Bright Meadow Farms

Every garden book I have ever read says to "KEEP RECORDS". OK. Here is some information I don't want to forget for next year. The Burpee Checkered Choice Hybrid Corn is oh-so-sweet, but small ears. We've been eating it for a week. We ate the first ear of Burpee Illini Xtra Sweet today. E declared it was just the way sweet corn should be, large full ears and bright yellow. There are two or three ears of corn on most of the Illini Xtra Sweet stalks... It will be interesting to see if the 2nd or 3rd ears are as nice as the 1st.

Tomatoes: The Quali T 23 from Territorial has the most perfect (still green) tomatoes I've ever seen, and the vines are untouched by the wilt that decimated the Silvery Fir Tree tomato from Abundant Life Seeds. Territorial also supplied the Jolly Elf grape tomatoes - large harvest but if picked green have a bitter taste, taste great red, but don't keep long, and don't ripen if picked yellow - and the BeaverLodge Slicer - which had a good yield but also was subject to wilt. Bloody Butcher from Burpee had abundant yield, and no disease, and seemed to be untroubled by tomato hornworms. The Mortgage Lifter tomato, which I believe was from last year's Burpee seeds, had incredible flavor but the ugliest fruits I have ever seen.

The cucumber - Marketmore 97 from Territorial - got mosaic virus, I think. Eight plants yielded about 30 fruits. It is still trying but I think it is going to die.

I don't remember which zucchini seeds I planted. I don't see them on the packing slips that came with this year's seeds, so I guess I must have used old seed. That probably accounts for the poor germination.

On the other hand, the volunteer canteloupes seem to be doing great. I tossed some seeds from a supermarket canteloupe, along with some other kitchen waste, into a pile of leaves at the edge of the garden and they exploded! I've never grown canteloupes before and I'll have to look up some information on when to pick them! The netting is complete, but the background is still dark green, I think that means they are not ripe yet.