Weekly Garden Update #23 – Powdery Mildew, Tomatillos, Drought & More

In this week’s update, we had our first encounter with powdery mildew this year. We’ve also been in a drought, which has led us to find creative ways to water. In harvesting news, we got our first ripe tomatillos and long bean. Finally, I’ll go over all the updates from this past week and highlight the seed of the week. Let’s dive in.

Powdery Mildew

Late last week, we were in the garden looking over things, and Magz noticed that a few of our squash and melon plants had powdery mildew on them. Even though we hadn’t encountered it before, she correctly diagnosed it. While still in the garden, I researched how to get rid of it, learning that hydrogen peroxide will kill it without harming the plant. There appear to be several home remedies that can tackle the problem, including baking soda and water and vinegar. I’ve also read of people who don’t treat the mildew and haven’t noticed any negative impacts on their plants. We addressed it because we want our plants to grow in the best environment possible.

First Tomatillos & Long Beans

Our tomatillos have been growing fast and abundantly. I’ve read that once they take off, you can become overwhelmed by how much fruit you’ll have. We have four plants, including three with large fruit on them, so we likely have close to 100 tomatillos growing. On Friday, we harvested the first two ripe fruits. If you’ve never grown tomatillos before (and we haven’t), they are interesting to watch develop. The plants produce blossoms similar to tomatoes and peppers, but from those blossoms appear papery greenish-yellow husks. The tomatillos develop inside these husks, and as they grow, you can feel the fruit get bigger through the husk. Near the end, when they’re close to being ripe, the tomatillo breaks through the husk so that you can see the fruit.

We also harvested our first Chinese Red Noodle Bean last week. This is a bean that Magz has been excited about since she first saw it in the Baker Creek seed catalog. It’s also the one I built a planter box and trellis for, and it’s been a joy to watch these plants grow to the height of our garage roof and see the pods begin to form. We watched the first pod grow for a few weeks, starting from being uncertain if we were actually looking at a bean pod to being nearly two feet long. We haven’t eaten the bean yet, but it’s supposed to retain its color during the cooking process and be very tasty. We have more developing on the vines too, which is exciting.

Drought – Eating My Words From the Spring

This spring was one of the rainiest I can remember. I haven’t looked into the historical data, but I’m confident it was one of the wettest on record. There were multiple weeks with consecutive days of rain totals greater than one inch. We went weeks without walking in sections of the garden because we would sink in the mud. The rain also delayed planting some of our seeds for fear that they’d wash away or the conditions would be too damp. At the time, I wanted everything to dry out so badly, but Magz reminded me that there’d be a time in summer when we would be wishing for rain. That time is now. Although it hasn’t been overly hot or humid recently, we haven’t had much rain over the past couple of weeks, with no rain in over a week. Our rain barrel is tapped out, so we’ve had to resort to city water for the garden.

Unfortunately, our outdoor hose spigot also broke last week. It was a pretty old faucet and had been on the fritz since we bought our house last year, but it finally kicked the bucket, snapping the stem off inside. I thought I would be able to fix it, but I was unable to extract the old stem. I also don’t have enough plumbing experience at this time to solder the new faucet to the existing water line and install a shutoff valve inside the house. So, we have a plumber coming this morning to do the work. In the meantime, we had to find creative ways to water the garden because we don’t have another exterior water source. We used teamwork to make many trips inside with our watering cans, empty two-quart juice bottles, and a five-gallon bucket to fill them at our kitchen faucet, but it ended up going smoother than either of us thought it would. While it took longer than it would have with a hose, we were done in about an hour and thoroughly watered every plant and flower. While it wasn’t ideal, it ended up being somewhat of a fun experience.

Notes From the Garden

• We were finally able to harvest some paste tomatoes after they began to ripen last week. This is the tomato variety I’ve had to be most patient with, as we’ve had dozens of full-size tomatoes for a couple of weeks now, but they’ve remained green until recently.
• A couple of our Cal Wonder peppers have started to ripen to a lovely orange color.
• The Candy Roaster melon that I discussed in last week’s update is now the size of a volleyball. There are roughly five additional Candy Roaster melons growing in the same bed.
• We have noticed a lot more small melons growing in recent days, including the Tigger, Kajari, and Noir des Carmes.
• The first Richmond Green Apple cucumber was ready to be pulled last week. This is the cucumber I was most excited about this year, and I’ve been struggling with patience as we wait for the cucumbers to grow and ripen. We brought it inside and immediately ate it. It’s a wonderful cucumber. It’s crunchier than more common varieties, such as Marketmore or Tendergreen, and is also sweeter. They have no bitterness.
• We also harvested our first Zapallito Del Tronco zucchini. This is another plant we were excited about this year. Baker Creek says it has a “creamy, buttery soft flesh” and “creamy in consistency.” Other gardeners have called it a cross between a squash and an avocado. It’s also sort of a hybrid between a winter and summer squash, as it ripens in summer like a zucchini but has a more durable rind like a winter squash. We had it for dinner the night after harvesting it. Magz roasted it in the oven with some oil and seasoned salt, which is how we typically prepare our squash. I thought it was delicious, and you can recognize the difference in texture compared to other squashes. However, I think I could have left it on the plant to ripen for a few more days, as the flesh was still green instead of a creamy yellow.

Seed of the Week

This edition of Seed of the Week takes us to the land down under and the Richmond Green Apple cucumber. Because we harvested the first one last week, it’s only fitting to write about it. This is an heirloom cucumber from Australia that has become popular throughout the world. I couldn’t find any historical details about the seeds with a quick Google search, but I’m planning on doing a deep dive this winter to learn more. I love these cucumbers. I described their flavor and texture above, and be assured, these are different from other cucumber varieties. They are definitely worth giving a try, as they’re easy to grow and very productive.

Up Next

We’re holding out for rain. The most recent forecast I looked at didn’t show any potential for rain until Wednesday, but it was a 70 percent chance. Hopefully, that changes, because we need rain. The lack of rain also confirms our plan to add at least one more rain barrel to our setup. It wouldn’t have prevented us from needing to use city water in the garden, but it would have put it off a bit longer. In the garden, we will look forward to harvesting more zucchini, squash, and tomatoes. Happy gardening!