Ancient onions starting to emerge after about a week. Four so far, so a total of ten including the earlier batch. I watered the soil well when I planted, and I’ve been spraying the surface a couple times per day.
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Seems like the melons/watermelons are doing well with the winter planting!
Do you remember how many seeds you planted? And what time during winter did u plant?
I planted both just before our first frost. I didn’t keep track of numbers, but I’m guessing 2/3 of the watermelons that germinated were predated in the spring, and most of the melons that emerged died one way or another. Just a guess, I’m thinking maybe 30 melons germinated?
There are three melons in the main garden that were volunteers from last year, and they’re doing much better than those I deliberately planted.
Same soil, same water, same light. More weed pressure.
I planted tomatoes as well, but got 0 germination from those seeds. It will be interesting to see if any emerge in future years.
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That’s great. I would not have expected them to survive dormant and germinate that well through cold winters.
I will have to try some winter sowing for melons, those are traits I am interested in selecting for.
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Some of the melons did emerge during the winter when we had a warm streak, but of course those died. Another set died for unknown reasons.
The rest might have some kind of dormancy mechanism, or the conditions might just have been right. But seeds from this group will be planted in the fall until I have a population that will consistently survive the winter.
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my winters are much more mild than yours. But the tomatoes that always come back are cherry tomatoes!
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I think cherry tomatoes might be the best option for the true wild population. I have black solanum everywhere, so tomatoes are a good option. If I can get them “wilded” in the unmowed areas I can work on the larger tomatoes in the garden.
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I’ve let some cherry tomato volunteers just grow, and they are starting to root where the stem touches the ground, like tomatoes do! They do great in full sun, but they all are in partial sun. But I’m hoping that UPS their chances of surviving our summer heat. So far so good, and several days of rain chances from tonight to Wed, so hopefully we’ll get some!
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It’s apparently pretty common for the cherry tomatoes to create isolated wild populations under the right conditions.
I’m not sure if these two came from the same original source, but I’ve come across others.
Everglades tomatoes would be another good example.
https://oikostreecrops.com/products/seeds-from-our-farm/wild-Texas-cherry-tomato-seeds/?limit=25
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Part of the plan for next year is to winter plant a mixed group of cherry tomatoes just for the wild test, then start some inside as well. If one survives and reseeds itself, I’m ahead of the game.
I don’t normally like cherry tomatoes, but if the rabbits and such have a place they can harvest without messing with my garden (spreading seeds as well) we all benefit.
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I had probably about a cup of onion seeds more than ten years old. I spread them across the surface, watered well, and spread more soil over the top. Then I sprayed the whole thing a couple times per day.
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The peanuts are a loss for this year. I was unable to tend them for a couple weeks, the weeds took over, and I think two plants might be left. Maybe. Somewhere in the midst of the weed barrier…
The garden itself might be a loss. Weeds have overtaken everything. I can’t weed a lot because roots are intertwined. The culprits are quack grass and Johnson grass. I think I can get rid of the Johnson grass relatively easily (although not quickly). It’s the quack grass that’s kicking me.
It’s in the process of killing one tree, and was probably causal in the death of several more.
Aside from that, something is eating unripe tomatoes and peppers before they even get a chance to turn, so likely no viable seeds. Something is also chewing through tomato stems near the base. Tomato hornworms are also active, and with nothing else to eat the bean beetles are shredding the squashes.
A lot of plants are losing leaves or shriveling prematurely, which I think is due to the heat. At least another month of 100 F + daytime temperatures so I am seriously considering breaking my rule and watering.
As a high point, the two seedling pears are both growing well. Apple seedlings are doing great, with one two feet tall since it was planted out in the spring. 9 seedling peaches have survived the summer and several have survived one winter.
I have three strong fig tree starts but the spot needs to be out of range of the winter winds, which come from north East and north West. The available area is currently occupied.
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I watered the chia, amaranth, two of the squash plants, half the tomatoes and a few of the peppers. Just sprayed them with the hose.
It doesn’t seem to have made a difference. I didn’t think it would. There’s a point where the plant simply can’t pull enough water to make up for the water lost through transpiration.
Chia seeds are ripening. Sesame is blooming. Amaranth is blooming.
I put six of my seed onions in pots inside. The five for the dividing onion population will probably be planted in the fall for spring emergence. One has a side division, like a clove of garlic. Each of these had at least two divisions when harvested.
The onions were in the refrigerator for a little more than a month and then on the counter for a week.
I planted the whites and the yellows in separate pots, although I will likely be mixing them for pollination.
I am tempted to self them this first year, just to identify if any are male sterile.
Harvested one stalk of amaranth and the ripe chia. Sesame is forming seed pods but none are ready yet.
Melons are a loss. All fruits are being eaten before they get larger than an inch. Possibly rabbits, possibly mice. Watermelons also. I could probably replant and still get a harvest. Lose nothing but a few seeds.
All the cucumber plants have died in this heat except one, a volunteer. If it survives the next few weeks I may actually get a harvest.
Whatever has been eating the tomato vines is still at it. I am tempted to start burying the damaged stems and see if they’ll re-root. Not sure if that will introduce disease, though.
Sweet potatoes never got more than a few leaves. Not sure what happened.
I harvested ripe peppers today. Looks like one of the surviving “sweet” peppers is actually hot. Next year segregating sweet peppers will be my primary project. I plan to let the first fruits go to the point I can taste them, then cull anything hot (that will hurt), pull all open blossoms, and do it all again. If I can get one or two plants that are reliably sweet, that’s progress. This project will likely take several years, with the last year being a mass growout.
I have decided that marshmallow and licorice are just too large for the main garden, so they’ll be moved into the tree rows after they die back in the fall. Smaller herbs (catnip and lavender, sage, lemon balm, oregano, rosemary) will remain where they are. Since licorice is a legume it can be a nitrogen fixer near the fruit trees. Marshmallow can be a nurse plant, sheltering seedling trees when they’re small.
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For a while now we’ve been dealing with temperatures over 100 degrees F. A lot of plants are suffering.
I planted a bunch of trees last spring, and true to my normal procedure they were all watered well at planting and then left to their own devices.
Of those planted last spring, about half have survived. Most planted last fall also survived.
I’ll be watering everything in the next week because of the extraordinarily high temperatures. I started today.
This year’s survivors (so far)
9 peach seedlings, 1 plum seedling, 4 plum-cherry, 1 plum-peach, 1 pecan, and 5 apples
Lost 1 pear, several peaches, plums, almonds, apricots, and walnuts. I’m padding the numbers by not mentioning everything I accidentally killed before it had a chance to go in the ground. 
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I never finished watering because it started raining just a bit. I’ll let that stand. The stuff I did water didn’t seem to respond. I think they just can’t take up enough water to make up for what they’re losing at these temperatures.
Sweet peppers recovered with watering. Seemingly the only plants that did.
Highbush cranberry–same as the apple tree. Dead in the center, new growth on the ends.
Chia
Amaranth
Tomato
Sesame
Melons
Apple with sage at the base.
Apple appears to be dying. Putting out new leaves at the ends.
More melons
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Three of the tomato plants survived in good shape. Maybe another half dozen are still green but obviously shocked. Those thay have fruited have tiny fruit with few seeds. The peppers all survived but plants are stunted and have dropped a lot of leaves.
After a few days of lower temperatures (high 90’s f) the sesame appears to be recovering. Chia not so much.
The first melon is coming on, but misshapen. I don’t think it got adequately pollinated.
All the cucumbers died. I have replanted.
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