Thinking about a Sun Room. 1.11.14

Front Of House

Front Of House

This is the West-facing side of the house.  To the right is South, to the left is North.  The squarish window with 4 panes opens from the dining room.  I think that would be a good place for a sun room.  Replace that window with a patio door or french door.  The sunroom could be about 100 to 150 square feet.  Big enough for plants all around, for starting tomatoes and peppers, okra, figs....  flowers...  and overwintering cacti and orchids.    Maybe even overwinter a large chili pepper plant.  There might be room for the Meyer Lemon - currently bearing - and kumquat.  Wow - I just filled up the sunroom, and it's not even designed yet.

I was thinking greenhouse, but sunroom might contribute to solar heating in winter.  Or might not be efficient, but would be more protected than a greenhouse, and I could sit in the sunroom and ponder, putter, and stew.

There's a home remodeling show in portland in 2 weeks.  It would take my mind off the impending scan....

Kitchen Garden

Watermelon

Pepper Barrel

 I think this is the Idaho-developed Cougar Mountain watermelon.  Watching closely for signs of ripeness.

Minnesota Midget Canteloupe

Fruit harvest

Container-grown Peppers

The pepper barrel grew great this year.  It always does well.  I'm happy with these.  The reds are "Italian Roaster".  The little red is "Thai" pepper.  There are others.

Also watching closely for the "Minnesota Midget" canteloupe.

Loved the fruit harvest.  That was from the Vancouver back yard.  Lattarula figs, Hawaiian Pineapple tomatoes, Italian Roaster peppers, various Asian pears, and a few peaches - forget the variety.  Genetic dwarf peach.  Was surprised to get any.  The tree has quite a few more, not ripe yet. 

Those "Hawaiian Pineapple" tomatoes are really good.

"Hawaiian Pineapple" Tomato

Irises. Peppers.

Bearded Iris raised beds.

Not much to see with the irises.  Sweet alyssum, marigolds are taking more space than I expected.  Swiss chard is vigorous.  At this size it's a bit bitter.

The bed behind the front bed is gradually being filled with established clumps of bearded irises from the house in Vancouver.   Those are modern varieties.  It will look nice in the Spring.  There is still a row of chili peppers.  Those will stay until frost. 

Pepper "Hungarian hot wax"

I didn't expect the peppers to grow.  Was not able to keep them weeded.  Some are doing quite well.  This is "Hungarian Hot Wax".

Grafted Tomato. Broccoli. Chilis.

Grafted Tomato Hawaiian Pineapple.  Broccoli.

Chilis

This grafted tomato is growing fast.  There are flower buds which were present when it was bought.  I don't know yet if it will lead to good tomatoes, but the growth is impressive.

This is the first time I've grown broccoli.  Starting to develop broccoli head in the center.



Chili peppers.  Also growing nicely.  These are at the place in Vancouver.  The ones at Battleground are bug or slug eaten and smaller.

Both the Tomato and Chilis are mulched with dried cherry blossoms I swept off the deck.  Kind of an exotic mulch.

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.

Chilis and Tomatoes

The chili's are doing well considering the little I've done for them. Mainly just watering. One half-barrel is enough to supply 2 people with a few peppers a week, without feeling like we MUST eat them to avoid waste. Ditto for the tomatoes. These are Better Boy, Supersweet 100, and Sungold. I stand by the plant eating them off the vine, they are so good.

Peppers

THe peppers did quite nicely this year. I've concluded that, in this area, the container method is the best way to grow them

Container Gardens Progress Report

These beans are growing like crazy! They are blooming great! These are an Italian pole bean. The container is a plastic basket, with holes drilled in the bottom. This is working great! It does need almost daily water though.  I can't reach the top growth now!

Peppers! Before barrels, I could never get them to bear. I can't beleive they are almost ripe.  This is great!  I had garlic plants in this barrel too.  It was the largest garlic I've grown.

More peppers. Cool!  The onions are spring bunching onions.  I planted the seeds in this barrel just to see what would happen.

Lilac is blooming

This weekend was literally a sit-on-my-butt weekend doing homework. Now at 7pm sunday night I'm done-enough although "done" is never an option. Stargate in the background.

So... looking around the yard. Lilac is blooming. Nice a fragrant "lilacy" fragrance. Cherry is almost done. Tulips are near done.

I did take some time to plant peppers in the 1/2 barrels. Various varieties from Fred Meyer and Shorty's nursery.

Each year the lilacs look better and bloom more.

A few late fall flowers, and kitchen garden produce

Late summer planting of Roma bush beans. These are very good stir-fried with mushrooms, garlic, and peanuts, along with some stir fry noodles. Yum!

A few last roses showing me they're still here. They are mostly such a mess, I'm looking forward to pruning them back this winter. Weeds took over. That is largely the job of kitty cat, who decided that the mulch was the worlds biggest and best litter box, stirring up all of the mulch with weed-seed-laden soil below, and fertilizing as she went along. Still no solution for this challenge.


Nice Dahlia. It's survived many years in that location. I thought it was dead, but there it is.

I keep saying it over and over, but best pepper crop ever!

Barrel Planters and Peppers

Peppers looking great. Now I need to pick them and figure out something to cook. I'm thinking about making risotto-stuffed peppers.

I've never had so many peppers reach maturity before. The barrels are definitely the way to go.

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.

Backyard Orchard: The payoff!

Studying diligently for my recertification, not spending time in the garden. Always some reason to neglect it! That's one of the great things about the backyard orchard - it doesn't need care at the time of harvest, and the harvest is great if the weather permits and prior preparation was good.

Late frost and chilly spring meant a lot of grapes didnt set. Even so, there are plenty odf sweet flavorful grapes to eat now and for the next month or so.

Tomatoes are doing great! The delay just made them all the sweeter in my mind!

Oh man, the pears! Luscious, sweet, a dessert in eveyr bite! Eating one every day.

Still some Asian pears remaining. I think they'll last a little longer on the tree while I eat the European pears. The first of the asian pears were wonderful!

I don't know if I posted on the Trilite peaches, now they are long gone. Very good! Now the genetic dwarf peach is almost ripe, a bit crunchy and slightly tart but very peachy!

Peppers are the best I've ever grown! Container gardening rocks for these warm season plants! THe eggplants are producing as well! Cool!

container gardens

The peppers sat and sulked for a couple of months. So did the eggplants. Then suddenly... They shot up and grew like crazy. Now blooming, and some small fruits already developing on the pepper plants.

The fastest growing are the Banana peppers and Bell peppers.

I like having basil in the container. When I'm inspecting the peppers, I brush against the basil, and the frangrance is intoxicating. I ate some today on a sliced tomato. Yum.

Both eggplants and peppers in this container.
The banana peppers are growing day by day.

I admit, I gave them a boost of miracle-gro tomato food. So now they no longer count as organic. My rationale is that they did not seem to be growing, and I wanted to give them a boost. Since they are in containers, their situation is already more artificial than the plants in the ground.

This container also contains some eggplants. I bought a couple of Japanese eggplants at Fred Meyer, because my own starts were so slow. My start is also taking off, but way behind the purchased ones. The onions in the background are Egyptian Walking Onions. I want the tops to dry off, then will plant them in september.

The potatoes are all harvested. I have some in a windowill to chit (sprout). They are taking their sweet time. Maybe I'll also plant a few in their barrels, see if they grow faster that way. The potato barrel method worked GREAT! Lots from both the fingerlings, and the gourmet white.

What's up in the barrel gardens?

Here's what happened with the potatoes. They grew lush and green, then the weather warmed up.

I thought I should keep them going a little longer, but they wilted quickly. So I dug out the fingerling potatoes, which wilted the worse - although the white gourmet aren't far behind, as shown here.

These were excellent! Still a couple of pounds left. Just boil about 15 minutes, then a little salt, some butter, and chop some scallions from another barrel garden. Terrific! I like this potato barrel idea.

I've left some out to sprout, maybe we can get in a second batch before winter.

Technically not a barrel, but these container peppers are feeling the summer and have finally started to grow.

These barrels are mainly peppers and eggplants. Some of the eggplants are purchases. I know that's cheating, but my own are lagging so much. Next year, maybe start earlier, or keep them in a green-house arrangement.

More peppers, mostly, and eggplants that I did grow to size. Not too bad, they are blooming now and peppers are starting to form.

Kitchen Garden. A mess but there is hope.

This is Petite negri fig. Quite a few brebas, plumping up. This is another tree that attracts birds, so is covered with a net. Net on top, and the tanglefoot on the trunk for ants. There are lots of brebas on Lattarula, a few on Desert King, a few on Vancouver / Brunswick, and quite a few on Petite negri. Hardy Chicago lost its brebas but if last year is any indication, could be the most productive main crop.

I have 'pinched' all of the new growth at 3 to 5 nodes. Some area already producing embryonic main crop at the nodes.

I wondered if this mulberry would really start to grow. Maybe with the onset of sunny weather, it will take off. We'll see.

Sad looking peppers. Very sad. Rain and rain and rain and rain. They are blooming. Will they perk up?






Tomatoes, looking sad but now we are into sunny days again. I still hope they will perk up. Some have flowers. I've added stakes and started to tie them into place. I removed a few suckers.

The potatoes are lush and green in their barrels.

Some of the peas took off and grew. I better harvest a few tonite.



Peaches. The thinning worked well! Some are affected by leaf curl due to the extended rains, but overall they look good.





Lettuce looking nice in the barrel.





Cherries. Not in such great shape, but we should get some. They had a fantastic start, but those rains! Now covered with a net to keep out the birds.

It all looks quite messy. No time for weeding. Next weekend I guess.