Cranraspberry’s plot in 2024

[JRinPA]

I thought the chisimishi (lol) was supposed to be hot weather?
Green Magic broccoli is heading here, I cut two of ten yesterday, heads loosening up already. And my bravo cabbage, no heading as yet.

[Cranraspberry]

@JRinPA yes I was surprised it was the first to bolt since it’s a komatsuna cross and the komatsuna is still going strong. The leaves were also much smaller and you got less “bang for your buck” at a similar footprint, so overall not super impressed.

[Chrysos]

Just joined TJ and saw you were growing Artwork broccoli. I'm growing it for the first time here in the Portland Oregon area. How are you liking it? Mine has been doing well, just snapped off the central head a couple of weeks ago and waiting for the sprouts. I'd love to hear about your experience with Artwork:)

[rdback]

@Cranraspberry, a quick note to say thanks for the review of Chijimisai. I have seeds, but might re-think growing it, unless I have excess space. Your garden looks great!

[Cranraspberry]

@Chrysos so sorry for the late response, just seeing this! Artwork does amazingly well for us. The second flush is usually smaller heads that aren’t as perfect as the first flush, but we managed to get so much from just four plants. I swear we would have gotten a third one if I didn’t have to take all my brassicas out to make room for peppers. And the other trick is removing the first central head when it starts forming to encourage side shoots.

[Cranraspberry]

Strange year here, but here’s how things are doing so far:

Cucurbits
- cucumbers are not doing great at all. Everything that wasn’t BW resistant died before bearing any fruit. County Fair and Shintokiwa are still alive, but growing very slowly and just started putting out male flowers.
- squash are also slow and had to pull the largest one because of BW. Haven’t seen many vine borer moths this year, but I’d almost prefer dealing with those than with the damn cucumber beetles.

Tomatoes
- Mountain Rouge, Ramapo, Cherokee Purple, Black Cherry (in grow bag) and surprisingly Kosovo are doing pretty well so far with minimal fungal disease and signs of fusarium.
Mountain Rouge is a BEAST of a plant, over 8’ tall at this point and covered in fruit. Harvested the first two fruit, both over 1 lb, waiting for them to finish ripening. Critters have been getting most of my Black Cherries as they start to ripen, but I’ll gladly sacrifice those if they leave my larger tomatoes alone! Cherokee Purple and Ramapo also loaded with large fruit, but taking surprisingly long to ripen in this heat.

- Marzito (grow bag), Rutgers Select and Marzano Fire (grow bag) are in the “doing okay” category.
Marzito is setting fruit like crazy and has minimal BER, but I recently noticed quite a bit of yellowing. Given that it’s in a 10 gallon grow bag I’m not too surprised, but the fruit are also taking very long to ripen on the counter which is a little annoying. Rutgers is a little “meh” across all parameters - not a ton of fruit (and the ones that are there are on the small side and prone to cracking), some yellowing. Don’t think I’ll be growing it again unless the flavor blows me away. Marzano Fire seems to finally have grown out of its BER issues, waiting to see what kind of harvest we get.

- Moreton is pretty much dead, although it has one sad stem that’s still trying to put out flowers. Chef’s Choice Pink I had really high hopes for, but it’s pretty badly affected by fusarium and what fruit it did set was very small. Rose de Berne is the saddest one for me. It’s an ENORMOUS plant, almost as big as Mountain Rouge. Fruit set isn’t as crazy, but above average. Taste is absolutely phenomenal, hands down the tastiest tomato we’ve ever grown. Unfortunately fusarium is rapidly taking it down and I suspect it has a month or so left at most.

Eggplants
- Asian Delight is going gangbusters, to the point where I’m taking fruit off fairly young/small because I don’t understand how it could possibly ripen so many fruit at once. Mitoyo is more prolific than last year, but unfortunately bitter! Not sure it will make another appearance next year.

Peppers
- Peppers are much happier this year! Carmen and Escamillo are packed with fruit, Hot Sunset X3R (a hybrid hot wax) is also producing like crazy. I tried Takara instead of an OP shishito this year and not loving it. Smaller plant, thicker skin on the fruit. Aruba is my most productive cubanelle so far and Slovana gets very high points for flavor (my favorite in salads), but isn’t as productive as I would have expected.

Miscellaneous
- Winter savory might be my new favorite herb. Tastes like something in between thyme and oregano, is superb with beans and chicken and very healthy.
- Prospera basil started forming buds very quickly and we didn’t get to harvest it before the flavor changed even though it was shaded by tomato plants. Trying some Rutgers DMR varieties to see if those do better.
- Everleaf Thai Towers basil is huge and healthy with no signs of bolting.
- pole and bush beans are kind of slow (my fault for starting them way too late), so haven’t tried them yet, but so far Fortex is much bigger than Seychelles.

[Cranraspberry]

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[JayneR13]

It's amazing, how some things do well in a given year and others don't. Then the next year, stuff that did well last year does poorly! I guess this is why we put up extra when things are going gangbusters, for the years when those things don't do so well. At least that's what I do.

Cucurbits-if it's not one thing it's another! But they're so yummy, delicious and nutritious how can we not?

[Cranraspberry]

@JayneR13 it’s a very relaxing hobby. But I think with every year I am more and more okay with the fact that loss is inevitable. I feel really bad for first year gardeners who just got their plot and then got hit with a record breaking hot summer! That must feel very discouraging.

[JayneR13]

Indeed, it’s a relaxing hobby that gives me a sense of control in uncertain times. And I remember how overwhelmed I was, my first year having a community gardens plot! It was so much space! But I learned to make good use of it, until I had to give it up. And this year has really been a series of lessons for me! I’ve had problems ranging from bad seedling starting media to the results of ‘way too much rain. I can’t possibly grow enough on my property to provide for all of my needs, but I’m doing ok even so. I’m grateful for the farmer’s market though! Adapt and adjust, right?

[Cranraspberry]

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Had our first Mountain Rouge yesterday, and I don’t want to jinx it, but this might become a staple tomato going forward. The blossom end was surprisingly sweet, and it got a little more tart towards the shoulders (I suspect I might have picked it a bit too early, it got a smidge mealy towards the shoulders as well if I had to really nitpick). If Rose de Berne was a 10 for flavor, I’d give this a solid 7.5-8, and definitely tastier than anything I’ve ever bought at the local farmers markets. The Rutgers that I tasted alongside didn’t stand a chance - tasted like a grocery store tomato in comparison. Given how incredibly healthy and productive the plant is I’m quite shocked. I wasn’t expecting much, but if it keeps putting out these kinds of results I will be growing it forever. I have another ripening on the counter that I’ll give a couple more days to see if that makes it sweeter throughout.

[JRinPA]

Are Mountain Rouge still a buck a seed? That's what they cost when they came out. They sure look good.

I remember being excited about Rutger's Select, but it didn't do much. That might have been 2016. Plants looked good but not productive and taste pretty blah. That same year I grew Brandywine and got just a few nice big fruit that tasted spectacular, a few medium small, and then nothing, for a big cage. I don't think I've grown either since.

[Cranraspberry]

@JRinPA just checked - I paid $4 for 5 seeds at Seeds ‘n Such, and Totally Tomatoes has 10 seeds for $7. Not cheap, but if it keeps doing what it has been doing so far it is very much worth it for me given all our issues and how it has been laughing them off. It’s a real beast of a plant (you can see the top of a 6’ tall Texas tomato cage next to it), currently showing zero signs of any disease (haven’t pruned it at all so far), and while it’s not setting a ton of new fruit with this heat it’s definitely not doing any worse with it than any of my other plants.

I’m so shocked with these results I’ve already ordered some Mountain Magic (red cocktail/large cherry that’s supposed to be very sweet) and have Mountain Gem (determinate red slicer that has good flavor reports on TV) on my list as well.

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[JayneR13]

Are you able to save seed from those? If so, the cost is less. If it's an F1, sigh. But that's quite the package of disease resistance! Wow! I might give them a try myself next year.

[Cranraspberry]

@JayneR13 it’s an F1, so unfortunately no seed saving. But given the size of my plot and how enormous it gets I will likely be growing only one plant per season, so a pack should last me a while. I will keep everyone updated! It almost feels too good to be true, so waiting for the catch ha. And to give you an idea of our growing conditions, Big Beef was sickly and barely produced for us last year, even though it’s typically considered bullet proof. I have never had a tomato get this huge and look so healthy by mid-July!

[JayneR13]

But OMG Seeds & Such has them on sale!!!! How can I resist giving these a try! Conditions this year haven't been easy on me either so thanks for the mention! Good thing these are on sale because shipping is outrageous! Yikes!

[Cranraspberry]

@JayneR13 oh wow thanks for sharing! I might get the 50 seed pack for $13 if I can think of a few other things I need there to offset the shipping. By the way I get my Asian Delight eggplant seeds from them and those have also done amazing.

[Cranraspberry]

@JayneR13 actually if you haven’t already placed an order would you maybe like to split a larger pack? PM me if at all interested, I’ll likely be ordering the big one anyway and can sort out how ever many seeds you need and just split the shipping

[Vanman]

Just bought some as well as a few others. Couldn't resist the 50% off sale.

[Cranraspberry]

Had my second one today and can’t wait till more ripen. Surprisingly small core too.

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