Pumpkins

When the Irish tradition arrived in America, pumpkins took the place of turnips. This is because pumpkins are more common in the Americas. Today we find out why.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpkin

The pumpkin is a plant of American origin, of the cucurbitaceous family. Its scientific name refers to the size that the fruit can assume: cucurbita maxima. This vegetable is harvested in autumn and keeps very well for months, therefore it is one of the precious winter vegetables. In addition to the pumpkin that is cooked, the plant is also sometimes grown to make ornamental pumpkins, which are dug out and used as a container or Halloween lantern. In addition, there is a kind of pumpkin from which to make a natural sponge, the luffa. In terms of cultivation, it is a fairly exaggerated plant in requiring a rich manure and space in the garden, but it never fails to reward the farmer with great satisfaction. Pumpkin is a low-calorie vegetable: 33 calories every 100 grams of fresh product, an interesting characteristic for those who are looking for dietetic foods.

The pumpkin fears frost and is damaged at temperatures below 10 degrees. The plant suffers even if it is too hot, over 30 degrees. Ideal for growing it is a mild temperature, around 20 degrees. The pumpkin needs a rich soil, with a pH ideally between 6 and 7. To have quality pumpkins with compost or mature manure, it is necessary to add a lot of potassium, an element that makes the fruit tastier and sweeter, for this reason it is excellent to mix ashes at will in the compost, or use borlande (beet processing residues, found in agricultural centres among natural fertilizers). The pumpkin is really very demanding in terms of fertilization: before growing it you can dig a hole to fill with manure, preparing this bed of nourishment, or bury 3 or 4 quintals of manure every 100 square meters of garden. This element constitutes about 2.4% or 2.6% of the Earth's crust weight, where it is the seventh most abundant. In many minerals it is present in the form of insoluble salts, from which it is difficult to extract it. Some of its minerals, including carnallite, langbeinite, polyalite and sylvite, are generally found at the bottom of ancient lakes and seas, such as Dancalia. Potassium salt deposits are found in the United States (California, New Mexico, Utah), Canada, Germany and other countries. Silvite, for example, originates in sea salt deposits, salt lakes and volcanic emanations often associated with kainite and kieserite. Paragenesis is with carnallite and rock salt.

https://e-rocks.com/item/tpx222394/polyhalite-sylvite

And what do you use to restore the pH of the soil you want to cultivate pumpkins? Any contribution to the content of this article is welcome.

Turnips

As I announced yesterday, starting from the post on the most famous Halloween story I intend to structure all the posts until October 31st. Well, in the last update I told you that Mr. Jack was eating a turnip. Turnips are common in Ireland, and the question I would like to answer is: why?

The turnip is the large, fleshy root of the plant Brassica rapa L., which belongs to the brassicaceae family. Rich in vitamin C, B and folic acid, it is useful for its detoxifying and antioxidant properties. I don't know how many of you play Animal Crossing: New Horizons, but surely among the younger readers there is someone who learned about this tuber from buying and selling turnips in that game.

https://animalcrossing.fandom.com/wiki/White_turnip

"Turnip grows best in a moderately deep loam, fertile and slightly acid soil. Turnip does not do well in soils that are of high clay texture, wet or poorly drained. For good root growth turnip needs a loose, well aerated soil." (D.J. Undersander et Al.)

Cultivating turnips requires relatively little care and can usually be harvested after 5-10 weeks by taking both the vegetable root and the green part. You start with the seeds and plan to grow turnips in spring or autumn. Turnips thrive in colder temperatures, so you should plant them when the soil temperature is still quite low. For spring turnips, plant the seeds outdoors three weeks before the last expected frost. For autumn turnips, plant the seeds in the middle of summer, about two months before the first expected winter frost. The soil temperature must average at least 4°C for the seeds to germinate, but temperatures between 10 and 21°C encourage faster growth. Turnips grown in autumn are generally sweeter than spring turnips and are also less likely to attract root worms.

These are the real reasons why turnips are widespread in Ireland. But what is the condition for having this type of soil suitable for their cultivation?

Acidic soils are considered to be those in which the pH is lowered to values that compromise the mineral nutrition of the plants. In general, a slight acidity is tolerable, up to the pH 6 limit; below this pH the anomaly intensifies, but it clearly manifests itself below pH 5-5.5, values below which most agricultural species find it difficult, if not even prohibitive conditions, which affect their cultivation. The acidity of a soil can have several origins, often combined. The one that I can tell you more about is the one that depends on the mother rock from which the soil is born. Lithologically, the acidity is due to a high silica content of the rocks that have originated the soil. Acidic soils are generally the offspring of granitoid and porphyritic rocks. The acidity is also accentuated by the systematic runoff of the bases in rainy climates and the accumulation of humic acids due to moderately low temperatures and rainy weather. All these characteristics are indeed found in Ireland.

https://landscaperpro.it/ciclo-azoto/

Granites are coarse-grained acidic plutonic rocks consisting of quartz (20-60%), alkaline feldspars, plagioclase and mafia minerals such as biotite (the most common), hornblende. Other minerals that may be present in particular cases are: pyroxenes, andalusite, muscovite, garnet, corundum, tourmaline. Rocks with a percentage of quartz between 20% and 60% but with a different alkaline feldspar/plagioclase ratio are called granitoid rocks and take different names according to the alkaline feldspar/plagioclase ratio.

http://storiadellageologia.blogspot.com/2014/08/il-mistero-del-granito-ii-la-nascita.html

In petrography, porphyry is a generic term used to indicate filonian eruptive rocks (corresponding to granites or syenites) or paleovulcanic effusive rocks (corresponding to liparitis and trachytes, neovulcanic), with a distinctly porphyric structure, very hard. Because of their resistance to abrasion and compression, thanks to their smoothness, these rocks are used, in the form of rough cubes, for road paving and in the form of polished slabs for floors, stairs and as ornamental material.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porfido

This is as far as the best soil for turnip cultivation is concerned. If you would like to intervene with some advice on cultivation, leave a comment to the post so that everyone can see your opinion.

The most famous Halloween legend

Hi guys, sorry I'm late. I'm not here to dwell on the motivations, but I'm allowing the reading of a book, according to the author belonging to the fantasy genre, to take up a lot of my time. It is full of plot holes and the story is quite simple, but it offers good company. The book in question is A Quest of Heroes, first volume of the saga The Sorcerer's ring. It has an intermediate rating on the various social networks of readers, ranging from three to four out of five stars. I think that my opinion is fully married with this rating.

https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/a-quest-of-heroes-book-1-in-the-sorcerer-s-ring-by-morgan-rice

Anyway, back to today's topic. As I previously announced, today I would like to say a few introductory words about Halloween. Among the various tales linked to this event, the story of Jack o' lantern is certainly the most famous Halloween legend.

An Irish blacksmith named Jack, a drunkard and cheapskate, met the Devil in a pub on Halloween night. He was about to fall into his hands when he managed to trick him into believing that he would sell his soul in exchange for one last drink. So the Devil turned into a sixpence coin to pay the innkeeper and Jack was quick enough to pocket it. Since he also had a silver cross, the Devil could no longer return to his original form. Jack, then, made a new pact with the Devil, which was that he would let him go as long as he did not return to claim his soul for at least 10 years. The Devil agreed. Ten years later, Jack and the Devil met again and Jack, again with a stratagem, managed to escape the power of the Prince of Darkness and make him promise that he would never seek him again. The Devil, who was in a difficult situation, had no choice but to accept. When Jack died, because of his dissolute life, he was not admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven and was forced to knock on the Gates of Hell, but the Devil, who had promised that he would not look for him, sent him back and threw a burning fire on him. Jack used it to find his way back and, so that he wouldn't die with the wind, he put him under a turnip that he was eating.

https://www.history.com/news/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins

Since then Jack has been wandering around with his lamp awaiting Judgment Day (hence the name JACK O' LANTERN, Jack and his Lantern) and is the symbol of the damned and wandering souls. But if the vegetable was a turnip, then why is the Halloween symbol a pumpkin? When the Irish, following the famine of 1845, left their country and went to America, they took this legend with them and, since turnips are not as widespread in America as they are in Ireland, they replaced them with the more common pumpkins. Since then, the pumpkin carved with the old blacksmith's face and the lamp inside, is perhaps the most famous symbol of Halloween.

https://www.target.com/p/18-34-light-up-orange-halloween-jack-o-39-lantern-hyde-38-eek-boutique-8482/-/A-78638632

It is precisely from this story that I will develop the next themed articles by answering some rather unusual questions.