I'm back. Garden photos coming soon.

[897tgigvib]

Got the computer running again. Still need a good mouse though. These laptop built in doodads are for modern humans. Anyhow, my garden's been growing hogwild. Golden Pod Peas finished up first. I may have gotten a mutant plant among them. It produced RED seeds instead of spotted seeds. Sunbflowers are pushing the top netting up!

Oh, got a lot of puter catch up to do.

 

[so lucky]

Glad to see you back, Marshall. We were worried about you...........and kinda envious of where you spend your summer!

 

[Carol Dee]

You where missed. Glad you are back and apperantly not experiancing the drought.

 

[desertlady]

Good to hear from you ! I know that computers are a real pain in the neck to work with !!

 

[897tgigvib]

And winters here too.

The groundwater spirit has so far been very loving to us here.

The Quinoa is growing great. Oats are just starting to show dry straw here and there. Beans are growing like nuts, except a few where I failed to rotate too many years in a row. Turns out Tepary beans are immune to anything. Golden Amaranth is gorgeous. Lee Martinelli grafted my grape rootstocks to 3 clones of Chardonnay. Martinelli vineyards owner. His father was my forestry teacher. Thai basil is doing great! Me, I love its flavor, almost like cinnamon. Lemon basil has larger plants, more bushy, spicier than genovese. volunteer tomato is making clusters, big rainbow tomato not far behind. both are hidden from gophers among, you guessed it, bean vines. I know, not good companions, but they're getting along ok so far. Garbanzo beans are making pods, cowpeas are producing. Wow, such pretty flowers they make! Tyfon holland greens, a kind of turnip, are growing fast. stems are like celery for dipping.

 

[digitS']

RED seeds instead of spotted seeds for the Pod Peas, Marshall? Did you have enuf to taste? You may be onto something!

Welcome back!

By the way, I was just kidding my neighbor about all of our red, red, red snapdragon blooms. I said that the only thing to go with them are the zucchini and I think one plant may be thinking about kicking out red fruit! Just kidding but, hey, there are orangey-red winter squash . . . How about a red summer squash??

Steve

 

[thistlebloom]

Good to see you back Marshall

 

[retiredwith4acres]

Glad you are back Marshall! Missed your posts!

 

[897tgigvib]

They really are red Pea seeds. Vegetable Peas come in several species. The Golden Pod and the Blauschokker are the same species, and I have been growing these two lines for, thinking, since 2004. I don't think they crossed though. My Golden pods are a selection I've been doing from Baker Creek's Golden Sweet 2003 accession. Been selecting for healthiest plant, very tightly, then for most beautiful flower. The flowers of both are red with white edging. Then I selected for biggest most colorfully speckled seeded plants. Now, this year, I get one plant that made all small pods, each with only 2 seeds inside, nice big seeds, but with the quick ripening golden pods. That plant also ripened dry uniformly with the others in the golden pod patch.

There are a couple other varieties of red seeded peas listed by nordgen. None are listed as golden podded though. Maybe you can find one on their list. I actually do suspect a mutation here. I am always most suspicious of calling something a mutation, but in this case the pods were all small along with the red colored peas.

I really like the golden pod. Planted well before last frost with a white plastic lining on the bed, these units ripened entire plants uniformly about the same time as my Alaska Peas, which ripen almost as uniformly. Snow sugar 2 ripened down right after golden pod, and I like that one too. Pea soup taste tests to follow soon I hope. Mammoth Melting pod was good and monstrous, but not uniform ripening, but its peas just plain look to be delicious in soup. I have two coffee cans full plus several packets of selected seeds from each. Oh, the one blauschokker plant I am saving for special selection is still ripening. That individual grew twice as tall as all other blauschokkers, right through the netting! Taller, slower, heavier stemmed, bigger flowers. Maybe it just had a good spot, but it was near the middle of its patch.

The quickness of peas planted so early is great because in one area I removed the plastic after yanking and harvesting the peas, and put in rows of Round Red Turnip. Yellow Intermediate Mangel, King Richard Leek<<<not a winter variety, but should make great mild green onion type...Watermelon Radish, and seeds from those unknown "quick reddish greens". Some of the other areas had things like hutterite and hidatsa red beans struggling and hanging in there under the pea monsters. With the peas cleared they are now basking in the light. Cutting the peas out took some care, and I did accidentally snip a few bean vines and leaves. Also thankful for the light are some tobacco plants, Scherazi and hopi. Should be enough season for the scherazi to get a few feet tall. (Tall Petunias, lol!) Hopi tobacco is naturally short with yellowish flowers. That'll be my blend this fall to mix with store bought pipe tobacco in my scottish pipe. Also glad for the light are a few rainbow chards and a couple cylindra beets.

I missed all of you too. This forum has not been out of my mind.

Oh, thistle, I have harvested one good GASPE flint corn cob so far, and 3 other real small ones. There will be many more soon. That first patch i planted was near Rose Bolitas bush beans and the orange speckled tepary beans, and they overgrew the gaspe there, but still that little corn is producing! My other patch is not at all overgrown and was planted a few weeks later. Those have some nice fat ears but are still green. The one Gaspe I planted with the japonica striped maize whose tassels i removed is so overwhelmed it may not produce, but it might yet give me a few hybrid seeds with gaspe as the female parent. The Japonica striped maize just began tasseling last week and silked out a couple days ago. These are from a 10 year old packet. I'll have a lot of seeds and some dark corn meal. I'm thinking blueberry muffins with sorghum mollasses...

 

[NwMtGardener]

Marshal welcome back! I dont know how you keep all your varieties and types and various plants STRAIGHT! Seems like you grow tons of different stuff.