Passionate for Melons!

"When one has tasted watermelon he knows what the angels eat," stated by Mark Twain.  

Well, personally I think that Mark was on to something.  Only present day, it should be when one has tasted a homegrown melon.  We're almost born to prefer sweet and nothing beats the joyful experience of cutting into a melon that will have your taste buds doing a happy dance.  Mark's right, it's almost inspirational.  Much like the difference between store bought tomatoes and homegrown ones, melons are quite the same.  Tasting them at their peak, with full ripeness from the vine, is incomparable to anything available commercially.

Sugar Baby Watermelon Vine
10.2 Brix 

The biggest downside to growing melons was often thought to be space constraints. However, with new ideas of trellising the melons up, it now seems to be the decision of choosing which varieties to try.

Good melons to grow are often determined by their sugar content.  Brix ratings or values are an estimate of the sugar to liquid ratio or sweetness of the melon.  Hence, the higher the Brix number, the sweeter the melon.  According to one of my heirloom references, "melons FOR THE PASSIONATE GROWER," the author states that growing anything with a Brix value of 10 or greater, signals an excellent choice for sweetness.  I love this guide from Amy Goldman as it depicts one hundred heirloom melons of all different colors, flavors, textures, and types.  A new project will be to track down seed for growing, in order to experience the nuances of each variety.  How fun!  I've been doing something similar with tomatoes as a hobby and it has been very rewarding.  

Korean Ginkaku F1 Hybrid Melon, white
flesh inside tastes somewhat like a
pear and is remarkably sweet.
Brix rating is often 15 - 16!

Shirley Cole is growing Georgia Rattlesnake over in the accessible bed area, an heirloom dating back to the 1870's that made Georgia famous.  According to the book, it has a Brix of 10+.  This year, I'm excited to try Scaly Bark at the house.  It is also an heirloom from that same period out of Atlanta.  The rind looks like the molted bark of a tree and being so unique in appearance, it has definitely caught my eye.

I thought you might enjoy the link below for an easy on-line resource, as several of these varieties are currently available at the local retailers and we are well within the window for planting.  The index from the Vegetable Research and Extension Center, through Washington State University, shows the Brix rating for many of the choices.  They do show a different guideline than the melon book sited above, but it too looks to be very good advice.

There is also a link below to Ohio State University's Extension Center (Go Bucks!), for those who would enjoy reading about how they use Brix as an indicator of quality in produce.  I have a refractometer (fun toy) if we want to play in the garden when our crops start producing or learn how to tweak the soil for more flavorable produce.

                                                                        Links:

http://agsyst.wsu.edu/watermelonphotos.html - link to the Vegetable Research and Extension Center's Brix chart for watermelons through WSU.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/HYG-1650 - link to the OSU fact-sheet on using Brix as an indicator of quality in vegetables.

Green Meadows Healthy Garden Tip:

Great tasting vegetables with higher Brix levels correlate directly to well-nourished soil.  Simple steps, such as raising the organic matter content and increasing the microbial life of your soil, through compost teas, will have a direct impact on the flavor and nutrient density of the food you pick.

Happy Gardening,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29

Getting The Most From Your Garden - Radishes!

Amethyst Radish Pods
in my home garden!

So many times we see plants start to bolt and are saddened by the end of their life cycles.  If only we could enjoy the tastiness of our garden veggies for just a little while longer.  Well when it comes to radishes, I anxiously look forward to any signs of the plant wanting to set seed.

For years, I grew the wonderful Rat Tail radish, which is grown for the big tasty edible pods rather than the tuberous roots.  It has the ability to adapt very well to the intense heat of summer providing good eats all season long.  While I liked the pods well enough, they packed a spicy heat and I tend to like my radishes more on the milder side of things.  After doing a little research, I soon realized that all radish pods were edible and their flavors were as diverse as the roots themselves.  Zlata radishes from Poland, Watermelon radishes from China, Amethyst, and Pink Beauty are among my favorites for their podding abilities and their wonderfully mild flavors.

Podding radishes were actually quite popular during the civil war era but gradually faded from American gardens in the early 1900's.  In the late 1980's and especially in the last few decades more and more are realizing what a workhorse in the garden these plants can be.  As a companion plant, they are invaluable.  Radishes have the ability to lure leaf miners away from spinach and lettuce, flea beetles away from eggplants, and some even say they assist at repelling the dreaded squash vine borer.  While in flower, they attract a wealth of beneficials to your garden, increasing productivity of everything from melons and cucumbers to tomatoes and peppers.

Radish pods past their prime
eating quality!

The roots are delectable in both the spring and fall but rapidly deteriorate in flavor as hot weather approaches.  The intense heat of early summer renders most of them inedible or quite harsh in flavor.  As the plant starts the end of its life cycle (a few weeks past the prime for picking the roots), it flowers, and then follows in a few weeks with numerous amounts of quality pods for eating (formal name is silique).  These pods then enlarge as the seeds swell inside providing tasty treats all summer long.  The key to keeping them producing, is to pick pods while they are young, maintain consistent moisture among the roots, and harvest routinely.  Many also seem to enjoy pickling the pods and this link has a couple recipes for those who are daring!    

http://yougrowgirl.com/pickledradishseedpods/ - link to pickled radish pod recipes

Green Meadows Healthy Garden Tip:

Growing radishes for their tasty pods requires very little care. If the soil was amended appropriately before planting, just a little extra starter fertilizer or compost tea will keep them happily producing.  It is possible to use the same spacing of 3" apart in all directions (common recommendation for radishes) and then just thin young roots to a final spacing of six inches.  This gives you the benefit of having something to harvest now and something to harvest later.  The radish root itself can easily reach the size of a hardball and plants often become two feet tall.  All parts of the pod are edible.  Depending upon the variety of radishes chosen, they can require minimal support comparable to a small pepper cage.  Support should be placed while the plant is small. If you allow the pods to become too large, they do get tough, lacking good flavor and texture. Simply pick those off and discard.  New tender pods will shortly follow. 

If you would like to follow along and watch them develop, check out Area 96 in the garden within the coming weeks.  A big thank you goes out to all those helping prep that area and to those who are volunteering to assist in the future.  We truly are a wonderful community!  

Happy Gardening,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29

Working On My Night Moves!

Worms mating in Bed 25!

So it's Saturday night and I'm out in the garden working on my night moves (don't laugh, you can learn a wealth of information about your garden by checking it at night) and low and behold I stumbled upon the best photo opportunity ever.  I hope you are able to make this out despite a horrible attempt at making a great photo with less than adequate lighting.

Two worms were mating on top of the soil within the garlic patch. Usually, this is something commonly seen a little later in the spring, but this year our temperatures at night are running somewhat above average (soil temperature is 66 degrees F at close to midnight).  Seeing the soil once again alive after dark is such a reflection of the seasonal change making one quite hopeful for the harvest to come.  It's definitely planting season.

Earthworms play such a vital role in the fertility, health, and productivity of the soil.  They serve as excellent indicators of overall soil condition.  The earthworm, being a superstar underground, has the ability to affect the nutrient-supplying power of your soil.  They take organic matter, ingest and digest it, then excrete casts (worm poop) loaded with nutrients they don't utilize for their own nutrition.  These casts serve as a valuable source of organic fertilizer for vegetative plant growth.  The richness of the casts and the productivity of your soil are then determined by the varied type of diet you feed the worms and the worm populations that are present. Healthy living soil would then provide you with productive, well-fed, healthy, and happy plants.
  
Normally, one would hope not to find any creatures doing the wild thing in the garden so late at night, but these guys are definitely guaranteed a hall pass as well as a little privacy. Night, night, little worms, I'm in awe of all you do!

Green Meadows Healthy Garden Tip:

For those who would like to determine if they have worm populations effective enough to support healthy plant growth, we did an article a couple years back with some simple observations you can make and suggestions for increasing worm activity.  Here's the link below for your convenience.  Also, remember you can search the blog for topics of interests as your team has written a wealth of information for you to enjoy.

http://greenmeadowscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/2013/12/if-worms-could-talk.html - link to a previous post on worms.

Happy Gardening,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29