Steve Peek wrote:
....
Apparently there are at least 2 types of buckwheat honey. The eastern variety is as black as can be with an aroma and flavor somewhere between old vitamins, cough syrup and strong blackstrap molasses. The local "tofu/granola" types think darker and stronger is healthy and good for you similar to dark greens being more healthy. I agree that buckwheat is great bee fodder especially at that time of year when little else is available.

i happen to like molasses so this description just makes
me think that someday i'll have to find some and give it
a try.


Blueberries are pretty much a bust for this year. We've been hit with a fungal disease called "mummy berry". Spores are released at blossom time and are wind distributed to the blossoms. The affected berries grow to nearly normal pre-ripening size then begin to shrink and dry basically mummify. We have about a 90% crop loss this year. The county Ag agent has no organic means of control other than picking up and burning all the affected berries. With over an acre of berries this is not physically possible. I've found a source of elemental copper that I'll try next Spring at blossom time. If that doesn't work I guess I'll have to give up on the blueberries or loose my organic rating.

wow! that's a tough hit on a major crop. i
hope it can be controlled, but i'm not familiar
at all with that disease. does it stay on the
plants or is it only on the fruits after they
drop?

considering what it takes to get an organic
certification i sure hope you can get this under
control without resorting to extreme measures.

i'm wondering if some kind of ground cover
planted to prevent splashing spores up from the
ground might help? a large hoover to suck up
things would be interesting, but burning the
hooverites would be a challenge.


I've started picking the Maine yellow-eyed beans, looks like a bumper crop this year. A neighbor and I disposed of 4 ground hogs last fall and aarly spring so no damage this year.

i plant some yellow-eyes each year because we both
like them but i don't have enough space to grow a lot
of them. i plant so many other bean varieties that
it's hard for me to get more than a few pounds of any
one variety other than the staples (pinto beans for
me and lima beans for Ma). this year i made the
exception to build up a stock of a cross-breed that
did well last season and looks to be doing good this
year too. finishes early enough, about the size of
a red bean but it is black and a nice blue/purple pod
when dried (and the flowers are purple).


Cucumbers and squash have died and the second planting has started to bloom. Chili peppers are tall and loaded and tomatos are producing about a bushel per week so we have lots of preserving going on now. I grew a new (to me) crop this year called "West Indian Burr Gerkin". They have a tart cucumber flavor but are supposedly not related to cucumber. They look like watermelon plants with dozens of little spiky green balls on them. They don't appear to be susceptible to mildew or cucumber beetles, so they may become my new pickle plant.

you must have a large area if you can plant more than
one round of cucumbers and squash. as much as i like
cucumbers i'm also glad that they can finish early.


I'm preparing ground for the fall crops this week. I'll be planting daikon, beets, spinach, turnips, mustard, and maybe some kale, collard and mustard.

all sounds great, i hope they do well. i think the
bunnies ate the diakons i planted last year -- or perhaps
it was me. i found out i really liked radish sprout
greens.


songbird