Planting warm weather veggies and fruit in !#%&*! crazy weather - welcome to northern Nevada

Time 5:48am
Temperature - Sparks 54.1, CC&R Farm 51.6
Soil temp 60

Most of these were started from seed in April, potted-up in May.  Only a few were ever-so-slightly root bound so I'd call all of these successful.

Here's what we planted:
2 purple tomatillo
6 Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry
13 bush beans that already have teeny beans
6 Crystal Apple cucumber for eating fresh
4 Double yield cucumber for pickles
1 Delice de Table melon
3 Noir de Carmes melon
3 Golden Midget watermelon
2 Charentais melons
1 Valenciano pumpkin (white)
2 Sugar Pumpkins
1 Delicata winter squash
2 Butternut winter squash
2 Marina di Chioggia winter squash
2 Red Turi winter squash
2 Trombetta di Albenga summer squash (an heirloom Italian climbing squash)
1 Benning Green Tint summer squash - I put a couple more seeds in with the plant because it was scrawny -- I don't have much hope for its survival.
2 Ronde de Nice zucchini
2 Cocozelle Bush zucchini

We'll wait a week or 10 days then cull each variety down to one plant, two if we planned an extra one to produce enough to donate. 

It took two years to get my hands on the Trombetta de Albenga squash seeds so I'm really excited to see what happens.  I first discovered these at the farmers market a few years ago.  They were grown by a Nevada farmer who no longer grows vegetables on her farm due to a family dispute that effectively drove them out of farming on their property.  They wanted to farm but the sibling wanted to make big bucks...totally sucks!

It's northern Nevada, not to mention my day off, so the weather was crazy yesterday. The cloudy weather was perfect for planting but the alternating lashing wind and fairly intense heat when the sun broke the clouds was everything tender transplants hate.  To protect them we covered the entire planting space with agricultural fabric.  We'll leave it on for a while to protect everything and hopefully deny the squash bugs a place to lay their eggs. 

Just the other day I purchase one of the best gardening gizmos ever -- Tufbell Clips.  They hold agricultural fabric in place and are a great alternative to the concrete stepping stones we've been using for years. I am so happy!

Pepper and eggplant -- unseasonal clouds be damned, in they go!

Temperature: Sparks 61, CC&R Farm 59,
Soil temp 62

Yesterday I put the peppers and eggplants into the raised beds. This crop was seeded into paper pots on April 14th, and potted-up (transferred to 4" pots) on May 5th.  Every year spring fever gets me and it's a struggle to refrain from starting too early but this year it's looking good; the plants are just about perfect. I'll start about one week later next year. 

Pepper varieties - 3 Early Jalapeno, 6 Sunshine (sweet), 6 Szegedi (sweet), 3 Nu Mexico Joe E. Parker (anaheim-like)

Eggplant varieties - 3 Asian Baby, 3 Rossa Bianca

This might seem like a lot for 2 people but we're hoping to grow enough to donate this year.

The plants were placed closer together than the seed packet instructions say because space is limited and my experience has been that planting closer works under our conditions.

The raised beds are also hoop houses and are covered with both bird netting and plastic sheeting that is removed or adjusted depending on need.  We'll keep the netting on until the plants are established and big enough to withstand the finches and quail, and then it will be removed so that pollinators can reach the blossoms.  The sheeting is positioned to cover the western side only and will protect the plants from wind. 

First I positioned each pot in the bed to get a feel for space and aesthetics. Each planting hole received a 1/2 trowel full of worm castings from our very own worm farm.  All year we've been supplying our little worm-herd with kitchen scraps and shredded paper, and now we have a nice bit of nutrition for the root systems. I'll say it again...now all we need is sunshine.                     

Growing melons

Perfect melon growing latitude is 30N to 35TD; Spanish Springs is 39 to 38' 57" N

January - try to buy 75 day varieties

Melons like it hot and bright: sunny days in the eighties, nights in the sixties. Melons Mature 80-120 days after seeding: some watermelons need about a month longer (up to 150) says. None of the melons take kindly to frost, but if you don’t have a decent interval between spring and fall freezes, there are ways to stretch the season.

Soil light, deep and well drained: sandy loam is best. Amend soil in the fall with leaf mold and compost, green manure or cover crop.

September – set up next year’s melon bed. South sloping to promote warmth, small enough to work in without stepping on growing area; protected from N and/or W wind.

Rotate your melons to a new area every year, especially if the soil is infected with nematodes or Fusarium.

Watermelon does well in acidic (ph 5-7); melon prefers basic or alkaline (ph 7-8).

Root systems are large but relatively shallow.

Melons hate soil compaction and water logging. Protect from wind, especially N and/or W, but don’t block out the sun.

Plant after threat of frost has passed and soil temps are at least 60. Four inch transplants should work just fine and produce fruit.

April - Nick and soak watermelon seeds; start 4 inch pots with 4-5 seeds each, 2-4 weeks before Memorial Day (find out when air temps stay above 60 at night -- can I plant three weeks prior to that if transplants covered with Agrobon); keep in a dark moist place until seedlings emerge in about a week at 75-85 degrees. Watermelon can take longer because seeds are tough, scarify and soak first. Once seedlings emerge provide 16 hours under grow lights, keeping them 2-3 inches from the light. Thin to three plants per pot; feed with diluted fish emulsion once or twice a week until they’re ready for the garden.

Six millimeter black polyethylene is helpful.

At planting, mix a shovel full of well-rotted manure into the soil and plant melons in “hills” a grouping of three or four. Sprinkle soil with diatomaceous earth for slugs; use Bt for caterpillars. Cover with Agrobon for 3 weeks until plants are established

Remove any leaves that show signs of disease, cull (prune out) defective fruits to 2-3 per vine; wrap fruits in Agrobon bags to deter cucumber beetle.

Will we see Yellow Lilac flowers this year?

Lots of blossoms! But plant is five years old and has yet to display flowers...the frost always get them.

"The yard" May 2009

MAY TREE CARE 2009

Spring has sprung, at least my fruit trees are blooming. The codling moths are returning. May is the time to thin fruit, monitor and spray for pests, plant sales, and planting the summer garden.

Codling moths. This year, we will beat the codling moth. With the help of newsletter volunteers and probably Cooperative Extension, we will keep you updated on the biofix and the appropriate spray date(s).

For complete info on codling moth CTRL+ click http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7412.html. You can click on their degree day calculator link and time your spray using last Friday as the biofix date.

Also take a look at their discussion and link on ‘Bagging Fruit’. I did bag several hundred apple in past year with mixed results; some of the apples already had codling moth eggs laid and/or hatched when I put on the bags-hence the spray at blossom drop this year. The easiest bags to affix were the cheap ‘zip lock’ sandwich bags.

Thinning is an important step in producing larger, tastier fruit and will also help prevent damage from insects. Cherry trees do not need to be thinned; apples, pears, apricots, plums, peaches, and nectarines will benefit from thinning. Fruit should be thinned when the fruit is ¼ to ½ inch in diameter; after the fruit is an inch in diameter, it is too late to improve fruit quality by thinning. To thin, first lightly run your fingers over the fruit; a good number of the fruits will fall off as some fruits were not completely fertilized or the tree is selectively pruning itself. Then, remove any damaged/deformed fruits. Note that apples and pears form on clusters with the center fruit larger than the rest; those are the ones I leave on the tree. This year, I’m thinning apples and pears to 12” apart per limb; peaches and nectarines 8” apart and plums and apricots 6” apart. The object is to leave as much fruit as possible, but remove enough so that the remaining fruits will not touch when mature (insect larvae tend to bore into fruit where they touch).

Pests and disease seen in May include aphids, powdery mildew, and the first codling moth hatch. Look at the growth tips of the limbs for the dull gray coating that is powdery mildew. Generally, only one or two limbs will have it on new growth. Prune off the infected portion back to a branch or bud, dispose of the affected sprouts, and spray a disinfectant (like Lysol) on your pruning tools afterward.

Aphid damage will also occur on new growth and will appear as curled, deformed leaves especially on peaches, nectarines, and cherries. If only one or two places are infected, just squash the little bugs. If the whole tree is infected, attach a spray nozzle to your hose and spray water into the affected limbs from all sides. Aphids do not like humidity and the force of the spray will knock the aphids off and onto the ground. Being fat boys (actually all females) with skinny legs, the aphids will not be able to get back into the tree. Spray the tree daily, if possible in the morning, as the aphids knocked off the tree will slowly cook in the noonday sun.

Asclepias speciosa (Showy milkweed)

Asceplias speciosa or tuberosa, May 2009.

May to-do

Fruit trees:

Turn on watering system remove plastic tree guards
Check and refill coddling moth bait
Monitor for aphids (curled, deformed leaves at tips)
Monitor for powdery mildew (prune out affected shoots)
Mulch

Potatoes

PRESPROUT for harvest a month earlier (start in late February or March) five weeks before planting spread seeds in a single layer in warm, well-let room, and wait for them to sprout from the eyes. Fragile! Large sprouts that break off of the parent potato will often grown anyway when planted in moist soil

PLANTING:
In climates with short springs and hot summers, plant early and midseason varieties three to four weeks before your last spring frost date - plant late April or early May

In climates with long springs and hot summers, plant early and mid season varieties three to four weeks before your last spring frost date; plant late-maturing varieties in early summer so they will mature in cooler fall.

Potatoes like acidic soils (below 6.0) at least 10 inches deep

Prepare beds early April – compost or rotted leaves, along with a half-ration of alfalfa meal, soybean meal or other high nitrogen organic material – do not use manure because it is correlated with an increase in rough patches on the spud skins

Prepare the seeds two days before planting

Cover plants with blankets if a late frost is forecast – they will recover

Mulch heavily

HARVEST:
Begin digging when the foliage starts to yellow and wither; allow the tubers to dry indoors covered with dry towels for a day or two; take care to protect them from sunlight which causes them to turn green and bitter; store most perfect potatoes in a cool 50-60 degree place to be used as seed next year.

Or:

Blooming flowers are a cue that potatoes have reached "new potatoe" size. If you want to harvest new potatoes, dig out a full plant and its tubers, leaving neighboring plants undisturbed. Vines may die back on their own as the potato crop matures, but if they don't show signs of doing so, cugt them off at soil level 2 weeks before you want to dig your crop. This will trigger the potatoes to harden, which helps them LAST LONGER IN STORAGE.

COVER CROP:
After harvest replant space with buckwheat.

SEED SAVING:
Save the most perfect potatoes for seed; need about six pounds of potatoes to plant a 50 foot row – yield will vary from 75-125 pounds

How to tell a melon is ready to harvest

Watermelon is ready to harvest when:

"the small leaf and curlyque located at the top of the stem is dry"

"The underside of the fruit that makes contact with the ground turns from white to buttery yellow"

"Thump the watermelon - "ping" is unripe, "pong" is ripe, dull "thud" is too late.

2008 watermelons imature in September. Start 6-8 weeks before last frost -- mid-April to early May