2020 gardens......

[Dotch]

Enjoy fall radishes here too Ken when time has allowed it. The cherry belles, white and scarlet globes have worked well in the fall. Seems like they get bigger and sweeter than they do spring planted here. I've liked the daikon radishes too but my favorites are the red meat or watermelon radishes. Some years they get up to softball size. We slice them like kohlrabi. Cream colored on the outside and red on the inside, they add nice color to a relish tray. The texture & taste is like a kohrabi until the radish bite kicks in. They keep most of the winter. Hoping to borrow a friend's tractor and rear mounted tiller to work up a new garden area after spraying season is over. Winter radishes may be one of the first things to go in it if I can find the seed. The other thing I want to do again is fall snap peas. It doesn't always work but when it does it's totally worth it.   

[deadeye]

I planted some radishes a while back.  After I planted them I remembered I had put down a good covering of Preen so I figured they wouldn't germinate.  Wrong, popped up fast and are growing great.  Go figure.  Yesterday I finally got around to planting the last of the cukes and pumpkins that were start in pots.  Also gave about half of one garden a bit of a weeding until I got overheated and quit.   

[KEN W]

Yes radishes seem to grow best in the fall. The trick is to get them eating size before the ground freezes. I also like China Rose.

I just started eating my spring radishes today.

I have tried fall peas. Not successful. They always got moldy. Gave up.
I am also a test gardener for the NDSU Extension Service. this year I am testing.....

Pumpkins,Carrots, Yellow Beets, Sweet Corn, and Cantaloupe.

You guys should join up ......good program.

[Auggie]

German Giants spring and fall radishes. Also always put in some cherry belle and white ice for a little heat.
Interesting Ken. Tell us more.

[KEN W]

There are over 200 test gardeners For NDSU in ND, MN, SD. and Montana. You can try up to 7 trials. Test them, then send in a report comparing 2 varieties of each veg. Cost is $.50 per packet plus $5 P&H. Results go back to 2008.

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/homegardenvarietytrials

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/homegardenvarietytrials/results

[Auggie]

There are over 200 test gardeners For NDSU in ND, MN, SD. and Montana. You can try up to 7 trials. Test them, then send in a report comparing 2 varieties of each veg. Cost is $.50 per packet plus $5 P&H. Results go back to 2008.

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/homegardenvarietytrials

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/homegardenvarietytrials/results

Some very interesting information on there..
On another note, I had to come in from pulling some weeds out the garden as we are getting a much needed shower of rain!!

[mike89]

yes that is interesting Ken.... 

[KEN W]

If you go through and read all the comments on how each variety performed.....It pretty much covers most varieties that can be planted here in our climate. I use it as a reference all the time. I also recommend varieties I would like to trial.

They do not trial veggies that have to be started inside like tomatoes and peppers.

[KEN W]

My last 2 carrots from NDSU and last years garden. Lasted 8 months in the fridge.

[Auggie]

That’s pretty good in the fridge! We used to store them in sand down in an old cistern. Now we can the extras and use them in soup.
We just finished the last of our onions a week ago. Gonna be a bit before the new ones are ready to eat. 

[glenn57]

That’s pretty good in the fridge! We used to store them in sand down in an old cistern. Now we can the extras and use them in soup.
We just finished the last of our onions a week ago. Gonna be a bit before the new ones are ready to eat. 

I still got about 20 onions left from last year's garden.

[LPS]

I didn't realize you could keep onions or carrots that long.  That's great.

[Auggie]

That’s pretty good in the fridge! We used to store them in sand down in an old cistern. Now we can the extras and use them in soup.
We just finished the last of our onions a week ago. Gonna be a bit before the new ones are ready to eat. 

I still got about 20 onions left from last year's garden.

Better check again. I was looting today in your neck of the woods😉🤣
I think I planted enough this year. 200 Walla Walla, 200 Big Daddy, 100 red. Plus the ones we plant for just for green table onions. I plant them through out the summer all summer long.

[LPS]

So I read to plant 2 radish seeds in each hole.  Well they all grew.  Is that ok?  Do I need to pluck the ones that are touching? 

[Auggie]

I thin mine to a couple inches apart. Then when I start eating them I pull every other one. In my experience when they are touching you end up with nothing but tops out of both radishes

[LPS]

Ok I better thin them out then.  Maybe I can stick them back in the ground and keep them growing.  Thanks Auggie.

[KEN W]

Damn.....I couldn't possibly eat 500 onions. I usually plant 1 bundle. That's about 75. Always sweet onions.....Candy. I never plant sets. WAY TO HOT to eat raw. Wife complains I'm walking around the house with onion breath.

My philosophy for onions is....If they make you cry when peeling them.....they are to hot to eat raw.

Up here we plant long day onions. Onions start to bulb up according to daylight hours.Longest days are early July. At that time the larger the top, the larger the bulb.

Sooooo the earlier you plant them, the larger the top will be at bulbing time.

It's almost impossible to plant onions to early. They will grow in snow. In fact onions are actually perennials. They grow bulbs the first year and seed pods on top the second year. that's why if you grow sets.....you want the smallest ones you can find.

 If they are to big they will think it is their second year and grow seed pods on top. If they do' they are poor keepers.

[Auggie]

Ken we use onions while making our salsa and tomato sauce. So that burns up a lot of the smaller ones. The Walla Walla are large and sweet. The reds never get that big here but are sweet too. The Big Daddy is a new variety for me, but they are supposed to be long keeping onions. Gonna find out!!
The rest we dry out for a few weeks then store in paper bags in the garage fridge and normally have enough to last the whole year. I share a few with friends and family. My 12 year old daughter and I have already had 50 plus little green onions at the table. Like I said I plant these every few weeks all summer long..we love them!
All I ever plant are sets. Works best for me, rather than seed..

[mike89]

Auggie your garden must be huge!!!!  I'm still wrapping my thoughts of 500 hundred onion!!!      but they are good to eat!!!

[Dotch]

500 onions? Wow! That's a lot of onions Auggie! But hey, that's some good dirt up that way. Worked on sugar beet plots for the U as an undergrad near Montivideo.

Ya Ken, I don't know how anxious NDSU would be to have data from ~200 miles to the south of Fargo. The guy whose tiller I'm borrowing was in this a.m. wondering when I wanted to work the new garden area up. Wouldn't take him long to hook it up he said. I told him get all your spraying done 1st then we'll worry about it. Great to have friends like that.

The snap peas farther south like we are seem to work best if we snag rain in late July-early August. It also helps to have a warmer September into early October. When I've been disappointed they've laid in dry soil too long or planting has been delayed well into August because it's too wet. Then it's been followed by a crummy, wet, cold, cloudy September. The salad greens are another fall favorite. I think LPS has been doing that. Hopefully he'll chime in.     

[LPS]

I planted my lettuce seeds the week before Mem. weekend.  They are about an inch or two tall now.  Turned out great last year.  I just mix 2 or 3 varieties together in a pouch and spread it all in the garden.  I just cut them off with scissors into a colander so I can take out brown leaves and rinse in the sink and ready for a salad.  I look across the river at Canada so you know my lattitude.  Now I have to get this radish program going. 

[HD]

Picked some more tonight...... 

[Boar]

what do radishes taste like?

[mike89]

good stuff..  but for me it's hard to say what it really tastes like, I just like them, I just salt them and eat...  like kola rabis, good too..  my spelling is way off on that so sorry for that

[KEN W]

Same here......my radishes are just about ready. Kohlrabi's are about golf ball size.

[KEN W]

[quote Ya Ken, I don't know how anxious NDSU would be to have data from ~200 miles to the south of Fargo. The guy whose tiller I'm borrowing was in this a.m. wondering when I wanted to work the new garden area up. Wouldn't take him long to hook it up he said. I told him get all your spraying done 1st then we'll worry about it. Great to have friends like that.[/quote]

Won't know unless you try. To late for this year. But look at it next winter. Never know.

[Auggie]

Same here......my radishes are just about ready. Kohlrabi's are about golf ball size.

Or bigger Ken. My Dad grows a variety that get near the size of small cabbage. But to me that's what Kohlrabi tastes like. Mild Cabbage taste with the texture/crunch of a radish.
We froze some asparagus today. Or my wife did anyway.  Not like fresh, but very good come January!

[glenn57]

what do radishes taste like?

tastes like a radish you bonehead!!!!!!!

ma I got some catching up to do in my garden!!!!!

[KEN W]

Haven't had much rain here all spring. Got a little over 2 inches last night. More on the way tonight.

[glenn57]

WOW...…...that's a lot of rain in a short time...……..yea we could use rain too...…...my garden is as dry as a popcorn fart...….. watered good last nite nut with this heat and wind, it'll dry up pretty fast.

my first planting of radishes will all get pulled and cleaned today!!looks like i'll have a pile of them!!!!