Wifey to the rescue?

So Wifey did some digging to try to find out if the garden had a chemical deficiency.  Since my garden boxes are modified square foot gardening boxes, she found a webpage about nutrient deficiencies from square foot gardens.

From that page:

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is essential for lush, green vegetation. But be careful–add too much and you’ll get lots of leaves and no fruit! Potatoes, corn, and onions need LOTS of nitrogen (about 4x’s what other vegetables require), while peas and beans need less.

Phosphorus

Phosphorus promotes healthy root growth, flowering, and fruit. When there is an extreme deficiency, the leaves will turn purple, but moderate deficiencies result in small plants and stunted growth. This element is less available during cool temperatures, so it may be important to add it early in the spring.

Potassium

Potassium promotes thick, sturdy stems in fruiting plants and higher yields from root vegetables. A deficiency leads to long, spindly stems and weak plants. This element is less available during cool temperatures, so it may be important to add it early in the spring.

Organics

There are also commercially available organic sources–blood meal (N), fish meal (N), mushroom compost (P), bone meal (P), seaweed (K), and wood ashes (K) are some examples.

Since much of the veggies have plenty of vegetation and good stems, the line of thinking she proposed was that there was a Phosphorous deficiency given the lack of flowering and fruit.  So.........since the beans aren't flowering, the watermelon flowers are dying off, and the tomatoes and peppers aren't ripening we decided it was worth a shot.

Going to try more beans

In the event that the beans aren't flowering due to the previous extended rash of high temperatures, I just ordered some quick-maturing bush beans. 

I picked up a variety called "Contender" from Southern Exposure.  According to Southern Exposure, these beans have been certified organic and are suited to growing in the mid-Atlantic region.  They also mature in 42 days.  Unfortunately, they're not heirloom, but given how late it is in the season, I didn't think I had the luxury of being overly choosy.

It's just too hot out there for my tomatoes and bean plants

So my earlier post got me reading.

I've found a number of research papers available online indicating that extended periods of temperatures over 35C (95 Fahrenheit) will cause major problems in plant development.

Specifically mentioned about beans was that floral development is damaged by high heat in that plants do no produce flowers.  That is exactly what I'm seeing with my green beans.  Surprised that my Scarlet Runner Beans have flowers, though.  Maybe they're more heat tolerant than the variety of green beans I'm using.

One study about tomato reaction to high temperature stresses said that tissue softening (check) and red color development (check) were delayed by high temperatures.  No word on how much the delay was.


In summary, it looks like I'm hosed as far as my beans are concerned (and the second batch I planted have done nothing thus far) and my tomatoes will be, at the very least, delayed in ripening.

I'm going to do some more reading to see if, by some chance (fingers crossed) that this is actually a nutrient deficiency issue instead.

Happy Runner Beans and Petunias, bean plants with no flowers, tomatoes won't turn red

Some good things and some real frustration at the plot.

On the plus side, the runner beans are finally growing to the lengths I'd expected.  A few of the plants are about 1/3 of the way across the top of the arbor with a number of red flowers.  Some of the petunias are quite happy, too.

On the negative, the green bean plants still have no flowers.  Lots of growth, but no flowers and no beans.  Also, I have a lot of tomatoes, but they're all staying green at varying sizes. Quite frustrating.

 

Borage Flowers, tasting the first Ground Cherries, baby Green Peppers

The family made it out to the plot for a little bit yesterday to check on growth status.  Not much has changed as far as the beans and tomatoes are concerned. The green peppers are growing, though.  There were a few that are approx 2" across.  Not large as far as peppers are concerned, but considering I've had no luck with peppers in approx 4 years trying them, they're mammoth-sized.

 

Wifey and I are thrilled that the flowers are generally doing well.  Petunias are pretty good, marigolds are thriving, a few nasturtiums are starting to flower, mint encroaching from a neighboring plot is in flower, some basil has been allowed to flower, and the cosmos have exploded in color.  Also worth noting is that the borage plants finally have flowers on them.  Not all borage plants (only maybe a quarter of them) have flowers, but they're quite pretty.  All that's left to make an appearance are the dwarf sunflowers.  The garden yesterday was abuzz (literally) with the sounds of a few different kinds of bees, a few wasps (one with blueish-tinged wings), and two kinds of butterflies floating gracefully throughout.  Mission: Accomplished as far as attracting bees is concerned.  At least I've succeeded in that attempt this year.

One last thing we checked out before leaving was the ground cherries.  The cooler weather and decreased rainfall has done them well.  The primary three plants are spreading out a bit.  The fourth adjacent to a neighboring plot is finally spreading, too.  Many, many ground cherries on the vine.  A few finally yellowed and either had fallen into the box or were about to.  I picked them and even a couple that were still green to finally try this mysterious fruit.

Once the husk is peeled off, you come across tiny berries that have a diameter approximately one-half inch. The flavor of the Cossack Pineapple is an odd mixture of a lot of things.  I could see someone with a very developed palate having a field day with all the compound flavors.  It's really like nothing I've ever had in any one fruit or vegetable.  As others have remarked online, there is a slight hint of tomato.  The custard references are also very accurate.  There is another sweetness, though, that's hard to really identify.  Maybe that's the whole "pineapple" thing in the name.  Wifey also had a similarly mystified reaction to the experience.  Thankfully, there are quite a few more being grown so we can really try to figure out what this thing truly is!

Tomatoes won't turn, first cucumber blossoms, and a few harvested items

I made it out to the plot on Wednesday for a little bit of time. 

I'd read previously that tomatoes won't change colors when the temps are high.  That problem also includes root temps from what I've read.  My hope was/is that the cooler weather (finally down to the mid 80's from a few weeks in the upper 90's) would make my tomatoes start turning red.  Thus far, no luck.    I ended up picking approx to of the San Marzanos with the idea of trying to ripen some at home in a paper bag.  We'll see if that actually works.

Along with the tomatoes, the Cayenne peppers are also not trending toward red at this point.  I don't know if that's an issue or not.

The cooler temps seem to be doing wonders for the Scarlet Runner beans and cucumbers who now have their first flowers.

In addition to the aforementioned tomato picking, I watered, reapplied bug dust, and harvested some Cayenne peppers and basil for some of Wifey's great Drunken Noodles.  I'll have to copy the recipe for anyone who may be interested in it.  I'm quite a fan of it.

High temps are bad for tomato color change and bean pollination

I've noticed that although my tomato plants have increasing numbers of tomatoes on the vine and the bean plants are quite tall and generally without predators, the bean plants haven't been flowering and the tomatoes are staying green.

I did a bit of reading this evening to try to figure out why.  Since I'm still new to all this gardening (hence the blog name), I figured that I've been doing something wrong.  Turns out, it's just too hot.

Apparently, beans don't like temperatures that stay over 90 degrees.  They won't flower when it stays like that.  It's been well over 90 in this area for a few weeks now. 

The tomatoes have even more issues:

• Tomato plants drop their blossoms when night temps are high.  
• I've seen that occur in my plot.
• Tomato plants won't create lycopene and carotene (pigments responsible for tomato coloration) when temperatures are above 85.  
• As I mentioned above, it's been beastly hot for weeks.  The index today, for example, was 110.

The good news for all this is that the weather predictions are that the temps should drop a bit into the low 80's in a few days.  It's a good thing that the weather forecasters are often right....

Flowering runner beans, Japanese Beetles love bean plants, harvested crops, and trellised watermelons

I made it out to the plot Wednesday and Thursday evenings mostly to water, apply bug dust (Thurs), and check on the status since I was last out Saturday.

More garlic was harvested along with the lone "surprise onion."  It sure is a sad sort.  I can't see how it's edible.

I was happy to see that the reduced rainfall seems to be doing wonders for the Scarlet Runner Beans.  The foliage is gradually losing the yellowish hue and more flowers are developing.  I also took a moment to sit in the Adirondack Chair and enjoy the view.  Sure is a comfortable chair!

 While out Wednesday, I noticed that the bulk of an entire bean plant on the far wall had been eaten clear down to the stem.  I was surprised by that given that I've been careful to try to keep applying the bug dust.  It didn't look like what the Mexican Bean Beetles did last year.  In looking at other bean plants, I found a small brown beetle on one leaf.  After doing a bit of research, I'm pretty sure it's a Japanese Beetle.  Since I was out of bug dust Wednesday, I returned Thursday and applied more.  I was happy to wipe out approx 6 that were on that same trellised bunch of bean plants.

Continuing my meandering on Wednesday, I saw that one of the watermelons has grown quite large - approx 5" across.  I also saw that the steam it was suspended from was beginning to "neck down," presumably from the weight.  I returned Thursday with a pair of Wifey's hosery and created a melon sling for that suspended fruit.

Trellises for cucumbers, beans, watermelons and planting more beans

Good progress today.

I planted more beans where the last of the snow peas had been.  I couldn't find the rest of the beans I planted elsewhere in the garden so I had tracked down some of the beans I used previously in the plot.  Blue Lake Bush Beans (from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds) went in that area next to two volunteer tomato plants.

I then applied bug dust.  I was only going to do that to the beans, but I also read that its good vs a number of tomato funguses.

It was great to see the peppers are growing, ground cherries are expanding, and the watermelons are growing nicely for the most part (although one vine doesn't look happy for some reason).

I used scrap metal fencing to finish the last bean trellis.  Unfortunately, I didn't have enough to span the entire bamboo framework.  Thankfully, some of my old Boy Scout skills came into use.  I tied a line tied to each corner with each line going to a corner of the fencing then used taut line hitches to do as the name implies. 

Once the bean trellis was finished, I made a cucumber trellis.  I took the proven method I developed from the bean trellis and took it one step further out of necessity because the plastic mesh I had left from the other bean trellises was very narrow.  Once again, four taut line hitches were used per side of the trellis.

Once all that was done I took a walk around the site.  It's been a while since I've been able to do that.  It's good to see what I can learn from what other people are doing.  I was dismayed to see a few peoples' beans looked like mine last year.  I guess the petunias and bug dust really is doing something good for the garden.

Thankfully, not my beans.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of heavy rain coming down as I type this.  In checking the radar map, it's only over my part of Maryland.  So much for the bug dust I applied today.....

Late blight in Maryland

Thanks to Kathy from Skippy's Vegetable Garden blog for making me think about late blight.  She mentioned that blight has been seen a few hundred miles from her gardens which made me wonder about proximity to my Columbia plot.

It was identified in Montgomery County on June 20, 2013.  Oh.  Boy.  http://www.usablight.org/  I've also added this link to the blog's sidebar for future use.

Having never dealt with it before, I've had to do a good bit of crash reading.  I do have some signs of some fungus distress in one of my boxes (the volunteer tomato in the flower box), but I'm not certain that it's actually blight.  More reading will be necessary.

From what I've read in a couple locations, using Actinovate spray and along with spraying a Copper Fungicide is recommended.

Bamboo bean trellises, cayenne peppers, a growing watermelon, more garlic

I enjoyed 2 hours at the plot after work today.

I tied the mesh on the trellis that I started yesterday and lashed the spars together that I had only put in place.  For the third trellis, I didn't have enough of the plastic mesh left so I used some wire fencing material that I'd salvaged and had out at the plot.  Unfortunately, I only had enough of that stuff for one side of that trellis.  I'll finish up with some leftover fencing material from the watermelon trellis.  Pics of that when I finish it.  Here are the trellis from yesterday and the one I finished today, though.

Once that work was done, I applied bug powder to the beans, ground cherries, and a few of the flowers in the plot.  I did some weeding in the second flower box, harvested more garlic, and watered.  I'm also happy to report that the watermelons are growing (two are racketball-sized), there are a few San Marzano tomatoes worth looking at, and a few decent-sized cayenne peppers along with a few smaller ones, too.

 

The next time out, I hope to tear down the snow peas and plant beans in their place.  More radishes will be planted.  I also need to finish trellising the existing beans and establish a trellis for the cucumbers.

Bean trellising

I spent a hour out at the plot this evening working on trellising the beans.  Luckily, I had a bit of bamboo left from last year.  I learned my lesson and used synthetic twine doing my lashing, though.  Hopefully it weathers better than the natural twine I used last year. 

For each box, there's an A-frame with the top of each A joined together by another pole.  There's also some salvaged plastic mesh fencing going down each side for the beans to climb.

One bean trellis is completely finished, one has the frame made and mesh cut and ready to be tied on, with the poles and in place for the 3rd box.

Sorry, no pictures.  I likely will go out and finish the work tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July!

Okay, so I actually went to the plot on the 5th.  Beans were dusted before the weekend.  I also found that they are in dire need of trellising.  The runner beans also have the first two flowers on them.

I checked out the "Surprise Onions."  They were browned with some laying down.  I decided to pick some.  Imagine my surprise when what I'd planted and thought to be onions turned out to actually be garlic.  The largest two are very large.  Not bad for organic garlic I grew from a purchase at MOMs.

Aside for this stuff, I pruned tomatoes, watered, and enjoyed finding two baby watermelons each that were the size of a grape.

Green June Beetle, bean development, and the first watermelon

The Boy and I made it out to the plot yesterday evening to do a little work.

Tomatoes and peppers were pruned.  I weeded in the cucumber/radish boxes, the watermelon box, and amongst the green beans.  The runner beans are really unhappy thanks to all the rain we've been getting.

I was excited to see an interesting beetle out there.  At first I thought it may have been a Dogbane Leaf Beetle, but after doing more research (I know very little about insects), have determined it to be a Green June Beetle.  From what I've read, they're attracted to rot.  With that in mind, it makes sense that I found it near the compost pile.

I also was happy to see that the first watermelon is beginning to grow and the green beans are happier than last year.