Posted on 04/25/2014 12:24:10 PM PDT by greeneyes
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I am North of you , and the forsythia are just starting to budd out !
Yes , the aerobic and anaerobic activity of a compost will increase with the increase in heat
Since it is unseasonbly cool here , have you considered a 'partial cold frame' for part your raised beds as a future warm weather plant starter ?
It might give your warm weather crops (tomatoes / peppers/melons/ eggplant/ etc.)a head start and help harden them off..
No sense in wasting part of the growing season just because the weather isn't cooperating !! Just asking .. ?
Well, you have left me with quite the puzzle! Here is the packet of seeds I bought:
http://www.lakevalleyseed.com/Squash_Cucuzzi_p/625.htm
The front of the packet is exactly the same as this picture. However, online the “Botanic Name” is Cucurbita pepo. The botanic name on the back of my package is “cucurbita maxima”. The description online and packet is the same: “This unusual Italian heirloom is in a class by itself. At maturity, it grows into a long hard-shelled gourd on a long trailing vine. Normally harvested when 8-12” long, it is used like regular summer squash. Enjoy baked, grilled, raw, frozen and pickled.”
The picture on the front does not look like either cucurbita maxima or pepo, at least not what I could Bing. It does look like the Lagenaria siceraria.
So what do I have? The Botanic Name on the online packet doesn’t match the one on my actual seed packet. The picture doesn’t match either the online botanic name (cucurbita pepo) or the botanic name on my package (cucurbita maxima).
If the darn thing would germinate and grow, I’d eventually find out!
I pulled in some plants too, and put some pots under the patio table, since they have enough water and drain kinda slow.
Amazing how some cling to life. Less than 3 feet tall and hanging in there for 40 years.
We are now in the tornado watch till 2 am. So far all the bad weather, wind, hail etc have hit north or south of us.
How are you all? Any of you in the storm warning areas? Hoping we don’t have any more damage anywhere overnight. Enough already.
I considered heating some water on the stove, but decided I wanted to see how tough I could be. Plus I didn’t want to excavate the kitchen to try to find the pitcher that would be just right for the purpose. LOL!
LOL. I have no curiosity regarding toughness. I will be tough when I need to be, till then I’ll take all the pampering I can manage to create.
Hope everyone is okay, and no wind, hail, flooding, or worse is visiting you.
Big rains bounced the Lake. I saw someone’s black floatation box sail out of our cove at about 7 this morning. Maybe someone will swim out and get it.
They sell for about $200 !
I have cucuzza seed, too. The first six I scarified the seed, and soaked it for 30 hours-so far nada. The next batch, I soaked for 72 hours-so far nada.
Meanwhile, the Trombonicino squash I planted at the same time are already out in their pemanent home.
Thoughts and Prayers out to anyone affected by the nasty storms & tornadoes. Very scary!
Apologies for not directly answering all of the replies to my composting question. We had a busy weekend with a birthday party for grandson #3 here at the house.
Really appreciate all of the answers and advice. I do think it might be a little too cold for good composting action. I don’t have a way to take the temperature, but noticed it was just slightly warm when opening the cover.. We have had a few very sunny, warm days but then it’s down to the 40’s at night. Also could use some good soaking rain.
I have thought about doing some sort of cold frame or coverings for the raised beds. We are going to have to rebuild them and I would really like to add hoops for at least one. As it is, I think we’ll have to “cheat” a bit this year and buy some established plants, rather than starting from seeds, at least for tomatoes and peppers. I am getting ready to put out the first round of lettuce seeds and probably carrots and radishes too. Have to see what other seeds I have floating about here, we renovated & combined 2 households and lots of things were shuffled in the ensuing chaos.
Thanks again!
All good here! Just lots of wind and rain. Had some spin going on close to here but it did not touch down in our area.
Good to here it. We just got more rain, nothing too bad before I went to sleep at about 3 am.
I only soaked mine for 12 hours (slightly warm water to start). They went from floating to not floating so I figured they’d soaked long enough. I think I’ll try again and soak them longer and maybe I’ll get lucky.
A blog described Tromboncino as “seriously Jack and the Beanstalk” big .... I laughed when I read it, but the two in cups are looking as if they’d like to start climbing if something was available. I’ll probably put them out in the garden next weekend.
No damage here. Lots of rain and wind, little bit of hail, but not very big or very much of it.
Hauled a nice sack of morels out of the river bottoms at Eagle Bluffs yesterday. If I can get across the creek this evening I bet there are more to be found at my place.
here it = hear it
We got about a half inch of rain here. Glad to hear that you didn’t get any of the really nasty stuff.
In the fall, some of the best shellbark hickory nuts literally rained down on the 11 thousand acres of soggy bottom land and folks who brought bushel baskets were rewarded with nature's best wild nutmeats.
I put up hay for $1/hour and never worked as hard in my young life on this land. Several relatives raised beef and corn here, now under 80 feet of water.
In about 1968, President Nixon flew in to dedicate the dam. The hickories had all been cut and burned, a couple of small cemeteries had been dug up and moved and the Chariton was locked behind a rolled earth dam under the direction of the Corps of Engineers...
I’m quite familiar with that part of Iowa. In my younger days I spent many a Saturday night at the dirt track in Knoxville.
I'VE GOT TOMATO BLOOMS! Every morning is a surprise in the garden. Cosmonaut Volkoy has a bloom and more to open. Fourth of July tomato has a bloom. I tied all four plants in those two big containers, to the lattice in back of the containers.
Tobacco leaves grow a lot every night. More blooms on tall Homemade Pickle Cucumber, more blooms on small National Pickling Cucumbers.
I don't like the Saint Anne's Slow Bolting lettuce. Maybe I'll like it better when the leaves grow more. It's leaf lettuce and I wanted a lettuce more like a head. The EZ Serve lettuce was exactly what I wanted, small heads, and that's the tape that did nothing. I have failed at lettuce.
sockmonkey, I have a row cover that is thicker than the gauze type and I want more of that kind. I'm thinking of hail and how to minimize damage. That thicker cloth would be good for that but don't have enough of it. I looked at Planket like you have. Is it thick enough to help prevent damage? I'm reading customer comments on it and it looks like it is thicker than the gauze stuff. What is your experience with it? There is a choice there for 10 feet by 20 feet. What dimension do you have?
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