinating them this weekend
I thought that April last year was a problem but this is the worst April ever. It does not look like the beginning of May will be much better but I think that despite that I might be able to get off to an earlier start than I ever have before.
I decided to put down plastic on the area that the root vegetables will be growing in. hopefully it will keep the rain that is forecasted this week from saturating the area.
The soil heater cables have been running since last weekend. The soil is at a very nice 25C. The hoops took a bad beating on Saturday and required some repairs today. It would have been worse if Phil and Jane had not intervened during the wind storm to keep them from being torn apart.
The pumpkins are starting to get going. Started a 2005 Haist, 1911 Urena, 1937 Urena, and a 1826 Wolf. The wolf has been very slow to get going so I started another today.
This past Sunday was just what the garden and myself needed to get a few more things done in the garden after what was another soggy cold week. There is still lots of standing water in the fields near the patch but I have been slowly forcing the issue of getting things ready.
I managed to prepare the site and build a 30'poly tunnel for the carrots, beets and the kohlrabi. It will be interesting to see if it survives the storm due to arrive on Thursday.
The Kohlrabi is the first plant in this season. It was really root bound and needed to be set free. Next weekend it will be all in for the other vegetables except for the tomatoes. I worked in about 5 cu. ft. of perlite to a depth of two ft. in the tunnel. This should be good for the carrots.
The tomatoes were planted a little early and are growing very well. If I can get the sites ready soon they can be in the ground sooner than later. I like to grow them a little stringy so they can be planted deep for better root development.
Even though it's not even the middle of the month I am sure that this will now be the worst May ever. Each week is one step forward and two steps back. Still waiting for a string of good weather that would help dry the patch out but for now wet and muddy is the norm.
The pumpkins had to go in this past weekend and if they could talk they would not be too happy. The next few days will be very cool and dark. I just hope they stay alive until the weather improves. The plant on the left is the 2005 Haist and on the right is a 1937 Urena.
Replaced the poly on the poly tunnel for re-may and planted 6 carrots and 3 fodder beets. At least I don't have to worry about heat stress or leaves being burned by the sun.
This weekend I caught a break as the weather warmed up and stayed dry. This gave me a window of opportunity to prepare the tomato sites and plant six competition plants. A few more will follow in the coming weeks. Like everything else I plant they are now under shade cloth until they get acclimatized to the conditions.
Still had a great 1826 Wolf plant as a back up so I quickly prepared and built a hoop house and planted it. I was thinking about doing this for a few weeks and now I have increased my work load by about 30% for this season.
Despite the less than great weather last week the plants did well and are continuing to grow. Last Monday the high temperature was 6c and there was two nights of near freezing lows. The plant on the right is the 1911 Urena and the back up on the left is a 1826 Wolf.
All the other giant vegetable plants that went in last week are looking great and seem to do even better in the cool wet conditions.
Things haven't really changed much with the weather or the fact that the garden soil is too wet for even trying to till it up. I was able to get the water pump ready whenever it will be needed and most of my competition tomatoes are in the ground.
The 2005 Haist on the left is vining well but the 1937 Urena has larger leaves and a heavier but shorter vine. Will have to remove the back-up plants in both hoop houses by the next weekend which will for hard to decide for these two plants.
I'm a little more sure of keeping the 1911 Urena over the 1826 Wolf as the vine is down and running while the back up wolf does not want to lay down. Despite the weather I am actually a little ahead of where I was last year. Looks like vine burying starts next weekend as well.
At long last we have a stretch of sunny seasonal weather that is lasting for more than a day or two. It does not look like it will last much longer and a return to cooler and probably wet conditions will be the norm for the next few weeks.
Finally the patch is tilled. Sprayed Round-up last week and tilled this weekend. This is the 2005 Haist plant which is really doing well. On the Right is the 1911 Urena which is also picking up the pace now. I extended the hoop frame and put shade cover over the 2005 to protect the new growth from the high UV levels and it helps protect the plant from the wind.
My competition tomatoes are doing good considering the weather. This is a 6.23 Konieczny which already has a mega bloom showing. A little early on such a young plant but it is a good sign.
The rest of the other veggies are also doing well. The fodder beets are a little behind from last year but they all look to be growing at a good pace now.
Another wet and wild week at the patch has come and gone and despite the less than ideal weather everything is growing well. If the weather improves to seasonal conditions I'm sure that everything will pick up substantially.
The somewhat slacking 1826 Wolf has started to pick up a little after a very slow and late start. It will be out of the hoop house in a day or so but the side vines are developing very slowly but overall it looks much better now
The 2005 Haist and the 1911 Urena plants are out and doing great despite some very windy weather last week. Both plant vines are about 10' feet in length now.
this is what I was looking for. It took a while to find this one on the 2005 Haist plant main vine and it won't be ready to pollinate until the end of the month. I estimate that it will be at about 12' then.
Things have really changed here over the past few weeks. My PC is in the hospital so this entry is being done on my notepad. The weather suddenly switched to summer and everything took off in overdrive in a short period of time.
The 2005 Haist by self at day 10. One of the best day 10 circumference I have had in a while. The stem is a little short but I don't have any issues with it.The plants are really doing well. The side vines grew about 5 feet during the past week which kept me on my kneeknees burying the vines this weekend. The high humidity did not help me at all.
I am glad that the high heat and humidity are going to break soon. Although it has been good for the giant vegetables it has been difficult at best to get the necessary work done in the patch with Humidity levels in the forties.