most unusual produce

[me&thegals]

i tried charentais melons last year, the powdery mildew end up killing it, every year i get disease problems with melons ,have yet to have any melons harvested .

What a bummer! Do you have another spot to rotate your melon patch to, hopefully uninfested ground?

 

[homesteadmom]

This will be my experiment plant this yr!! I am hoping they are as good as promised. Keep me posted on your progress & I will keep you posted on mine.

Sounds good, but I'm betting you will have better luck with your sun and warmth. On the other hand, if my memory serves me, they are a shorter grower, right? So maybe they don't need as much as some melons. I figure if the French foodies love them, I will be in for a treat!

75 days on my package of seeds. Guess we have a challenage on don't we? Keeping my fingers crossed for success for both of us.

 

[curly_kate]

I found something on the kitchengardenseeds catalog called a nutmeg melon. I'm REALLY curious how that's going to turn out.

 

[nightshade]

I love pocket melons but the seeds are hard to find and the chickens get the fruit before I do usually.

 

[Greenthumb18]

i tried charentais melons last year, the powdery mildew end up killing it, every year i get disease problems with melons ,have yet to have any melons harvested .

What a bummer! Do you have another spot to rotate your melon patch to, hopefully uninfested ground?

yeah, i try to rotate the vegetable garden but i seem to still have no luck, i'll have to think of something i could do to increase my chances, maybe small melons that could grow on a trellis.

 

[Rosalind]

I found something on the kitchengardenseeds catalog called a nutmeg melon. I'm REALLY curious how that's going to turn out.

Hey, I got those this year too, only from Seed Savers. Starting them tomorrow indoors.

Powdery mildew killed my cantaloupes last year too. This year they are going in a sunnier spot with a trellis to keep them off the ground and aerated. My spaghetti squash and pumpkins that were up on trellises last year did OK. All of 'em were planted on ground that had not been gardened in several years--I think it was just that last year we got SO much rain, all the time, that it was especially good for mildews of all sorts. The local pumpkin patches said it was just a lousy year for curcurbits.

 

[kellygirrl]

beavis and vfem--very interesting! Great ideas! I tried paw-paws once and didn't have any luck. I was excited to find they were native to our area (or maybe North America?)

My paw paws took a few years to get going, but we had more than we could eat last year, and looking forward to sharing (and freezing) even more this year. Everyone wants to try them; we actually have a "waiting list" from last year! I got mine (Sunflower and Wells) from Raintree, all the was left in the world for sale when Burnt Ridge shipped by warmest zone, instead of by who ordered first (ME!!!!-- like the previous FALL!!!!), and nothing but a cavalier apology. I have forgiven them, however. But I digress...

I grow jujubes, chinese dates (from Burnt Ridge, actually). They are productive, attractive, and I love them. Like a brown mini apple-pear (maybe that doesn't sound delicious?). They were considered hardy to z 6 but have withstood some brutal winters here in z 5. The last two years a local chiropractor rings the bell and asks to buy "$20 worth", and I still have extra to dehydrate (how the eat them in China, when the become more date-like).

I grew wonder berries and forgot to eat them lol. Wouldn't surprise me if they reseed.

Like my ruby hyacinth did in that spot last year. (Dolchinos lab lab, something like that ). They are climbing vines with pretty pinky purpley sweet pea bean type flowers that turn to snow pea shaped pods. Edible flowers and pods that get poisonous, according to some sources if not picked young. Well, I'm not dead yet. Though I did notice they get stringy as they age.

Husk tomatoes when ripe are yummy, like pineapple, and reseed for me. They are in the physalis (sp?) family, not tomato, with different sizes and flavored varieties.

Regarding powdery mildew and those invincible squashbugs, I was thinking about growing alternatives, for a while, like gherkins and other cuke or squash like things that are not actually in the family (where's that darn list?--I'll find it later if anyone's interested.) See what's immune to what, maybe even starve out some little bistards.

 

[Greenthumb18]

yes, i'm looking for varieties that are rsistant to the disease. Im looking for ways to prevent iit rather than control it.

 

[kellygirrl]

yes, i'm looking for varieties that are resistant to the disease. Im looking for ways to prevent iit rather than control it.

I will try to be brief.

Apparently everything is in the family curcubit, and therefore potentially suseptable, from what I read now. But though many are not a different family, they are a different genus from our regular garden varieties. (If I mixed up my science, please straighten me out.) Or they are more wild (less bred) and tougher; or more bred to be resistant to various bad things.

So this is what I can think of so far.

Anecdotally, some local CSA growers state that mexican sour gherkin (Melothria scabra) is disease free and very productive. I have read that online, as well. Eat like cucumber. Smaller fruit, so a little more work for the CSA, but worth it. Trick is to pick ripe, and not too ripe, for good flavor. Also they say it needs to be weeded and babied a bit to get going, then it will take over your fence/trellis happily with great reward and attractiveness.

They also say black futsu winter squash has no problems for them, they sing its praises.
Butternut is relatively resistant (as I also read), but gets bug eaten or rotten at stem, and then don't keep as well(?), I think is what I understood them to say.

I thought zuchetta/trombocino/serpente di sicilia was resistant, but the growers I was talking to said they are super productive for a good stretch, but then succumb like rest.

They use pyrethrine sometimes, and that works. Covering with row cover until flowering also helps with bugs. (see fedco link below)

I grow bottle gourds (Lagenaria siceraria as far as I know) up my fruit trees (fun!) and they do really well, no problems, and relatively productive if I start and plant early enough, like maybe 30 gourds. If I picked them young, maybe they would produce more? Maybe not. Supposedly tasty at younger stages, but I didn't know that before so I can't say. Guess high up a tree isn't for casual summer long picking, anyway. Hmmm. And not all Lagenaria siceraria are edible according to one source, so one should maybe be sure.

All three of those are available (and listed as edible) @ rareseeds.com.

More things @ rareseeds I assume or found to be resistant:
West India Burr Gherkins (Cucumis anguria)
Thai Serpent (Trichosathes anguina)
I grew african horned melon or cucumber, but wasn't really inspired to eat it. It's a fun vine, tho would probably be more productive in long hot seasons.
Luffa (Luffa aegyptiaca) If you forget to eat it young, make a sponge. Can't beat that. I'm going to grow it up my fruit trees like the bottle gourds, betting it is as resistant as they have been for me.

Things rareseeds list as resistant:
Lemon squash summer squash
Cushaw White pumpkin
Phoona Khera cucumber
Thai Kang Kob Pumpkin
Verona, and Sugarless watermelons

At Fedco, do a search on "resistant", get another list.
click on "additional information on Squash Pests" for a little more reading.

another list of cukes rated for resistance to various things: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/Tables/CucSlicersTable.html

I know there's more!
I hope other people write in on their experiences!

 

[kellygirrl]

Oops, I forgot to say lemon cucumber also seems to do well. Though it's not my favorite lol.