Squash Seedlings. Home Saved Seeds Germinate Faster. 5.12.22

 Of the squash seeds that I planted, the home seeds are all showing germination.  That is Galeux, Fordhook, Red Kuri, and Costata.  None of the purchased seeds are up yet although some seem to be swelling a bit.

Galeux

I don't know why the home-saved seeds would germinate faster.  I've also noticed that with tomatoes.  To hazard a guess, maybe I let the fruits ripen completely on the vine before saving seeds, while sellers might use less fully ripe ones?  Or maybe their storage is different in some way.  Mine are dry, in paper envelopes, in cool pantry.

I think the bought ones should still germinate.  They just seems to take longer.  Last year, my own Pink Banana Squash germinated in a week, but new bought ones needed two or three weeks.

Making Eggshell Soil Supplement. 5.12.22

 My soil test indicated low soil calcium.  Lime is a perfectly good calcium supplement, as is good wood ash.  So is ground eggshell.

I dry the eggshells until ready to grind up.   I store them in an open container so they dry quickly and done become gross.  I used to crush them in my hands but the food processor does a better job.  I don't know if they will dull the blade over time.  I have t noticed any issues.

I scatter the ground eggshell and, when the soil is cultivated, it disappears into the soil.  The main mineral in eggshell is calcium and a fair amount of phosphorus, but they also contain small to trace amounts of  magnesium, sodium, aluminum, boron, copper, manganese, iron, potassium, sulfur, and zinc.   Eggshells are 5% protein, so there is a fair amount of nitrogen as well.  Research varies as to the pH altering effects..  I think that is due to, the eggshells are slower release than lime so the effect is spread out over a longer time.

Considering the high cost of things, it seems like it's a good idea to make use of the eggshells' nutritional benefits rather than disposing of them in landfill where they serve no purpose.  Combined with coffee grounds and bone ash, this is a replacement for much of the fertilizer needs of my vegetable garden.

Rufus Had A Spa Day. 5.11.22

 Rufus has been panting more, which I take for being too warm.  So I gave him a haircut and a bath.

He KNOWS what's about to happen.  Even though he really doesn't like the face and paw parts, he jumps onto the table anyway.  I use mix of scissors and clippers depending on how sensitive an area is and how evenly I want it cut.  Then he gets a good bath, which he likes a lot.

After.  There's that handsome boy!

Not as nice a cut as a professional groomer, but a lot less stress for him and for me.

Lilacs, Again. 5.11.22

 I can't believe how big these lilacs grew.  Of course, they are at least fifteen years old.  They survived a big move from the Vancouver house the the Battleground house, about six years ago.  That set them back but they are doing better now.

Installing Drip Irrigation For Raised Beds And Container Planter. 5.12.2022

 Today I completed the drip irrigation installation for the new container planter.  Since there are ten nearly round, 25 gallon containers, I made round loops from 1/4 inch tubing which had four emitters.  The ones for the potatoes had 7 emitters, because they will need to soak more deeply.

I might add a length with another emitter or two depending on my observations but this seems good so far.

For the tomato (Johnson Dwarf Cherry), I also covered with kraft paper to reduce fungal disease risk.  The paper covers the emitters.

The drips work nicely.  Over about an hour, the contents of the containers are fully watered.

Then I checked the soaker hoses for the garlic bed.  They worked fine, so I put them under the kraft paper mulch.  I can't believe how big the garlic plants have grown.  The variety is "Music", and I grow them from the biggest bulbs from the previous year's crop.  

Then I checked the soaker hoses for the onion bed.  They work fine.  I cultivated between rows and intend to lay a kraft paper mulch soon.

So that's drip irrigation installed for three of the six raised beds, and the main lines in for the remaining three.  Almost ready for summer.

Edit:  Here is what the drip irrigation system looks like for the container planter.

Lilacs. 5.9.22

 Despite losing some lilac  blossom clusters to late frost, there is a nice show.

First Tree Peony. 5.9.22

 This is the first tree peony of the year.  I don't know the variety name. 

Figs Update. 5.9.22.

 Here are the figs on the "Brunswick" fig tree.  It looks promising.  

This tree likes to make a lot of promising looking baby figs, then most if not all of them fall off before they ripen.   However, when they do ripen, they are the biggest, sweetest fig that grow.

Edit:  Most of the other fig trees are at a similar stage now.

Potatoes' Progress. 5.9.22

With so much rain and not-bone-chilling weather (not warm, just cool and perfect for potato plants), the potato plants are growing like gangbusters.

The first rows, sprouted grocery spuds, needed to have their trenches filled in.  I'm behind on that due to back problems, but getting better.  I tried to be ergonomic, not put my back into it, and fill in the major parts where the plants were largest.  Those were planted Feb 13.  I think.  So this is three months of growing, but the first part of that quite cold.

The ones I bought as official seed potatoes in March, and planted March 12, are growing equally well.  I had dug trenches about a foot  deep, piling the soil between the rows.  Now I'm filling those embankments back into the trenches around the potato plants.  Between my physical limitations and the rains, weeds grew like weeds (LOL).  Most of those get sort of incidentally removed as I relocate the soil back into the trenches around the potato plants.  It's not "Martha Stewart" classy, but then I'm more Betty Crocker than Martha Stewart, anyway.  Or Fred Flintstone, who is much younger than me.

Then I fed these plants with some soluble tomato fertilizer.  I prefer organic but we cant always be perfect about these things.  Potatoes are heavy feeders when young, and we want them to grow strong and produce generously.

Meanwhile, almost all of the other potato starts are emerging from the ground.  The most recent rows, from mid April, show new plants here and there.

Here are the first red potatoes (sprouted grocery spuds) that I planted in the big container planter on April 6.   So in less than a month, we have robust, healthy looking plants.  I had mixed organic tomato fertilizer with the soil, per label instructions.  They are not ready to fill in soil around the plants yet.  Soon.

Here are the Envol, super early variety from Fedco in Maine, which I planted roughly April 10, same method.

Things can change, but so far it looks like it will be a good potato year.  With higher food prices, that seems like a good thing.

Meditation Garden. 5.9.22

 Here are some photos of the meditation garden, also called the deer park garden because deer cone through here.  zit's sort of the blue season there, mostly Camassia and a few Hiacinthoides.

In addition to the fig trees that were already there, off the top of my head here are some of the established plants that I moved there over the past few months -

About a dozen big Camassia clumps.

Several clumps of Hyacinthoides

2 clumps of Crocosmia "Lucifer"

Several divisions of Horseradish.

4 divisions of rhubarb.

A half dozen large rosemary plants, but I think only 2 or 3 are surviving.

About a dozen sage plants.

About a dozen lavender bushes

Three Itoh peonies

Three clumps of Leucojum (large snowdrops).

About 5 daylilies (Transplanted two today).

Several divisions of lamb's ears.

A big helleborus.

A dozen sedums.

About a dozen forsythias that I started, closer to the fence, eventually for more privacy.

I'm sure I've forgotten some things.

Of new perennial starts from seeds, I've planted several six packs of Rudbeckias, two six packs of Coreopsis, a six pack of Gallardia, A six pack of Ratibida, six packs of common milkweed, tropical milkweed, four O'Clocks, echinacea, carnations, and some statice (I think the statice will be annual, maybe the carnations too).   I'm sure I've forgotten some things there too.

This summer I'd like to dig up some batches of spring bulbs that are abandoned around the yard, and plant those too.

I still have some room for summer annuals, which will be zinnias, lots of  marigolds, cosmos, cleome.  I out up the beginning of a privacy trellis for Morning Glories, which I already planted and growing, and sweetpeas which are already growing.

The common themes for everything, are drought tolerance, not appetizing to deer, adapted to this climate, and something to attract lots of bees and other pollinators.  I already know the established plants that I moved fit those criteria, because they are from this yard and grow happily here already.  if deer do eat something, I wont mind and I wont add to my efforts to protect it.  As for watering, I might do some minimally to get things established, but all of the established plants already proved themselves during the past dry seasons anyway.