Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Home Orchard Society Fruit Tasting Show. 10.18.15
Great fruit show last weekend. Home Orchard Society. I volunteered at the membership table for the morning. Didn't know what I was doing but everyone was nice.
Seed Starting in Fall. 10.20.15
Seedlings. 10.20.15 |
Days are getting shorter. Nothing I can do outside after or before work. I can putter with seedlings.
I've never done this before, with daylilies. I did grow some native plum seedlings over the winter, a few years ago.
When the daylily seeds have stratified for one month in the refrigerator, I place them at room temp in their paper towel / zipper bags. Check the seeds every couple of days. Many sprout within one to two weeks. When I see sprouts, I transfer the sprouted seed to a 6-pack containing seed starting medium. Some of those have sprouted and grown large enough that I move them up to a starting pot with potting soil. When in seed starting medium, I water with 1/4 teaspoon of tomato miracle grow per gallon of water.
Seedlings. 10.20.15 |
Some were too close to the lights, resulting in a few light-burned leaves. Not enough to set them back significantly.
So far, 3 apricot seeds have germinated. Of Daylilies, I now have 1 dozen seeedlings from pod parent "Happy Returns", and 6 seedlings from pod parent "Chicago Apache". There are germinated seeds from "Ice Carnival" and one from "Vigaro-labeled" NOID. Each pod parent was hybridized with a contrasting variety, diploid to diploid and tetraploid to tetraploid.
There is also a cactus that was rootstock for a pink grafted cactus. The scion eventually died, and the rootstock grew new branches. I cut off a branch, to start a new plant. Tentative ID Hylocereus undatus but I could be wrong. If correct, that is "Dragon fruit" cactus.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Bearded Iris Fall Bloom. 10.17.15
Bearded Iris "Sunny Disposition" 10.17.15 |
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Opuntia. Bumblebee. Peach Seed. 10.14.15
This is a good start for my opuntia trial. I have two "Texas Opuntia Cuttings" via Amazon. I imagine these are just some cactus pads that someone in San Antonio went outside and cut off a larger cactus. "The Mother plants are direct offspring from some of the San Antonio
Missions including the Alamo! A large cactus with flattened, mostly
spiny stems that produce deep red, juicy and sweet fruits.". They are labeled as "Spineless Thornless Prickly Pear, Nopal Verde Opunti" which I can't find anywhere, but suspect they are Opuntia Engelmannii. The others were posted last week.
If nothing else, they will be interesting in the sunroom for the winter, and require minimal or no watering.
Random pic of one of the largest bumblebees I have seen this year. Haven't seen any in months.
Sprouting peach seed from last week or so. Planted in seed starting medium. This one is from "Oregon Curl Free".
If nothing else, they will be interesting in the sunroom for the winter, and require minimal or no watering.
Random pic of one of the largest bumblebees I have seen this year. Haven't seen any in months.
Sprouting peach seed from last week or so. Planted in seed starting medium. This one is from "Oregon Curl Free".
Texas Opuntial Pad Cutting. 110.15.15 |
Bumblee on Dianthus. 10.15.15 |
Germinating Peach Seed. "Oregon Curl Free" Seed Parent. 10.5.15 |
Labels:
brasilopuntia,
opuntia,
Opuntia Engelmannii
Saturday, October 10, 2015
Fishing. 1960.
Time flies. I think these are all about 1960. In each, I'm the smaller little boy. My dad made that boat by hand. Fishing was something we all did back then. Mississippi river.
Tuesday, October 06, 2015
Apricots from seeds. 10.6.15
Apricot Seeds. Stratigied 2 months, then warm 10 days. 10.6.15- |
Apricot seed sprouting, before covering with seed starting medium. 10.6.15 |
The peacotum seeds rotted.
I have others, mainly peaches.
I took these apricot seeds out of the fridge, left them on moist paper towel to sprout. Room temp. At 10 days, most are splitting and several have a root.
I planted the 3 with the longest roots in dampened peat-moss-based seed starting medium, one inch deep. They are back in the seed starting rack again. I left the others to continue sprouting on moist paper towel, in the same zipper plastic bag.
These are a locally grown apricot. I looks like there will be several trees to play with. I can use one for scion, grow a couple in containers, and grow a couple in the ground.
Sunday, October 04, 2015
Squashes
Since I did not know which squashes would do well, I planted multiple varieties. Pumpkins are just orange round squashes.
No use growing all one type when it's so easy to sample all sorts.
I did not know the summer would be so hot. Expecting cool climate, I started the squash plants indoors, and planted when the soil was warm. In order to keep the soil warm, I did not mulch. I did not get them all into the ground as quickly as i wanted, and some were delayed. But most did very well.
All can be cooked in similar ways. We usually roast them. Some can be baked to soften, then puree for pies. My favorite last year was Waltham butternut squash, made into pie. I do have one of those that is not yet ripe.
I like just looking at them.
The largest was Pink Banana Squash. 18 pounds.
Ning is holding a Pink Banana Squash, and a Long Island Cheese Pumpkin. Expect some taste testing this winter.
No use saving seeds from these. Most are cross pollinated, most by Zucchinis which had the most male flowers. I might grow one or two for novelty but with the cross pollination, none are expected to be true next year.
Still, a squash is a squash. So I would expect any to be edible, even if they look strange.
No use growing all one type when it's so easy to sample all sorts.
I did not know the summer would be so hot. Expecting cool climate, I started the squash plants indoors, and planted when the soil was warm. In order to keep the soil warm, I did not mulch. I did not get them all into the ground as quickly as i wanted, and some were delayed. But most did very well.
All can be cooked in similar ways. We usually roast them. Some can be baked to soften, then puree for pies. My favorite last year was Waltham butternut squash, made into pie. I do have one of those that is not yet ripe.
I like just looking at them.
The largest was Pink Banana Squash. 18 pounds.
Ning is holding a Pink Banana Squash, and a Long Island Cheese Pumpkin. Expect some taste testing this winter.
No use saving seeds from these. Most are cross pollinated, most by Zucchinis which had the most male flowers. I might grow one or two for novelty but with the cross pollination, none are expected to be true next year.
Still, a squash is a squash. So I would expect any to be edible, even if they look strange.
Sedum propagation. 10.4.15
Sedum propagation. 10.4.15 |
All of the large-plant sedum stem cuttings that I took 8.18.15 have taken root and grown. So it's roughly 6 weeks. They also have flower buds and growth of new stems from the base. This is true for the green-leaf and red-leaf types.
Very cool. For almost no effort, and from 2 original stems cut into shorter pieces, I now have a half dozen new sedum plants.
Two of the leaf cuttings have grown roots. It will take longer to see if they will grow. most of the leaf cuttings died.
UPDATE: These are the other sedum cuttings. Again, these are large - type sedums. Some are the type sold as "Autumn Joy". For the smaller sedums, all that is needed is cut off a bunch of pieces with a pair of scissors, insert the cut end into some soft soil, and treat them like seedlings with a little water and weeding. I've never had a sedum not-grow from that type of cutting.
More sedum cuttings. 10.6.15 |
The plan is that, once winter sets in, keep these in a sheltered place during the coldest weather, and plant in the bee border late Winter / early Spring.
Labels:
Autumn Joy,
sedum,
sedum cuttings,
Sedum sarmentosum
Opuntia trial. 10.3.15
Opuntias for experiment. 10.4.15 |
The larger one is from Raintree, sold as "Large fruit opuntia". Image below links to their catalog URL.
Raintree Nursery Opuntia. |
Did I post the info on the smaller one? That was from Shorty's nursery in Vancouver WA. Just being local does not prove adapted to this area. I have seen lots of things that were not idea here. But it was different, so there we are. This one is "Baby Rita Prickly Pear". There is a beautiful photo at this link. On Dave's garden, the pads are purple. On cactusjungle.com there is a beautiful photo of the pink flower, and this description: "Prickly Pear season starts with Opuntia “Baby Rita”, a santa-rita hybrid with small and spiny pads. Small pads, will grow 3 feet tall. Very spiny pads turn purple in winter. Hardy to 15F. Monrovia - the brand for this plant, states this is Opuntia basilaris hybrid. "Exceptional dwarf hybrid with brilliant carmine colored flowers in a small padded, purple skinned prickly pear. Thrives from the coast to inland deserts, and even into high altitude mountain areas! Loaded with spring blooms, the purple foliage intensifies in winter, providing year-round interest." and gives hardiness range as 0 to 15F.
I was interested in opuntia in the past. These photos were from my yard in 2007-2008. I did not get ripe fruit from the opuntias, and they died after a hard freeze the next winter. I enjoyed that the flowers changed color, so there were yellow and orange flowers on the same plants. The freeze-kill might have been because I did not keep them sufficiently dry, or the variety might not have been as hardy as needed.
With summer 2015 hotter and drier than any on record, highly dry adapted plants like opuntias are worth another look for fruit, flowers, and vegetable - nopales. Worth a try.
Opuntia in Bloom. Vancouver WA 2008 |
Opuntia. Vancouver WA 2007 |
Labels:
climate change,
nopales,
opuntia,
xeriscape
Saturday, October 03, 2015
Greens in Container Garden. 10.3.15
Cilantro. 10.3.15 |
Mixed Greens. 10.3.15 |
Radishes look like they might be woody.
I should thin the turnips.
I'm not as crazy about eating the Swiss Chard, as I am about growing them.
Spring Scallions and Turnips. 10.3.15 |
Chinese Greens and Cilantro. 10.3.15 |
Labels:
Asian Greens,
cilantro,
container gardening,
Greens,
kitchen garden
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