My Asian cucumber is starting to flower. I don't know the exact name of this variety because the information on the packet is written in Chinese characters. By the looks of things, I'm guessing the cucumber will be long and skinny.
My Spacemaster cukes are also doing well. I have a feeling this plant will be prolific. I don't know much about cucumbers but I'm guessing that like zucchini, it has male and female flowers and rely on insects to a certain extent to cross-pollinate. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a single honey bee so far this year despite the fact that there's an apple farm down the road from us. Bumble bee sightings have been scarce as well, which makes me want to ask "Am I the only one noticing this?"
On the bean front, out of an entire packet of Contender Bush Beans, only 8 seeds germinated. Beans have been a real issue for me this year. I started off by pre-sprouting them, which in my experience, just stresses the seed and prolongs germination. Most of my pre-sprouted seeds never even broke the surface. Then I tried soaking my seeds for 12 to 24 hours before sowing them. No luck there either. Fed up, I decided to plant some Dragon's Tongue beans straight out of the packet and sure enough, germinate was fast and almost 100%. Sometimes you just have to stick to the basics.
On the heels of my snow peas, a few of my Fava beans are just about really to be picked. They are not nearly as prolific as I've seen on other blogs but then again, I only have 7 plants. Also, I don't think the mini-heat waves we've had this spring suited them all too well. I noticed that quite a few flowers would drop after a hot spell.
Finally, something has been putting holes in the leaves of my raspberry plants. Ugh.
My Spacemaster cukes are also doing well. I have a feeling this plant will be prolific. I don't know much about cucumbers but I'm guessing that like zucchini, it has male and female flowers and rely on insects to a certain extent to cross-pollinate. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a single honey bee so far this year despite the fact that there's an apple farm down the road from us. Bumble bee sightings have been scarce as well, which makes me want to ask "Am I the only one noticing this?"
On the bean front, out of an entire packet of Contender Bush Beans, only 8 seeds germinated. Beans have been a real issue for me this year. I started off by pre-sprouting them, which in my experience, just stresses the seed and prolongs germination. Most of my pre-sprouted seeds never even broke the surface. Then I tried soaking my seeds for 12 to 24 hours before sowing them. No luck there either. Fed up, I decided to plant some Dragon's Tongue beans straight out of the packet and sure enough, germinate was fast and almost 100%. Sometimes you just have to stick to the basics.
On the heels of my snow peas, a few of my Fava beans are just about really to be picked. They are not nearly as prolific as I've seen on other blogs but then again, I only have 7 plants. Also, I don't think the mini-heat waves we've had this spring suited them all too well. I noticed that quite a few flowers would drop after a hot spell.
Your cucumbers are a very nice size. Mine are very small since I just plants the seeds 10 days ago.
ReplyDeleteI used inoculant on my beans when I planted them. They came up really well except for the pill bug issue.
We have bees here.
Lucky you to have some cucumbers shaping up already! The fava bean looks great too. I periodically have a bad bean germination year. I have figured out that two things happen with the beans that cause me problems periodically. 1) the soil is just a bit too cool yet and they rot in the ground. I think presoaking and pre sprouting them aggravates that as they are forced into a too cool soil; and 2) I have birds and slugs that eat them as fast as they emerge in some years. Since beans are fast growing, I just keep reseeding until it "takes" and it always works out fine.
ReplyDeleteI am growing a Japanese Climbing Cucumber this year that is supposed to be skinny, too. My raspberry and blackberry leaves look like someone went at them with a shotgun, lol! Soon the Japanese Beetles will be out and my grape leaves will look the same. I have never done anything but direct sow beans, germination is great, however when the seed splits and for those few hours that all you see is a curl out of the soil, they are VERY susceptible to being picked up by birds, they love them that way. I throw rubber snakes around my Edamame until they come out of this stage, it seems to work, but you do have to keep moving the snakes...
ReplyDeleteAdd my raspberry leaves to the swiss cheese list.
ReplyDeleteYour cukes are way ahead of mine, I transplanted them but there has been zero activity...the new bed may need a N boost.
I planted my 2 bean varieties straight into the ground and they shot up with ease!
ReplyDeleteWe have an issue with our rasberry bush that sits by the entrance to our plot, but it isn't bugs. Someone came by over the weekend and snipped off a few of the more sizeable branches!
I'm starting to find in this whole new gardening experience, sometimes is better just to keep it simple and stick the stinkin' things into the ground. At least you got there in the end.
ReplyDeleteTry, try, try again, it could be the gardener's mantra. It took 2 trys for my beans this year, the paper pot ones did the best, but the holes that I filled with direct sown beans have sprouted. I guess that's 2 1/2 trys!
ReplyDeleteOnly holes on your raspberry leaves? The rats love to trim my raspberry plants down to the nubs (dang rats). This year they are actually leaving them alone, for a while, I guess they prefer strawberry plants.
Everything else looks beautiful. I'm looking forward to seeing you Chinese cucumber.
Wow, that bean is huge! I've never seen one that big before. BTW...I got the seeds yesterday. Thanks, dude!
ReplyDeleteAccording to the magazines I read, there is a shortage of many of the pollinating bee species in many parts of the country.
ReplyDeleteSome think the newer varieties of corn that make their own pesticides may be responsible in addition to other possible causes.
Your garden looks pretty good otherwise though!
Wacky cucumbers. Those are one of the next things on my list. I love watching you grow so many exotic veggies.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading that honey bees are very picky regarding the flowers they will visit. The book says that solitary bee does 4 times more pollination than a honey bee. This is why I have built a house for solitary bees in my garden.
ReplyDeleteMy cucumbers (well at the new house at any rate) are still too small for flowers. I'm a bit worried about then since the beans are growing so big they are starting to shade them. I hope they take off soon so they can get some sun.
ReplyDeleteHoneybees were scarce here early on, but I have seen more of them lately on the white clover. I've seen normal amounts of bumblebees. Things seem to be getting pollinated, so thankfully something is doing the job.
ReplyDeleteI always have such great success pre-sprouting. I get them sprouted, then plant them into cells until they get bigger, then I plant them in the garden. Maybe your packet of seeds was faulty? I did plant a dozen pre-sprouted edemame directly into the garden and they took FOREVER to finally break the surface! I think they were developing roots and waiting to leaf out until they thought it was warm enough.
ReplyDeleteBut if you can just plunk seeds into the ground and get a harvest out of them I say do that! So much less fuss!
Thanks for sharing! I wish I had the time and motivation to garden...
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Thomas!
ReplyDeleteThe holes on your raspberry bushes might be from Japanese Beetles, my friend had tons of them last year on his berry bushes. I have been using a new product on bugs called "Captain Jack't Deadbug" and it works REALLY well & did I mention it is for use in organic gardens!!! It is made from rum:)
I have had issues with cucumber and potato beetles and this spray saved my plants. I highly recommend it.
VT Gardener - Thanks for the recommendation! I will store that one away for future reference. You can't have too many weapons in the fight against garden pests.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is beautiful and so are the pictures. Enjoy the beauty of those first couple of inches of growth. My yellow beets did not do so well either but I knew from last year to thin the red ones before the yellow so I am hoping to get a few yellow ones.
ReplyDeleteI had problems with my beans last year. Funny enough the dragon tongues were the only ones that came up when direct sown. I think the key to direct sowing is timing the planting for warm, dry weather.
ReplyDelete