The mosquitoes this year continue to be abundant and ferocious. Very difficult to work in the garden and get tasks done out there with such unpleasant company. I have a low threshold for them, so I guess my gardens will be a bit more weedy this year if the rain keeps up, lol. Even the greenhouse became impossible to linger in as there is water underneath it with all the rain this year. I lit a mosquito coil and shut the door tonight. Worked like a charm. First time in weeks I could get a good look at the plants and pick weeds from the pots at my preferred speed.
Tonight's garden notes; I'm trying Lagos Spinach this year. The seeds I planted in May in pots never seemed to do develop into decent sized plants, I wasn't sure what to do with all the little plant nibs by June 1st. I was tempted to toss them into the compost, it would be hard to differentiate them from weeds at such a size. But I planted them in a few tucked away spots instead and indeed I would up hoeing many of them out by accident while weeding. But the few that never got cut down are actually growing like monsters. This is such a surprise. I basically planted them and forgot about them, but now they are really bulking up, and I noticed tonight that there are pink combs forming on the tops of each plant. Considering how tall these plants can get that seems pretty early to be putting up heads - they aren't even a foot tall yet. But hey, I'll take it if it means a better guarantee on getting my own seeds. Looking at Baker Creek catalogue, looks like I'll need to keep it pinched or it'll go to 6 feet.
The red nightshade berries have lots of flower clusters, so I'm thinking I'll get berries (seeds) after all. I've never grown it before and had doubts it would fruit in the North , but it goes to show sometimes a gamble works out. It was so much headache and trouble to get it to germinate, I hope it produces
something of value! The Russian Scheherazade fuzzy tomato I'm growing actually made a fruit too, and it blows away every other peach type tomato I've grown for fuzziness. This is not like a peach , this is like velvet fabric. When I held the fruit in my hand I had no tomato skin feel at all, it was like a teddy bear. Wonderfully odd.
One thing I failed to notice when I took my corn pic yesterday, but noticed this evening, was that those cobs are set awfully low on the plants. I'm not a fan of that feature. Not that I see any damage, but it strikes me as a negative strike against the variety - the cobs look as low as Gaspe Flint corn and that is why I've not (and likely won't ever) grow that corn. Thankfully the plants will probably be double the height of Gaspe Flint and I hope as they get taller the cobs move upward.
(Probably a delusional idea.) I wish I knew the history of Yukon Supreme, I wonder if GF is in their somewhere. YS is a sweet corn so they really shouldn't be closely related.
The Kentish Invicta peas that I'm rather excited about are making pods, which is thrilling. I adore English peas and getting this variety was an amazing opportunity. The Winter Sima peas are doing well too, plants are quite short. I grew a whole row of Misty peas thinking they would make it to at least 2 or 3 feet and climb a little, but sheesh they are short plants and they're already flowering without reaching the support. I
really dislike it when I mismatch a variety to a support system!
fuzz either.
