The older plants never grew as tall as the newer ones. One of the things that I think I am learning from this year is that the early plants seem to be smaller in stature. I think it must have to do with their early growth phase being slowed/interrupted by cold weather. The plants that were allowed (by virtue of warmth) to grow fast from the get-go eventually eclipsed the older plants (with the notable exception of the cauliflower, which I'll discuss later.) On the flip side, it is the older, smaller plants that are bearing fruit earlier. The two 5 foot corn plants are full of ears that are maturing rapidly, while their statuesque younger brothers have only recently sprouted some small ears that will likely be ready in a few weeks or so. I've harvested two ears so far, and the first of those two brought another lesson. It was only about 1/3 filled out with kernels, in a very scattershot manner. At first, I thought this meant that the kernels popped in sporadically (like popcorn!). Two conversations changed my mind about this and helped me to see what had probably happened. Our friend Landon mentioned that he had heard that each of the little string-like hairs that protrude from the top of the ear are connected to an individual kernal port, and if that hair isn't seeded with pollen, the kernel won't come. Our neighbor Paul, who used to be a corn farmer verified that the corn kernels come in all at once. Now this was one of the first two corn plants, and is relatively isolated in the garden. At the top of the corn stalks, a giant plant hand sprouts and eventually drops pollen.
This apparently happens in a short period of time (a few days). So this isolated plant must have dropped its pollen and only some if it made it to its target. If it had been part of a denser cluster of corn, planted all near the same time, the chances would approach 100% that each kernel would find some pollen because of the flurry of pollen activity in such a dense area.
Anyway, the second ear I picked came from the same plant, and was fully filled out. It was delicious!!
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While stunted in stature, most of the tomato plants are growing green tomatoes of various sizes.
My plants aren't nearly as big or productive as James's are (James from my work is using about 20 square feet in the Northwest corner.) Despite being almost fully shaded from the sun by my enormous corn, James's tomato plants are growing along quite swimmingly. He's probably got 2-3 times the total number of tomatoes growing as I do. A persistent garden pest, old Brer Rabbit has been terrorizing the tomatos though. Have no doubt, Brer Rabbit is a spoiled bitch of a pest. He will come up and nibble a little corner of a tomato, then go over to another one and nibble a little corner of it and so in. In the process, he eats about 5% of each tomato, and leaves them all rotting on the vine. I've caught old Brer Rabbit 3 times in my garden. Each time, I hop over my fence, and he bolts like a bat out of Hellman's for the little hole he just gnawed in the fence (damn you, cheap (but free!) plastic mesh! This last time, I was fed up with his meddling, and reinforced the fence with pieces of barbed metal mesh I found lying around, concrete blocks, and clods of thorny tumbleweed. It's pretty ad hoc, but I'm hoping it will deter old Brer at least enough that he decides it's not worth the effort and munches on someone else's food instead. I'd really like to get a good harvest of tomatoes that I can make into some sauce and can it for the winter.
Another casualty of Mr. Rabbit was the cauliflower. He didn't go for the prize in the center, but he and his clan systematically ate the green leaves of the growing cauliflower, leaving it a skeleton. Only on the more mature plants did the leaves regenerate themselves enough to sustain production of a ball of vegetable. Some cauliflower plants were gnawed down to the roots and died. So it looks like we'll get two heads of cauliflower out of the garden. They are both getting rather large.
I'd pick one now if I wasn't already receiving a huge head of cauliflower every week in my CSA box. The first week after the cauliflower disappears from the box, I'm harvesting!
The big loser this year looks to be the melons. True, I do have a few tiny watermelon bulbs that have finally sprouted, but the melons were frustratingly slow in laying down vines of leaves, and never grew those leaves to full size.
While some of our neighbors and some other gardeners in the community garden have large watermelons growing by now, we've just got the little buds. I'm not holding out hope for a harvest there, but we'll see ;) I suspect that part of the problem might have been a soil that wasn't acidic enough. According to a book I just got on organic gardening, melons need a low-PH soil to flourish. I want to ask some people who have big melons what they did. I might not get a chance next year to apply the lessons, though. I'm not sure how melons will do in a cooler climate like Portland. We'll see!
Anyway, the second ear I picked came from the same plant, and was fully filled out. It was delicious!!
.JPG)
While stunted in stature, most of the tomato plants are growing green tomatoes of various sizes.
My plants aren't nearly as big or productive as James's are (James from my work is using about 20 square feet in the Northwest corner.) Despite being almost fully shaded from the sun by my enormous corn, James's tomato plants are growing along quite swimmingly. He's probably got 2-3 times the total number of tomatoes growing as I do. A persistent garden pest, old Brer Rabbit has been terrorizing the tomatos though. Have no doubt, Brer Rabbit is a spoiled bitch of a pest. He will come up and nibble a little corner of a tomato, then go over to another one and nibble a little corner of it and so in. In the process, he eats about 5% of each tomato, and leaves them all rotting on the vine. I've caught old Brer Rabbit 3 times in my garden. Each time, I hop over my fence, and he bolts like a bat out of Hellman's for the little hole he just gnawed in the fence (damn you, cheap (but free!) plastic mesh! This last time, I was fed up with his meddling, and reinforced the fence with pieces of barbed metal mesh I found lying around, concrete blocks, and clods of thorny tumbleweed. It's pretty ad hoc, but I'm hoping it will deter old Brer at least enough that he decides it's not worth the effort and munches on someone else's food instead. I'd really like to get a good harvest of tomatoes that I can make into some sauce and can it for the winter.
Another casualty of Mr. Rabbit was the cauliflower. He didn't go for the prize in the center, but he and his clan systematically ate the green leaves of the growing cauliflower, leaving it a skeleton. Only on the more mature plants did the leaves regenerate themselves enough to sustain production of a ball of vegetable. Some cauliflower plants were gnawed down to the roots and died. So it looks like we'll get two heads of cauliflower out of the garden. They are both getting rather large.
I'd pick one now if I wasn't already receiving a huge head of cauliflower every week in my CSA box. The first week after the cauliflower disappears from the box, I'm harvesting!
The big loser this year looks to be the melons. True, I do have a few tiny watermelon bulbs that have finally sprouted, but the melons were frustratingly slow in laying down vines of leaves, and never grew those leaves to full size.
While some of our neighbors and some other gardeners in the community garden have large watermelons growing by now, we've just got the little buds. I'm not holding out hope for a harvest there, but we'll see ;) I suspect that part of the problem might have been a soil that wasn't acidic enough. According to a book I just got on organic gardening, melons need a low-PH soil to flourish. I want to ask some people who have big melons what they did. I might not get a chance next year to apply the lessons, though. I'm not sure how melons will do in a cooler climate like Portland. We'll see!
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