40 hours to go before the Man v Carrot Challenge begins. Midnight 1/1/12 is when @jenkobianco aka Pauly and I work towards the honourable goal of living off our 16 m2 of vegetable patch for 6 days. As I thought all along, the real challenge would be getting all the spring plantings to come on stream at the right time.
And a challenge it has been. The seed companies and punnet people have no idea as to how long things take to crop, well not in Adelaide anyway. Just about everything I planted matured weeks before it was supposed to. With the exception of corn, I’ve planted all the vegetables before, but I must admit that I never really took much notice about how long things took to come along. I suppose that Man v Carrot, if nothing else has forced me to take a lot more notice of what is happening out there in the patch.
So here’s the state of play.
Dwarf Beans: My 2010 selection matured weeks ago, so much so that I’ve already collected dried seed from it for next years planting. The other varieties were pretty ready a couple of weeks ago, but in the interests of survival I have let them go into that ugly lumpy stage. A bit like I look at the moment. A long slow cook in a crock pot will fix em. Either that or I’ll be grinding them up into French bean flour. Eewwww. On a positive note, in desperation I planted half a dozen a couple of weeks ago. I spotted some tiny green beans on them this morning. So by the end of challenge week I may have supple young beans. But with 100F (38C) being forecast for today and 105F (41C) tomorrow, they may just crisp up and blow away.
Cucumber. They were disappointing. I think I harvested 5 off 4 bushes. I missed 3 hiding under the undergrowth, so they grew to the size of small badgers. Currently there is a single one hanging in there, but luckily it looks like it will be just right come challenge week. Back to the Lebanese variety next year rather than the long ones. I really need to find out how those Italians seem to be able to grow them up onto their rooves and harvest two or three tonnes off a couple of plants.
Corn: These look pretty good. They silked up 50 days ago and according to some site in Iowa dedicated to the worship of everything corn, they should be spot on. Pauly thinks that they will be overdone and I’ll be making corn fritters from the flour that I’ll be milling. Yes one did burst its pyjamas and turned into a really dried up skanky yellow thing that a Mayan peasant would be proud of, but I’m hoping that it was just an aberration.
Silverbeet (swiss chard). Who could go wrong with this weed. But even one of these has gone to seed. I planted tham as an insurance policy. I might be filling out a policy form later on in the week.
Carrots: Variable results. The round ones that I planted over the top of the early potato patch turned into little round balls of wood and went to seed, but there are a few that might be ok. The baby carrots won’t be that baby (so my decision to plant them later than @PMillerOZ advised was justified – it ain’t Melbourne Prez). The strange purple ones that I stole from my sister when they were half grown have slowly mulled along. I’m hoping there is something under the ground there. You never know with carrots. Sometimes the largest healthiest head of green hair up top means nothing underneath. Sock in the pants I call it. And yes I’ll get in before everyone else chimes in --- Aha.. I should know!
Spinach: Yeah right 'punnet man'. These were supposed to take six weeks. Make that two and half. Long gone. Popeye would be pissed.
Capsicum: Long yellow. Good choice. Lots of capsicums and whilst they were ready a couple of weeks ago (and I’ve picked quite a few as well), they appear to be able to hang on the bush for a long period. I can’t believe that I was worried that I planted them too late. Pauly’s have been hanging there so long they look like my wifes spray tan. Any longer mate and you’ll be checking them for melanomas.
Chillis: If I ever became a farmer, I’d grow these things. So easy! The Diablo was not that vigorous but has some nice red fruit. The Caysan looks great and has given me a dozen or more big ones already. Lots more there, and lots more to come. Medium heat, but nothing special. Paul has hardly any (none?), so I can see these being used as bargaining chips. One chilli for a kilo of tomatoes will be my ambit claim. Ahhh, what am I thinking he doesn’t have a kilo of ripe tomatoes. Cueys might be a better gardening chip.
Potatoes: I had a dream….. a bad one. Paul has been seeding my brain with the suggesting that my underground store or carbs that I cunningly produced shortly after announcing the challenge have gone green and are germinating again. In my dream I dug them up and they were spongey and rotten. I’m confident they are neither. Without them I think I’ll be emigrating to America to avoid the famine. Paul has a store 1/8 the size, so I’ve booked him on QF2 to LA next Wednesday.
Pumpkin: I’ve got a Queensland Blue on my carport roof that you could see from outer space, but as predicted they won’t be anywhere near ready. Paul has his green one with sectors marked on it, with each sector labelled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc. He didn’t even need a calculator 360 divided by 6 and all. He’s been Googling green pumpkin recipes, but the only thing he found was a site that suggested that they were good to eat before having an enema. Helps things along apparently.
Spring onions: All good. Not the tender things you would normally pick, but the oniony flavoured bulb will be a godsend.
Tomatoes: My sister calls me “Master” (in the Kung Fu, grasshopper tradition). Yes, I’ve got a nice stash of Improved Apollo (mainly), but Money Maker and Mighty Red have also quite a few. Father Tom should be perfect at the end of the challenge week. My only concern is that the mass of brush tailed possums that have decided to call my roof home, have finally worked out that red doesn’t mean poisonous. Took them ten years, but why just now? Most nights they half eat one or two. Perhaps it’s Paul? That’s a thought. No he would make more of a mess. On the downside, they are succumbing quickly to fungal disease. Any ideas on organic control in tomatoes would be warmly appreciated.
