My Edible Garden

I've been gardening for most of my life and have been a devoted fan of organic gardening the whole time. It just makes so much more sense to work in harmony with Mother Nature than to fight her. Besides which it is better for the planet and better for our bodies. Here you can see what I'm planting and harvesting, with gardening hints and resources thrown in for good measure.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Squash and other happenings

Tromboncino

Well the Tromboncino squash continue to amaze me. Not only are the squash huge, so are the vines, easily running 30+ feet. The only other thing here that is that big is the Spaghetti Squash.















Squash and morning glory head for the roof
It is getting harder and harder to get the tangle of vines pushed up out of the way to open the greenhouse door. Now some Heavenly Blue Morning glories have joined the fray. I love the blue morning glory flowers with the yellow squash blossoms!






more Tromboncino

I only planted two Tromboncino in the greenhouse bed. So far I have counted 16 maturing squash on the two vines, not including what I have picked as young green squash. And I haven't climbed up on the roof in awhile to see what's up there!














Northern New Mexico Melon

I am pretty sure now that the melons in the greenhouse bed are Northern New Mexico, which I first obtained from Bountiful Gardens. (I didn't see it in their catalog when I looked right now though) This is an heirloom from Northern New Mexico, as the name suggests. The first melon from this vine weighed in at 11 POUNDS and can be seen here. The next couple of melons split and rotted after a long dry spell  was followed by a lot of rain. I'm hoping that this one makes it, even if it doesn't get as big as the first one.






purple bean, Trionfo Violetto






The first Trionfo Violetto, an Italian snap bean are showing.












With some rain, humidity and warm days combined to give the squash mildew. Since we are nearing the end of the season I've not done anything about it, as I need the space for some fall and winter crops. If it was earlier in the summer I might have tried spraying milk or compost tea on them, suggested organic remedies to keep it at bay.

So far the worst case is the spaghetti squash, followed by the Italian Rond de Nice and the yellow Zuchinni. At the moment I don't see any on the Tromboncino or the Buttercups.

10 comments:

  1. Your squash is really amazing. All my squashes have succumbed to bugs and mildew.

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    1. well for next year, I know that they are saying to spray with milk for the mildew. Many gardeners with squash bugs and vine borers keep the plants covered with netting until they have to uncover to allow pollination. Also if you have a long season you could try planting several different times so you always have younger stronger plants coming along.

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  2. Wow! Guess I had better not try growing that squash! We would have to move out! The flowers and squash blossoms together are pretty. Are you a Master Gardener? Nancy

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    1. Thanks Nancy. No I'm not a Master Gardener. I considered taking the course recently, more to say that I am. But on reflection decided that there was no reason to spend almost $200 to learn a bunch of stuff I already know. Besides, when it comes to some things, especially organics I probably know more than what the course teaches. The only things in the course that I don't know that much about are diseases and bugs, which I just Google and deal with when they show up and Chemicals. Which I refuse to use on my garden. So I decided the money and time would be better spent elsewhere. If I was a brand new gardener it would be a different story, but I have been an organic gardener since I was 10 years old, some 43 years now. I have, literally, 100s of gardening, livestock and homesteading books, all of which I have read more than once. Some of these are far off the mainstream gardener's radar, like the Western Fertilizer Handbook and Knott's Vegetable Growers Guide, two books written for commercial operators.

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    2. I guess I would want to take it just for the title too but thought it would be a nice way to meet other gardeners. I probably never will sign up! lol You are right about having books, the internet and library to get the info we want and of course other bloggers that share! Thanks. Nancy

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  3. Your plants look so healthy. That squash you're growing is very exotic. I wonder how it tastes?

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    1. As a tender young squash, up to about 24" even bigger, as long as you can poke it with your fingernail, very much like a patty pan. It has the nice firm flesh of patty pans and is not watery like zuchinni. I haven't tasted it yet as a fully matured winter squash, but I'll let you know! I'm thinking tho that it might be a lot like butternut.

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  4. This Tromboncino squash looks interesting... would like to try growing someday...

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  5. Those Tromboncino squash are just amazing. Do they taste good?

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    1. Oops, I see you already answered a querry about taste...

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