Fall/Winter Trials...

[mdehners]

Normally, Spring/Summer season(s) is/are the(s) time I usually make my main trials of new veggies in the garden but this yr was so bad that only 3 survived(Eggplants 'Malasian Red' and 'Aswad', Hot Pepper 'Purple')and none wee even equals to previous winners and now garden regulars. So, this Fall/Winter'll be the largest trial of new cultivars and will even contain...SHOCK!!!! HYBRIDS!!!!! I've decided to try them WHEN I've yrs of trying and failing with a Staple using cultivars from different biomes.
2012 Fall "Labrats";>

Chinese Cabbage-'Matasushima #2' and 'WR-70 Days'(hybrid)
Leek-'Carentan'
Mustard-'Oka Hijiki'
Onion-'Red Welsh', 'Tokyo long White'
Radish-'Green Lubo', 'Oharu'(hybrid), 'Tae Baek'(hybrid)
Rutabaga-'Wilhelmsburg'
Snow Pea-'Carouby de Maussare'
Swiss Chard-'Umaina'
Turnip-'Hidabeni', 'Tennojii Kabura'

I'll order them all in a couple of weeks....

Cheers,
Pat

Comments

[herlander_refugee]

Our seasons here, never especially long, have gotten even shorter on the warm side and yet more intense on heat once it does warm up. We have not succeeded at ANY gardening goals for the last five years.

We've been moving things around in the yard, trying to find areas more conducive to growth. We have finally conceded that either elaborate coverable raised beds or an out and out actual greenhouse are our only options if we really want to produce anything. Now....the how to and how to AFFORD it.

August makes me too hot and tired to think that clearly about the how to bit. I really want to grow rutabagas, since we use those and white sweet potatoes instead of the normal nightshade family potato.

[mdehners]

I moved to raised beds in general about a decade ago. Unfortunately, I've learned that keeping them in the same location for so lang allows trees, even a fair distance away to sneak their feeder roots in. This will be the last growing season in their present location.
A couple of big hurdles veggies have to "deal" with here are foliar disease and those of the soil, as well as Nematodes of Mass Distruction;>! They're the reasons this yr I'm trying hybrid Asian Cabbages and Radishes; the nematodes either kill or weaken them so much there isn't enough to make a single side dish.
Irish Potatoes can't grow here well but Sweets DO. However, unlike the Irish, Sweets produce tubers not just beneath the main plant. Anywhere a vine hass rooted will and those may actually carry the bulk of the harvest. Lets just say a shitload of digging an leave it at that;>! I had planned this yr to try growing them in bags, like I've done in other locations very well with Irish Potatoes but all my starts got "snarfed" by Possums who broke into the greenhouse. I never got around to ordering starts in time.
This yr me and a number of other growers along the Gulf Coast who chat online have actually thought about simply not growing in Summer, with the exception of things like Seasonings. I've lived on-n-on in this town since the early 90's and the climate hass warmed here in the Summer MARKEDLY. Winter is also shorter and warmer, killing many established fruit trees that no longer recieve enough Chill Hrs to regulate everything from reproduction to Dormancy. The only crops that did well this Summer were the Mayan and both Okinawaan Spinaches...crops whose homeland's Summers are Tropical!
Cheers,
Pat

[herlander_refugee]

Here, the water is not as critical most of the year....we get an average of 45 inches of rain a year. So tree roots are less a problem than raiding deer and other wildlife. Summer is the only possible season here this far north....and it is shorter, tho' hotter lately.

We will have to practice to get the hang of necessary adjustment here.