With Rufus In Sunroon. 2.28.22

An atmospheric river came through today. Rufus is a bit big for a lap dog, but I'm fine with that.

Assembling a Quilt. 2.28.22

This is the batik disappearing nine patch that I started March 2021. I want to complete it this month. Then I can move on to other planned projects. With the last quilt, I discovered that safety pinning the layers together works a LOT better for me, compared to washable spray adhesive. Plus, that stuff makes the house smell like an auto body shop, andcis expensive. So this time I'm doing the safety pins again. Plus, using the kitchen island is more convenient and managable and a lot less painful than working on the floor. Layers sitting together.

Safety pinned together.

I will quilt this one diagonally. I think.

I Set January Perennial and Onion Seedlings Outside. 2.28.22.

I think it's mild enough, and overcast enough, these can sit outside now. Temp was in 50s all day, and that is what is predicted tonight and tomorrow. Plus constant rain, so no likely sunburn to tender leaves. This will help them harden off for transplanting outdoors. Plus, that clears spaces in the seedling stand for the next batch of seedlings.

Repotted Pepper Seedlings. 2.27.22

I didn't post on them, but the first group of pepper plants started to look puny, with curling leaves and pale color. As I described for tomato seedlings, I think it's the seedling starting medium. It seems fine for onions, perennial flowers, and others but not for long term growing of pepper and tomato seedlings. So I repotted them into regular potting soil. They also seem to have some tiny flues, so I sprayed today with some "Safer" organic spray. I think they are starting to perk up.

Repotting Carnation Seedlings. 2.27.22

Of the early started seedlings, the carnations look the most vigorous and sturdy so far. I repotted into slightly larger plant tray. They're not rootbound yet, but it's definitely time for larger containers.

After repotting. I think they'll be ready to plant outside in a month. That means the extra raised bed will need to be ready by then too :-)

Repotting Miniature Tomato Seedlings. 2.27.22

Red Robin and MicroTom. They look a little sickly. I think it's the seedling medium - that happened last year with peppers, and completely resolved when I potted into regular potting soil.

It's interesting the MicroToms have flower buds even though they are only two inches tall. I will remove those. I potted them all into four inch pots in regular potting soil.

I think they will green up and perk up. Even if they don't, I want to try again as a window sill plant, when Spring comes.

An Extra "Raised Bed" Project. 2.26.22

There is some extra space for a few more vegetables or flowers. I don't want the expense and work of constructing an actual, durable, raised bed, but I'd like something there. I found fabric grow-bags on Amazon, shaped like bushel baskets, very affordable. A small fraction of the cost of raised bed construction materials. I also have a couple of plastic "half barrels" the same size. However, arranged together, they look kind of messsy. I decided to build an open bottom "box" for them, approximate dimensions of the other raised beds. They will sit on pallets, 3 1/2 feet by 4 feet square, 4 inches tall so they are slightly up from the ground. From a distance, this should just look like an ordinary raised bed. The containers will be a nice size for smaller clusters of plants, such as shallots, or Thai peppers, or beans, or cucumbers, or lettuce, or carnations. So there, I've just reserved them all even though it's not built. We have aged cedar picket fencing that was removed to build a new privacy / deer fence. It's been laying around. There are multiple sections. They don't look like much at all, but when they are cut, the wood is tan and pink and still fragrant with cedar oils,

It's difficult to picture, but I think I can convert these into a nice, weathered cedar box. The 2 x 4's are pressure treated and also in excellent shape. There are 4 x 4 fence posts, also pressure treated, for the corners and I think I can remove the old brackets to re-use them too.
So today I took apart several sections of the fencing, cut four of the 2 x 4's into eight foot lengths with clean ends, cut the tops and bottoms from the pickets, into 22" tall boards that will constitute the sides of the box. I think I'm about half way through what is needed. If it doesn't work out, those will all fit in the wood stove next winter. :-) I estimate this box can be completed in about a non-rainy week. First is recovery of good wood and cutting it, to make a sort of kit to assemble. Thinking ahead, once the wood is cleaned up and the box is built, and dried by summer sun, I can stain it so it will look like new. Or not.

Winter Garden Update. 2.26.22

Some of the chill garden seeds have started to germinate. Here are some radishes.

And some spinach.

Egyptian Walking Onions are looking pretty good. I gave them a bit of Miracle Grow. I know that's not organic, but it's not Deisel Oil, either. I think the plant food will boost them a bit for super early scallions. I also gave them some slug bait. Slugs love onions.

I try to keep the garlic bed weeded. That's why it is so helpful to grow garlic in raised beds or large containers. It's much easier to maintain them even though the ground is too muddy to walk on in a normal, ground level garden. The garlic plants look pretty nice so far.

Snow and Freezing. 2.24.22

Delayed entry. We had lots of freezing and snow for a few days. I didn't see any damage yet to fruit tree buds.

Some of the peach buds show a little pink. It will be interesting to see if they set fruit despite getting frosted now.

A Quilt Is Completed :-) 2.21.22

I started this one last summer. Today I finished the binding.

The nine-patches and binding are all men's shirt fabric, so you can call this a "ten shirt quilt". I'm quite happy with the color theme and how it came together. Completed size is about 6 1/2 feet each side although I havent measured it. It's a nice feeling to finish a quilt. Next, that batiq fabric quilt I started a year ago. The top is assembled, the backing and batting are cut to fit.

Seedling Update. 2.20.22

Seedlings are mostly doing pretty well. I scattered the rest of the New York Early heirloom onion seeds on a container. Prior germination was so poor. I did these off the warming mat. Not sure if that was better but looks like at least 20 additional plants. That should give a few for saving seeds next fall, and a few weeks worth of eating onions too.

Peppers, thyme, carnations, tiny tomato varieties.

Carnations, Rudbeckia, Echinacea

Mostly oregano, and one gallardia.

Celery, Echinacea, Rudbeckia.

The onions, scallions, shallots are on the top shelf now, no artificial light. They will be fine until I plant them outdoors after the current cold spell.

Ginger Plant Started. 2.20.22

This was a little nub on a fresh ginger from the grocery store. It was about the size of a garbanzo bean. I cut it off, let it dry a day, planted. It took a month to grow. I thought it was dead. Noticed this today.

I'll kerp it under the lights and up-pot as needed. We'll see what happens.

A Fig Tree Start and a Sweet Cherry Replacement. 2.16.22

We picked up a delivery at the big box store. They bring it out to the truck. Outside, they had some fruit trees. I've been wanting to replace a sickly sweet cherry tree, so I bought a new one and planted it. Without a replacement, the healthy sweet cherry wouldn't have a pollinator.

They also had other starts. For the price ($10) I decided it was easier to buy an already well rooted fig start than root another Hardy Chicago. Also a replacement. I bought that and planted it too. Very small, but probably OK.

That was easy. I'm don't want to expand the number of fruit trees now, these are just replacements.

Helleborus. 2.16.22

Helleborus have been blooming for a while.

Cherry Pie. 2.15.22

I bought myself a present, a marble rolling pin. Today I used it to make crust for a cherry pie.

I learned some things. Pretty good, since I started baking pies after I returned from Army service, which would be about 1978. I still have the rolling pin I bought for that, plus my mom's, plus her mom's which is birds eye maple but doesn't roll well any more because the handles are stuck. Nobody needs four rolling pins, but it adds up to about one per decade. The marble pin works very nicely. The heaviness makes it noticably easier on my back, to roll out the crust. I still need to use a pastry cloth on the rolling pin, to keep the crust from sticking. The other thing I learned is that I like flour better as thickener for tart cherry pie, compared to starch (Clear Jel). The flour seems to reduce the acidity a bit.

Not related to the pie, but I learned something else. I also made a pizza, using Roma tomato sauce that I canned last summer. The canning process requires adding lemon juice as a preservative. That makes for too sour tomato sauce for me. What I learned is, if I add about 1/4 tsp baking soda per pint of tomato sauce before spreading it on the pizza crust, it's not nearly as sour and I liked that quite a lot. That's good because then I can can more next year, which means it won't take up freezer space.

Spa Day For Rufus. 2.14.22

Yesterday Rufus had a quick bath in anticipation of today's haircut. Today was his big spa day. Before. Where is my dog? All I see is a big dust bunny!

He's mostly OK as long as I use hair scissors for his face and paws. I wonder if they were too forceful with him at groomers - he always seemed kind of traumatized. Giving haircuts at home, he seems less stressed. I don't worry about a glamour cut, just make him easier to wash and brush, and he can roll around in the grass to his heart's content. There is my dog!

Total time spent isn't much more than the round trips taking him to a groomer then picking him up. Maybe 90 min. Plus I give us both breaks to let the clippers cool down and recharge my own batteries. Nails will have to wait for tomorrow. He got a quick bath after his haircut too, to remove all of those hair clippings and dander. Now he's ready for a walk, and won't overheat.

Planting Sprouted Potatoes. Planting More Snap and Snow Peas. 2.13.22

These were sprouting in the pantry. It's considered best to use USDA inspected potato starts, but those won't come in mail until April. I like an early start for some. We could have eaten these, but I planted them instead. They probably have boxes of these at the store, but I'm still in quarantine for another month.

I usually plant them in a trench about a foot deep. This year I'm going shallower and will mound soil around them as they grow. I think that's less work. I dug about six inches deep, mixed in general purpose organic vegetable fertilizer ("Dr. Earth") and planted the spuds, covering with about 4 inches of soil. That's all for now.

They are about a foot apart. I also planted short rows of Sweet Ann Snap Peas and Oregon Sugar Pod II Snowpeas, in a spot at ground level, where they can ripen longer and make seeds to save, in case the ones in raised beds don't have enough time. I gave these some wood ash / chicken bone ash for fertilizer, and a rhizobium inoculant.

Yellow Flowers Blooming. 9.13.22

Crocus and Dandelions.

The saying is, ""When dandelions are blooming plant beets, lettuce, spinach and carrots"

Planting Snow Pea and Carrot Seeds. 2.12.22

 It's in the high 60s again today.  In early Feb.  Nice, but if the fruit trees bloom and then a hard frost, that could kill them.  Or at least kill the crop.  Well, nothing I can do about that.

Today I planted Oregon Sugar Pod II Snow Peas in the newest raised bed.  Again, as soil conditioner cover crop, possible early snow pea crop, and to build up soil nitrogen.  Also, I inoculated these with Rhizobium, like I did with the snap peas.  Supposedly Oregon Sugar Pod II grows only 30 inches tall and does not need a trellis.

Not much to look at yet.

I also planted a row of carrots.

I started clearing an area where I can plant the rest of the pea seeds and let them mature, to save seeds.  There is still plenty of time to plant those, it's only Feb 12 today.

Planting Cold Growing Greens and Root Crops. 2.11.22

Today I planted one of the new raised beds with various greens and root crops, including white radishes, red radishes, "corn salad" which is not corn at all, also called "Mâche" or lamb's lettuce and is a chill weather green, red stem Swiss chard, spinach,  and cilantro and Simpson lettuce from home-saved seeds. Some of these are old so I planted extra (white radishes and Bibb lettuce). This bed will be planted with tomatoes in mid to late May, so they have about 90 days to grow and produce.

The row markers are coppiced pussy willow poles, as with the peas yesterday. Mâche doesn't germinate if it's warmer than mid 60s, and today was 67F. I think there should be enough chill later. It's only early February right now.

Planting Bush Type Snap Pea Seeds. 2.10.22

Peas like chill and can be planted very early. I read "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" and the author, Steve Solomon, recommends a late winter crop of peas to condition the soil. He recommends just tilling then in before planting summer vegetables, but I hope for an early crop instead. Portland Nursery says they can be planted in February. Peas have very deep roots, bringing nutrients up from the depths and adding soil structure. If the soil contains Rhizobium bacteria, legumes (peas, bean, clover, alfalfa, among others) pull nitrogen out of the air, leaving it in the plant material when they are dead. That enriches the soil without chemicals or manures. I love snap peas and snow peas, and they are an expensive vegetable, so they are a good crop for me to grow. Plus the tender shhots are tasty too. However, my soil does not contain Rhizobium. I know that because the previous pea crops and bean crop roots did not contain the nodules that are made by the plant to host the bacteria. So I bought some Rhizobium inoculum by mail order, and inoculated the pea seeds with that.

Then I planted the inoculated pea seeds in trenches about two inches deep. The poles are willow, which is as strong and straight as bamboo. I source both in the garden for making stuff.

Then I filled in the trenches, covered with screening to keep birds away, and scattered slug bait to keep emerging seedlings safe from the miniature Brontosaurus of the invertebrate world. Now it's mostly just waiting. There are also more to plant this month.

Moving and Rehabilitating Old Rosemary and Lavender Shrubs. 2.10.22

We had a sort of wildflower small meadow, planted with herbal shrubs as well as annual wildflowers. Meadows need some maintenance or they become weed patches with a handful of the dominant species. This one is about to become garden, so I decided to recover the most healthy looking of the Rosemary and Lavender shrubs. They were scraggly and mostly fallen over, with a lot of dead branches. Over the past few days, I dug up four of the Rosemary shrubs and about the same number of lavendar. I pruned off all of the dead branches, pruned a lot of the longest brances back to growing buds, and slightly tipped them. Then I replanted in the privacy row, where they joined forsythias and where I will plant annual flowers for birds and bees and me. Once cleaned up and replanted vertically, some of the rosemarys look decent.

Some don't look so good.

The lavender is more difficult to photograph. The leaves are short and gray.

Without planning it that way, this border is turning into an herb garden. It also contains lenon balm and catnip, and mint, with more to come. Other than occasional pruning and keeping weeds controlled, these don't need much care at all. They like hot dry conditions in summer, with no fertilizer. Working with both lavender, they leave incredible scent on my hands and clothes.