Kitchen Garden. 6.8.14

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In the kitchen garden.

A basket of ripe strawberries.  Photo not very good.  via ipad.

A Portugal Red chili pepper.  This is from the battleground raised bed.  Some of the other varieties have fruits beginning to form.

Zucchinis and other squashes have a growth spurt.  They got a dose of organic nitrogen boost today.

Potatoes are nice and green.  Ditto on the nitrogen, last time and not much.  They also got some slug pellets, organic type. 

Yesterday I cleared out the herbs and weeds around 2 caged fruit trees, both plums.  Then a layer of waste paper - food packaging and newspaper.  On top of that, grass clippings, to hold down the paper and hide it.  That will last until fall, I think.

Tomatoes are blooming.

Lots of snowpeas.

Puttering. 5.17.14

Early bloom on wildflowers

Early bloom on wildflowers

Tomato seedlings planted.

 Ning's wildflower meadows are starting to bloom.  He seeded these in March.  The mix is from outsidepride.com, NW wildflower mix.  Plus I added in some agastache  for bees and domesticated California poppies to be different.  There may be some snapdragons in there too.  The wild type poppies are blooming but not the domesticated ones yet.

This mix contains annuals for the first year, and perennials for subsequent years.  The annuals may also self seed.

The flowers are minimal now, but they are just beginning.

The seedling tomatoes have settled in.  I have a couple of plants left over.  Not sure what to do with those.

The store bought tomato plants are growing fast, sturdy and dark green.  The Sungold have their first flowers.  I gave them a dilute dose of organic nitrogen boost.

The peppers are growing nicely.

I planted the last batch of potatoes.  Those were fingerling potatoes from Tsugawa.  They are in the 4th tree-ring potato well.  The earlier potatoes have nice leaves.  Something is eating some.  Maybe slugs.  I sprinkled around organic slug bait.  The late potato planting should mean we get a few months of fresh potatoes.

Radishes continue to produce.

Deer and rabbits continue to be a challenge.  I need more fencing.

Store bought tomato plants in place.

Pepper bed

Snow Peas

Raised bed garden

Potatoes 5.11.14

Potato "barrel" made from concrete tree ring edging.

The potatoes are growing fast.  I didn't have a chance to buy more compost to fill in around them.  So I used partially decomposed, compacted maple leaves from last fall.

They filled in around the potato plants nicely.

I don't know if this will work.  I've read that straw works, so maybe leaves will work.

Puttering. 4.25.14

Honeybees settling in.

Vancouver Brunswick Fig.  Spring growth.

 Honeybees are lying around the hives.  It look like they are starting to settle in.  Not much going on with foraging.

Vancouver Brunswick fig is making nice growth with little brebas.  This tree spent 2013 recovering from having been moved Dec 2012.  Then new growth was frost killed early 2013.  Then hard freeze late 2013.  But looking good now.  Of the older trees I moved to Battleground, Brunswick and Sal's fig are looking the best.  Petite negri may be dead.  Of the new starts from last year, all were top-killed.  Tiger and Champagne are making new growth from the base.  These may not be as freeze-tolerant as the others, or it might be they were young and I grew them too lush.  So no fertilizing this year.  I will give them more time, but so far Atreano, Smith and Carini look dead.  I have replacements for all of them.

Camassia looking nice.  Why don't more people grow it?  I bought this as one potted plant last spring.  When the  foliage died down, I divided it and replanted.  Now each has 4 new growths.

Potatoes growing lush in the tree-ring wishing wells.   Soon will need to add more soil.

Strawberries in bloom.  Protected from deer and rabbits.  I hope.  Last year they were all eaten off when blooming.

Snowpeas growing fast too.  If not caged, they would also be eaten off.

Camassia.

Potatoes in tree ring wishing well.

Strawberries in bloom.

Champagne fig.  Sprouts from base.

Snowpeas

Potatoes. 4.9.14

Red Potatoes

White Potatoes

Red and White Mixed.  Planted ?2 weeks later

Potatoes are looking good.  I hope there's no frost this time.  Growing fast.

The red potatoes are Pontiac.  The white potatoes are White Superior except the middle one with pale green leaves.  That one is Gourmet White, saved starts.

Puttering. 4.8.14

Mostly today I rested and did take-home work.

As for puttering -

I planted 6 pepper plants in the poly-tunnel,  raised bed that I set up for them during the winter.  Temp in that bed, before I opened the polyethylene top, was 80 F.  That opens up room in the fluorescent light stand for other plants.  Given the warmth and shelter, I think they will be fine, even though this is too early to plant in-ground without protection.  These are experimental.  I don't intend to grow as many types next year.

I planted a row of Phacelia tanacetifolia (Bee Friend) at the end of one of the raised beds.  Purpose is to feed bees some organic bee forage, and keep them attracted to my garden and yard.  I've never seen this plant in person.

I planted okra seeds that I had soaked overnight.  The varieties were Baby Bubba Hybrid, Burgundy, North + South Hybrid, Dwarf Green Long Pod, and Jambalaya.  All were chosen based on reported early bearing and smaller stature, compared to other selections.  Of the plants I tried indoors, Babby Bubba hybrid is the most compact and robust, followed by Burgundy.  Dwarf Green Long Pod was weaker and more leggy.  These were all new seeds, except North + South hybrid, which were 5 years old.

One lesson I learned last year.  Many garden resources say you can't start okra indoors and the plant outside.  The reason given is the roots are too delicate.  The ones that I started indoors last year did much better than the ones I direct seeded in the same ground.  The only ones to bear, although minimally, were the transplanted ones.  Some resources say you can transplant okra.  I'm glad I did the experiment.  It gets me ahead this year.

I cut a handful of small flower bunches from pears at home, took to Battleground, and played the bee using a paintbrush to pollinate the Asian pear there.  I noted, the smaller Asian pear I have been trying to salvage, is in bloom too, so I cross pollinated that one with the larger one.

I pollinated cherries with each other.  Sweet cherries and Almaden Duke cherry.

I noted, all potatoes are up now.  All plums are dropping flowers.  No apples are blooming yet.

Kitchen Garden Progress Report. Potatoes. Vegetables. 3.7.14

Potato Well.  Pontiac Red

Potato Well.  White Superior

Today the  temperature was in the mid 50s.  It's still early  to plant potatoes.  I planted some in the "Wells" that I built from tree surround rings.  The wells are dark brick-like material.  They should absorb heat from the sun.  That will warm the soil further.

If a frost is predicted, I can cover the wells to protect the potato plants.

Planted in soil:compost 50:50 mix.

Scallions are growing rapidly.

I planted some additional spinach seeds.

I planted some snow peas in small flower pots.

That's about all.

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.

January Gardening. Puttering. Potato Barrel. 1.26.14

Potato Barrel

Garlic in January

A little puttering, then there is a zxqt-load of homework to complete.  This week staycation.  Mostly rest.  So exhausted....

The potato barrel is an evolving concept.  Several years, I've grown potatoes in large containers, filling as the potato plant grows.  Then empty out the container and it is filled with a surprising number of potatoes.  Home grown potatoes are much better than store bought.

Link to potatoes in container March 2010.   May 2011.  No photos of harvest.  Method.  Another take on the method, Mother Earth News.  Also container Gardening for Food.

Last year I started some,  but a late frost killed them.  I was sick, and there was no chance to do it over.

I've been trying to come up with a better idea.  The sides of the barrel get too hot.  Plastic containers, even hotter.  I have a couple dozen /13 circle tree edging rings.  I was using them for irises.  The irises are now in raised beds, so the rings are free.

They stack nicely.  They should disassemble nicely.  They link together.  I don't think they will fall apart until I want  to take them apart.  The stone (concrete?) will heat on warm days, transferring heat into the soil.  Bot not as exposed and temperature sensitive as plastic.  The volume is more than the 1/2 barrels I was using.  They are free.  I think I bought them for $2 a section a few years ago.  Maybe a sale.  If that cheap, they cost less than a purpose-sold potato barrel or 1/2 wine barrel at the big box store.

I will add screening to the bottom to restrict mole tunneling.

The garlic perks up when frost thaws.  Looking great.

Frosted Fig and Potatoes

Potatoes. I think they will grow back.Frosted fig. Petite negri.Frosted fig. Sal's fig.On Tues night it frosted at the Battleground place. The only damage I saw was to fig leaves, potato leaves, and some damage to new mulberry growth. Disappointing but it could have been worse.

Potatoes. Container Gardening.

Pontiac Red potatoes. Bought seed potatoes at Fred Meyer garden section. Cut them apart for separate eyes. Let them dry out for 2 days.  This potting soil contained beans last year. Smaller diameter container. These are "White gourmet" potatoes. I obtained the starts 2 or 3 years ago, also Fred Meyer. They grow well in containers. These starts were in the basement, already grew 3 or 4 inches.  I just cut them apart today.They don't look like much. Covered with a few inches of potting soil.  When the leaves are a foot high, I'll add 6 inches of potting soil, and again when another 6 inches higher, until mid summer.  I could have planted in raised beds but no room.  No ground prepared either.  This method is very easy and productive.  The wider green container is a better choice, more room.

Kitchen Garden

The containerized beans are growing great, and now have their first flowers. I guess I didn't start them too early.

Ning set up this raised bed. The potatoes were volunteer - I don't know what type they are. They are so vigorous. He used compost that came from the chicken bedding.

The tomatoes are starting to bloom. The first is Better Boy. I guess I didn't start these too early either. Despite the rain and rain and rain and rain.

Kitchen Garden. Potato and strawberry progress report.

Now we are in the season of rapid growth. Today I noticed the potatoes had grown more than a foot, so I covered the lower parts of the stems with about 6 to 9 inches of growth medium, to the upper edges of the barrels.

Potato barrel, they are growing fast. I may add some edging to raise the soil level a few more inches.

These are the older June bearing strawberries. They are blooming like crazy. That promises lots of good strawberries in a few weeks. Meanwhile, I removed the first sets of flowers from the ever bearing strawberry plants that I started in barrels this winter. Flower removal gives them a chance to produce a few more leaves before making strawberries, which should result in more and bigger strawberries later on.

Potato barrels 2.0

I just finished reading the book, "Potato, A history of the Propitious Esculent", by John Reader. The potato has a fascinating history. They started in the Andes, in Peru, Chile, and Argentina, and were one of the first plants to be domesticated. They fueled the Inca empire, but Spanish invaders destroyed the Inca civilization. I guess throwing potatoes isn't as effective as horses, metal weapons, and smallpox. The potato then used the Spanish to spread itself around Europe, and the world, fueling population explosions and all sorts of history. All of which inspired me to become more ambitious about potato barrels. The starts that I planted in January grew above the soil line, frosted, and looked dead. I gave up looking. Yesterday I saw they have sent out new shoots. About half survived. They have healthy-looking, thick, dark green leaves on stout stems. They are barely above the soil line. There were some remaining spaces. I bought a tiny bag of chitted potatoes, "Satina" variety, and planted the empty spaces with starts. Satina is a small, oval, yellow fleshed, nice looking potato. The bin at the plant store only had a few remaining starts, but that's all I wanted. The starts cost 30 cents. Feeling ambitions about growing potatoes in barrels, and with good experience last year, I wanted to add more. I found this plastic container for $7.99, much, much cheaper than the wooden containers and should last as long or longer. It might over heat, mid summer, but I have a plan for that. Apply shiny foil to the outside when it starts to become hot. That will lower soil temperature by 10 or more degrees, from my measurements a few years ago. Meanwhile, the dark plastic should soak up some heat and might speed early growth. I got out the electric drill and drilled about a dozen 3/4 inch holes in the bottom for drainage. Easy. Then added about 6 inches of potting soil. I planted a different variety, "Carmine." According to the clerk, carmine is red inside and out. I could not find information on this variety on the internet, so we'll see. I covered with about 3 inches of potting soil. When they grow to about a foot tall, I'll add anouther 6 inches, and repeat when they grow another foot. It's hard not to plant too many. These are spaced about 9 inches apart. That might be too close for optimum growth, but is a little further apart than last year, and they did fine. Looking at my blog last year, I'm about 5 weeks behind planting the potatoes. The trees are blooming late too - maybe 3 or 4 weeks late. I think they will still do fine.

Late January Gardening

It's that "Late January so it's warming up so the buds open then it freezes and destroys the flowers and possibly kills the tree" weather. It's in the 40s and 50s during the day. Inspecting, quite a number of roses have buds at about 1/4 inch long; peaches have buds swelling; daffodils are starting to peak out of the soil. The daffodils won't be bothered by even a hard freeze, but the peaches might. Some observations:

1. Peaches have quite a bit of what looks like freeze-kill on new growth, but overall look OK. Not sure why, but they did still have green leaves at the time of the first freeze. Most of the newest growth is stout and healthy appearing, and buds are swelling. I sprayed with copper micro-cop spray a 2nd time, hoping to have some effect on the leaf curl. I don't know if it will help at this late stage.

2. There was left over spray. Since the apples had a fair amount of fungal or bacterial disease last year, I sprayed them as well. No significant bud swelling on them.

3. Ditto for figs, so I sprayed them and used up the spray. I'm concerned that there is some freeze-kill on branch tips and brebas. Only the coming of spring will tell.

4. Some Chinese Chives are starting to grow, poking up through the soil.

5. I bought a truckload of medium bark nuggets, and spread them on areas that I have cleared so far. The theory this year is that kitty cat won't like it and will leave it alone. My theories are often disproved.

6. The grapes also appear to have some freeze-kill. If there is significant damage, this will be the first year for them to be damaged by a freeze.

What a waste. These great home-grown organic gourmet potatoes and I forgot them until they sprouted and shriveled. I set aside four of the "gourmet white" which had some stout short sprout in addition to the lanky ones, and threw the rest into the compost bin.

It may be too early to try the potato barrels, but not much to lose. I planted them deep, then covered the sprouts completely with potting mix. This time I was less greedy. I think 4 plants is enough for this small size of barrel. So that's all I planted.

Then a screen for the feline beastie so she doesn't use this for litter.

This barrel contained peppers last year, and some mesclun and greens and radishes last winter. These vegetables are limited not by freezing weather, but but gummy soil too cold to work. That's not an issue in the barrels. I pulled out the remaining pepper roots and stems, loosened the soil, and planted:

Radish, French Breakfast
Radish, Cherry Belle
Mesclun, Gourmet Blend. All of these seeds are from "Ed Hume Seeds".
Onion, Evergreen White Bunching. These take a lot longer, but have fresh scallions when the other varieties are not usable.

So there they are, 4 little rows. In a few weeks, I may plant a second barrel. I plan to wait for these seeds to sprout, first.

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.