What did you do in the garden today?

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Evening all. Been busy catching up on work after being off for a week. Trying to catch up here too!

Yay @Wee Farmer Sarah - he's adorable!

Tomatoes - I only like to eat Bradywines, so that's what I grow. I also do Sungolds for cherries for DH & then if I'm canning I do San Marzano. I don't even need to buy Sungold starts, they just pop up all over the garden. DH thinks they're candy & I've never had a bad season with them.

@Acre4Me - I had pretty good luck with the Suyo Long cucumbers last year. I did get beetles when I went out to OR for my Uncles death - but they did great till then, & not too bad even after the bugs got out of hand. I will grow them again this year for sure.

I've decided I'm not starting any seeds early this year. It's just not worth it to me, it's easier & cheaper to buy starts. I don't have the room. Lettuce & green beans are the exception, they get direct sown.

Nothing happening in the garden, but I did seal the garden bench! Took it in the shop, let it dry, rough sanded & then sealed it. Hoping it helps.

Totally agree with not starting everything indoors. I will start the leeks indoor because they are slow growers. Direct seeding seems to work better.

 

[igorsMistress]

Hello again. I got distracted by the yearly sustain and gain booklet from my city. I love this city guys. They have rebate programs for ripping out grass and replacing with xeriscape, provide free compost bins made from recycled trash cans, signed up for one of those, and all their sustainable university classes are available on YouTube. The classes cover all kinds of things from growing herbs to xeriscaping and composting. This year they addressed the very scary drought situation and how the city has prepared for it. Water rights have been in the news a lot lately, just this morning I heard about heavy industrial users being paid to reduce their use, and AZ is going to see the largest cuts compared to other nearby states. We are at historic lows where water reserves are concerned.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Gosh well brussle sprouts, tomato, onion..
Will start my salad fixing in the garage again as coop is before the greenhouse.
Arugala, lettuce every kind not head lettuce. Mustard Leaves..
Tomato will be early girl but will buy my tomato started at Sunbirds are season can be so short.

 

[Sally PB]

while there are also companies whose sole purpose is to perpetuate the odd, the hard to find, the heirloom varieties so that they are not lost forever.

Shameless plug for Seed Savers Exchange.

I get all my seeds from SSE, Baker Creek, and Sow True Seed. All of them sell only open pollinated, non-GMO varieties. I know there are other places that do too; those are the 3 I like and get catalogs from.

 

[DParker75089]

Read this: https://time.com/5730790/banana-panama-disease/

We primarily only eat (and grow) 1 variety of banana, Cavendish....

Thanks. Yes, I'm well familiar with the potential extinction of the Cavendish variety and what that means to the banana growing industry...not to mention myself, given that bananas are probably my all-time favorite fruit. What I was not quite so sure about was the original poster's reference to Dole et al "killing off" other varieties, which is not really a fair or accurate characterization of the situation. Yes, the industry is in trouble due to these agribusiness's practice of putting all of their eggs in one varietal basket, so to speak...but that doesn't mean that they're "killing off" other varieties that anyone else is free to grow if there's a market for them.

 

[igorsMistress]

Gosh well brussle sprouts, tomato, onion..
Will start my salad fixing in the garage again as coop is before the greenhouse.
Arugala, lettuce every kind not head lettuce. Mustard Leaves..
Tomato will be early girl but will buy my tomato started at Sunbirds are season can be so short.

Yummy! I wish my family liked Brussels sprouts but I’m the only one that does. They’re so good roasted with garlic Do you put the mustard in your salads?

 

[BReeder!]

Totally agree with not starting everything indoors. I will start the leeks indoor because they are slow growers. Direct seeding seems to work better.

Good luck with leeks. I have 0 luck with them. I tried starting indoors twice and while they grew, they seemed very fragile when transplanting. I haven't started them outdoors, but everything I read says start indoors and then separate and transplant. I didn't bother with them at all last year and don't intend to this year. I do love leeks though. If you have them figured out, please advise me.

 

[WthrLady]

Good luck with leeks. I have 0 luck with them. I tried starting indoors twice and while they grew, they seemed very fragile when transplanting. I haven't started them outdoors, but everything I read says start indoors and then separate and transplant. I didn't bother with them at all last year and don't intend to this year. I do love leeks though. If you have them figured out, please advise me.

I agree! I've had 0 luck as well.

 

[BReeder!]

Thanks. Yes, I'm well familiar with the potential extinction of the Cavendish variety and what that means to the banana growing industry...not to mention myself, given that bananas are probably my all-time favorite fruit. What I was not quite so sure about was the original poster's reference to Dole et al "killing off" other varieties, which is not really a fair or accurate characterization of the situation. Yes, the industry is in trouble due to these agribusiness's practice of putting all of their eggs in one varietal basket, so to speak...but that doesn't mean that they're "killing off" other varieties that anyone else is free to grow if there's a market for them.

I guess "killing off" is a harsh accusation, but streamlining cloned production of a single, genetically non-diverse cultivar across all major farms is a threat to the survival other cultivars because they are not being grown in mass and can easily be lost. Sometimes a there's just a single farm keeping a specific cultivar from extinction. This happens with many plant varieties unfortunately. Also, the loss of genetic diversity threatens a cultivars survival. Cloning limits genetic diversity greatly, but so does a lack of farming of any cultivar. You could find seeds in a seed bank for example of some otherwise extinct cultivar and revive it; however, the plants grown from that point forward would be genetically limited and there would be no option to introduce genetic diversity without crossing it with another cultivar. This means producing a hybrid or leaving cultivar vulnerable - either way the specific cultivar is eventually doomed.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Yummy! I wish my family liked Brussels sprouts but I’m the only one that does. They’re so good roasted with garlic Do you put the mustard in your salads?

Little mayo, vinegar mustard
That and shred the brussle spouts