The Scientific Gardener
366 FOLLOWERS
An avid hobbyist growing vegetables to feed my beautiful wife and 4 precious children.
The Scientific Gardener
4d ago
I decided to try out the Bono because it was a hard-to-find cucumber variety. The fruit grew very well, without any issues. The primary concern that the vines encountered while growing was insufficient light due to nearby plants that were growing next to the Bono. This delayed fruiting only slightly, and by the end of the season, the Bono was doing just as well as all the other varieties near it ..read more
The Scientific Gardener
2w ago
While the origin of the plant species Cucumis melo is most often associated with Africa, there are also Cucumis melo varieties that are Asian in origin. Less domesticated than the African melos, the Cucumis melo variety conomon is often used in cooking or pickling due to its tendency to produce bitter fruit. Often referred to as an Asian pickling melon, these fruit tends to thrive in warm humid ..read more
The Scientific Gardener
2w ago
After growing out an unknown carosello cucumber variety, I decided to try out a Mezzo Lungo Polignano carosello variety in the 1-yard grape bin. This variety was one that I had tried out previously in 2021. In fact, I labeled the specific population, which was provided to me by an Italian gentleman named Angelo, for a future Mezzo Lungo Polignano trial.   ..read more
The Scientific Gardener
3w ago
One of the things I like doing when gardening is giving cucumber varieties a second chance. Back in 2018 I grew an unknown carosello cucumber variety. It was oval and ranged from being very dark to quite light. I didn’t know what to think of it then, but I do remember it tasting pretty good. With all that in mind, I decided to give the variety another try at a new plot that I had set up in a ..read more
The Scientific Gardener
1M ago
I have given my younger daughter plenty of choices concerning what to grow in the girl’s garden plot. We usually grow tomatoes and potatoes as well as some sweet potatoes. She likes sweet peppers, so we almost always include some of those. Additionally, we generally try to do something new each year. This year we tried some butterfly attractants, such as Milkweed and Pipevine. & ..read more
The Scientific Gardener
1M ago
2023 provided me with much joy and excitement, but also much work and disappointment. With gardening, as with life, it seems that joy in one area is somehow interconnected with sorrow in another. In addition to constant pest pressure and disease, I experienced a lot of disappointment with growers this year. Early in 2023, I had asked a group of market growers if any of them was willing to grow ..read more
The Scientific Gardener
1M ago
After many years of looking, I was finally able to purchase some Sonata biofungicide for my garden in 2023. This specific fungicide is meant to specifically go after fungus-related diseases such as Downy and Powdery Mildew. It did a fabulous job and I was able to keep my plants relatively free of disease for 4-6 weeks longer than I would have been able to do otherwise. These results were much ..read more
The Scientific Gardener
1M ago
Just to provide some context on the “Speckled Friendship” Carosello, this carosello variety originated from a packet of mixed-up, possibly polymorphic Carosello Spuredda Leccese seed sent to me by my friend Giuseppe. Similar to may other companies that sell seed from Italy, this specific Carosello seed from SeedSelect looked nothing like what was pictured on the seed package. I grew the first one ..read more
The Scientific Gardener
2M ago
So here are a few pictures of insects that I found throughout the season. The first picture is of a mantid ootheca I found while walking at a nearby creek on New Year’s Day. The next is some ladybugs I found on a walk. Then are some pictures of a mantid on some flowers and some mantids I found nearby.   ..read more
The Scientific Gardener
2M ago
A friend in Indonesia told me about a striped cucumber that appeared to be some kind of pickling melon. I asked him to try growing it to see if it was bitter at all. After trying it out and assuring me of the cucumber’s lack of bitterness, he sent me some seeds. I decided to try out growing the variety in late 2022 in my greenhouse. This is the Timun Krai. It is a striped Indonesian ..read more