Vegetable Garden. 5.4.21

 The vegetable garden is coming together nicely.  I did a lot of work over the past few months, building the new raised beds, removing the old ones, filling the soil, changing the in-ground beds around.  Now, most of that is done.  There is always something, but now I can relax a little more.

The second raised bed.  Everything is taking off now.

This winter I was excited to find Lemon Boy tomato seeds after years of looking.  The I planted the plant out early with the water cone for protection, and the leaves burned.  It's making a come back, yay.  That's also good news because I wondered if they were planted out too early.  It looks like they are just fine.

Mostly the third raised bed.  It's quite a mix.  The radishes are ready to eat.  That will happen with the lettuce and spinach, too, before the peppers need the space.

These are the hybrid Roma tomatoes.  They will need a sort of trellis before they flop over.

So far Extreme Bush tomato is looking nice in its container.

These thornless red raspberries are descended from some that grew under the fence into my yard from a neighbor, which I moved from the Vancouver place last year.  There were some good raspberries then.  This looks like a much better year.

 

Most of the vegetable garden.  There are more tomatoes than I will grow next year.  This is my tomato test garden year.

Seedling Progress Report. 2.15.2021

 Here are seedling photos for today and a few days ago.  Most are doing quite well.  Some are still germinating, some probably wont.  I always plant extra for that reason.

 

The shallots had lower germination than the onions even though they are related and look the same.  Still, there are some.  I added more seeds to cells that had limited germination or no germination.    The Japanese scallions look good.  The celery germinated over a week or so, now quite good.  Eggplants were uneven but there are enough.  Peppers too.  

The colors are weird due to the LED lights.  For some, I had them too close and the leaf tips dried out.  They will be OK.  Some people cut off the lead tips to encourage growth from below.  I don't get it, but at least these will be OK.  These are the bulb or storage onions.  They are growing faster than the scallions and shallots.

The two celery are from Baker Creek heirloom seeds.  They are Utah and Chinese.    There are various peppers, but so far I have a bunch of Jalapenos, a banana pepper, Serrano, and a Thai pepper. I dropped the cell pack for shallots, so now replanted some.

These are the two apple seedlings so far.  Both are from the same apple, a Calypso pollinated by columnar Golden Sentinel. Interesting, one is red leaf and other is green leaf. I had stratified them, wrapped in moist paper towel, in zip lock, in fridge, since about August.  I had to change the paper towel a couple of times due to mildew.  I planted these seeds in cells that had pepper seeds that did not germinate.  Then in one, the Thai pepper seeds germinated anyway :-)  I can separate them later.

Here is my seed starting setup so far.  I turned off the warming mats, since the seedling have germinated.

The view from outside today.

Some plants I brought in last fall.

This marigold, I dug up in the fall and planted in a container in potting soil.  It was a volunteer and has been blooming all winter long.

I've dug up this geranium every fall for about six years.  Maybe longer.  Sometimes I let it dry out in the garage.  This year I kept it going in the sunroom.  Sometimes it blooms.

The nepenthes have suffered because I've been sick several times this winter, and they need more water than I gave them.  Some are OK.

Kitchen Garden. 5.21.17

Tomatoes.  5.21.17

Potatoes and Garlic.  5.21.17

Some life got in the way and I was delayed getting some of the gardening done.  Now, tomatoes are in their beds.  These are the plants I started about one month ago.  They made nice plants.  Also tomatillos and peppers.

The potatoes, onions, and garlic are doing nicely.

I gave up on potato onions, turned the soil over, and planted tomatoes in that bed.  Potato onions do not do well for me, even though I like the idea.

The first batch of sweet corn did not germinate well.  One row sort of germinated, and a couple of plants in a second row.  Might be old seeds or soil not warm enough, or birds ate them.  I planted more today, covered, and if they don't grow, I'll get new seeds.

The first batch of onions that I planted when I thought it was too early and chilly and wet, are way ahead of the later ones.

The peppers are in very-raised raised beds, 4 x 4 feet, made from used cement blocks.  These also have deer fencing.  The tomatoes are in raised beds that are protected from deer.  Animals don't seem to bother the potatoes and garlic, other than a little rabbit munching last fall.  Rabbits munched some of the onions at first, but now are leaving them alone.

Kitchen Garden. 5.8.17

It's been sunny and warm for three days. This was a good time to cultivate the kitchen garden. The potatoes and onions that I planted earlier this year are doing well. I hilled up the potatoes. With rain and winter, it was difficult to cultivate the garlic, which I planted in the fall. I weeded a couple of weeks ago, and today it just needed light cultivation. I planted out some collard greens seedlings, surrounding each with a dusting of blood meal that I found in the garage. The idea is to repel rabbits, which are prevalent in my garden. Then some organic slug bait. Slugs love cabbage family plants. Last year's collards are blooming. I intend to save seeds from those.

Collard Greens in Bloom.  5.7.18

I have mustard green seedlings to plant. 

The tomatoes are growing nicely in containers in sunroom.  Ditto for peppers.  Yesterday the soil temperature was 80 F, so I planted sweet corn, Trinity hybrid which is reported to tolerate chill, and which did well in 2015 and 2016.

Potatoes Are Growing. Planted Onion Starts.

Potatoes, planted in feb.  4.17.17

 With the chill and rain, I wondered if the potatos that I planted in February rotted.  Almost all of them have emerged, now, so they are fine.  Last week I planted the russets, which were very slow to chit.  So they are not up yet.  There were some old sprouted potatoes in the garage.  I panted a few that had the shortest - about 6 inch - and stoutest sprouts, and sent the rest to the compost pile.

Collards are starting to bold.  They had a good run.  Still some leaves to pick and cook.

Onions that I planted last month are beginning to look darker green and stouter.  I had enough unplanted seedlings in containers for 4 more 8-foot rows.  They look really puny in the rows but maybe they will perk up soon.

Garlic is about a foot tall.  This year I grew it in the open beds.  I don't think deer or rabbits usually eat garlic plants.  They ate some when they first sprouted last fall but all look good now.  Weeds are harder to hoe out in those beds, it rained too much for me to hoe and the weeds got out of control.  I weeded them yesterday.  Looks like we can get a big crop of good garlic this summer.

Overwintered Collards.  4.17.17

Onion Plants after One Month.  4.17.17

Onion Seedlings.  Ailsa Craig and Patterson.  4.17.17

Kitchen Garden. Planting Onions Outdoors. 3.8.17

This is a progress report and the start of a garden experiment at the same time.  As for the progress report, the onion seeds that I planted earlier have had mixed success.  A few days ago I set out the first batch of Ailsa Craig.  The white globe and red globe seedlings had poor germination and died quickly, leaving few survivors.   The Patterson hybrids for long term keeping actually had good germination and are looking good, but I think they are not yet sturdy enough for outdoor life.

I wasn't confident about the seedlings that I started, and the sets looked crummy, so when I was at a nursery this week, I bought a bundle of plants.  They were cheap, it won't break the bank.  However, I did not initially want to go that route.

Here is the experiment.  In the same garden bed, I have a row of sets, a row of plants that I grew from seeds, and 2 rows of plants that were bought as plants.  It's not a real science experiment because they are not the same variety, but then I'm not going to publish in a science journal anyway.

As the other seedlings start to look better, I'll plant them in the outside bed too.  We eat about one onion daily, and some are sold as long-keepers, so maybe there will be enough for a 9 month supply.  Maybe not.

Kitchen Garden Update. 5.20.16

Grafted "Better Boy" Tomato Plant.  5.21.16

Tomato Raised Bed.  5.21.16

Here  is how some of the kitchen garden plants are doing.

Most tomatoes are growing vigorously and a few are producing flowers.  The furthest ahead was Jersey Boy, but then the top of that was eaten by deer.  I plan to build a fence, meant to and procrastinated.

The grafted Better Boy has caught up with the others.  The grafting process puts it behind.  The grafted SuperSweet100 was too close to the Deer Superhighway, and therefore has a major setback.  I don't know how much fencing I can put in, it's awkward to work with and there is a cost, but if I want to grow plants that deer and rabbits also love, that's the only choice.

The potato plants are in the exposed  - not fenced - garden, and are growing lush and big.  I hilled them up as much as I could.

Potatoes.  Yukon Gold (front), Burbank Russett (back).  5.21.16

The collard greens are also exposed.  One plant vanished without a trace.  Space aliens?  But the others are all looking good and not chewed on so far.  They look small but actually growing pretty fast.  They have a grass clipping mulch to hold in the soil moisture and keep weeds at bay.

Collard Green Starts.  5.21.16

Egyptian Walking Onions.  5.21.16

I love the look of the Egyptian Walking Onions.  They are past the edibility stage - these are early Spring and late Fall kitchen plants.  Other onions are filling the scallion role, sets that I bought in April and am growing for bulb onions.  Back to the deer and rabbit issue, those beasts don't seem to eat onions or garlic.

I need to fence them in, but some of the okra seedlings remain.  Same theme, some were eaten last week.  That was mostly the transplants, so I won't know if early starting is helpful.  The seeds sprouted nicely without pre-soaking.

Okra Seedlings.  5.21.16

Fava Beans.  5.21.16

Fava bean pods are in the tiny stage, to about 5 inches long.  The plants continue to bloom.  I ate a raw fava bean pod, it wasn't too great, but it was raw. 

Green pepper plants - purchased - are looking good.   Pumpkins and squashes are also looking good.  I think there will be zucchini flowers in a few more weeks.

Sweet corn is looking good.  I continue to plant more seeds every 2 or 3 weeks.  The last batch was "Mirai" - wrinkled seeds that are hard to imagine they will grow.  In fact, it's been cool and rainy, and I read that Mirai seeds will rot if not given ideal conditions.  I'll give them a week and if no growth, plant something else.

Kitchen Garden Bed.  5.21.16

Sweet  Corn.  5.21.16

Graft Union for "Better Boy" Tomato.  5.21.16

Late Winter Gardening. Potatoes and Onion Sets. 2.18.14

Today I looked at Fred Meyer for seed potatoes.  They had 2 types.

Seed Potatoes.  Pontiac and White Superior

Onion Sets Red Baron

I think these are standard varieties.  Nothing exotic.  They will make good new potatoes and potato salad.  I will keep them in a cool room for a couple of weeks.  That will move us closer to a good planting time. They will go into raised bed/containers.

Onion Raised Bed

These are Pontiac - red skin, and White Superior - white skin.

From the "Vegetables of Interest" website"  "Pontiac potato was developed in the late 1930s as a cross between an old English potato named “Triumph” and a Maine potato called  “Katahdin.” .... The “Red Pontiac” selection with its bright red skin came out as a mutation found in Southern field tests in the early 1940s.

...In particular, I like its imperfections.  If grown to maturity the tubers vary in size and shape.  They are mostly round but oblong ones show up too.  The surface of the spud is dotted with shallow eyes and subtle nobs that don’t quite become noses.  In short, these potatoes look like they have character in comparison to the perfectly shaped, winkle-free Burbank bakers.

From tuckertaters.com, White Superior:After wide commercial production for more than 50 years, Superior is still a highly regarded variety with well-known performance. It is sometimes used as the standard for early-season white potatoes  "Culinary Characteristics

• Taste/flavor: Good.
• Texture after cooking: Fairly firm, dry. Moist when baked and french fried.
• Uses: Superior mashed. Excellent for potato salads. Good for chipping.

They had some onion sets so I bought a bag  I don't know how the winter onions will do.  We buy a lot of onions.  I think we will eat all that we grow.  A lot will go for scallions.  It was a bit of a waste.  A lot of the sets were moldy or dried out.  These are "Red Baron".

These went into the same bed as I had onions and garlic, then melons, last year.  Better to rotate for nutrition and disease reduction.  With the intervening melon crop I think it's OK.  Plus last fall, I topped the bed with a big dose of soil/compost mix.  I will also give them nitrogen boost when growing.  At the moment it's raining and raining and raining, so any nitrogen boost today would be wasted via washing away.

Red Baron sounds like a good variety.  Long day onion, so good for NW setting.  From organic seeds website:  Dual purpose onion for medium sized bulb onions or purple skinned bunching onions. Deep red outer skin and beautiful inner rings of royal purple with good color throughout. For bunching, harvest at 12-15” tall just before the bulb begins to swell, or harvest for fresh eating bulbs. Long day onion.

The ground is very wet and soft.  If not for the raised beds I could not have planted these onion sets.  The photo shows them before I covered them with soil.

So I got some gardening done today.

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 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.