Testing Seeds

I have a lot of seeds from previous years. There is more planting room this year. I want to test some of them for viability, use them if they are viable. It's early. I can test a few at a time. In the past I used gallon-size ziploc bags, drew a grid on paper towel, and had many varieties per bag. This time I'm using sandwich size bags but otherwise similar.

Just 4 varieties per bag.  This is Cherry Belle radish (2012) , Taiwan Sugar Pea (2012), Parisian Market Carrot (no date - 2010?), and Roma II bean (2009).  They are all from 2012 so should be OK.

The beans labeled "Ning's Beans" must be 6 years old.  A Chinese bean.  It will be nice if they grow.  Not counting on it.

Scarlet Nantes carrot (2010), Della Fave pole bean (2012), Scallop bush squash (2008), and French Breakfast radish (2010).  I think the squash are 2010, no year on label.  The others are 2011.

All ziplocs are now on the heating mat.  I didn't count seeds.  If a few grow, or a lot grow, I'll try them.  If they don't, I won't.

Looking Forward to Gardening, 2013.

Beekeeping.  I'll plant a lot more nectar bearing plants, especially clovers. The nectar bearing trees should add more blooming potential each year. That includes fruit trees, lindens, and others. Ning wants a wildflower meadow. That fits the bee concept, perfectly. Plus there are 2 big wild cherry trees, big swaths of wild blackberry brambles here and nearby, small orchards, and the big buckeye tree. As the orchard grows, there should be a lot more nectar and pollen. (Illustration, source unknown)

I've signed up for another class on beekeeping in Jan. The beehive kit needs to be put together before bee season starts. I should do that in Jan or Feb.  I may build a second hive in case there is a swarm, or to have in Vancouver.  (Illustration source unknown)

Orchard.
Overplant the grass with more clover, to add soil nitrogen-production.
The plums need deer cages.. I've put in the posts, next comes the fencing.
Add 2 persimmons, ordered, bare root.
Add 2 sweet cherries, yet to order, bare root. Remove the 2 apples to a different area. They are small enough to move easily.
Finish putting in fence posts for vinyard while soil is moist and easy to work.  The wires can be installed while the vines grow.
Plant one ordered bare root grape vine and some grape cuttings from the Vancouver vines.  Price grape, maybe Interlaken.  (Illustration source, this blog, 1910 postcard, Des Plains IL)

Raised beds. Three built, 6 to go. I can build 2 or 3 per weekend. No hurry.  Some need deer protection fencing. Some need season extender hoops/row cover. The last ones can be built in April, maybe May. (Illustration source, this blog, 1940 Postcard, Toronto).

 That's about all of the major stuff. The rest is the usual - plant veggies, pruning, puttering.

New Year's Day. It Snowed.

New Years' Day in the Vancouver house back yard. First snow of the year. I'm not sure if it makes the back yard more interesting, or depressing. Some I left the pruners at Battleground, so the traditional New Years' grape pruning will wait for a couple of days.

Front yard. The old tree looks more interesting every year. Old and gnarled. I think that makes it more beautiful.

Looking back at gardening, 2012

Often I complain about neglecting the garden, or not getting enough time in it.  This year was different.  Much was effort toward 2013.  It's about the journey, and not the destination.  Sometimes.  A big part was making the Battleground place into "our" garden, instead of "that 2 acre lawn".  Not all of the 2 acre is/was lawn, but most of it.

These days, I'm less willing to think about 10 years down the road. I think more about tomorrow. Or next year. With a bow and aim for later years, of course. No one can plant a tree and not think that. But rather than waiting for the best time to plant, or waiting until soil prep was ideal, which takes time, I planted in the summer. I kept the soil prep to immediate areas around what was planted. That said, I did haul at least 8 truckloads of compost, so I did more than I'm acknowledging in that sentence. I mulched with thick layer of compost, and watered new trees and transplanted trees, conscientiously.   After I thought of it, I added mycorrhyzal inoculant.  Not knowing if that matters.   I added some not-ideal-but-promising big box store trees that needed some TLC, shaping, and root pruning, but constitute a head start on next year. My reasoning is, the added TLC would result in better plants, in 2013, than I could start or obtain in 2013, and maintenance would be less than if I start them in Spring.  The journey, Summer and Fall 2012, was digging, moving, planting more than I otherwise would have.  But the work isn't work.  It's therapy.

The pics are today, now, at the Battleground place. First frost of the year. Foggy. Very nice, quiet, solemn atmosphere.

Trees I moved from Vancouver. Size is based on my faulty memory
1. Mulberry, Illinois Everbearing.. Height about 7 foot. Trunk about thumb thick. Heavy root system.
2. Ginkgo. Height about 7 foot. Trunk, thumb thick. Heavy rood system.  Originally grown from a seed.
3. Two Hazelnuts. Height about 9 foot, pruned to about 6 ft. Trunks, thumb thick heavy root system.
4. Volunteer hazelnut, height 6 foot. Trunk, pinkie finger thick. Minimal roots.
5. Four volunteer hazelnut saplings, knee height, trunk pencil or thinner. Minimal roots.  Two are divided from the hazelnut in #4.
6. Volunteer red maple, knee height, trunk pencil thickness. Small but fully intact root system.
7. Three peaches, 2 from containers. Height, about waist, two with trunks pinkie finger thick. Indian Blood with severely pruned root system, due to bad digging on my part, so I pruned the top back as well.  That one was more thumb thick trunk.   I was surprised, it didn't wilt.  So maybe it survived.  The other two had more intact roots, because I grew in containers.
8. Morello cherry, shoulder height, trunk index finger. Root system moderate, not much pruning.
9. Almaden Duke cherry, Root system heavy, not much pruning.
10. Stanley plum. Height, top of my head. Trunk thumb thick. Heavy root system, minimal pruning.
11. Four small fig trees, foot tall to knee height, all form containers. Largest, Sal's fig, knee height, good roots; then Petite negri, foot tall, OK roots, and two King, foot tall, minimal roots. All from cuttings I started.
12. One larger fig tree, "Vancouver Brunswick", which I have pruned to maintain compact size over the years, so height does not reflect weight and volume. Height, top of my bald head, wrist thick trunk, root mass very heavy.   Root pruning was minimal.

Wow.  Wow!   Can't believe I did all of that. If I set out to move all of these, I could not have done it. Moving one or two or three at a time, I didn't think about that.  My Vancouver yard is much less congested.  The trees have a good chance to settle in before the stress of next summer, lots of time for root growth.  New growth will be limited by the existing root mass, which will help with survival and management.  And it's done.  There's not much else, of any size, that I would want to move.

Shrubs moved this year:
1. Forsythia, tall canes to 10 foot, slender. Pruned heavily to waist height. Trunk 2 thumbs thick. Roots, minimal for such a big shrub. Originally cutting-grown.
2. Rose of Sharon, kept pruned very compact for 10 years, chest height, but also pruned heavily to knee height. Trunk ankle thick. Pruned heavily due to root loss while digging. This one, I don't know if it will survive.
3. Small lilac, probably 6 years old but grown in shade, knee height, minimal root loss.
4. Rose of Sharon seedling, knee height, about 4 years old.
5. Three blueberry plants, knee height, neglected in shade and didn't water, so small, knee height. Much better location now. Compact roots, minimal loss.
6. One small Tamara rose grown a few years ago from cutting. I thought it died, but now some new growth. Maybe it will survive.
7. One burgundy leafed "Royal Purple" Eurasian Smoke Tree. Cotinus coggyria. I don't know if this is tree or shrub. Probably, small tree. Height about 8 foot but pruned back to chest height due to root loss. Root mass OK, loss minimal but there wasn't much.
8.  Three mugo pines, about 2 years old, about 1 foot tall.  Slow growers.
9.  One pieris cultivar.  It's been growing., barely, with a tall privacy fence blocking Southern sun, and trees and shrubs blocking eastern and western sun.  It was also in a retaining wall, which seems to have poor drainage - dig a couple of feet, and it's rock.  It might have once been a pond.  This pieris was abouit 4 ft tall, trunk about thumb thickness, doesn't look very healthy.  The new location gets a lot better light and drainage, so if it survives, it will be a lot happier.  Orchard Mason bees love Pieris.
10.  That big camellia that I moved last week.  About 8 foot tall, thumb thickness.  Good root mass, I think, although I could not get all of the roots, and pruned back the top from about 10 foot tall.  I read that camellias don't survive moving.  Maybe it will, it looks good for the moment.
11. Probably more, forgotten as of this writing.

There were also many bearded irises, perennials, and bulbs moved from Vancouver, or planted this summer and fall.

 

New Trees, added this summer and fall.
1. Four Lindens, Greenspire. One about 10 feet tall, trunk 2 thumbs thick. Originally balled/burlap, with roots extending into compost. Others about 6 to 8 feet tall, will need some guiding to develop central lead but otherwise look good. Bought largely due to my honey ambitions. I read they are not summer drought tolerant, but they do well in Vancouver. Experiment. Prices very cheap due to season close out, $8.00
2. One red leaf Norway maple, single thin lead to about 12 foot tall, trunk thumb thick, roots as for Lindens.
3. One hybrid Red maple, damaged trunk, minimal roots. I have doubts about whether it will survive. Ning liked it, and it was cheap - as I recall, about $16. Some TLC will be needed.
4. One Shan Xha, or Chinese Haw. Bare root, waist height, roots typical for bare root tree. Mail order, "One Green World".
5. One flowering plum, 8 foot tall, trunk thumb thickness. Roots as for Lindens. $16 due to late summer close out.
6. One Korean dogwood, height to top of my head, trunk thumb thick. Heavy root mass in container. This was the most expensive, $30 or so.
7. One Aspen, height to top of my head, compact roots, about $6 from a local nursery, same as the Red maple. I think they buy damaged trees from Oregon nurseries, from the look of the stock, but the prices were great.
8. One Laburnum, "golden chain tree". Height 10 feet. Needs some shaping. Trunk thumb thick. Really limited root mass. Would have fit in 2 gallon pot. Otherwise, similar idea to the Lindens. Ning was wanting this, so I bought on impulse. Big box store close-out. $16
9. One Mountain Ash, same source as the Red maple and Aspen. Height 10 feet. Trunk thumb thick.
10.  Two Asian plums, 6 foot tall, thumb thick trunks.  Containerized.
11.  Three small Pawpaws.  One foot tall.  I have doubts about their survival, but it's worth a try.
12.  One Asian pear, 5 foot tall, trunk index finger thick.  It wasn't looking happy, but I think it will be better in 2013.  Average volume roots as for Lindens.
13.  Two tiny Jujubes.  Mail order, containerized.  About one foot tall.  Basically saplings.

I think that's all. Wow that's a lot.

New Shrubs.
1.  One very small Cotinus starts
2.  Two very small virbunums
3.  Two blueberries, about waist height.
4.  One virbunum about waist height.
5.  One forsythia about waist height.
6.  One hydrangia about knee height.
7.  One weigelia about knee height.
8.  One additional Mugo pine about one foot tall
9.  Two Honey berries.  Basically, honeysuckles that produce blueberry-size berries.  About 1 foot, really just rooted cuttings.

Looking at the list, it doesn't seem possible.

It's great to have so much from years of growing, at the Battleground place, instead of them being new starts or costly nursery plants.  Some would not be available at such sizes.  Many are plants / trees / shrubs that I started, or grew from very small size, or "rescued".   Some will bear fruit in 2013, but if I bought them new it would be 2015 before the same varieties started producing even small amounts.  The extra room, and increased sunshine, less crowding, will result in faster growth here, and more productivity.

The comfort of having part of my old familiar garden, at the new place, is great.  The added new trees and shrubs, by planting in 1012, will mean 2013 will be more about puttering, pruning, shaping, and not nearly as much about adding and moving.  I know some trees, shrubs, and other plants may not make it.  There are some challenges adjusting to the change.  Deer and rabbits and squirrels will have effects, so not everything will work out.  I'll need to be diligent about watering, especially the new or transplanted trees and shrubs.  It's all good.

Clover

Clovers are regarded as forages or lawn weeds. When I was a boy, when the earth was green and great mastodons lumbered across the Illinois plains, lawns in my neighborhood and town were mixtures of grass and clover, with occasional dandelions and other weeds. Then came herbicides and fertilizers, and most lawns were converted to monocultures of grass. All of the images below are via wikimedia commons, searching on "clover" and "clover bee".

All clovers are nitrogen fixing, when working with their Rhizobium bacterial friends.  Might be a good idea to buy inoculated seeds, or buy inoculum.   Depends on who you are reading.

Dutch white clover (Trifolium repens) is considered good for lawns.  Dutch White clover is compact, keeping to a smaller size than most other clovers.  It does not require watering, stays green longer than grasses do, and does well in poor soil.  Dutch white clover improves the soil.  This clover is a perennial legume.  Dutch white clover is the type that grew on that ancient Illinois lawn of my boyhood years.  It turns out that before herbicides and fertilizers, clover was included in high quality lawn seed.

The prompting issue for me, now, is to have lots of nectar production for honey bees.  Of course.  White clover is known as very bee friendly and produces a clear, excellent honey.   Even without wanting to make honey, and even without beekeeping, however, the role of clover in soil conditioning and possibly attracting beneficial insects, and nurturing neighborhood bees, makes it a good addition to the lawn.

Part of the "rebranding" of white clover as a weed, was that bees were so attracted to it.  The thought was that, to reduce risk for bee stings, we should eradicate clover in our lawns, keeping them toxic, environmentally wasteful and damaging, and unhealthy, but pure and pretty to some eyes.  Multiple websites, especially grass seed companies, lawn care companies, and purveyors of fine chemical toxins, continue to promulgate the idea that clover is bad.

Red clover (Trifolium pratense)   is regarded as marginal for honey bees, because the flower shape doesn't allow for good nectar retrieval by honey bees.  Even so, they are beautiful to look at, and other beneficial insects can be attracted.  Red clover is a short lived perennial, lasting 2 or 3 years.  .

Red clover with bee.  Apparently, honey bees may not get much nectar, but they can collect and use pollen.  I don't know if some honey bees are better adapted than others, for red clover.  Other types of bees might benefit.  There are other choices, so it might be best to aim for those.

Ferdinand bee from the story of  Ferdinand the Bull.  My favorite book.  And this image is inked onto my right calf.  Looks like this bee is on a red clover.

Crimson clover, Trifolium incarnatum.  "Incarnatum" refers to "blood red".  Not the same as red clover.  A good producer of nectar for honey bees, and the bloom time is after fruits, and before white clover, which makes for a more extended nectar season.  Trifolium incarnatum is an annual herb, and does not regenerate when cut.  So I imagine it would make a good green manure for raised beds, as well.

If I plant in Spring, I may not get much, if any, bloom and nectar, for the white and crimson clovers.  All in good time. The first year of beekeeping is about learning, and improving my environment for them in future years, and seeing what works, and what doesn't work.

White there are already occasional clover plants in the orchard and yard, they are rare.  Probably due to nuking with "weed and feed".  I want a more productive ground cover.  Today I went around the little orchard area and lawns, with a garden rake and packets of white clover seeds.  They can be obtained on Amazon and other places.  I raked the mole hills smooth, spreading the soft  soil around.  Then I sprinkled Dutch White Clover seeds thinly on the prepared patches of soil, and raked a little more.  The first frost is expected in one or two weeks.  I don't know if these first seeds will survive and grow,  If they don't, I'll replant in Spring. By then there will be more molehills, too.   I will wait until other plants are growing, and if no clover germination then, I'll replant.  I feel like I've made another step in the process of creating a more natural and useful area for honey and other bees, beneficial insects, the soil, and the plants and trees.

Helleborus

This was available a few weeks ago at a local grocery store. It's a nice concept, since Helleborus can be planted permanently outside when it's done inside. They bloom mid winter, when very little else is blooming or growing. I have others at home.

This variety is "Jacob". I had 2 plants at work, which is warmer and more light. On those, the leaves are more faded and flowers are about done, so I planted them outside today.

Hellebores have a place in herbal tradition, as "medicine" and as a poison. I wouldn't eat them or anything made from them - they are known to be poisonous. Apparently deer and rabbits know that too, so the plants are left alone.

One of these came with the house, 11 years ago. It's in a shaded, dry spot with a fence on the north, the house on the west, and a big tree on the east. It blooms every year.

The flowers are nodding.  So you have to get down low, or have them on a retaining wall, to see the full appearance.  This illustration is nice, but I don't think it's very accurate as a depiction of the flower.

I obtain these old illustrations from sites that describe them as before 1912, so are over 100 years old. This one is by Botanical illustrator Elizabeth Blackwell.

Moving a big Camelia

This camelia has been in front of the house for about 9 years. The original plan was to espalier the camelia, but it got away from me. It was too big for this location. I could have just cut it down, but decided to move it along with the rest of the migration of trees and shrubs to the battleground place. This, and a pieris from the back yard, is the last of the major shrubs or trees to move. Some small stuff could follow.

This location was very crowded. The camelia, some clematis, hostas, and bulbs. I dug out a hosta to give myself room to work, and re-planted the hosta when done. The roots grew laterally and under the sidewalk, but the root mass was reasonably compact.

After trenching, I undercut, then sliced behind the bush. Tipped it, slid onto a sheet of cardboard, and onto the truck.

Here in the wheelbarrow. I added Mycorhizal inoculant. Most likely there is already a poipulation of mycorhiza since I'm moving a big root mass. No pic in final location - if it blooms in a couple of months, I'll add a pic then.

The Hazelnut

From La Belgique Horticole, 1850s.


Hazelnuts have been part of the human diet for 9,000 years. A large pit with thousands of hazelnut hulls was found in Scotland, radiocarbon dated to about 7,000 BCE. This was on the east coast of the small Hebridean island of Colonsay at Staosnaig. At that time, hazenuts were important in the diet, along with acorns and nettles (Archeology.about.com) Also "Based on the abundance of hazelnut shells found at Mesolithic sites in southern Scandinavia and Northern Germany it was proposed that these remains may testify to an important food supply rather than just the use as a supplement to animal protein."

After the last ice age, hazelnuts spread from Northern Turkey (Pontus to the Greeks) to other areas of Europe.

"The caduceus of Greek mythology and Hermes fame was made of hazel.... when Apollo was only a few hours old he escaped from his cradle and went out in search of adventure...stole two oxen from Apollo (the god of the sun) and hid them in a cave where he killed and eat them. When Apollo discovered what had happened, Hermes played to him on a lyre... Apollo was so charmed by his music he allowed him to go unpunished. In gratitude Hermes gave his lyre to Apollo, who in return gave him a magical Caduceus made of Hazel, said to bestowed wisdom, wealth and prosperity on its owner by turning everything it touched into gold."from Plant Folklore, on Helium.com.

The ancient Greeks referred to hazelnuts as "karyon Pontin" for their plentiful availability in the mountains of Pontus.

Romans are known to have cultivated Hazelnuts, including in Britain.

(By Redoute, botanical illustrator for Marie Antionette)


The world's top producer of Hazelnuts is Turkey. In the US, the top producer is Oregon, followed by Washington.

Beehives in hazelnut grove, Ordu Turkey.  I think Hazelnuts are wind pollinated, however, because they bloom in winter.

From wikipedia.

 In mythology, hazel wood is used for dowsing (finding water). Quoting from the blog Grannulus Grove, "The Celts believed hazelnuts gave one wisdom and inspiration. The Gaelic word for nuts are 'cno' pronounced 'knaw' and the word for wisdom, 'cnocach'...if a Hazel tree was unjustly cut down then the punishment was death." Glad I didn't cut down the hazel trees in my Vancouver yard, opting instead to move them to Battleground. Whew. From the same source, "Hazel trees were so abundant in Scotland that it was named Caledonia which was derived from Cal-Dun, meaning 'Hill of Hazel. In Norse mythology, the Hazel was known as the Tree of Knowledge and was sacred to the god Thor."

Hazelnut trees live about 50 years, but regenerate from the roots. So the large bush that results may have trunk or root hundreds of years old.  This regenerative ability may be why the small trees that I moved seemed to split into 2 or 3 trees.

From The Guide to Nut Cookery, 1898, by Almeda Lambert. " varieties which have long, fringed husks extending beyond the nut, are filberts; ...those whose husks are shorter than the nut, are hazels...derived from the Anglo-Saxon word haesel meaning a hood or bonnet."

Hazel Nut trees are more compact than most nut trees.  They tend to be bushy, so can be used for a hedge row.  Ultimate size about 10ft tall, 10ft across.... Hazelnuts spread by underground runners that develop roots. These runners can be cut away from the main plant using a sharp digging spade and planted in a new location. Also here.

Moving Orchard Mason Bee Houses

Each year I add new houses for the Orchard Mason Bees.  They fill up almost all of the holes, so I know they are proliferating.  Now to take some to the Battleground place, where there will be lots of trees to pollinate.

One is home made. The other was bought. I should not have kept it so old, they say they should be replaced to reduce disease. Still, they did well and reproduced well last year.

Kitty cat is vaguely curious but only in that "I don't care" cat way.

Packed with bubble pack to avoid rough travel. I think it's OK this time of year. Earlier in the season bumping and shaking is bad for them. Will install them in a little while. I read, ease or southeast exposures are best. This winter I'll have to make some new bee houses. A bee house is a piece of untreated wood, big enough for 5/16th's inch holes, 6 inches deep. Although these are 4 inches deep. There are many different plans. The bees don't care about the details.

Moving a Volunteer Hazelnut Tree

I didn't plan on moving this tree. While cleaning out compost bins, I looked over to it and decided to. This is a volunteer hazel nut tree.  It's in a corner by the house, with a fence on the South side, the house on the West side, and not much sun on the East side. It's been cut down once or twice. Maybe more. Probably about 6 or 8 years old.

Before digging.  Hard to see if this is one or several, and hard to see where the stem meets the roots.  I made my best guess, and dug under the tree with the shovel.  It came up very easily.  The soil is soft here, having had many years of bark mulch.

I imagine these are "squirrel planted".  Our friendly Sciurus arborists have planted a lot of nuts around the yard.  In addition to scarfing up every nut from the trees.

Clearly 2 trees.  Possibly one multi-stem, or more than one growing together.  I think it's one multistem.

Added potting soil to keep roots moist for transport.

Divided almost by accident.  I moved the stems around to see where they were joined, and they just broke apart.  Now I have a larger one with a lot of roots, and a smaller one with a few roots.  Plus 2 other smaller ones, one from this bunch and the other clearly separate.  The small ones are back into the potting soil while I decide what to do with them.  Maybe, by growing more, and larger, nut trees, there will be one or two nuts left for me to taste.

Planted. Now I have a row of 4 Hazelnut trees. Two of bearing age, one one-foot-tall seedling, and this 6 foot tall sapling.  I planted it as straight as I could.  I'll keep the top for a while to tie to a post and straighten it a bit more, then prune next summer for scaffold branches similar to the others.  This sapling is about 7 foot tall.  It did not look that big in the corner, due to laying on its side.

I gave it a good sprinkling of Plant Success Mycorrhiza, which I have no proof is helpful but am doing anyway.  Planted in the native topsoil, and mulched with compost.  Settled in for the winter.

Amazing to be planting trees in mid December.