Friday, September 29, 2017

Fall, Falling, Fallen

It is well and truly Fall. I love this time of year. This is when we have our best weather. Not because the heat of summer has abated, quite the opposite, the weather has finally warmed up. But the sun is less intense. The days are shorter. I hear dead leaves rustling. It's a bittersweet love.

In the garden the plants are growing more slowly, some are senescing. Vegetables and seeds are maturing.

I'm waiting for the big Aji peppers to start ripening, they are always the last.

Aji Amarillo Grande
I might have a good wait still for the Aji Amarillo Grandes. Last season I was harvesting them in December, January and February.

Aji golden
Aji Golden and Joe's Giant are new so I have no idea when they will ripen.

Joe's Giant Aji Amarillo

Aji Angelo?
Don't know what's up with Aji Angelo, it's larger and more wrinkled than the ones I've grown before. Perhaps I mixed up the labels or it crossed, I grew these from seeds that I saved a few years ago. It will be interesting to see what color it is when ripe, a true Aji Angelo should be red.

Taos Red Beans
The dry beans are starting to dry on the vines. The leaves are falling off the Taos Red vines as the bean pods dry. Tarahumara Sitakame is staying green and is sporting a lot of new flowers and baby beans even while there are mature bean pods drying on the vines. It's flowers are day length sensitive so perhaps the shorter days have given it the signal to bloom again.

Tarahumara Sitakame Beans
 Oh what a tale of woe in the corn patch.

Hopi Greasy Head Flour Corn
Hopi Greasy Head was the early favorite of the rodents. I thought first that it was rats, but never a one could I snap in a trap, not near the corn at least (got one in the tomatoes though). Then I thought perhaps it was ground squirrels because some damage was occurring during the day and I had by accident caught a ground squirrel in a trap intended for rats. And then I finally caught a very large and fat vole under the corn plants. Ah, that made sense, voles are active day and night. I have been searching and searching for their burrows but can't find one.

Santo Domingo Rainbow Flour Corn
They soon turned their appetites loose on the Santo Domingo Rainbow corn. Are they lazy, do they prefer the Hopi Greasy Head because the plants are so much shorter? They seem to know when the ears of corn are mature and as sweet as they can be. They just chew through the husks, littering the ground with the shreds, until they get to the juicy kernels inside which they devour on the spot. Wrapping the ears in fabric, a tactic which succeeded in protecting the ears last year, was of no avail, they chew right through the fabric. Covering the tops of the ears with hardware cloth, the rodents used to start at the top and work their way down, didn't work this year as it did last year, they attacked from the bottom up instead. Perhaps half of the Hopi Greasy Head ears have fallen prey to the gnawing jaws of rodents. And they found what was probably the only ears of K'uyu Chuspi that managed to get pollinated somehow. That corn was dysfunctional - the tassels were done delivering their pollen well before the ears revealed their silks. I didn't think any ears had been pollinated but the rodents proved me wrong. There's a few fat ears on the last 2 stalks, but it's questionable whether or not there's any kernels developing. The size of the ears are no indication of what's inside, that corn has the thickest husks I've ever seen on any ears of corn, layer upon layer upon layer of husks until you finally get to a teeny tiny little ear inside. I can't believe the rodents just kept gnawing and gnawing and gnawing until they found the little bit of goodness that was to be found. Won't be growing that corn again. I may not bother to grow any sort of corn again - it just ain't worth the heartache and the battles.

Armored Ears of Corn
The remaining ears of corn are now fully encased in hardware cloth. Eat that you effing batards.

K'uyu Chuspi - any kernels in there?

One more sign of fall...

Kurin Kabocha
It will soon be time to gather the winter squash. The skins are hardening and the stems are getting corky.





13 comments:

  1. Drying beans on the vine is a hit or miss proposition here as depending on how much rain we get, we can have issues with mold. The thing is that each year is so different so you can't really predict - some years we have a ton of rain while others we don't. Those peppers are awesome - I'm always amazed at how long your pepper season is and it looks like you will be in for a bumper crop this year.

    Wow those voles are so persistent - I can't believe that even hardware cloth didn't deter them! I'm hoping to grow corn again...at some point. My failed attempts so far certainly do put a damper on my enthusiasm for growing it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A damper is an understatement for how I feel about trying corn again. The darn critters get smarter every year so the only way to foil them is to not even tempt them.

      I had some bush dry beans also and I pulled the plants up before the beans completely dried because I had to get easier access to the corn plants and eliminate cover for the rodents. Rain is rarely and issue, even if it does rain it's usually not enough to soak things and things dry out quickly.

      Delete
  2. For us there is starting to be a nip in the air, Those rodents are certainly a pain for you aren't they. I've never seen sweet corn cobs wrapped up before.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think that wrapped up corn cobs are a rare sight indeed!

      Delete
  3. Voles? Gee, what is left? Tree squirrels? What you need is a hawk or a bobcat. Put up a high pole with a platform on top and no security lights for the hawks. Leave out some bait to attract the bobcats.

    Loved your introductory paragraph.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are hawks and bobcats in the neighborhood! I've spotted Red Shouldered and Red Tailed hawks, Coopers hawks and even Golden Eagles. And owls and kites and coyotes are around. Not seen personally but have heard on good authority that there have been mountain lions spotted in the neighborhood. Oh, and I've seen plenty of rodent eating snakes - Gopher, King, and Rattlesnakes. Got some damn smart rodents around here. Either that or there's just so many of them...

      Delete
  4. Voles, now there's a pesky rodent for sure. I've never managed to trap one, though I've seen their damage often enough. It will be interesting to see what you think of the Kurin, as I've been looking for a kabocha to add to my list for 2018 and it was not even on my radar. It looks to be a nice size - not too big.

    I do hope your Aji Angelo comes true! In my garden it and Aji Golden ripen about the same time, but of course it might be different in your climate. I've got some of both ripening now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There must have been a vole baby boom this year. I unintentionally caught 2 of them instead of the intended target of rats and then another one where I knew it was lurking and then the one in the corn. Caught the dumb ones I guess, I can't recall catching them in the past.

      The Kurin Kabocha is nice because it can be trained up a trellis. But gotta try the taste test before I give it the final seal of approval.

      I've got another Aji Angelo growing in a pot and it's looking more true to form.

      Delete
  5. My friend had a problem with Voles and then the hawks moved in which put the population under control. How to lure the hawks to your garden...hum...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's just a matter of the supply of voles exceeding the demand by the predators, there are actually a lot of predators around. I see and hear hawks around here all the time. Caught sight of a bobcat not long ago and saw some coyote scat on the hillside just yesterday.

      Delete
  6. Armor-plated cobs...now I've seen everything. I don't have rodent issues with my flint corn, but I do get woodpeckers drilling into the cobs, which causes rot. But I think I'll be able to salvage some. What did the Hopi do?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can only hope that the Hopi didn't have to deal with voles. They sure didn't have hardware cloth!

      Delete
  7. Oh man, I had the same problem with K'uyu Chuspi corn -- absolutely erratic pollen/silking schedule. I only ended up with two pure ears, though 'ears' is less honest a term than 'handful of kernels.' And my oh my, those husks were a workout -- at first I wondered if there even was a cob inside, or if I was just opening a Russian doll to find another Russian doll, etc.

    And though I truly feel for you and the critter problems you've been suffering, I can't help but find amusement in your chain mailed corn cobs, ready for a medieval battle against the beasties. All they need are little helmets, and the look is complete. xD

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I value your insights and feedback.