|
Post by Mumsey on Jun 28, 2015 18:48:51 GMT -5
Pulled a few beets the other day. Cooked them tonight. They had beet flavor, but not like they should be. I plant Cylindra and have for years. These just did not taste the same. Same seed (left over from last year). The greens were good, mixed them with chard. I'm thinking it is because of too much rain. They taste "watered down". The radishes were great, not hot at all, Giant Salad radishes. Lettuce has succumbed to the extreme moisture combined with heat. I have a few heads of romaine that will need to be harvested in the next few days.
The onions (Candy) are very mild too. Garlic looks like it will need to be harvested in 10 days or so. 2-3 weeks earlier than usual.
Darn the weird weather. But it's all edible, I will go with the flow!
|
|
|
Post by wheelgarden1 on Jun 28, 2015 18:57:50 GMT -5
Certainly makes a difference.
|
|
|
Post by octave on Jun 28, 2015 20:47:42 GMT -5
I no longer grow Cylindra because it's not the most flavorful beet. I tried but I found that other varieties like Bull's Blood and Detroit Dark Red taste much better.
|
|
|
Post by binnylou on Jun 28, 2015 22:23:23 GMT -5
Last year..or possibly the year before...we received so much rain, that the tomatoes were not tasty. I thought it was just me and my old tastebuds, but others in the area commented the same. I do hope that doesn't happen this year.
|
|
|
Post by octave on Jun 28, 2015 22:26:40 GMT -5
binny maybe it's not the rain but the lack of sunshine what makes tomatoes bland.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2015 23:05:41 GMT -5
Hey Mumsey what do you amend your soil with? Do you add anything for minerals like rock dust, ocean minerals, or even leaf mulch? A lack of minerals can affect flavor of your crop.
|
|
|
Post by Mumsey on Jun 29, 2015 3:40:37 GMT -5
I use leaf mulch, grass, straw, compost. I really think it's the excessive rain! Soil in Iowa is pretty darn near perfect to begin with.
This is the first time I have really noticed a difference in beet flavor, have always had good luck with Cylindra. Dad is growing regular detroit beets, will be interesting to see how his turn out. He is only 30 miles away and they have had more rain than we have.
|
|
|
Post by kimmsr🕊 on Jun 29, 2015 5:56:42 GMT -5
Too much rain and too little sun and too much sun and too little rain (or soil moisture) will affect flavor and nutrients in the foods we grow. It is not any one thing but the combination that causes these problems. Plant roots need air, just as much as moisture, to uptake the soil nutrients that create the flavors we have come to expect. A too wet soil will have too little air which adversely affects a plants health.
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Jun 29, 2015 7:55:27 GMT -5
I have always heard that you should not pick melons after a lot of rain because they will have less flavor and a friend of mine went to a pick your own strawberry place after several days of rain and she was complaining that the berries had no taste.
I know that hot peppers will be much hotter if grown in dry conditions.
I grew cylindra beets for the first time this year and we ate them 2 nights ago. My husband commented that their flavor was not as good as he expected. He thought that they tasted "earthy". Actually he said that they tasted like dirt but I changed it to earthy! I didn't notice any odd flavor.
|
|
|
Post by tbird on Jun 29, 2015 8:49:32 GMT -5
for beets, I don't like to travel around, detroit dark red does the trick for me. Every other I've tried is just, well, not as good. It is very unlike me to be so non-adventurous with vegetables, but there it is!
Here it is raining again. Never has it rained so much that I can remember. A person could grow the garden without any hand watering at all. After tomorrow - supposedly 5 dry days! we will see.
Hopefully - one of them there early girls will get ripening.
I also have hear to not harvest right after a bunch of rain - maybe on here or the previous board? idk for sure.
|
|
|
Post by desertwoman on Jun 29, 2015 9:12:20 GMT -5
I've also noticed a huge flavor difference when we have those (rare) wet conditions. Too wet of a soil does, indeed, interfere with nutrient uptake and flavor.
With my dry conditions, I water every 3-4 days (depending on how high the temps are). And I always check under the mulch.I use the 2 knuckle measure and only water if it is dry 2 knuckles down.
|
|
|
Post by tbird on Jun 29, 2015 9:29:44 GMT -5
After planting my cuke seeds outside, I came in and filled the watering can with warm water to give them a good start. When I came out the house, it was raining!
but after careful thought, it didn't seem to be a lot of rain, I watered in those cuke seeds with the warm water anyway. However, some rain over night may have helped, but, I do want those seed to think about sprouting quick-like.
I did think I had reached a new low, you know as the weirdo eccentric neighbor. Out with my watering can in the rain and all....
|
|
|
Post by tbird on Jun 29, 2015 9:31:37 GMT -5
more apropro to the OP - wondering if raised bed help with this rain/flavor equation?
I have some things not in raised bed, but most veggies are.
|
|
|
Post by binnylou on Jun 29, 2015 10:04:34 GMT -5
I did think I had reached a new low, you know as the weirdo eccentric neighbor. Out with my watering can in the rain and all.... The neighbors have to have something to talk about!
|
|
|
Post by desertwoman on Jun 29, 2015 11:17:44 GMT -5
What a great eccentricity - and one I completely relate to! Maybe it's really a new high!
It amazes me how people will look out and say "oh it's raining. I don't have to water" but they don't observe it well or even stick their finger into the soil, to see that maybe only 1/8" of the soil is wet.
|
|