Puttering. Progress Note. 3.25.14

Chinese Chives.  Compare established with 1 year old.

Planted dwarf gladiolus today

 Today "day off" from work.  Mostly homework and rest.  Lot of homework, and needed rest very much.

 I did make "rounds" in the yard and garden.  I planted one type of bulb - really corm.  The Nanus mix is a dwarf type, hardy species of gladiolus.  Some writers describe gladiolus as deer resistant.  Others state deer will eat the flowers.  I'll give them a try.

My success with "Joy of Gardening" brand bulbs from Fred Meyer is mixed.  Their mix of Anenome blanda was all blue, not blue + white + pink as pictured.  They did all grow and they look nice.   Their mix of Hyacinthoides hispanica is growing but not with enthusiasm.  The daffodil variety mix was almost entirely all yellow trumpet, not the various yellow / white / orange cup on the picture.  Still they are interesting to try and I bought on impulse.

The established Chinese chives are much more vigorous compared to the seedlings.  The seedlings are one year old.  The established ones were divisions I planted last year, from plants grown many years ago from seeds.  Division and planting in new soil invigorated them.

Last fall I planted daffodil and hyacinth bulbs in the bearded iris raised beds.  Both are considered deer resistant and toxic to other animals.  They make a cheerful display now, long before irises bloom.  They will be done with the irises bloom.

Iris Bed #1 bulbs blooming

Planting bulbs in Fall is an act of faith, that I'll be around in the Spring.  And I am here so that feels good.

Among the daffodils in my yard, Jetfire is the first to bloom, then Dutch Master, then various.  Minnow is almost blooming.  Triandrus is almost blooming

The raised bed garden is looking green.  The potato wells look like rustic monuments that could have been among the Easter Island figures, or some Mayan tomb.  No potato plants visible yet.

Iris Bed #2 bulbs blooming.

Raised Bed Garden

Iris Bacterial Rot

 A few irises have bacterial rot.  Disappointing.  I've had that happen with a few in the past.  The rhizomes survived but were set back.  This is variety Edith W.  The rain is hard on them.  If a variety dies out, I'll assume natural selection is doing its thing, and not replace that disease susceptible variety.

I have 2 rows of snow peas.  All I needed to do was protect them with chicken wire.

The Quince cuttings have leaves and flowers.  Hardwood cuttings can do that, then die without producing roots.  We'll see.

The quince cuttings border a shallot bed.  There are also plum hardwood cuttings, Hollywood and Shiro.  They are blooming too.  We'll see about them too.

I was about to give up on Four O'clock seedlings.  I see one has germinated.  I brought it home for better light in the CFL light unit.

It feels good to have things growing.

Snow Peas Growing

Quince Cuttings and Shallots.

Four O'clock Germinating Seedling.

Low Tunnel, Raised Bed. Kitchen Garden Progress Report. 3.22.14

Chinese Chives in low tunnel raised bed.  3.22.14

 The low tunnel raised beds have a soil temp today of 60F, while the outside temp was down to 30.  When I open the tunnels, warm moist air exits.

The Chinese chives were renovated by digging them out of a half barrel this winter.  These are quite a bit ahead of the ones without low tunnel.

The turnips were planted mid winter.  These greens are fresh and tender.  The flavor is similar to spinach, but with a mild peppery taste.   I thinned turnips so there would be more room for the remainder.

Turnip Greens 3.22.14

Garlic and Red Portugal Pepper in low tunnel raised  bed.  3.22.14

I ran out of room for all of the indoor peppers.  Even with the new CFL light, which will be needed for tomato seedlings.  Given the warm soil temp in the raised bed, I planted a Red Portugal pepper into the bed.  If it looks OK in a week I can add more  I have extras of Red Portugal so if it doesn't make it, that's OK.

The garlic in this low tunnel is behind the rest of the garlic.  These were dug late from missed harvest that resprouted.  They were not big sturdy garlic cloves.  I thought the tunnel would give them a head start.  Looks like that did not pan out.  They are still OK.

Kitchen Garden / Raised Bed Garden. Progress Report. 3.6.14

Chinese Chives, rejuvenation project

Garlic Inchelium Red and others

Cilantro, Yellow Potato Onion, and some iris starts

 Haven't done much, due to illness.  It only takes a small effort to do some things in the yard and garden.

Garlic Chives.  These are the ones I dug out of half-barrel bed in Vancouver and planted in raised bed at Battleground.  I've added a row cover to the bed, although it's off today to let in rain.  Probably due to warming effect of row cover, they are more vigorous than other rows of Chinese chives that I established last year.  Here they have more room, and a real local soil/compost mix instead of potting soil.  I hope they will rejuvenate and provide significantly more vegetable.

Garlic bed.  The Inchelium Red looks like corn.  It's big and vigorous.  The German Porcelain is doing pretty well too.  A few plants did not make it through the winter but most are sturdy and healthy appearing.  The row of unknown is a rescue variety.  The starts were smaller and later, so not a fair comparison.

The overwintering cilantro is growing nicely.  I didn't know until now that cilantro could be fall planted.  Good lesson to learn.  The Yellow Potato Onion is less vigorous this year.  I don't know why.  It seems to be growing now, including bulbs that did not germinate before winter started.

Egyptian Walking Onions

 The Egyptian Walking Onions are growing nicely.  Whatever was eating them seems to be leaving them alone now.  We should  have fresh scallions from these in 2 or 3 weeks.  We could now, if we will settle for small ones.  As apparent in the photo, on the left I replanted bulbs that I kept from full grown plants.  On the right are small topsets.  The bulbs have much larger, sturdier plants.  This difference should mean an extended window for harvesting scallions.

Raining - several inches in past few days.  Having prepared raised beds during the winter, no digging is needed to start some seeds.  I planted a row of cilantro, a row of spinach, and a row of Cincinnati Market Radish, a long carrot-like variety.   The spinach and radishes may need protection from animals.  Cilantro does not need protection.

Seeds Planted 3.6.14,  Radishes, Spinach, Cilantro

Not shown, the low tunnel bed has nice onion starts, about 2 inches tall.  The radishes, turnips, and mesclun are nice little rows, with big cotyledons but no adult leaves yet.  I don't know if the cover is protecting from animals - mice/voles - but so far so good.  Rabbits and deer can't get in, I think.

Peas haven't come up yet.  I will plant some in containers.

Overall I am very pleased.  Even though I don't know what I am doing sometimes, some useful and fun vegetables made it through a winter with historic freezes, and are growing earlier than the soil can be worked for Spring gardening.

Late Winter / Signs of Spring / Chinese Chives. 2.16.14

Chinese Chives starting to grow - Illinois strain

Chinese Chives 1 year seedlings.  Illinois Strain

 Chinese chives are growing.  These, along with daffodils, some alliums, and onion chives, are among the first early signs of Spring.

The Illinois strain originates from a small cluster of plants I dug from my parents yard about 10 years ago.  I originally planted those when I was a boy, probably more than 45 years ago.  Here they have multiplied vegetatively.  The cluster is several times larger than originally.  I also planted seeds last Spring from flowers late 2012.  Those are finer, but growing nicely now too.

The commercial strain of Chinese chive, grown for a vegetable, is more robust.  This is all seed grown, through several generations of seeds / plants / seeds / plants.  They start growth later than the Illinois strain, but when growing are larger and faster growing.  The Illinois strain is more delicate.  I've been holding off as many harvests of those, wanting to build up a supply.

Chinese Chives.  Commercial strain.

Raised beds. Progress report.

Iris raised bed. Growing nicely.Potatoes. Barrel, technically not a raised bed, but close enough.Onions, shallots, garlic, chinese chives. Very pleased.Various vegetables, bok choy, chinese cabbage, lettuce, beets, swiss chard, minimal snow pea growth, and odds and ends.

First batch of Chinese Chives for 2013

Well on their way to becoming the best dumplings in the world. These are the first Chinese chives from the Battleground raised beds. They grew stout, fast, early, and have a strong aroma.

Raised Beds. Kitchen garden and irises.

Vegetable bed.  I temporarily added a couple of irises, I didn't want in the one iris bed so far.  Also some raspberries from home.  If I can build another bed in a couple of months, they will move to that.

The black wooley-looking stuff  is fur trimmed from Charlie.  Purpose is to deter rabbits and deer.  Might help.  Might not.  Bok Choy,  chinese cabbage, radishes, turnips, spinach, have all sprouted.

Allium vegetable bed.  Looking great.  We are getting lots of scallions.  Garlic chives are growing the thickest and sturdiest I've ever seen them grow.  They will be ready to harvest in 2 weeks.

Iris bed.  Some wooleys on here too.  Even though deer are said not to like irises.  The locations for the heritage iris  order are laid out and labeled, in case they come in the next couple of weeks.

I won't be posting for a week or two.  Maybe something on fig cuttings tomorrow.  Likely wont do much in the garden for a month or two.  We will see.  Having these progress reports to look at, will help.

Raised Beds. Progress report.

Here are the raised beds now. I added another this weekend. Planted the new bed with Snow Peas Oregon Giant, Bok Choy, Spinach, Radishes, Lettuce, Onion sets, between the onion sets planted Evergreen Bunching Onion seeds - packaged for 2011, might not grow. Also Swiss Chard 5-color Silverbeet, Beets Detroit Red, and Chinese Cabbage, Napa variety. Most of the rows are short, 2 foot rows. The Snow Peas and onions are full 4 foot rows. Also a row of mixed color Ixia. For color. The allium raised beds, planted last fall. Growing by leaps and bounds. Amazing to this small town Illinois boy, a garden with rapidly growing plants before March first. Garlics are about 1 ft tall. Shallots about 6 inches, White Potato Onions about a foot, and Egyptian walking onions about 6 inches. Illinois Chinese chive is about 2 inches and Changchun Chinese Chive is about 1 inch but thicker and sturdier and growing faster now. The Chinese Chive seedlings from last fall have reappeared, I think, although those might be seeds I planted last month.

Raised Bed. Progress Report.

I pulled the soil thermometer out of the soil.  The air temp outside was 50F. The temp of the soil was 60F inside the row cover tunnel. This row of radishes has germinated. The snow peas seem to be germinating.  At the front are some cuttings I stuck into the soil.  Buddleia, a rose. And German Camomile plants. This is the first raised bed.  I started itlast fall. Garlic and Multiplier onions have perked up nicely. Chinese Chives starting to grow.  Looking nice for Feb.  On the right, the "Illinois" heritage Chinese Chives have put on 2 incesh of growth, thick and lush. The bigger growing, less delicate Changchun Chinese chives are on the left.  Very hard to see. They are starting to grow.  They will catch up and pass the Illinois Chives, growing much larger by mid Spring.  I also planted more seeds of the Changchun Chives. If they germinate I'll have a big stand of them.

Kitchen Garden Plan

This is the plan for the kitchen garden for next year.  I used a high-tech method called "writing on an old mailing envelope using a pen".  Bio-powered system.

The three beds on the eastern side are planted as noted. When the alliums are done, in July, I can prep those beds for crop rotation, adding in compost and start fall-planted radishes, cabbages, turnips, mesclun. Another option is late-planted bush beans. I'll build the two late-winter beds next. That will give the coli/compost/supplement mix a chance to settle and "cure" before planting. Probably late feb. Those are fast growing. When they are done, the warm-requiring solanums (eggplant, chilis, tomatoes) and Okra can go in. The taller ones will go to the back. I can build the other beds through the winter and prep them in early Spring, March and April, before they need to be planted in May or June. By then I'll be tired of building raised beds and, especially, hauling soil to them. The soil hauling is heavy work.

One great thing about planning on paper is, I can continue changing it as I think of better choices.

The raised beds now. The soil pile and compost pile are in approx locations for two of the beds. I hope people don't think someone is buried there.

It's great to have company, even if they are sleeping.

Raised beds. Progress Report.

These are the onion and garlic raised beds. They look vulnerable to freezing. I am reminding myself that I think that every year and they make it through the winter fine. That's true for both the garlic and the multiplier onions. I think the onions and German Porcelain garlic are way ahead of previous years. I hope that doesn't mean the freeze will kill them. Every year is a new lesson to learn.

The front is German Porcelain garlic. Germination was 100%. One had mottled leaves which had me concerned about viral infection so I pulled it out. Not sure that makes a difference. This bed also has rescue garlic, unnamed from the yard. And one row of Inchelium Red. The rescue garlic and Inchelium red were much slower. That may not matter next year. We'll see. Germination for those was 100%. The Holland shallots germinated 100%. Today I pulled the innumerable small weeds. Then I mulched with leaf compost. The chinese chives leaves are dead. The sprouted chinese chives seedlings look delicate, about 2 inches tall.

All but one of the Inchelium Red garlic germinated. So that's 34/35. Maybe the last is just pokey. I pulled out weeds and mulched with leaf compost. After that I remembered the mycorhizal inoculant, which I spread around the multiplier onions and chinese chives, which I also weeded. Weeds were about 2 inches tall. I used a kitchen fork. That sounds difficult but it was easy in the raised beds. The small tool gave me control around the delicate plants. Then I scratched in the inoculant and added compost.

Progress Report. Mostly Allium family vegetables.

No pics today. Today I built raised bed #3. Filled about 3/4 with soil/leaf compost mix. The top soil was muddy - not the best way to build a garden bed, but not much choice. I did not tramp it down, kept my feet off, and mixed in about 25% compost, so it should be OK. When it is filled, this bed will contain ornamentals that need fall planting. I noted last weekend that the Chinese chive seeds I planted have germinated, and are 1 inch tall. Not sparse. The germination must be approaching 100%. Issue now is will the seedlings survive winter? I'm betting yes. But I have more seeds to plant in spring, in case they don't. Yellow Potato Onions in the first bed are 100% sprouted. Most are about 4 inches tall. Yellow Potato Onions in the 2nd bed are about 50% sprouted. Egyptian Walking Onions in both beds are 100% sprouted, and about 4 to 6 inches tall. Inchellium Red garlic in the first bed is about 1/3 sprouted. German Porcelain garlic in the 2nd bed is 100% sprouted and about 5 inches tall. Some of the Dutch Shallots in the 2nd bed have sprouted. Three plants so far. So far none of the Safeway Shallots have sprouted. Cilantro seeds are also sprouting in the onion "bucket" planters. Planted at the same time as the onions. Not bad for late October.

Onion and Chive update. Raised bed.

Already, the Chinese chives are filling in with new leaves, stout and firm. The smaller, finer "Illinois rescue" garlic chives are filling in faster than the Chang Chun culinary Chinese chives.  The Egyptian Walking Onions have many new shoots as well - some 3 inches tall.  I think about 2/3 have started growing above the soil.  Fast. Both the bulbs and the topsets are growing fast. There are 2 bunches of cilantro that I planted a week or two ago.  Almost ready to eat.

The Yellow Potato Onions are sending up new shoots.  That's about 2 weeks?  No garlic up yet. I'm not greedy, they will grow in their own time.

Brief update

No pics today. Today we had 3 figs from the Sal's fig tree that I moved this summer to Battleground. The figs were slightly different from Hardy Chicago. A little "richer" however that is defined. More juicy. Skin was not as dark, but flesh had more red coloration. It's not a fair comparison - different location. I'm glad it survived the move even in the Summer and provided some figs. I planted some plum seeds, Hollywood plum, among the shallot rows. They are labeled. This way they can stratify over the winter. Just for fun. I planted some chinese chive seeds among the plants. That should help fill in the gaps, if they grow. Fall planting has the risk of not growing at all, or growing but the tiny plants not surviving the winter. If so, not much loss. I saved lots of seeds this year. I stuck daffodil bulbs in molehills. I read that moles don't like daffodils. I did that only where the mole(s) dug too close to my little fruit trees. Rain is postponed another week. Maybe it's going to become a desert here? Watered all of the new tree and shrub transplants, and the raised beds.

Raised Bed. Fall planting onions, garlic, garlic chives

Half full. More trips around the area for mole hills. Several wheel barrows full. Piled in a layer of soil, then a layer of compost, then turned over, then watered, then repeated this routine for more layers until about 2 inches below the upper edge. Raked smooth.

The Starts I brought from home. It was a strange feeling - like getting starts from a friend or neighbor or relative, except they came from me.

Inchellium Red, from containers this year. I separated about 40 cloves, and wound up planting 35 of them. Should be enough, with a few heads to repeat next year if fate allows.

The separated cloves. These are very big.

Heads from Egyptian Walking Onions, sets ready to separate and plant. Most will be for scallions. I'll try to pull scallions to separate plants about 6 inches or a foot apart to repeat this cycle, too. Also for some fresh onions.

Garlic chives. I dug these from around the yard, where seedlings had taken root and grown. One batch is a rescue from my late parents' yard. I remember, I planted them as a boy, thinking they looked nice and not knowing they were edible. They persisted and reseeded, annoying my Dad but he was never able to get rid of them. I'm glad. Now I have this memory plant from my boyhood. It has smaller, more delicate leaves compared to the plants I've been growing. Those came from a seed packet from north China, most likely a commercial variety. They are about 4 generations of saved and replanted seeds, or self-sown. By mixing they 2 types together, maybe the next generation of seedlings will be in between. A little more hefty than my boyhood plants, a little more tender than the Chinese plants. I'm into genetic diversity, regardless.

All arranged. The garlic is about a foot apart, 7 X 5 = 35 cloves. The White Potato Onions are arranged similarly, except 7 X 6 = 42 plants. The Egyptian Walking Onions are in 3 narrowly spaced rows of about 15 per row, thinking most will be used for scallions. The garlic chives are in bunches, making a single wide row about 6 inches wide. They look kind of sad, but I think they will do OK, grow new roots, and generate nice plants for the Spring. I cut off the flower heads, but left the leaves, so they can photosynthesize during the fall and make roots and store energy for next Spring's crop.

All done. Doesn't look like much, but when the garlic and onions germinate, they'll make a nice neat garden bed. The blue tub was what I used last fall for the same purpose - multiple tubs. I planted it with more Egyptian Walking Onions, thinking they will grow faster in dark colored plastic container = warmer in the sun, and give scallions this fall. Experiment.

A little progress.

As discussed, the Stanley plum and Montmorency cherry are in the ground now. I cleaned up about 200 more square feet of front border. Probably 1,000 square feet done, 500 to go, my wild guess. Moved a couple of roses and a peony to more convenient spots. There was also a cluster of Chinese chives that I saved from my parent's yard a few years ago, that I had grown from seeds 40 years ago. Moved them to a slightly better spot where I can keep an eye on them. Another case of Darwin at work - I did my best, but if they don't survive this move, the've taken their place with the dodo bird as far as my yard is concerned. I think the roses will make it but digging up the peony involved slicing through some huge tubers. It was unavoidable. My guess is it will sulk for a year then resume former blooming.

Pulled away a lot of the creeping phlox. The idea with that groundcover was it would keep weeds away. Instead, it sheltered crabgrass and other grassy weeds. So I'm pulling it all up.

I gave the blueberries and rhododendrons a scoop of Whitney's organic acid shrub fertilizer, and mixed with the compost mulch.

Roses have an inch of growth. Chinese chives are a few inches tall. Pussy willow is blooming. Stone fruit buds are swelling. As I type it's raining like crazy.

Generous fall harvest, tomatoes, peaches, chives

Also mint, basil, volunteer cilantro, bell peppers, chilis (still green).

A couple dozen fell off with the heavy rains the past few days. They taste very 'peachy' although not super sweet. There are also about 2 dozen left on the tree. Cool!

Tomatoes continue to produce. The heavy rains caused splitting of the cherry tomatoes, and a few big tomatoes. The Better Boys have given us some humongous juicy tomatoey tomatoes, and the others have done well, as well. "Fourth of July", while not producing until mid august, has been quite rewarding with plum-sized juicy fruits.

This is very late for a chive crop. These gave enough for a big batch of chive-filled dumplings.