What's Growing in the Garden

[trc65]

Have you tried a Cosmic Crisp? That’s my favorite eating apple. Chuck

I haven't tried it, although everything I've read about it is good.

The problem is Cosmic Crisp was developed in Washington State with funds from their apple growers association with checkoff money. It is patented and sale is not permitted outside WA St.

I'm sure there are some trees out there where somebody snuck into an orchard and took cuttings for grafting, but no trees are for sale outside of WA. At some point in the future (hopefully before the patient expires), it will be released to the public.

The cultivar is a cross between Honeycrisp and Enterprise.

 

[SENC]

Have you tried a Cosmic Crisp? That’s my favorite eating apple. Chuck

My bride bought some the other day and they were excellent - but still love my honeycrisp!

 

[Nature Man]

My bride bought some the other day and they were excellent - but still love my honeycrisp!

I find both are delightful. The Cosmic Crisp skin is just slightly thicker (which is a slight negative), but I find the flavor a little more intensely sweet than the Honeycrisp. Can’t go wrong with either. Another we buy is the Envy. Lots of varieties! So many more than when we grew up! Chuck

 

[vegas urban lumber]

I'm sure there are some trees out there where somebody snuck into an orchard and took cuttings for grafting, but no trees are for sale outside of WA. At some point in the future (hopefully before the patient expires), it will be released to the public.

The cultivar is a cross between Honeycrisp and Enterprise.

not if modern medicine can help it

 

[trc65]

not if modern medicine can help it

Heck, I won't even claim auto correct, just plain old didn't proofread it first.....

 

[vegas urban lumber]

Heck, I won't even claim auto correct, just plain old didn't proofread it first.....

most of the time would have read right over it, without a thought. but this one jumped out at me for some reason

 

[Mr. Peet]

Heck, I won't even claim auto correct, just plain old didn't proofread it first.....

Well Tim, it made complete sense to me. Thought you were referring to yourself as a patient and being so as in a double entendre.

 

[trc65]

Well Tim, it made complete sense to me. Thought you were referring to yourself as a patient and being so as in a double entendre.

. That didn't even occur to me before your comment, but it made me smile. Unfortunately, I'm not quite that clever.....

If I do decide to plant one, the wait would be ~ 7-10 years. Looked it up and although the patent doesn't expire until 2032, the licensing agreement allows it to be sold outside WA as soon as 2028.

No way I'd pay the high cost of a tree the first year, but if I did, it would then be 4-7 years for a semi-dwarf to fruit.

 

[sprucegum]

Squash time, I've got a excellent crop of squash this year, buttercup, delacata and spaghetti. We have a pretty serious bear problem around here so I keep a electric fence around the garden but it's not always enough. A couple of years ago I left the squash a little too long and got lazy about keeping the fence working and it cost me every squash that was left. I did some sorting and cleaning in the shop to clear a couple of shelves for some temporary squash storage. It close to the garden and stays pretty cool this time of year. I'm planning to harvest them as they ripen, that way if the bears get in they won't get them all.

 

[vegas urban lumber]

Squash time, I've got a excellent crop of squash this year, buttercup, delacata and spaghetti. We have a pretty serious bear problem around here so I keep a electric fence around the garden but it's not always enough. A couple of years ago I left the squash a little too long and got lazy about keeping the fence working and it cost me every squash that was left. I did some sorting and cleaning in the shop to clear a couple of shelves for some temporary squash storage. It close to the garden and stays pretty cool this time of year. I'm planning to harvest them as they ripen, that way if the bears get in they won't get them all.


View attachment 278523

wood crop looks equally impressive

 

[sprucegum]

That's a problem, I've been using it for every imaginable project and putting stuff that I've been hoarding into the wood pile. It hardly makes a dent in it. I sold 700 feet of cherry last week for a pretty reasonable price because I don't need it and don't want to store it. At least vegetables are perishable

 

[DLJeffs]

Squash time, I've got a excellent crop of squash this year, buttercup, delacata and spaghetti. We have a pretty serious bear problem around here so I keep a electric fence around the garden but it's not always enough. A couple of years ago I left the squash a little too long and got lazy about keeping the fence working and it cost me every squash that was left. I did some sorting and cleaning in the shop to clear a couple of shelves for some temporary squash storage. It close to the garden and stays pretty cool this time of year. I'm planning to harvest them as they ripen, that way if the bears get in they won't get them all.


View attachment 278523

...unless they break into your shop. Bears are sneaky that way. We have our own little mystery going on here. My wife planted cone flowers out front and got a nice crop of them this year because we put up a wire fence that keeps the deer out. But the other day I noticed a half dozen stalks all cleanly cut down about 4 inches above grade. The fence is still in tact and that's too far for deer to reach (plus the cut is too clean, deer leave a shaggy, torn cut). The only thing we can think of is someone came by and snipped off a few flowers. Kind of rude.

 

[trc65]

@Nubsnstubs

Jerry, here are a few more pictures of the castor bean pods that we talked about earlier this year.

First, here are some that are still young and the spines are soft.



As they mature, they dry up and the spines harden.



Each pod will eventually split along the tan lines and the seeds are expelled with some force spreading them around. Three seeds per pod.



The dispersal works so well, that I haven't had to seed any plants for the last three years. They are all volunteers. The seeds survive as they have a very hard seed coat which needs some freezing to break it and allow moisture to enter. If you have seeds and want to germinate them, you have to file a groove in the coat, or like I do, pour boiling water over them and let them soak for a day or two.

 

[djg]

It looks like you should wait until frost to cut back asparagus. I want to spray weed killer around my plants and the tops get in the way. I still have the bottomless buckets around the plants so I would only be cutting them back to about 2 foot high. Will that hurt the plants?

 

[trc65]

Assume it is perennial weeds you are going after.

I would wait until frost. All the energy comes from the ferns and if you cut them off, it could result in yield loss next year. May also stimulate more growth and cause the roots to send out shoots now which will really cut next years yield and also risk surviving the winter if they are young plants.

With buckets around the plants, can you spray low enough to get the weeds without spraying the stems/ferns?

If it's just perennial weeds you are trying to kill, it might be worth it to spot spray, even if you damage the asparagus a little. BTW, you will damage asparagus with glyphosate (Roundup®), but is actually hard to completely kill healthy asparagus.

Another option with perennial weeds is to trim them down, wait a couple weeks for some regrowth and then hit them with glyphosate.

 

[daniscool]

Roundup is no longer using glyphosate to my knowledge. They apparently had problems with it causing non Hodgkin lymphoma. They now use 2,4D and 2,4,5T. Also many weeds had developed a glyphosate resistance. Feel free to fact-check this.

 

[trc65]

It is true that the name "Roundup" has shifted from being glyphosate only, to being used in the marketing of several different chemistries, usually mixed with glyphosate. However, there is still "Roundup" being sold that is glyphosate alone.

There are also many different companies selling glyphosate under a variety of names. Glyphosate came on the market in 1974 and has been off patent for a very long time.

There has been no study that has shown glyphosate causes non Hodgkin's Lymphoma in humans. The study that showed an increase of lymphoma in mice used 100% pure glyphosate directly applied to the mice. Studies that have been used to support lawsuits have all been statistical analysis of studies in mice using various models to try and extrapolate the results to humans. The U.S. EPA still maintains that there is no increased risk from glyphosate when used according to labeled directions.

I have been involved in research and use of glyphosate since the mid 1980's, and I have no reservations in using it.

2,4-D may be used in some mixes under the "Roundup" brand, but 2,4,5-T hasn't been on the market since 1985. Use of 2,4,5-T on most food crops was banned in the early 1970's, but some registrations remained for non crop uses until 1985.

There are a significant number of weeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate, but it still remains a valuable tool for many crop uses either alone, or in mixes with other chemistries.

And just so nobody thinks I'm a chemical "whore" (joke name used amongst researchers), I have never worked for any chemical company marketing glyphosate.

 

[Mr. Peet]

Roundup is no longer using glyphosate to my knowledge. They apparently had problems with it causing non Hodgkin lymphoma. They now use 2,4D and 2,4,5T. Also many weeds had developed a glyphosate resistance. Feel free to fact-check this.

Many European countries have banned glyphosate and have stated links to such health issues. Similar to food dyes. Here in the US, money precedes health and safety, so it often takes longer to link and back correlations. Some of the bans were just being pulled from private availability, and remained available to commercial and trained / certified users. Here in PA, Round-up has different color caps to indicate the different active ingredients. Can only assume that applies elsewhere.

 

[daniscool]

It is true that the name "Roundup" has shifted from being glyphosate only, to being used in the marketing of several different chemistries, usually mixed with glyphosate. However, there is still "Roundup" being sold that is glyphosate alone.

There are also many different companies selling glyphosate under a variety of names. Glyphosate came on the market in 1974 and has been off patent for a very long time.

There has been no study that has shown glyphosate causes non Hodgkin's Lymphoma in humans. The study that showed an increase of lymphoma in mice used 100% pure glyphosate directly applied to the mice. Studies that have been used to support lawsuits have all been statistical analysis of studies in mice using various models to try and extrapolate the results to humans. The U.S. EPA still maintains that there is no increased risk from glyphosate when used according to labeled directions.

I have been involved in research and use of glyphosate since the mid 1980's, and I have no reservations in using it.

2,4-D may be used in some mixes under the "Roundup" brand, but 2,4,5-T hasn't been on the market since 1985. Use of 2,4,5-T on most food crops was banned in the early 1970's, but some registrations remained for non crop uses until 1985.

There are a significant number of weeds that have developed resistance to glyphosate, but it still remains a valuable tool for many crop uses either alone, or in mixes with other chemistries.

And just so nobody thinks I'm a chemical "whore" (joke name used amongst researchers), I have never worked for any chemical company marketing glyphosate.

I didn't know that they stopped using 2,4,5-T but to my understanding, in the early 20th century someone invented 2,4-D and bigger companies like Monsanto jumped on it and started making money. Soon after that 2,4,5-t was invented and made too. After a chemical plant accident many workers had extreme dermatitic reactions and the research started. In the Vietnam war, Agent Orange (50% 2,4-D and 50% 2,4,5-T) was used to clear the Vietnamese rainforest and the Natives got the same dermatitic reactions. People found that there were trace amounts of dioxin in the mixture and got annoyed so Monsanto invented glyphosate. While the americans still use glyphosate the europeans have banned it due to possible causation of non hogdkin lymphona. Now people use 2,4-D instead (even if it only works on broadleaved weeds).

 

[djg]

Assume it is perennial weeds you are going after.

I would wait until frost. All the energy comes from the ferns and if you cut them off, it could result in yield loss next year. May also stimulate more growth and cause the roots to send out shoots now which will really cut next years yield and also risk surviving the winter if they are young plants.

With buckets around the plants, can you spray low enough to get the weeds without spraying the stems/ferns?

If it's just perennial weeds you are trying to kill, it might be worth it to spot spray, even if you damage the asparagus a little. BTW, you will damage asparagus with glyphosate (Roundup®), but is actually hard to completely kill healthy asparagus.

Another option with perennial weeds is to trim them down, wait a couple weeks for some regrowth and then hit them with glyphosate.

I'm ashamed to say I still haven't backfilled my trenches after this Spring's planting. I've weed whipped the weeds a couple of times, but then rain came and delayed backfilling.

Now, during this dry spell, I want to cut all the weeds again, spray with glyphosate, and then back fill. The tops of the asparagus are hanging over a bit, so I'll loosely tie up out of the way, as you suggest, and then spray. As I back fill, I'll pull the buckets, which was acting as soil dikes, up to the surface and leave them there for deer protection of the new Spring sprouts.

I don't know what kind of weeds, I just want them gone, hence the spray.