Sow Your Beans
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gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: May-24-2005 at 5:29am
Looks to me like a classic warm spell to get the beans and other warm soil crops sown. Temps in the 80's (or higher) thru Thu and dry seasonal weather (66/43 in Oly) after that into next week.
Even in Olympia, we have only had one temp below 30F this late in May in the last 57 years, a 28F on May 28, 1966.
My pole bean choices are Blue Lake and Trav's favorite, Trionfo Purple.
Gary
Screaming Eagle
Location: Puget Sound corridor
Posted: May-24-2005 at 4:40pm
Good advice Gary, thanks for the heads up! My 9 yo daughter has chosen beans for her garden so I'm hoping she has a successful experience!
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: May-24-2005 at 10:23pm
Good to know. I'm buying my tomato plants this week. I've finally learned it doesn't pay to plant too early. Is it ok for basil now too?
Fern
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: May-24-2005 at 10:30pm
Also, I think I'm going to try Stupice tomatos this year. I thought of trying 'Fourth of July' too but I read one review that it didn't taste as good. I will plant 'Sweet 100' again even though it cracks. 'Sunsuger' was a good one last year too. Does anyone know of a really sweet cherry tomato like 'Sweet 100' that doesn't crack? 'Sweet Million' didn't have the sweet taste I like.
Fern
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: May-25-2005 at 12:37pm
Fern,
I don't know of a sweet cherry of your specs. Sun Gold is even sweeter but you must pick them just right or they split too (maybe worse than the 100's).
Juliet (1999 AAS) which is a plum-shaped cherry, has much less spliting but like a plum less juice too. Good flavor though. Tomato Growers describes it as:
Elongated cherry tomatoes grow in grape-like clusters and really load up on vigorous vines. The 1 ounce fruit has red, glossy skin and wonderful sweet flavor. As a bonus, the fruit is crack-resistant and holds on the vine better than most cherries. Expect high yields from plants that are tolerant to late blight and leaf spot. This variety is considered to be a "big sister" variety of Santa. Indeterminate. 60 days.
I have two friends that only grow it as their only red cherry for the flavor/unsplit benefits but you can't dismiss the 60 days/ blight tolerance in the Maritime PNW either. It is one of the last plants in my yard to succumb to fall.
If you can control the watering, reduce your irrigation at harvest time. The watering or rains like last Aug/Sep causes the fruit to grow faster than the skins. If you put a roof over the plants and drip irrigate, you can control this some and get more unsplit fruit.
I'll do a little research and see how much the comm'l guys reduce the watering before harvest and post it later.
Gary
cjmiller
Location: Oregon, Willamette Valley
Posted: May-26-2005 at 5:08pm
I tried the Jolly Elf pear tomato last year, and it seems to me that it was much less likly to split and the flavor was great. We had them on the vine until mid October and I am much more impressed with them that with Sweet 100 or 1,000,000 It is supposed to be determinate, but it didnt stop growing until it reached 6+ feet and filled up the 2'x2'x6' cage. I had so many, that I used them for juice when canning to big tomatoes.
I use those soaker hoses and in the raised bed, 4'by 4' by 40,either a 75 ft--a little short, or the 100 ft--variable water pressure from beginning to end--works quite well figuring on placing them 1 foot in on both long sides. In the larger beds, I place the hose first and plant along the downhill side, cover it with newspaper and straw and that gives adequate and practical coverage. I use this method, because I can do the whole thing by myself, and also, I can rotate the veggies as recommended, rather than changing tubing location and nipples.
Carol
Fern
Location: Washington, Western Cascade Foothills
Posted: May-26-2005 at 9:30pm
Thanks for the information. I am going to try the Juliet tomatos because late blight has been a real problem for me. I didn't find the Sungold tomato sweet enough for me but maybe I didn't let them ripen enough. I'm lucky to get any tomatos because my son eats them off of the plant so fast! I have a friend who is growing the 4th of July tomato so I can test hers. It's hard to control the watering too much because we often get rain [and I get busy] but I will try to reduce it at ripening.
Fern
gary
Location: Washington, Puget Sound Corridor
Posted: May-28-2005 at 1:57pm
CJ,
Though long term readers know that I am not a fan of "soakers", with a 100' soaker like you describe, I would supply water to an end of the bed and then install an 'old' (valves don't work anymore) y-spliter. A simple slice of a knife at the end of the soaker and the addition of 'male end' fitting will make your 100' soaker into a 'balloon' distribution system so that wherever in the hose there are still open pores left in your hose, the flow will (almost) be even throughout the 100'.
If it is "OLD" soaker, you can carry the balloon analogy farther by inserting pin holes near your plants.
Gary
Gardening for the Homebrewer: Grow and Process Plants for Making Beer, Wine, Gruit, Cider, Perry, and More
By co-authors Debbie Teashon (Rainy Side Gardeners) and Wendy Tweton