The Garden of Woz...

[Whwoz]

EM Champion,

Champion by name and nature, did very well in a trying year. Big heart shaped fruit on a dwarf or compact plant that suits a small cage

EM Champion.jpg

Franklin County

Productive Dwarf plants. Fruit are miniature red beefsteaks. tasty. did well grown in cages, worth growing for slicing

franklin County.jpg

[Whwoz]

Garrote Bicolor Aracenes

i know the question was raise about the color of this in another thread, cannot remember which one at 0400 in the morning. A delicious big red Spanish heirloom producing large moist fruit that are not overly juicy.

Garrote Bicolor Aracenes (1).jpg

Garrote Bicolor Aracenes (2).jpg

[Whwoz]

Mini Kumato Pear F5

A dark small cherry pear shaped/sized fruit that are nice enough to grow again. Hard to assess productivity this year but shows promise. Seed was kept from the smaller fruit only

Mini Kumato Pear F5.jpg

[Whwoz]

Willa's Caribou Rose

tasty pink fruit on a rugose leaved plant from he Dwarf project

Willa's Caribou Rose.jpg

[Whwoz]

Two months ago I planted 5 short rows of bush beans and today I picked the first of them.

Purple Teepee Bean.jpg

These probably should have been picked a couple of days ago, but one does the best one can when working. Just over 1kg/2lb 3oz of beans that kids are more than happy to eat. Probably the best liked of the 4 they got fed today as a taste test. Lots of beans still on them and hopefully they will keep on flowering while it is still warm enough. May keep planting some every year from now, just depends on how the back handles the picking of bush beans.

Fin De Bagnol.jpg

A green bean that is quite tasty and tender. Not quite as productive as Purple Teepee at this time of year with 800g/1.75 lb off the same length of row. Daughter thought that these were a bit "furry" on the tongue but otherwise well liked.

Bountiful Butter Bean.jpg

Originally I thought that I had planted only this one butter bean, but I have definitely planted two, Bountiful Butter and Cresno or the seed for Cresno is not what it is meant to be. Both butter bean bushes appear to be more fragile than the other beans, with bits broken off them from the winds we have been getting lately, not so bountiful either, with only 250g/9oz picked of this 3m/10foot row. Have only sampled the Cresno's, will pick them tomorrow and shall have to deal with more than what we can eat in a 3 or 4 days.

[Rockporter]

Two months ago I planted 5 short rows of bush beans and today I picked the first of them.

Purple Teepee Bean.jpg

These probably should have been picked a couple of days ago, but one does the best one can when working. Just over 1kg/2lb 3oz of beans that kids are more than happy to eat. Probably the best liked of the 4 they got fed today as a taste test. Lots of beans still on them and hopefully they will keep on flowering while it is still warm enough. May keep planting some every year from now, just depends on how the back handles the picking of bush beans.

Fin De Bagnol.jpg

A green bean that is quite tasty and tender. Not quite as productive as Purple Teepee at this time of year with 800g/1.75 lb off the same length of row. Daughter thought that these were a bit "furry" on the tongue but otherwise well liked.

Bountiful Butter Bean.jpg

Originally I thought that I had planted only this one butter bean, but I have definitely planted two, Bountiful Butter and Cresno or the seed for Cresno is not what it is meant to be. Both butter bean bushes appear to be more fragile than the other beans, with bits broken off them from the winds we have been getting lately, not so bountiful either, with only 250g/9oz picked of this 3m/10foot row. Have only sampled the Cresno's, will pick them tomorrow and shall have to deal with more than what we can eat in a 3 or 4 days.

Beautiful beans, I can't wait to have some in my garden like that.

[Whwoz]

Picked more zucchini today, one look at the size and said that is enough. Pulled smaller plant and will get larger one out tomorrow or Wednesday. Photos to follow when I get to reliable internet access. Going to have to get some big stakes if I want to tie them up so that they take up less room and don't cover rodent tracks. Was wondering what was going on with my watermelon plants which are next door, with vines dying for no apparent reason. Blasted rats. Hopefully the two fruit affected are mature.

[GoDawgs]

Great pics, Woz! I have seed for a couple of them and might add them to next's year's lineup as this year's list is full. Your EM Champion did much better than the one I grew last year but I think it was a heat problem. I finally got one like yours when summer was almost over and the weather had cooled off a bit.

There's a Moon and Stars watermelon already planned for this summer. I've never grown it before but always wanted to try it and will thanks to MMMM.

[Whwoz]

Noticed a bit of a grub eaten red heart and traced back to the plant tag, Miss Scarlet in the Kitchen with the Knife. Not good enough to eat, but 30 or 40 seeds fermenting now, a good fruit around the size of that EM Champion that will hopefully ripen for tasting.

Also found a couple of Vincent's White ripe, not the greatest of fruit but able to get enough too taste, kids liked it so may give it another as shot next year. Plenty of seed saved.

[Whwoz]

King Humberto, under whatever variant of the name you choose to use is supposed to be an old Italian paste variety that is one of the parents of San Marnzano. This would make it a dry tomato and while I have grown seeds from different sources the last couple of years, have only grown plants that were juicy plums, indicating that there are a lot of crossed seed about.

This variety is of interest to me as I believe it is one that my mother's father grew for many years, making a fabulous sauce. Frustrating not getting the correct one but I will keep hunting. Going to be worth the effort if I can find it.

[Whwoz]

IMG_20230320_145846_178.jpg

Sikkim Cucumber

For those who haven't grown this variety, it is a russet skinned when mature green cucumber getting up around the 600 g or 1lb 5 Oz mark. Plant is vigorous with leaves larger than the other cucumbers I have grown. Not showing any bitterness as they mature as some can do here also.

[Whwoz]

Zucchini plants, as against the fruits this time.

I don't know how big they grow for those of you who do not have the SVB, but here they get pretty big, over the course of a season 100 fruit per vine is achievable on something like this one

Zucchini.jpg

If on the other hand it is more like this one, probably closer to 200 is achievable, think of 2 of the above plants joined at the root.

Big Zucchini.jpg

the shoe in the first photo is one of mine (AU 10 = US 11) for reference, about 12.5 inches long

[Whwoz]

Garlic

Had a delivery the other day of some different garlic varieties. My preferred supplier is in Tasmania and grows some wonderful garlic. 6 different turbans, 5 Creoles, which are hopefully a bit milder than what we are currently growing and an Asiatic group member

New Garlic.jpg

A bit more detail, showing clove arrangement on a couple of the varieties

Georgian stride.jpg

French Ail Cremeaux.jpg

Spicey Korean Mountain.jpg

I really need to get the tomatoes out no so the garlic can go in.

[PlainJane]

Wow, fantastic looking garlic!

[Whwoz]

Wow, fantastic looking garlic!

Must agree @PlainJane

[pepperhead212]

Can never have too much garlic!

[Whwoz]

Today was walk around Farm World day, our local field days. Lots of machinery and seemingly not a lot of anything else, felt weird in some respects, lots of sites open that have been filled in other years. Talked to a couple of lots, one which will result in us putting solar electricity panels on the house, the other may very well lead to a greenhouse turning up here.

Most likely will be 5 X 12 meters, roughly 16 X 40 feet, one advantage of having a few acres is one has the room to put up some things with a bit of size too them. Having a price put together for a kit with shading, auto vent openers etc. Mrs is keen which will help with the go ahead

[PlainJane]

A greenhouse will be so much fun!

[bower]

Greenhouse is so worth it... you're going to have fresh veggies all winter long! No more collapsing tunnels.
Solar panels, what a smart move too. Even here, I dream of the day I could get some installed. Returns are less due to less sunshine, but it can only be plus positive to generate some energy on site.

[Whwoz]

Out picking beans yesterday, 7 kg overall from the five short rows

Beans.jpg

Cresno, Purple Teepee, Avalanche, Bountiful Butter and Fin De Bagnol

Have left 3 plants of each of Purple Teepee and Fin De Bagnol unpicked in hope the weather allows them to mature enough for seed, next time I go to pick, it will most likely be pick and pull, to cold (?, light to low) now for flowers