Dawn Redwood after Two Growing Seasons. 10.29.18

Dawn Redwood after 2 Growing Seasons.  10.29.18

I planted this tree on 11.17.16.  Based on recommendations by Linda Chalker-Scott, of Washington State Horticulture (I think), I washed off the nursery soil, bare-rooting the tree.  I cut off crossing or binding roots before planting.  During the first year, I watered it about once weekly.  This year, I watered about every other week.  It was a hot, dry summer.  The tree has grown nicely, and now it is starting to show fall color change.  I keep the fence around it to reduce deer damage to the trunks, which happened to nearby cypress trees of similar size.

The tree is mulched, but I did not fertilize.  I've buried some dead chickens nearby, and my beloved dog Charlie, whose atoms will nourish my spirit in the leaves and growth of this tree.

Tree at planting: 11.17.16.  It's hard to believe that a tree with so roots, compared to the top, survived.  But it did, and flourished.  I did not prune the top.  Planting in fall may have allowed significant root growth before Spring.   Im certain that mulch and keeping it watered for the first year is also key.

Odds and Ends. The Last Pawpaws. Planting Egyptian Walking Onions, Garlic Daffodils. More.Saijo 10.28.18

Saijo Persimmon Tree.  10.28.15

This post has odds and ends from a few garden tasks, and walking around.

The Asian type persimmons are closer to ripe.  One of the Nikita's Gift persimmons was ripe.  The Saijo has about a dozen, not as large as last year, but then I didn't water it at all.

Columnar Apple Tree, Golden Sentinel, about 3 weeks after transplanting.  1-.28.18

The columnar apple trees that I dug up, pruned, and transplanted a few weeks ago (10.6.18), are showing the stress.  The larger one (Golden Sentinel) has mosly brown leaves. However, a few remain green.  Since it's fall and the other apple trees are starting to drop leaves, this is not necessarily a death sentence.   There was more browning on The Golden Sentinel, than on the North Pole, which was smaller and younger, so lost less root mass relative to the top.  Next Spring will tell.

Today I planted one last row of garlic, from saved garlic heads.  I don't know which variety, suspect German Red.  I had to quit planting due to a back strain, and today was the soonest that I could.  It's been raining.  I hated to impact the wet soil, but it was either that or don't plant it.  Meanwhile, the previous plantings are growing, some quite vigorously.  The fastest seem to be Spanish Roja.  I planted those Oct 5th, so this frowth is 23 days post planting.  There are some others, not shown, almost as large at 14 days, from saved cloves.

Garlic about 3 weeks after planting.

Sets from Egyptian Walking Onions.  10.28.15

The Last of the Sunflower Pawpaws.  10.28.18

A gardener should listen to his body, and I did not.  While moving minor stuff around 2 weeks ago, my back tweaked.  Before fully better, I mowed and planted some daffodils and more garlic, in heavy soil, and hauled some leaves.  It worsened again.  Now I"m being careful.  No more heavy work until fully better, and I really do need to pay due diligence to back and other orthopedic health.  Today, I planted the last of those garlic - intended and additional row, but wont.  Planted the rest of those daffodils.  And cleared part of raised bed, which was pepper plants, and planted 6 rows of 10 sets each of Egyptian Walking Onions.  These were topsets that fell over during the summer, and are rooting in the rainy weather.  The basal bulbs have about 6 inches of growth already, soon usable as scallions.  Egyptian Walking Onions never fail to perform, even in bad weather and neglected.

The last of the "Sunflower" Pawpaws fell off the tree.  Nice sized fruits.  So that's almost a month of Pawpaws.  Very nice!  The final fruits of the year, will be persimmons.

My conclusion about pawpaws:   They really can be grown, and fruit, in the Pacific Northwest.

Home Fermented Pepper Sauces. 10.24.18

Fermented Hot Pepper Sauces.  10.24.18

These fermented for several days, en I poured off the brine and chopped them to almost-puree in the small food processor. I added back enough of the brine to have the consistency that I liked.   A little finer than a typical relish.  There is still some slight crunch in the green Korean pepper sauce.  The Korean is much milder, just slight heat.  The The red/gree Thai is very, very hot.  Both are delicious, but very different from each other.  Now store in fridge until eaten.  Good on eggs, hash browns, and vegetables.

The glass weights for small mouth jars were not good.  They don't have a handle, and are very difficult to remove.  I had to turn the jars upside down to remove the glass weight.  A better system is needed.  The weight for large mouth jars have build in handle that makes it easier to remove the weight. 

Ripe Tomatoes. 10.24.18

Ripe tomatoes in October!  Wow!

PawPaws. 10.24.18

"Sunflower" Pawpaws.  10.24.18

Wow.  These are so good!  Now I'm down to 4 remaining fruits.  This variety is "Sunflower".  I'm saving seeds.  They are washed off, in wet paper towel, in ziplock bag, in the fridge, for the winter.

Deer Resistant Petunias. 10.24.18

Petunias.  10.24.18

Add petunias to the list of deer resistant annuals.  These did great.  Deer didn't touch them.  They are in a major deer super-highway.  They are starting to wear out, due to the season.  They were covered with flowers, all summer long.

Brussels Sprouts. 10.24.18

I didn't know how these would do in my garden.  I love Brussels Sprouts.  It's a challenge growing cabbage, Chinese cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, because of Cabbage moths / worms, and because of slugs.  I can manage the slugs, but the Cabbage moths are very destructive.  Still, Collard Greens seem unaffected or mostly unaffected.

So this Spring I planted Brussels Sprouts.  They did great!  Minimal problems with Cabbage moths.  Aphids covered them in late summer / early fall, and I was not diligent.  Hosed them off once or twice.  Next year, use neem.

But I'm happy with the result.  These will be great once I clean them up and roast them.

Alice Wachenheim in her Rose Garden. Early 1960s.

I've returned to the dusty, musty boxes and albums that were left to me in my parents' estates, and left to them by their parents and my grandparents' sisters. Gardening has always been part of the lives of my family. Here is my grandfather's sister, Alice, who started hybrid tea roses by sticking flowers from bouquets into the ground, and covering with a jar to prevent dehydration. Her tea roses were important and meaningful to her, and she was proud of them. It's a faded Kodachrome.

I used the free photo editing program, Picasa, to sharpen the contrast and refurbish the color.

My Dad's Ginkgo biloba tree at 20 years of age. 10.21.18

Male Ginkgo biloba, grown from seed,, at 20 years old.  10.21.18

 This tree has grown into a magnificent specimen.  There is more risk planting a seedling ginkgo tree in town, because people don't like the stinky seed coats and cut them down.  That's a shame.  fortunately, this tree has proven itself to be a male, based on my observation of the flower catkins over the past few years.

Some day, we expect to sell the old place.  Anticipating that, a few years ago I cut grafting scion from lower twigs of this tree, and grafted them to rootstocks grown from locally collected seeds.  Of those, 2 took but only one survived planting.  I'll sho that later.  That tree has taken hold and is now about 5 feet tall.   Along way to go before it is this magestic, but a hopeful development.

I'll intend to post photos of the other ginkgo trees later.  This is the best of the lot.  My dad collected the seeds in his neighborhood in Quincy, Illinois, and gave me the seeds.  I sprouted those in flowerpots and when I moved to Vancouver, WA, three of those seedlings moved with me.  One of the others is at our country place in Battle Ground, WA, and the other did not survive transplanting there.

Same tree at about 8 years old. 

Persimmon Fall Color and Fruits. 10.1.18

Yates Persimmon.  10..21.18

Nikita's Gift Persimmon.  10.21.18

 Here are some of the persimmon trees, showing fall color.  The Yates American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) fruits have already ripened, and have been eaten.  Despite small size, their flavor is the best I have ever eaten.  The crop was small this year, about a dozen fruits.  The tree is still young.  For size, those are 5 foot tall fence posts. 

The second is Nikita's Gift Persimmon, a Ukranian hybrid of D. virginiana and D. kaki.  The fruits are beginning to ripen, but not quite ready yet.  There is a fairly  large crop this year.  I did not water this tree at all this summer, a long, hot, dry summer.  Therefore, the fruits are smaller but I imagine the flavors will be more concentrated.

Saijo Japanese (Asian) Persimmon (Diospyros kaki) always looks droopy in my yard.  The fruits are good, and should ripen in the next month.  It also did not receive any water this summer.

Not pictured yet, the other American Persimmon Tree,  Prairie Star.  That tree got off to a difficult start in previous years, due to rabbits and/or deer eating it off multiple times.  However, the tree finally recovered, and is now a tall, about 9 foot, whip.  If all goes well, expect the first fruits in 2 more years.

Nikita's Gift Persimmon, with fruits.  10.21.18

Saijo Persimmon Tree.  1021.18

Home Fermented Hot Sauces. 10.18.18

Materials for Korean Hot Pepper Fermented Hot Sauce.  10.18.18

 A few weeks ago, I made a bath of hot sauce from Thai red peppers.  The stuff is awesome!  I've been looking for more red Thai peppers, but can't find them.  At the local Asian market, I did find some green Korean peppers.

I used the recipe found at this website, with a few changes.

First, it was more like 2 cups of the sliced Korean peppers.  When I made the Thai pepper sauce, separately, I didn't slice them before chopping.  Those were also about 2 cups.

 Second, when the brine was cooled back to room temperature, I added 1 tablespoon of fresh whey from last night's batch of yogurt, as an inoculum.

Briefly-

This was
2 cups of either Korean peppers cut into rings, or 2 cups of cleaned, destemmed, Thai peppers.
1/2 tablespoon of fine sea salt (I used Himalayan)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 cup of nonchlorniated water (mine was from our well, which is purified)
1 tablespoon of fresh whey (fresh fermented sauerkraut juice would work just as well).

First, Added the salt to the water, and heated in microwave for 1 minute, until very hot.  Then I let that cool
Then, I chopped the garlic cloves.

 Then I chopped the peppers, using a small food processor.  I packed those into a pint jar, after mixing with the minced garlic.

Finally, I added the whey to the cooled brine (salt water), poured to cover the peppers, and capped with a cartouche (a circle cut from wax paper, to hold chopped peppers below the brine level), then a glass weight (to hold down the cartouche), then covered with brine to 1/4 inch from the top, then the silicone airlock / nipple and the lid ring.

I did the same, separately, with the thai peppers.

After these ferment a few days, I'll run them through the food processor a little more, not to puree but to make sure they are chopped somewhat finer than they are.

I covered these with Aluminum foil to keep out the light and preserve color, and placed them in a casserole dish, for overflow, in the basement for a cool fermentation.

Thai Pepper Fermented Hot Sauce.  10.18.18

Thai Pepper Fermented Hot Sauce.  10.18.18

Pawpaw Fruits and Fall Color. 10.17.18

"Allegheny" Pawpaw.  10.17.18

 The pawpaw trees are slow growers, but they have nice yellow fall color.  The "Sunflower" pawpaws are ripening now.  Very tasty.

"NC-1" Pawpaw.  10.17.18

"Sunflower" Pawpaws.  10.17.18

Bearded Iris rhizome "Blatant" 10.16.18

Today I was at Portland Nursery.  I didn't see much that interested me, but did not want to leave empty handed.  This bearded iris caught my eye.  It's a rebloomer, described as very fragrant.  This will be a test.  It's very late to plant bearded iris rhizomes, these looked very dried out, and they are not all that large.  I think it's unlikely there will be bloom in Spring, but as a reblooming variety, maybe it will bloom later next year.  Rebloomers are considered more vigorous and faster growing than traditional bearded iris, so it's possible.

Pawpaw Ripening Experiment. 10.16.18

"Sunflower" Pawpaws.  10.16.18

This is my pawpaw ripening experiment.  I cut the smaller one from the tree last week.  I placed it into a sealed container with a banana.  The banana gives off ethylene gas, which ripens some fruits.  I don't know if that is known for pawpaws.  I had it containerized

The larger one was tree ripened.  It fell off the tree one day earlier.

The result:
The banana-ripened one was a little firmer.  The seeds and flesh separated more easily.  The tree ripened one was more mushy.  As for flavor, the banana ripened one was a little less sweet, compared to the tree ripened one, and maybe the flavor was a little less tropical.  They were both delicious.

These were the variety "Sunflower".

Conclusion:  Artificial ripening of pawpaws may be an option.  Much better experiments related to timing of picking fruit, variety, and timing of artificial ripening, would be more revealing.  For me, if there is a surplus next year (a big "if"), I might try this again.

First Taste of Maraval hybrid (European X Japanese) Chestnut. 10.16.18

 There was one other burr on the fledgling chestnut tree.  This notified me of its ripeness, by falling off.

Those needles really are sharp like needles!

So with a grand yield of 4 chestnuts, we made an X cut in the flat sides, roasted them at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, and ate them.

With peaches, plums, apples, and cherries, I look at the first year of bearing as just enough for a taste, and I'm happy with that.  The next year, most of my fruit trees have made about five to ten times what they did the first year.

If that's the case with these chestnuts, that will be a nice crop next year.  If not, then I'm happy these trees are growing to become nice shade trees

Carnivorous Plant Update. 10.15.18

These are the carnivorous plants that I posted on this Spring.  They were looking much better in June, pictured here.  I think that means they are soon going into dormancy.  Since they grew quite a lot this year, I think some of them will bloom next year.

This is my first time growing them, so it's hard to know what to expect.  . 

Sarracenia purpurea (NoID).  10.15.18

Several have sword-shaped leaves lacking pitchers, called "phyllodia."  Those leaves are able to provide nutrition during the winter, when insects are not available.

Sarracenia oreophyla.  10.15.18

Sarracenia flava X mitchelliana hybrid 10.15.18

I kept these in casserole dishes that I had bought at Goodwill.  They might look better in something else.  I will look around.  I generally tried to keep an inch of water in each dish.  On occasion, not many times, they evaporated dry.  However, the growth medium did not dry out.

In mid summer, I transplanted the two largest plants (S. oreophyla and S. "Extreme Green"), using sphagnum moss / perlite 50:50 as the growth medium.  I would have used peat moss, but could not find any that did not contain additives.  When I transplanted those, I added 5 pearls of Osmocote as fertilizer.  This is not original with me, but rather came from some web forums.  Regrettably, I did not write down the source.

Not pictured, the Venus Flytrap grew nicely.

The Drosera also grew nicely.  There were also volunteer Drosera in other plants.

Overall this is a fun experiment.  It's been about 6 months since I read the guidebook so I want to do that again now.  Like many orchids, these plants are not difficult to grow, but they do have their own particular needs and I am new to growing them.  The book is The Ultimate Carnivorous Plant Guide by Jacob Farin.

Sundew.  10.15.18

I may post more about these later.  This update is here because fall is coming fast, and I didn't want to miss this progress report.

It's possible that either the transplanting during hot summer, or the Osmocoat pellets, contributed to either some of the leaf burning, or production of  phyllodia, or both.

Edit 10.16.18:  I did read through the Carnivorous Plant Guide again.  IT takes a few times to absorb the information.  The drying leaves look typical for this time of year, so I'm not worried.  Repotting time will be in March.  I do think I should look for shallower trays, so the water level will be a little lower, especially for the smaller plants.

These are in a location that has full sun from late am through the rest of the day.  I don't think it's the 10 hours recommended.  Next year, I can move them to a different spot.  That will mean some risk for deer damage, but it's worth a try.  I can move a couple there, to see what happens, before going all out.

Sarracenia "Extreme Green" and a NoID Venus Flytrap ( Dionaea muscipula)

X-mas Cactus (Schlumbergera). 10.15.18

Last winter, I bought these two "Christmas Cactus" plants to cheer up my office.  I think they are more correctly called "Thanksgiving Cactus" or better yet, Schlumbergera.   They bloommed very nicely.  During the summer, and into the cooler nights, they were outside, on the East side of the house, with morning sun and afternoon and evening shade.  I watered them when I remembered.  This is not organic, but I gave them Miracle-Grow for green plants, at 1/4 label recommended strength, until fall, then switched to the Miracle-Grow "Bloom Booster" at 1/4 strength.  Now they are in my South Facing office window.  Lots of buds.  They might actually be in bloom at Thanksgiving.  Meanwhile, there is the joy of anticipation and the pride of growing something that will bloom nicely, soon.

There are also a couple of Schlumbergera that are much older and larger.  They are beginning to set flower buds, but not as much.

Edit:  I can remember reading various schemes about putting these in the dark for a month to get them to bloom.  That's just not true.  I've grown them for years, and just let the change of seasons do it's thing.  They always bloom, every year, without putting them into a dark closet.  Maybe that's the climate or lattitude?  I don't know, and I don't worry about it.

Rufus. 10.15.19

Music Garlic. 10.15.18

Music Garlic Cloves to Plant.  Planted 10.5.18

This is the photo that I meant to post previously.  This is the garlic variety "Music".  These were the biggest garlic cloves that I have ever seen.  According to what I've read, "Music" is among the most productive and best tasting.  That info, of course, is not specific to the Maritime Pacific Northwest or to my area, soil, microclimate.  So we will see.

I still have some saved garlic cloves to plant from this year's crop.  Four days ago I planted some (I think it was "German Red" - big, red skinned, pungent cloves) but did not have it labeled.  I developed a back strain digging the heavy soil this time, so need to wait until that is better before planting the saved "Inchelium Red".  I think I'm growing the "Inchelium Red" more for sentimental, than practical reasons now.  That "German Red" actually seems more productive, with larger cloves. 

Rufus. 10.13.18

Rufus.  10.10.18

Rufus.  10.10.18

 He's not much help in the vegetable or flower garden yet, but this is my new buddy Rufus.  He was born April 20, 2018.  He has made a big difference for me.

As a puppy, Rufus has boundless energy and mischief.  He's very affectionate.   He is a mix of lab, poodle, and gremlin.  I'm hoping for a long, happy, healthy, loving life ahead for my buddy Rufus.

Rufus.  May, 2018.

First Chestnuts. 10.12.18

Maraval Chestnuts.  1.21.18

These are the first two Maraval chestnuts.  I know it's not a lot - two chestnuts.  The other burr may have two more.

My rule of thumb, for when trees first bear fruit, is one or two fruits the first year, 10 or 20 the second year, then a bowl or two or three the following year.  It's not a perfect rule, but interesting to think about.

I will keep these at room temperature for 2 to 4 days, then roast them.  That information is via WashingtonChestnuts.com.

Yates American Persimmonss. 10.9.18

Yates American Persimmon.  10.9.18

Today as I was wandering around my orchard, I passed by the Yates American Persimmon tree.  I brushed against a branch, and a fruit fell off.  Looking at the ground, there were multiple juicy, ripe persimmons.

These are delicious.

I planted this tree in January, 2015.  Not bad, just 3 years old.

The First, Ever, of the Pawpaws. 10.8.18

NC-1 Pawpaw.  10.8.18

 Here is the first of the pawpaws.


The outside is similar texture and skin as an avocado. Unlike avocado, there are multiple, Lima bean-sized seeds. Taking them out, the amount of flesh, and the consistency of flesh, was also similar to avocado. There the similarity ends. Super sweet, tropical tasting. Sort of banana-like but not. Interesting.

There will be a few smaller ones, if they ripen soon. This was the first ever, took 6 years from planting, and a very nice fruit adventure!

NC-1 Pawpaw.  10.8.18

NC-1 Pawpaw.  10.8.18

This was the only pawpaw on the tree, so may be larger than it would be if there were lots.  The variety was NC-1.

The other tree, Sunflower, has quite a few, small, fruits.  I'll keep watching for those.