Martian Deathray Explained and other oddities
22 Jul 2017 12:16 am![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ursulas_alcoveI spent the morning harvesting. I started with the potato onions. They are called potato onions because they grow in clumps like potatoes. Supposedly they are the oldest known breed of cultivated onion, going back several thousand years. The ones I planted in the Kuiper Belt were very small. The soil back there needs work. Probably more water and sun as well. The mulberry tree needs some trimming back to allow more light in.
Then on to the front yard to examine the potato bed. What were thought to be a late season German Butterball potato turned out to be Austrian Crescents, which are an early potato. Yes, they need to be dug up. No the soil isn't loose. These guys ended up turning green from exposure to the sun, rendering them toxic for human consumption. I will use them as seed potatoes for next year. I thought some of the carrots might be ready as well. No. They were wide but only an inch long. I got the back portion of the bed done. The sun got too hot to do more and the honeybees arrived to do their work.
More onions were planted in the next bed. They were laying on top of the soil, begging to come in from the sun. I planted both potato onions as well as yellow rock onions. The yellow rock onions went to seed. I wasn't happy about that. They were supposed to be regular cooking onions. I may have harvested two onions out of the couple pounds I purchased. All the rest were potato onions. Mostly in clumps of three. Usually they are in 5 or 7. The better quality soil and direct sunlight gave me a usable size. Still somewhat small compared to store-bought onions.
Green beans were from a very old seed packet from Ferry Morse. They were not an heirloom. Called yard long beans, this is my second year growing them. 2002 seed germinated last year giving me a basis to continue. They are hanging out in Middle Earth with the raspberry bushes. There are not many, maybee three plants. They seem to be growing fine. They like the trellis. The Purple Queen beans are growing in the SE mandala with the rhubarb. They are a small bush bean.The rhubarb had fresh, young and tender shoots which I also picked.
With the potatoes already dug up, I headed to the backyard where I had planted the rest of the Austrian Crescent potatoes. Sad, isn't it?
After some digging, I determined the top soil to be dry and hot. An inch down was pure wet clay. The potatoes had been steamed by the water and hot sun. They were very squishy. This was my Martian death ray. It is turning the squash plants yellow. Too much water in the clay. Next round it will get a mixing of sand and compost to loosen it up. Or else I'm just going to dig up the clay and starts working cob.
Then on to the front yard to examine the potato bed. What were thought to be a late season German Butterball potato turned out to be Austrian Crescents, which are an early potato. Yes, they need to be dug up. No the soil isn't loose. These guys ended up turning green from exposure to the sun, rendering them toxic for human consumption. I will use them as seed potatoes for next year. I thought some of the carrots might be ready as well. No. They were wide but only an inch long. I got the back portion of the bed done. The sun got too hot to do more and the honeybees arrived to do their work.
More onions were planted in the next bed. They were laying on top of the soil, begging to come in from the sun. I planted both potato onions as well as yellow rock onions. The yellow rock onions went to seed. I wasn't happy about that. They were supposed to be regular cooking onions. I may have harvested two onions out of the couple pounds I purchased. All the rest were potato onions. Mostly in clumps of three. Usually they are in 5 or 7. The better quality soil and direct sunlight gave me a usable size. Still somewhat small compared to store-bought onions.
Green beans were from a very old seed packet from Ferry Morse. They were not an heirloom. Called yard long beans, this is my second year growing them. 2002 seed germinated last year giving me a basis to continue. They are hanging out in Middle Earth with the raspberry bushes. There are not many, maybee three plants. They seem to be growing fine. They like the trellis. The Purple Queen beans are growing in the SE mandala with the rhubarb. They are a small bush bean.The rhubarb had fresh, young and tender shoots which I also picked.
With the potatoes already dug up, I headed to the backyard where I had planted the rest of the Austrian Crescent potatoes. Sad, isn't it?
After some digging, I determined the top soil to be dry and hot. An inch down was pure wet clay. The potatoes had been steamed by the water and hot sun. They were very squishy. This was my Martian death ray. It is turning the squash plants yellow. Too much water in the clay. Next round it will get a mixing of sand and compost to loosen it up. Or else I'm just going to dig up the clay and starts working cob.
