I planted last week and seedlings are up. I’ll keep you up to date.
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Lauren,
I enjoyed that video. I had to laugh at the end because I was thinking “wait, that was 30 minutes?”, which happens every time I quickly go check 4 plants in my garden which for some reason eats up 30 minutes of my time as well.
Couple of comments:
- have you considered starting some of your seeds using your clay to help with the transplant shock? You will have a lower germination rate, but the ones germinating are more likely to survive the transplant. Plus you’ll select for seeds that germinate easy without having to buy garden soil.
- I noticed your cold-hardy melons are alive, but smaller than the ones you planted later, which is what I have in my garden. My thinking is that either a) it is not worth planting early as it has no benefit or b) if those early cold-hardy melons cross with the later ones, perhaps some will be cold-hardy thriving next year? Would love to get your idea/plan on this.
Maarten
I do start most things in native soil. Melons, squashes and so on are planted in the ground, no transplant.
The cold tolerance tests have multiple purposes. First, survivors are stronger, so if they do produce I have stronger seeds. Second, if I can get a strain of cold tolerant beans, or melons, or squash, I can easily extend my growing season by a few weeks or a month.
Third, some seeds will wait until the proper conditions occur before they germinate. Tomatoes do this, and watermelons. I would like to encourage this, because the more seeds I can plant in the fall for spring emergence, the less work I have to do in the spring. I don’t have to worry about perfect timing, or muddy soil. The plants will do it.
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Watermelons and tomatoes are recovering from their enforced drought period, but only one tomato fruit so far. No watermelon fruits in the dry garden area.
The last of the dry garden beans died. One melon is still alive and putting on blossoms.
The tomatoes and watermelons in the no water woodchip area are thriving. I am getting tomatoes every day (cherry only so far) and watermelons are close to ripening.
The snap beans aren’t doing well even in the woodchips, so I need to rethink that one. In the plain soil dry garden they all died without fruiting. At least I’m seeing blossoms on the woodchip set.
I have a single parsnip that has survived the conditions, and maybe half a dozen turnips.
New pumpkins planted mid July in the woodchips are doing great. No sign of squash bugs yet. Some are starting to sprawl.
If this works I’ll shift squash to a fall crop and start selecting for quick growth and quick ripening. I need to start the next round of dry beans for fall, but I need to mow my cover crop first.
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Very nice, congratulations. I grow all my melons and watermelons and relatives in woodchips and no watering at all even in months of Texas non stop heat and stage D4 drought. I read the complex watering adjustments other gardeners or gardening guides call at different phases of a watermelon growth cycle and am glad I don’t have to follow that work. There is no diety out in nature following a multi step watering regime with watermelon in the wild. 
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Agreed. Watermelons are naturally a desert plant, so they do really well with low water. The main problem people have with watermelons is overwatering.
Three commercial varieties of popcorn, planted in heavy clay with 0 water and no soil amendments or fertilizers.
There are a few ears left on plants that are still green. Next year I’ll use my landrace seeds and fertilize a bit, maintaining (I think) the low water environment.
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Interesting thing I just noticed. The kernels on this cob are not round, they’re pointed, and they were growing upward just like any other grain.
Throwback?
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I just scored 2 seedling raspberries. My friend also had a grape vine that looked very different from any grape vine I’ve ever seen. It was obviously a grape, but the leaves were strongly serrated. I got some starts for that.
Corn is done, dry beans are done, and the late squash planting is starting to bloom. They are infested by squash bugs, but so far appear to be shrugging them off.
Any melons that set fruit at this point likely won’t make it to harvest, but worth a try.
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