Hey Fellow Floridians - Year 2

[Fiishergurl]

Larry when dobyou plant beans for speing and what kind? We have a fence I want to plant some pole beans on.

Ginny

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[Zone9b]

[QUOTE=Fiishergurl;618562]Larry when dobyou plant beans for speing and what kind? We have a fence I want to plant some pole beans on.

Ginny,
In the Spring I plant in the last week of February up until mid March. I suspect one could plant later than this also but I haven’t tried. I have tried planting earlier but with pole beans all my beans resulted at the top of the poles.
For some reason my bean results are not as good as they used to be and I don’t really know why.
For bush snap beans I will be planting Pike and Cassidy. I haven’t grown either before but they appear to have done very well in trials.
For pole beans I’ve tried a lot of different varieties and the only one that still does reasonably well for me is Rattlesnake. Rattlesnake is an old time bean and has strings but the taste is good, it is a vigorous grower and is quite tolerant of heat. So for the first time I will probably be growing only Rattlesnake as a pole bean.
In the summer I look forward to trying Mississippi Silver Cowpeas. I liked Pink Eye Purple Hull a lot and hope to like Mississippi Silver even more.
Larry

[Barb_FL]

Larry - How do you blanche/freeze broccoli? I'm at that point where it is more than we can eat. To date, I've given 3 heads away but learned that one wasn't eaten in time so totally wasted.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Larry - How do you blanche/freeze broccoli? I'm at that point where it is more than we can eat. To date, I've given 3 heads away but learned that one wasn't eaten in time so totally wasted.

Barb,
Sorry for taking so long to respond.
If I google Blanching and Freezing Broccoli the following pops up –
“Remove leaves and woody portions. Separate heads into convenient-size sections and immerse in brine (4 teaspoons salt to 1 gallon water) for 30 minutes to remove insects. Split lengthwise so flowerets are no more than 1 1/2 inches across. Waterblanch 3 minutes in boiling water or steam blanch 5 minutes.”

This is essentially what I do with the boiling water blanch. I don’t actually soak mine first, I just wash them thoroughly under the sink faucet. But I almost never see any insects in my Broccoli, however, I do, on rare occasion, see a worm. I’m guessing this is a cabbage worm, but I just dispose of it and continue on. I try not to overdo the boiling in terms of time because when I cook and eat them, I don’t want them to be all soft and mushy. Also, I cut a lot of stem with the head and if I have enough stems to blanch and freeze, I do them separate from the florets because they seem to require a bit of extra boiling time.
If I don’t have enough stems to blanch I put them in them the refrigerator and cook them as needed and for a Broccoli eater like me that’s not very long. I actually like the stems better than florets. I like the extra firmness of the stems as opposed to the florets.
When I get the Broccoli out of the hot water I cool the Broccoli as quick as I can, put it in pint zip lock freezer bags, remove excess air from the bags and place them in the freezer.

I’ll bore you once again with another Castle Dome Broccoli story. Castle Dome is often said to not produce side shoots. However, as I have said before, it does produce additional heads after the first head is cut. The pictures below are from a single Broccoli plant that I originally harvested approximately 5 weeks ago. Now the plant has produced 3 additional heads. The first picture is of the largest of the three heads and was 6 ½” in diameter and 15.70 ounces. The second picture shows 2 more heads which at this point are 5” and 2” in diameter. This plant was originally harvested 3” above the soil. While I am not totally sure, it appears when harvesting the original head it is best to cut the stem fairly close to the soil, this seems to force the plant into an attempt to reestablish itself, thus producing additional stems and heads.
Possibly many Broccoli varieties are capable of doing the same. I’m tempted to grow a small amount of Coronado Crown plants next season to see if it does essentially the same thing. Others say Coronado Crown is a great variety anyway.
Larry

[Barb_FL]

Thanks Larry,

I ended up doing the steam blanch / ice bath, dry, then freeze in gallon bags as airtight as I could using the water disperse method. I don't find bugs in mine either so skipped the first step altogether. I used weed barrier so that kept the plants a lot cleaner too.

I planted the last of my seedlings today, so will go for side shoots rather than pull out when I harvested. Like the coming of an era, but I waited too long to sow seeds. I will have a better idea for next fall.

One plant I previously left intact because it had another entire plant growing out of it; I think it should make another head. The original area already made side shoots - 3" size.


Do you ever foliar feed? I've done it 3 times now and it really did seem to speed up the process.

I'm not sure Coronado Crown seeds are sold anymore.

[maxjohnson]

Is going to pour tomorrow so I harvested some of the earliest ripe ones.

The oranges are Jaune Flamme, this is the earliest producing non-cherry I've grown and one of the best tasting tomato I've ever eaten. I'm surely growing it ever year. Very good after taste.

The single blue one is Cosmic Eclipse. I can't agree with Baker Creek reviews saying it don't taste good, because it's excellent, though a different, strong umami taste. It seems the key is to let them ripen well, but it's also a fine line before they get too soft. The production is on the low side however, but the fruits are gorgeous.

I thought the striped pink cherry ones was something special I discovered, but soon realized is just a strayed Pink Bumble Bee seed, which is a let down. Though I'm curious since it came from a Solar Flare package, the plant growth habit is really strange though, so I will have to buy some PBB seeds and do a side by side comparison. It is a keeper as well since it's the prettiest tomato I've ever seen, it's large for a cherry, and cracks free (which is a PBB trait), though not as good tasting as Black Cherry (sorry, nothing beat BC for me).

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by maxjohnson

Is going to pour tomorrow so I harvested some of the earliest ripe ones.

The oranges are Jaune Flamme, this is the earliest producing non-cherry I've grown and one of the best tasting tomato I've ever eaten. I'm surely growing it ever year. Very good after taste.

The single blue one is Cosmic Eclipse. I can't agree with Baker Creek reviews saying it don't taste good, because it's excellent, though a different, strong umami taste. It seems the key is to let them ripen well, but it's also a fine line before they get too soft. The production is on the low side however, but the fruits are gorgeous.

I thought the striped pink cherry ones was something special I discovered, but soon realized is just a strayed Pink Bumble Bee seed, which is a let down. Though I'm curious since it came from a Solar Flare package, the plant growth habit is really strange though, so I will have to buy some PBB seeds and do a side by side comparison. It is a keeper as well since it's the prettiest tomato I've ever seen, it's large for a cherry, and cracks free (which is a PBB trait), though not as good tasting as Black Cherry (sorry, nothing beat BC for me).

Max, have you tried Ron's Carbon Copy? I agree about BC. They are staple in my garden. RCC were super tasty as well, just smaller size berries but super productive and beautiful.
Glad you getting your tomatoes ripened. Enjoy.

[Zone9b]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Do you ever foliar feed? I've done it 3 times now and it really did seem to speed up the process.

The closest thing I've come to Foliar feeding is spraying Fish Emulsion around. I'm curious what you're spraying and how. Also, how does it seem to help?
I'm starting the process of planting Snap Beans. I'm in hopes of growing a lot of beans.
I can't live on Broccoli alone.
Larry

[Barb_FL]

It's pouring here too. We really need the rain; last rain was 2 weeks ago and before that it was the hurricane in October.

The birds have been relentless with pecking at the ripe fruit. I'm trying to pick before really ripe. Sometimes, I wait 1 day too late and then pecked.

Meanwhile, I have had HUGE Kelloggs Breakfast tomatoes; one plant was a cutting too.

Those Pink BBs are beautiful. I'm growing purple BB but they didn't get rave reviews in General Discussion.

Also, I had a stray seed come up in the momotaro plant; I have no idea what it is. It is a big brown cherry and sweet but not too sweet. It is definitely not Brandywhine Cherry Dark. I never grew Black Cherry in that area and grew RCC over 2 years ago. Black Cherry was even before that time.
It also isn't prone to splitting.

---
For new varieties this spring, I'm growing AKMARK's Matsu Express - lots of fruit set,
Red Jazz - one plant has ripe fruit (unfortunately pecked at), Chocolate Champion (dwarf), Esterina (it's a beautiful plant), Crnkovic Yugoslavian, Lizanno F2s (I see no difference in plant habit/fruit size, etc), Beauty King Dwarf, once again trying Sweet Scarlet - of course no fruit set yet.

Actually, I ended up pulling most of my summer plants to get the cages and get a handle on the russet mites. The few plants that I totally cut back and removed the leaves are doing unbelievable. One is an Aussie paired with Big Beef. The Aussie has more fruit set this time than in the fall.

Ginny - I am doing the experiment with Crnkovic Yugoslavian - seeds from Ricky Shaw. However, I had a bad Russet Mite problem so gave up on 6 plants together and staking is always a problem. I ended up planting 4 in a big Root Pouch and used one of my new big cages (which I love).

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Zone9b

The closest thing I've come to Foliar feeding is spraying Fish Emulsion around. I'm curious what you're spraying and how. Also, how does it seem to help?
I'm starting the process of planting Snap Beans. I'm in hopes of growing a lot of beans.
I can't live on Broccoli alone.
Larry

The first 2 times I used: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

which was NOT stinky. The last time I used Alaska Fish Fertilizer; it was so stinky I hated putting it in my bottle.

I also have a gallon of Kelp4Less that really stinks too. (different from the fishy stink of the Alaska product).

I'm trying to use up all my fertilizers that I bought.

[Fiishergurl]

It's not pouring here yet but hopefully soon. We need it so bad. Here is a picture of a nearby marsh that is normally wet year round that has hundreds or more acres that look like this. I took the below picture yesterday. So sad.



It's shrimping season here which has to be done after dark so we've been busy. We share shrimp that we dip with our neighbors that cant go get them.

Below I layed some shrimp out so the size would show. They are delicious and it's fun to catch our own and also a workout!


My fall plants are still producing like crazy. I have never had fall plants live this long as usually the leaf diseases take them out by sometime in January. But they have very little disease this year and still pumping out the tomatoes so far. I cut them back every 2 weeks and they grow back so fast. Feeding them each 3 to 4 tablespoons of TTF a day. They love it. Spring plants are growing well also. We give most of the tomatoes away.





Barb, sorry to hear about the mites. Thanks again for running the trials... :-)

Hoping everyone's spring season goes well.. :-)

Ginny


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[efisakov]

Larry, sorry to hear about the stink with fish emulsion. We use parts of raw fish buried about a foot dip and they do not stink at all.

Ginny, nice shrimps. Any leftover scraps are great for your tomatoes as well. Nice display of tomatoes. Yam.

Barb, sorry about mites. I hate them. I get them every year and it is an ongoing battle with them.
I get that you did not taste the purple BB yet. I like to know your opinion. I got seeds from Tania, they are from 2013 seed source. Will try to grow them in container this year along with Ron's CC, Black Cherry, Fuzzy Wuzzy, Matina and Blush for comparison.

[Barb_FL]

Ginny - other than the extreme drought, your other pictures are lovely.

When you get a chance, can you post a picture of what your mature producing plants look like when they are cut back?

RE: Russet Mites - I may have had them other years also; It was most obvious starting with the Dwarf tomatoes with the rugose leaves. They were beautiful looking plants until one day they weren't, stopped setting fruit, and leaves got all crunchy.

This is the scope I bought (uses 1 AA battery) and is even cheaper now ($10.39) than when I bought it for $12.99

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...detailpages00?

All my spring seedlings got larvae too; and even recently when I trim back leaves, I'm still finding mite larvae.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by efisakov

....
I get that you did not taste the purple BB yet. I like to know your opinion. I got seeds from Tania, they are from 2013 seed source. Will try to grow them in container this year along with Ron's CC, Black Cherry, Fuzzy Wuzzy, Matina and Blush for comparison.

I bought Purple BB seeds from Bakers a few years back; thought I should finally get around to growing it.
Just checked - Matina sounds really good; keep us posted when you eat one.

So what else are you growing? Did you scrap the idea of growing less tomatoes?

I definitely want to grow less tomatoes next fall. I currently have left over cages, so spring # is less than fall.

Feeding them with Masterblend is so time consuming but I'm hooked on using it too.
So the only way to get around it, is to grow less.

[efisakov]

Before feeding my tomato plants with fish scraps, production was much much lower. And last few years I probably gave away more than what we consumed. We want to try other plants as well. This year you and Ginny had enabled me to try few peppers: 9 varieties to be exact. I have to find space for them. So, yes it will be less tomatoes in the ground. I will be trying to grow about 1/3 of my tomatoes in containers. Same for peppers: some in containers and some in the ground. I seeded red sweet onions that will be transplanted later in the spring. Experimenting with them. Never grew onions for bulbs. Scallions we have grown for many years. But that is different.
How did the 45-days cucumbers do for you? They suppose to be none bitter once.

P.S. I grew Matina probably in 2010 or so. It is large plant with huge Potato leaves. They are not just of the potato leaf shape, they are wide and long. One that covers your palm. The fruit tasted good. Produced pretty good as well. The size was bigger than cherry but still can be used for snacking. Black cherry had superior taste (was sweeter) and I had much less space than now, so BC took it place. Few times I wonted to grow it again but something else was new and interesting and it had to wait. This year I am growing it.