Cleaning Up

Though I wish that everything that I work with in the garden was as easy to clean up as soil blocks, gardening can often include a lot of parts that cannot be reused. Having cleaned up pieces of plastic pots and transplant supplies that quickly decayed and are meant to only last a season, I have done my best to utilize as many high-quality materials as possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately, today’s gardeners do have some options when it comes to the materials that they work with in the garden. While I prefer not to use plastic at all, some items made for garden use have no other material equivalent. So when the end of the season comes, I work to wash everything down and thoroughly dry everything out.

A few 2021 Harvest Photos

While I usually don’t take pictures of all that goes on behind the scenes, here are a few pictures of my 2021 harvest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I really try not to share too many pictures of my total seed harvest, but I did want to express my gratitude for the good harvest that I enjoyed last year, despite my long absence from all of my gardens.

Suisun Valley Garden Plot

So this is a possible garden plot that I could work on. I was told that a gentleman had some land that I could grow on. Unfortunately, the land owner did not have any water on the site that I could use. Without irrigation, it is very difficult to try to grow very much. He did say that there was some county water nearby and that I could contact someone to have it turned back on. However, I am not familiar with the process of doing this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps I will try to do this another time. If I can get water to this location, then I can fight all the critters in the area in an attempt to grow a crop.

Creeping Cucumbers in their Native Habitat

While I was visiting with a sister-in-law in Louisiana, I noticed a spindly vine with leaves that looked very familiar to the cucamelon.

 

 

 

 

Sure enough, it was the Melethria pendula or Creeping Cucumber. I had never seen one of these cucumber varieties before, but it definitely did look a lot like a regular cucamelon. As I didn’t want to waste the seed from the fruit, I didn’t pick it immature – so I was not able to harvest seed from the fruit.

Working to Partner with a Farmer in Rio Linda for 2 Years

I am grateful for the opportunity I had to have my Striped Carosello Leccese cucumbers grown to seed by a Rio Linda farmer in 2021. We grew over 1 ton of cucumbers, with the majority of the fruit being harvested for seed. Because of this collaboration, I was able to grow and harvest a lot of fruit for seed processing and I was able to expand the seed companies that offer this incredible cucumber variety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In early 2022, through H&K Farms I was able to give a talk in Rio Linda at the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. I had a very good time and I was expecting that this would be a turning point in working with the staff at H&K Farms. Unfortunately, this would just mark the beginning of the end for my relationship with this wonderful farming family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is difficult to maintain any relationship for long without proper communication. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with a farmer in 2021, but I am also grateful for the ability to recognize when a relationship is no longer salvageable. I will continue to hope and pray that I will be able to find another farmer to help me maintain vigor in my most marketable carosello cucumber varieties.