Windy Sunday made both me and my garden cranky, but yesterday was a better day

Most of the transplants survived the wind we had the other day and yesterday's calm weather gave them an opportunity to recoup and settle in.  The summer squash and cucumbers especially took a beating but might be OK.  I planted extra seeds next to the plants just in case. 

This is a White Scallop summer squash, an heirloom variety that I recieved for my birthday last year. Because this plant went into the ground just a couple of days ago I cut the blossoms off so the plant can put all its energy into root production.  It's hard to remove blossoms but plants produce more and better when root systems are strong.  And bonus...the blossoms were really tasty chopped and sauteed with scrambled eggs

Here's a wishful thinking crop that I fully expect to fail in this region....fava beans.  Why do I expect them to fail?  Fava beans, or broad beans, require a 120-day growing season; ours is 90-days.  Why do I hold out hope that this might work?  I've read (though not actually experienced) that fava plants are frost tolerant to a certain degree so perhaps our frosty days will count as growing season days. Why do I insist on trying to grow them?  Because I love fava beans and I don't mind failing.  Everything I learn this year, through success or failure, will improve my skills next year. And the blossoms are beautiful!

This is a pic of our Nyagous tomato, an heirloom variety purchased from Seed Savers Exchange.  We grew these for the first time last year and had some success.  The single plant didn't produce a huge crop but the mature tomatoes are beautiful and the taste is fantastic.  We're off to a better start this year so I hope to get a bigger crop in 2010.

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!

Snow-capped Peavine will not keep me out of the garden this weekend

Temperature: Reno 57, Sparks 53, CC&R Farm 51
Soil temp: 57

Northern Nevada lore says to plant warm weather crops when the snow is off Peavine or after June 10th, so we started hardening off our starts a couple of days ago. We'll be hoping for optimal conditions but will likely plant everything under less than ideal conditions.  The weather this year is completely whacked!

Seeds went into paper pots between April 12th-14th. Next year I might start a week or two later because the plants are really big.  Some sources say squash, melons, and cucumbers prefer to start from seed sown directly into the soil but the Northern Nevada growing season is short already, 90-days, and my yard is a week to 10 days shorter on each end.  Transplants are the only way to get around this so I take my chances. 

Peppers - soil temps at least 65 degrees; this year we're planting them in the raised beds with a wind break on the west side to protect them from inevitable evening gusts.

Eggplant - soil temps at least 60 degrees; protect from everything (wind, temperature extremes, pests) because anything throws them into shock.

Melon - soil temps at least 60.  We prepared a melon bed in November -- hope it's ready because the melons are going in it no matter what. 

Squash (summer and winter) - soil temps at least 60 degrees; first round of planting will be starts, but we'll plant seeds at the same time just in case the pests get these.  Last year we had squash bugs by July 23rd so this year we'll cover them with agricultural fabric (Agribon from Peaceful Valley) at planting.

Tomatillo and Ground Cherry - my two favorite sources don't have any advice for these but I know that last year they turned into slimy black masses at the first sign of frost, so I'll treat them like peppers.

Bush bean - started in pots but don't try this with pole beans;  ours have pale purple flowers already.  They're got sunburned the other day so I hope they'll survive.  We'll plant seeds along with the starts to prolong the harvest.

Now all we need is sunshine!