September fruits of Sacramento Valley

 September is a very fruitful month here. Here is what I have i in the picture:

Figs - many cultivars are fruiting now

Kei Apple - my Sweet female #4 is dropping fruits

Oak leaf papaya - this year I like these berries a lot

Strawberry guava - nice complex fruits from few trees

Lemon guava - my large leafed seedling started getting ready 

Jujube - all cultivars are ripening now. I only like these fruits at the brown crunchy stage

Duke avocado - I just picked these first 2 fruits 

Mexicola avocado - the fruits are ripening from early September 

Peaches - Fairtime is ready, Last Chance is starting 

Feijoa - Chesterwoody is ready

Apples - Fuji and Reinette Simirenko. The small flat apples are from a clone of an old tree in Coloma.

Asian pears - Shinko and Unknown Asian Pear

EU pears - Buttira Rosata Moretti

Asian persimmon - Coffee Cake

American persimmon - H63A

Pomegranate - Balegal 

The propagation wood is usually available during our winter sale at reallygoodplants.com

Feijoa tasting in September

 

6 ( Marta 6, my seedling) - just ok for this fruit. I don’t think it ripened on the tree

7 ( Marta 7, my seedling)- good flavor but no sugar yet. These were the prematurely dropped fruits 

KK ( Kakariki ) - not ready at all

KT ( Kaiteri ) - I pulled these 2 fruits from the tree. Nice flavor and texture but these need a week or more on the tree

10 ( Marta 10, my seedling) - almost there. Very nice sweet flavor, but the main harvest will be in October 

CW ( Chesterwoody ) - ripe, flavorful but not overly sweet, gritty. The only ripe feijoa I have now in September, harvesting for at least 2 weeks already.

Foolproof Cucumbers of 2021

I always had trouble growing most cucumber cultivars, as they would just decline yearly after producing few fruits. But this summer I was pretty happy with the cultivars I grew in my backyard and in the field.

I used to grow the Armenian cucumbers and they usually produced. They also seem to be the most heat tolerant and have a very long season. Here they are together with Mashhad melons:

The Armenian selection I grew in 2021 is light green. These are the same species as melon but separated into to their own subspecies Cucumis melo var. flexuosus. They are very large and the flesh is dense and never bitter.

The other four are true cucumbers (Cucumis sativus):

• Hybrid Persian
• Hybrid Tasty King
• Sweet Gwendolyn 
• Hybrid Natsuhikari

All of these are wonderful fruits and are still producing in September.

Hybrid Persian makes relatively small smooth fruits. It is probably my favorite, but I like all the others too.

Hybrid Tasty King is a long cucumber with some small spikes on the fruit. It is probably the sweetest of the all long cucumbers I grew this summer.

Sweet Gwendolyn is a dark skinned, long, and smooth cucumber. It is juicier than the two other long cucumbers I grew this summer.

Hybrid Natsuhikari is the crunchiest and most dense of the three long cucumbers. It has some little spikes on the skin.

I recommend growing all of these. I am now trying to find the source of Sweet Gwendolyn as I do not remember where I got it.

If you prefer cucumbers without any spikes on the skin, these three selections lack spikes: Hybrid Persian (the short ones), Sweet Gwendolyn, and Armenian (the light colored one).