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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT gmail.com>]

Thanks for the garden info..
Comments interspersed..


Leslie wrote:
>     This year, I planted 12 diffferent potato varieties.  
>   

Where did you get your potatoes?



> WINTER SQUASH  Last year the spaghetti squash was planted 150 feet away from 
> the zucchini and blue hubbard in the other garden.  I have very happy very 
> busy bees.)
>
>     I planted some varieties I've never heard of, in addition to acorn, 
> butternut, blue and warted hubbard.  I planted Georgia Candy Roaster, and Pink 
> Banana - these squash are huge ! and prolific.  They have grown right over and 
> thru the garden fence and are still putting out new "babies" (I just discovered 
> the vines can have a diameter of 80 feet, so that explains why I couldn't 
> contain them in the garden).  Last count there were 14 large ones (about 3' in 
> diameter, but shaped like a torpedo).  
>   
WOW!
It is good to have busy bees.  Since my neighbor got bees, I can see a 
difference in pollination here, in a lot of crops..





> CORN
>     99%  failure this year.  Apparently I am still not getting corn enough 
> fertilizer; the stalks are short, the ears are down by the ground, and didn't 
> get pollinated correctly.  Found a local who grows corn and he's going to help 
> next year.
>   

I am also failing at getting a lot of corn.  Lodging is my problem-or 
maybe it is a symptom...windy location?  not enough sun to make thick 
stalks? I dunno.


> ONIONS
>     Grow great here, just toss the seed in the ground (3 seeds per inch) in 
> November according to the professional onion grower down the road from me.  My 
> sweet onions are nearly all harvested now.  I remembered the professional farmer 
> lost a lot of onions to too much rain a couple years ago (flooding), and since 
> we're under a flash flood watch, I pulled up all the onions that have broken 
> over - time to pull anyway, and I'm hoping the onion patch doesn't get too much 
> more rain as the soil here holds water fairly well 4" below the surface.
>   

I can't seem to grow big onions...timing just isn't right...


> SWEET POTATOES
>     I'm at about day 90 for a 110 day variety........ I've wiggled a finger into 
> the soil here and there but I don't really feel any sweet pototoes.  How deep 
> are they?
>   

right at the surface.  Mine grow literally at the base of the plant, and 
often you can see the orange poking out of the hill, especially if a 
good rain has eroded some soil off the hill.

>     Red Mexicans....... wow!  very prolific and nice dried beans.    Can't wait 
> to cook some up.
>
>     Black Coco are also very prolific for dried beans.
>   
Where did you get the seed?  I'd like to try these.



> TOMATOES
>     Lost the entire crop this year to that virus that many had last year. 
>   
I'm getting lots of tomatoes this year, but I'm seeing a virus in my 
Roma X Amish paste that I have never seen before.  The  plant and fruit 
looks perfect, but inside, there is a black, hard, atrophied area at the 
seed core where there are underdeveloped seeds.  I've been slicing the 
tomatoes lengthwise and scooping out the dime sized bad area, but I 
would like to know what caused it.  I've been saving these tomato seeds 
for a few years now.  They are good paste tomatoes, mostly a cross 
between Roma and Amish paste-pear shaped and larger than the average 
Roma, but I haven't seen this problem before.  Is it a bug, a 
climate-related disease, or a virus?  I haven't seen this occur in any 
of the other varieties.


Bev