What does a toddler’s discharge have to do with the health and well-being of the little blue deck? Everything, it seems. It’s like the deck doesn’t exist, let alone the computer upon which the deck is rendered public. All that matters is saline solution, honey, vomit dodging, and sleeping. This morning, though, despite a shocking lack of sleep and an abundance of the aforementioned symptoms, the deck’s disarray was too much for this sniffling gardener to handle. So while little Ms. Typhoid and her similarly afflicted father departed for the store and the playground, the deck got some half-assed love.

The final tomatoes were plucked and sad, tired plants were bagged. A smattering of cucumber beetles got smushed, just for the heck of it, and the C. Borealis (AKA french orange hybrid melon) upon which they were feasting gave up its last fruit.

What containers remain have been haphazardly scatter-seeded with lettuce, winter cress (AKA creasy creens courtesy of Bartram’s Garden), radishes, kale, and kohlrabi (courtesy of Startin Yer Garten).

Still, you’ll hear no complaints here. This has been a great summer for POD and with any luck, those vacated pots will be seeded with peas, chard and lettuce before the weekend is out.

The cucumbers are still pouring in — at last count: Spacemaster: 14, Adam F1: 13 (RIP), White Wonder: 32. That’s not a typo, people. Nearly nine pounds of tomatoes and counting!  Not to mention 20 adorable (and strangely hot) little poblanos, gobs of basil, herbs, chard, and two delightful C. Borealis melons.

Squirrels? They suck, but they’ve sucked much less this year than usual. See that tomato on the railing (squint, you’ll see it, top right)? You’d think the least the greedy SOB could do is finish the thing.

Hello, delicious.

]]> http://plantsondeck.com/2011/08/11/oh-august-oh-melon/feed/ 0 plantsondeck C. Borealis, French hybrid http://plantsondeck.com/2011/08/01/wonderful-pickles/ http://plantsondeck.com/2011/08/01/wonderful-pickles/#comments Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:01:09 +0000 plantsondeck http://plantsondeck.com/?p=1916 Continue reading →]]> What’s a gardener to do with nearly four pounds of White Wonder cucumbers? Cucumbers that were, oh, less than spectacular for eating? Why, ask the Endurer if he’ll do some canning on a 90-odd degree Sunday afternoon, of course.

Your intrepid gardener will let know how they taste in a month or so, but for now, here’s the recipe:

White Wonder Garlic Dill Pickles
6 c. water
4 c. white vinegar
1/2 c. kosher salt

pickling spice ratio
2 parts mustard seeds to 1 part black mustard seeds to 2 parts fennel seeds to 2 parts peppercorns to 1 part whole coriander to one part allspice seeds and a few juniper berries.

1) Boil water, vinegar, and salt with some of your pickling spices
2) Put a clump of dill, 2 cloves crushed garlic and the remaining pickling spices in your canning jars. Cram in as many cucumber spears as tightly as possible.
3) Pour in boiling brine, leave a half inch head space, cover, and process in boiling water for 15 minutes.

Spacemaster: 7
Adam F1: 13 (RIP)
White Wonder: 12

And, for any first-time cucumber growers who might be out there, here’s a few picking tips for ya’:

• Harvest cucumbers early in the morning, before they’ve been over-warmed by the sweltering sun.
• Refrigerate immediately. Happily, they seem to survive storage for at least a week.
• Tend to your cucurbits daily — leaving just one cucumber on the vine (they’re sneaky, so look closely) will halt production.

This year, knock on the little blue deck, hasn’t been half bad, pest-wise. But now there’s this heatwave thing. And this whole lack of rain thing. And the whole taking off for a long weekend with 100+ temps in the forecast thing.

Poor Adam

So, enjoy those cucumbers while they last.  Remember Adam F1? There’s a seriously good chance that it’s been over-watered  or it’s got bacterial wilt. But either way, it’s wilty and yellowing.  It’s a pickle, isn’t it? One waters to protect plants from the hideous heat. Both water and heat can kill…so, to water or not?

It’s been a productive and delicious plant: 11 and counting. But POD fears its days are limited.

Adam F1, White Wonder, and C. Borealis (left to right)

And to think, these cucurbits were watered just seven hours ago. And that’s what 97 degrees plus a dark blue deck gets ya. Yes, everything got a second dose.

So thirsssty.

Any worries about planting three Spacemasters (pictured, top) to one 5-gallon(ish) tub have been allayed (for now). Several farmstand-worthy cukes have already been produced and several others are busy ripening.  Burpee kindly included a packet of “free” White Wonder (pictured, lower right) heirloom seeds in POD’s ridiculously large seed order and they’re looking pretty darn good, too. And finally, Seeds of Change’s Adam F-1 (pictured, left) is going nuts. Absolutely nuts. It seems to be the thirstiest of the bunch, but the sucker’s fruiting like bunnies.

And so, a taste test is in order. The Spacemasters scream CUCUMBER — which is to stay, the dark, thick-skinned, 7-8″ fruits look and taste pretty much like those cucumbers you buy in the supermarket. Very good, but nothing particularly special.

The White Wonders have a very dense and rather dry flesh. The 6″ fruit has a very mild flavor. Some (say, POD’s co-taster) might say it’s “bland and squash-like.”

Better living through chemistry, it seems. The little 4″ Adam F-1 is juicy, citrusy, floral, and tastes like something way fancy.

Happy slightly belated b-day, c borealis!

It seems silly to waste the investment; so last year’s cages were snipped and spread open to provide large surface areas for the Adam F-1 Cucumber, Orange Hybrid Melon (to be called C. Borealis from here on out, thanks Bethysmalls), and White Wonder Cucumbers to roam. The sharp edges were turned to help train the vigorous vines and to help protect a certain accident-prone gardener. (One whose motto is: “if you haven’t bled on it, it’s not a success.”) An excellent use of unused garden crap, right?

Yeah, there are two C. Boreali in one pot — likely a mistake — but someone couldn’t bring themselves to snip out the oh-so-healthy vine.