2018 Greenhouse Carosello Tondo Manduria

The second half of the summer, I decided to try growing the Carosello Tondo Manduria or (as I like to call it) the Mandurian Round. It is a pretty easy carosello to grow.

The seed from my own source grew well, while the home-grown seed from a friend was pretty weak. One really good way to ensure that you continue to preserve seed is to grow your favorite varieties often.

Like many other carosello varieties, the Mandurian Round starts out small and just gets larger throughout its lifetime. This variety is best when between the size of a baseball and softball.
 

The coloring of this and other carosello varieties becomes lighter as the seed inside matures. At the larger stage (especially with the round carosello) the faded fruit is not as good for salads. Though the Mandurian Round is a C. melo (like cantaloupe) this carosello variety exhibits minimal sweetness and a more grainy texture then a cantaloupe. They can still be eaten when mature, but are so incredibly tasty when eaten immature that unless you are trying to save seed you will probably not grow them to maturity.

The temperature in the greenhouse was perfect for the plants. I am still working to find a better way to water the plants so that they do not wilt. At the time I was growing this variety, I decided to take the time to make a short video about this variety. Hopefully, you enjoy!
 

The EasiOyYa or Olla

For a while now, I have been trying to figure out two different situations that have posed a dilemma in my backyard. The first was what to do with the 50-gallon water jugs that I have been filling up with water from heating up the shower. The second was how to water the plants in my greenhouse. Initially, I thought of just filling watering cans with very small holes. This option works alright for the short run, but required frequent attention. Another option I had considered was to have the watering system drip-feed some water emitters. The problem with this is that the flow would not always match the needs of the plants. After looking for quite a while for a viable solution, I found the olla to be a very good option.

The EasiOyYa Olla size

The packaging was very good.

The non-olla parts of the system

Instructions for assembly - Don't take the exact order literally!

The in-line filter (not included) that I purchased to go with the system.

Ollas (pronounced oy-yah) are porous terracotta containers that can be filled and let water out slowly. They discharge water slowly, leaving the soil moist, but not wet. The roots of the plants surround the olla and grow well. The only one I could find to buy that would work with a drip line was the EasiOyYa, which can be purchased online. It includes everything you need for the system other than a water barrel. There is a small in-line filter, which keeps debris out of the line. That being said, I purchased a sturdier in-line filter to ensure that no particulates get into the Ollas.

My assembly.

All ready to hook to the line.

Placing the Ollas

Hooked to the line. Notice the hose for the initial flush (highly recommended)

Water at the end of line indicates it is working.

The EasiOyYa was incredibly easy to put together and get working. Once I got the Ollas ready, I placed them where I wanted them and left plenty of extra drip irrigation line so that if I needed to move them, I would be able to do so easily. To get the whole thing started, I hooked everything up, except for the drip line to the water barrel. Then I left the fitting for the end of the line open and hooked the whole system to a hose. I turned the hose on only a small amount and waited about 10 minutes until the water went all the way through the system to the end fitting. I then closed the end fitting, turned off the hose and hooked the whole system to the barrel and turned the spigot on the bucket to reestablish water pressure. My carosello plants quickly grew and the fruit ballooned.

The only drawback of putting in the EasiOyYa was that I put it in near the surface of the ground. By doing so, I attracted some fungus gnats, which began to feed on the roots of my plants. The fungus gnats may be in the greenhouse for a while, though I was able to move the Ollas deeper into the ground (remember how I had added extra drip line to each section). When I took each Olla out it was surrounded by roots. The plants did not appreciate this change, but eventually adjusted. The gnats on the other hand seemed to have gotten the point because I haven’t seen many since.

After the Ollas had been in for about a week.

Overall, I would definitely recommend an olla system to anyone. Especially anyone who has a hard-to-irrigate location and prefers not to babysit their plants.

Watch the fruit grow.

Here is a little video of my EasiOyYa in my greenhouse.

Cucumber and Transplant Greenhouse

Soon after moving into the house we now live in, a friend from church offered me a greenhouse. I was both grateful and humbled. It took a while before I was able to clean our backyard up enough to place the greenhouse in its current location. Once that was done, it took some time determining what kinds of containers I could use for the greenhouse. Initially a friend said that he could provide some shallow containers, which probably would not have been the best in the long-run.

Note the west-side shade. This is intentional to prolong my spring transplants.

Coconut Fiber (Coir) Blocks in my new stock tank.

A view from the front door. Still need to move blocks and fertilizer! (=

After finding that more shallow containers could not be procured I got tired of having the greenhouse mostly vacant, so I purchased a (nearly) 6’ long by 2’ wide feed stock tank – like the kind used for providing water for livestock. With that done, I then had my father purchase some coco peat fiber blocks or coir from Santa Rosa. These were reconstituted while I sprouted my transplants. Though I normally do not do transplant, sometimes it is the only way to get plants large enough in the time I have. The transplants were potted into the stock tank about a month ago and, despite our diminishing sunlight this fall, they are still growing well.

Carosello Growing in compost, but losing ground to woodlice.

Some plants have been chewed up so much, that they needed to be removed.

One unfortunate thing that I did do was I sifted some compost to help in feeding the small plants. The compost itself was not bad, but the pill bugs or woodlice that came along in the compost decided to start chewing on my plants. I had no idea how destructive they could be! Once they had damaged most of my cucumber plants enough that I was getting pretty desperate the inspiration finally hit me. I could just sprinkle some diatomaceous earth on top of the soil. At last – an organic solution for self-contained invertebrate pests in the greenhouse!

Diatomaceous Earth may not look pretty, but it works!