Juli Lawrence – Rakish Gardening

July 29th, 2007

Cucumbers: one from the store that said it was a bush cucumber but turned out to be a vine cucumber. They’re kind of pointy on the end and dark green. But good. Even better are the County Fairs, which I grew to combat the cuke beetles, which decimated my crop last year with their dirty mouths and bacterial wilt. County Fair is the only cuke that is resistant to the wilt. And they’re delicious, a light green, and sweeter than most cukes. Definitely want to repeat next year.

Melons: Growing ananas heirlooms and then got a pack of “Burpee Favorites” that was a mix of cantaloupes, honeydew, Spanish and something else. It’s too early to know, but I do have one melon the size of a lemon that looks healthy, and lots of grape size babies. I’m doing hand pollinating on them daily because last year’s deformed honeydew might have been a lack of good pollination instead of some horrid disease from those beetles. (Or so said Farmer John on one of the garden shows.) It’s worth the effort and I enjoy making the female and male flower have the sex.

Peppers: ah, one of my favorite vegetables. I can’t live without my favorite, the gypsy pepper. They’re small, but the most delicious of any pepper I’ve ever had. And so prolific on tiny little plants. They just keep on coming and I fill my freezer with beautiful little red sweet peppers. My handful of plants, from seeds I found leftover from last year, are covered, but none are ripe yet.

I added two more pepper varieties this year: Giant Marconi and Toro Del Corno. Or maybe it was Corno Del Toro. I swear one of those Marconis is a foot long and still not ready for harvest.

My favorite: eggplant. God I love eggplant.

Varieties: Black Beauty of course, the old standby. My favorite so far: Lavender, although some kind of worm got in two of the fruits. I’ve never had problems with fruit damage on eggplant before, so this is a concern. Tomato hornworm? I haven’t seen any cats or worms, so I don’t know what it is.

And then I’ve got two plants each of Turkish eggplant and African eggplant. I think they’re very similar but today I picked two Africans. Very tiny, but so pretty. Will eat tomorrow. DH hates eggplant, which I find odd for an Italian. More for me. Hmm, wasn’t there another eggplant that I’ve got out there? Ohhh, snowy white! Wait, were those worms in the snowy white instead of the lavender. I’d forgotten the snowy whites, and those are new so perhaps the worm likes them. Must check the markers tomorrow. This garden diary just earned its worth because I would have totally forgotten the snowy white had I not been typing this.

I also have beans, and they’re good but very long and skinny. These were seeds from my seed buddy. We both get seeds and then share because you get more seeds in a pack than you need.

BTW, my favorite places for seeds:

Artistic Gardens, because they have these cool sample packs for 35 cents and that’s just fun. I’m growing all kinds of weird herbs because of that. Also the african eggplants were sample pack. Three seeds, hence I have two plants.

Park Seeds…I just love them and they make good on seeds that don’t grow. This was my second year with them, and I’ll be back next year.

Heirloom Seeds: they have things you can’t find anywhere else.

I don’t think I’ll grow beans again because somehow, I just can’t get them tasting like the beans my Grandmother used to make. I queried my mom and aunts and got the instructions, but they weren’t the same. Maybe they needed Grandma’s love. Dammit. So many times lately I’ve wanted to call her for garden wisdom and I just miss her.

I know she’d say “What’s wrong with Sevin? We put it on the cats and dogs and it got rid of fleas, too. Good stuff!”

OMG, Sevin was gold. brrrrr.

When I said I was growing hairy vetch my uncle said “What are you, a cow?” haha. He said the same thing when I grew millet. No, he asked if I was a duck because it’s duck food. He’s fun and always busts my balls.

I’m also growing edamame, Japanese soybeans. (Which also elicited a grand response from my uncle, because soybeans are also cow food, not something you actually eat. Unless you’re in Japan.) Haven’t harvested any yet, though I need to. You boil them a minute and then eat the beans inside. I’ve had them before and they’re so good.

• Cool weather crops

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