16onrockandroll Hatfield

a few weeks ago, these were vibrant producers, deep dark green leaves, seemed healthy and happy.  I just pulled them from this bed, and my other bed of them looks like its headed down the same path.  Any idea what this is?  I want to plant something in these beds for a fall crop, is this going to carry over and infect whatever I plant there now? Should I solarize the beds for a while first? any advice would be appreciated.

They don't lay flat like a vine. I'm sure some will be lost like that, although my crabgrass is out of control this year, and it is thick enough around them that it will probably keep most of them off of the ground. I'll get a picture if I get a chance.

Just harvested my first cantalope. Cant recall the variety, hearts-of-gold I think. I reduced the water to it as it got close to ripe, It was at full slip. Just pushed the stem off. It smelled amazing. I took it inside and let it rest a day in a cool place, then cut it open. It looked pretty good, not the darkest flesh Ive seen, but a nice orange, juicy as all-get-out. But when I tasted it, I was wholey underwhelmed. Pretty much no flavor. Ive gotten much better melons at the supermarket. Any ideas on why?

As I understand it, the chemical that makes them bitter is the same one that makes you burp cukes, so you might look into a burpless variety next time. I had the same problem with 2 of my pickling cukes this year. The only thing I can compare that bitterness to is Tea Tree oil. Anyone who has tasted that understands. Although I honestly think the cukes were worse. I pulled mine and planted amaranth. 

I have had similar problems this year.  I attribute it to pollination.  on one vine, I had 3 melons come in about the same time.  over a couple of weeks, 2 of them at different stages turned black and shriveled, the other one is almost the size of a basketball.  I assume that its not a water/nutrient issue if one wasnt affected, unless the plant somehow knows to abort some fruits and concentrate on one.

I am far from an expert, but I had a couple of plants volunteer this year next to my raised bed, so I let them go to see how they would do.  I didn't do anything to them at all until about a week ago.  it has been really hot here the past few weeks, and they finally showed some heat stress on probably our 8-10 day over 100, with about 20-30 in the high 90s, so I now give them an occasional heavy drink of water.  No stakes, no mulch, nothing. As of now, it looks like I will get my first tomato off of them in a day or two, and they are loaded with smaller ones.  supporting helps, but it is not a necessity.

Yes JRT, it keeps them from working down inside from the opening at the top.

anyone heard of pollination problems from planting corn too dense?  I planted mine at about 6 inches, 10 inches between rows, staggered by 2 weeks per four rows.  When my first batch came in, about half only had a few kernels, and all of it was missing about 1/3-1/2.  the only thing I could figure is that they are so close together that the upper leaves are blocking a lot of pollen from the lower ones.  the second batch seems a little better, and I think I caught on early enough to get in and shake the next 2 batches enough to help.

The corn also grew about 2ft shorter than last year, so obviously not enough nitrogen.  I knew I shouldn't plant it in the same place as last year! although everything except my volunteer straightneck from last year seems a bit piddly because the wet spring kept my seedlings inside 2 weeks longer than they should have been, with no grow light.  That dang squash plant though, has gotten to be about 12 ft by about 7 ft! 2 of those could feed a small county!

I have very poor clay soil that I have been doing standard raised bed gardening in for a few years, and this year I have been trying to go with more "organic" ( I hate what that word has become) techniques.  I have about 250 sq ft of corn directly in the ground, along with my onions and a few others.  My corn had a less than stellar year.  Last year it got almost 9 ft tall and had ears almost a foot long, this year, it got barely 6 ft (some is still under 3ft), and the ears, while good eating, are only about 3-5 inches.  I am planning some fall crops of peas, and hopefully some crimson clover or something as an overwinter cover crop (for the whole backyard, not just the corn plot).  what I am curious about is how you get the green manures into the soil without tilling?  do you just stop watering for it and plant in between?

So CA central valley, with good grass/weed mixture, 2000-2500 sq/ft with a good paddock shift system should support 2-3ish birds. I realize there are a ton of variables, I was just looking for a general idea. And while what I do may not be certifiably "organic", I do try to keep it as natural as is practical. We get a ton of rain in the spring, and the grass (and I mean generic grass, as in an uncontrolled mix of wild grasses and some left over lawn grass, not in the sterile sense of a normal monoculture lawn) grows to a foot or more tall if I let it. I usually let it dry up in the summer, rather than waste water/effort trying to keep it up, but if chickens were eating it, it would be pretty easy to give it a bit of water to keep it growing through the summer.

How much area of grasses would be a minimum for a paddock shift system per chicken?  This would be for a Paul Wheaton style, low/no feed system. I will have some kitchen scraps, but want to plan for a no-feed baseline.