On 10/17/12 7:56 PM, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Oct 17, 4:35 am, Pat Kiewicz wrote:
Higgs Boson said:
This sorry spectacle presents the results of what started out as a
fairly decent corn patch.
http://s1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii566/giborah/?
action=view¤t=CornHarvest.jpg
Even allowing for (a) late cold Spring and (b) my procrastination and
(c) effects of global warming ?, I expected better. The plants looked
very healthy. But in the end, not one had full-filled ears.
Anyone in climates similar to So Calif coastal have a clue?
Climate not at all similar to So Cal but I did have several of my corn
plantings with similar results this year. In my case, it was likely due
to stressful growing condition: extreme heat and drought. The tassels
browned out quickly and the silks dried out.
Aha! Maybe extreme heat. We have had, and are still having, episodes
of wildly anomalous (sp) heat in the early "Fall", which may have
shocked the poor things.
Next year, if I am spared -- if we are all spared -- I will plant much
earlier. If, that is, I decide to continue veggie gardening. Am
considering abandoning veggies and just taking care of the
decoratives. We consume so little that even buying good organic
produce is probably more cost-effective than spending all that time
preparing, planting, watering, veggies in hopes of a harvest.
Tomatoes are particularly unhappy here -- I'm not the only home
gardener in this area to report bad vibes.
OK, thanks everybody. It's time to have a word with the watermelon
vines that are still under the impression that this is mid-summer...(:
HB
Have you considered perennial vegetables? They can be integrated with
your ornamentals.
I have a clump of artichokes growing as an accent in my back lawn. We
get a few edible artichoke buds in the spring. In your coastal area,
they should actually do much better than in my inland area.
I also have asparagus in the back of one of my beds. It can grow quite
tall and bushy in the summer. In the spring, you can get enough spears
for several meals.
Here, the problem with asparagus is heavy soil. The asparagus did quite
well for about 30 years. Then we had an exceptionally wet winter, and
the plants rotted. They had dropped some seeds, which sprouted. Just
as the seedlings matured to the point of providing us for a few meals,
we had another very wet winter that rotted these self-sown replacements.
Now I have seedlings from them. Maybe I'll get a good crop in about
two years.
--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary