Today, I repotted my ginger. Some of the pieces were moldy (about a third of them), and the healthy stalks have been flopping over as they are now too tall to be supported in a seed flat. The two tallest stalks are now three and a half feet tall! I replanted the healthy pieces that had shoots or roots into a 12 inch-wide shallow plant container. I will need to keep the planter indoors for a few more weeks, at least during the night.
Today, I started my cucumbers, squash and cucamelons: four slicing cucumbers, six pickling cucumbers, two zucchini, three butternut, three delicata squash, and a six-pack of cucamelons. I always plant two seeds per cell (except for the zucchini), and thin them after germination to leave the strongest one. I won’t need as many seedlings as I started, and I plan to give away any extras.
Over the past few years, I have been battling fungal diseases in my garden plot, specifically mildew with the cucumbers and zucchini. The cucumbers in particular have been succumbing early in the summer to disease. So, over the winter, I did some research on disease-resistant varieties and decided to only plant mildew-resistant curcubites this year. By selecting resistant varieties, I hope to extend the harvesting season. For slicing cucumbers, I went with Diva; for pickling cucumbers with Max Pack. Both are resistant to downy mildew and powdery mildew. For Zucchini, I went with Costata Romanesca, a striped Italian heirloom that is resistant to powdery mildew. For winter squash, I opted for Waldo butternut and Bush Delicata, both resistant to powdery mildew.
I also looked into the tomatoes I am planting this season. Three of the eight varieties that will go in my plot are resistant to several diseases: Stupice (late blight), Black Krim (unspecified “disease resistance”), Green Zebra (late blight, Septoria leaf spot). So is Mountain Magic, a cherry tomato I am growing for the communal bed, which is resistant to early and late blight as well as several types of fusarium wilt and other fungal diseases.
This morning, I spent a couple of hours in the garden weeding, spreading compost and replacing the hay in my plot. It is now ready for planting. For the first time in years, I have not been planting peas, which I would have done mid to late March. The last couple of years were just demoralizing with the birds getting all the peas in the end. And I don’t feel like dealing with bird netting. I might transplant my lettuce seedlings tomorrow (they have been hardening on the porch for a few days), which would be a good time as rain is in the forecast for the day after. So, currently, I have garlic, rhubarb and strawberries coming in, and a lot of calendulas, which self-sowed from last year (they can be seen right behind the timber border to the left). I will thin them once they are a little bigger and plant them in different spots around the plot and also outside the community garden.
On this sunny and warm Saturday afternoon, I repotted all my 24 tomato plants. I had started them on March 16, and they definitely had outgrown their little cells. Here again are the varieties: I have two each of Scotia (E), Stupice (E), Green Zebra (M), Ailsa Craig (M), Brimmer Pink* (M), Ananas Noire (L), Black Krim (L) and Dr. Wyche’s Yellow (L) plus 4 each of Mountain Magic (M) and Peacevine Cherry tomatoes (M) [E=early, M=mid-season, L=late tomato]. The 8 cherry tomato plants will go in the communal bed outside the community garden for the whole neighborhood to enjoy.
* One of the Brimmer Pink plants is a different variety (the one seen to the right in the front row) as it is a potato leaf-type, and Brimmer Pink has “regular” tomato leaves. We shall see the mystery unfold.
