Nine Palms Ranch Trial, 2008

Team members: Carol Halloran, Suna Herder, Nella Henninger, Helen Murray, Jeanie Sunseri, Sandra Tamm

Summary

Fourteen varieties of cucumbers were compared for flavor and production. Stallion White and Japanese Climbing ranked top in flavor. Marketmore 76 was top in production.

Overview

This was a trial to compare the production and taste of 14 varieties of cucumbers. The cucumbers were grown on a 35 foot long arbor. This arbor is 7 feet tall and 41/2 feet wide. The arbor is divided into 7 five foot sections on each side. 14 varieties of cucumbers were selected.

Soil preparation

Between May 16th and May 23rd the area around the arbor was cleared. Sweet peas were pulled up and the area was cleared of weeds, debris and sweet pea leavings. The area was watered well and spread with a heavy dressing of alfalfa pellets. The pellets were spread and dug in by hand on May 20th. On May 23rd, the area was dug in again and watered. The area was ready to plant.

Seeding and transplanting

On May 27th, after much discussion, we decided that cucumber seeds germinated easily so we would seed directly in the soil. In each of the 14 5-foot sections, we planted one type of cucumber seed. We planted on both sides of the wire in their section. Seven seeds were planted on each side, with the plan of thinning after they germinated. We alternated cucumbers with obvious differences. For example: a white cucumber next to a green cucumber, so as to tell them apart more easily as they started to produce. After the planting was finished, the area was topdressed with about one inch of Garrods horse compost and the area was watered well.

Nine Palms Ranch Trial, 2008

Team members: Many Nine Palms Ranch volunteers

Summary

Peaches & Cream corn was reliably productive over an extended harvest period.

Overview

In 2007 we planted four varieties of corn with different maturation times, but they all matured within a week of each other anyhow, not two to three weeks apart as predicted. So this year we planted three varieties of corn at three and a half week intervals to see if we could get corn to mature at different times over the summer. We also tried four different winter cover crops to improve the soil and see if there were differences in a variety grown in the different cover crop areas.

We used three varieties of sweet corn (Latin name, Zea mays). They were standard, not super sweet varieties. Silver Queen is white, Jubilee is yellow and Peaches and Cream is bi-color. See the chart below.