Cymbidium Orchids. Easy Care and Beautiful Flowers for Fall. 11.1.18

NOID Cymbidium.  11.1.18

NOID Cymbidium.  11.1.18

These Cymbidiums are tough and beautiful.  This year, I finally decided to treat them right.  That didn't take much.  I repotted in fresh orchid bark, the standard stuff at the big box store.  I watered them once or twice a week, kept them in full sun, and about every other watering, gave  them diluted miracle grow - 1/4 the strength on the label.  I kept them in the vegetable garden on a stand so slugs wouldn't attack.  I was a hot, dry summer.  The leaves didn't look great, but the "Chocolate leopard" (my name) Cymbidium must have a doen flower stalks, with up to 10 flower buds each.  The "Lemon leopard" (my name) Cymbidium has about 3 stalks, bigger flowers.   I have two others.  Each is sending up one flower stalk.  They are much smaller plants.

I've had these for possibly 10 years.  Many years, I left them sitting under a tree all summer with no water.  This year I gave them just a little better care, and they are beautiful.

They are still outside.  The nights drop into the 40s.  I will bring them inside soon.

Carnivorous Plant. Sarracenia "Judith Hindle" Pitcher Plant. 11.1.18

This is one of the carnivorous plants I started growing late winter this year.  Growth has been excellent.  Beautiful form and color.  The cultivar is Sarracenia "Judith Hindle"

I'm happy with it as is but I'm interested to see if it will bloom next year.

This was much easier to grow than I anticipated.  I kept it in a dish of water, about an inch of water, all summer.  There might have been 2 or 3 occasions when it dried out, which did not appear to set it back too much. 

I used rain water, which we collect in a rain barrel from roof runoff.  I did give a small amout of miracle gro, 1/4 strength, in the pitchers.  I don't know if that did anything.

Dawn Redwood after Two Growing Seasons. 10.29.18

Dawn Redwood after 2 Growing Seasons.  10.29.18

I planted this tree on 11.17.16.  Based on recommendations by Linda Chalker-Scott, of Washington State Horticulture (I think), I washed off the nursery soil, bare-rooting the tree.  I cut off crossing or binding roots before planting.  During the first year, I watered it about once weekly.  This year, I watered about every other week.  It was a hot, dry summer.  The tree has grown nicely, and now it is starting to show fall color change.  I keep the fence around it to reduce deer damage to the trunks, which happened to nearby cypress trees of similar size.

The tree is mulched, but I did not fertilize.  I've buried some dead chickens nearby, and my beloved dog Charlie, whose atoms will nourish my spirit in the leaves and growth of this tree.

Tree at planting: 11.17.16.  It's hard to believe that a tree with so roots, compared to the top, survived.  But it did, and flourished.  I did not prune the top.  Planting in fall may have allowed significant root growth before Spring.   Im certain that mulch and keeping it watered for the first year is also key.

Odds and Ends. The Last Pawpaws. Planting Egyptian Walking Onions, Garlic Daffodils. More.Saijo 10.28.18

Saijo Persimmon Tree.  10.28.15

This post has odds and ends from a few garden tasks, and walking around.

The Asian type persimmons are closer to ripe.  One of the Nikita's Gift persimmons was ripe.  The Saijo has about a dozen, not as large as last year, but then I didn't water it at all.

Columnar Apple Tree, Golden Sentinel, about 3 weeks after transplanting.  1-.28.18

The columnar apple trees that I dug up, pruned, and transplanted a few weeks ago (10.6.18), are showing the stress.  The larger one (Golden Sentinel) has mosly brown leaves. However, a few remain green.  Since it's fall and the other apple trees are starting to drop leaves, this is not necessarily a death sentence.   There was more browning on The Golden Sentinel, than on the North Pole, which was smaller and younger, so lost less root mass relative to the top.  Next Spring will tell.

Today I planted one last row of garlic, from saved garlic heads.  I don't know which variety, suspect German Red.  I had to quit planting due to a back strain, and today was the soonest that I could.  It's been raining.  I hated to impact the wet soil, but it was either that or don't plant it.  Meanwhile, the previous plantings are growing, some quite vigorously.  The fastest seem to be Spanish Roja.  I planted those Oct 5th, so this frowth is 23 days post planting.  There are some others, not shown, almost as large at 14 days, from saved cloves.

Garlic about 3 weeks after planting.

Sets from Egyptian Walking Onions.  10.28.15

The Last of the Sunflower Pawpaws.  10.28.18

A gardener should listen to his body, and I did not.  While moving minor stuff around 2 weeks ago, my back tweaked.  Before fully better, I mowed and planted some daffodils and more garlic, in heavy soil, and hauled some leaves.  It worsened again.  Now I"m being careful.  No more heavy work until fully better, and I really do need to pay due diligence to back and other orthopedic health.  Today, I planted the last of those garlic - intended and additional row, but wont.  Planted the rest of those daffodils.  And cleared part of raised bed, which was pepper plants, and planted 6 rows of 10 sets each of Egyptian Walking Onions.  These were topsets that fell over during the summer, and are rooting in the rainy weather.  The basal bulbs have about 6 inches of growth already, soon usable as scallions.  Egyptian Walking Onions never fail to perform, even in bad weather and neglected.

The last of the "Sunflower" Pawpaws fell off the tree.  Nice sized fruits.  So that's almost a month of Pawpaws.  Very nice!  The final fruits of the year, will be persimmons.

My conclusion about pawpaws:   They really can be grown, and fruit, in the Pacific Northwest.

Home Fermented Pepper Sauces. 10.24.18

Fermented Hot Pepper Sauces.  10.24.18

These fermented for several days, en I poured off the brine and chopped them to almost-puree in the small food processor. I added back enough of the brine to have the consistency that I liked.   A little finer than a typical relish.  There is still some slight crunch in the green Korean pepper sauce.  The Korean is much milder, just slight heat.  The The red/gree Thai is very, very hot.  Both are delicious, but very different from each other.  Now store in fridge until eaten.  Good on eggs, hash browns, and vegetables.

The glass weights for small mouth jars were not good.  They don't have a handle, and are very difficult to remove.  I had to turn the jars upside down to remove the glass weight.  A better system is needed.  The weight for large mouth jars have build in handle that makes it easier to remove the weight.