Puttering. 3.18.22

Today I just puttered. I moved several clumps of bulbs from the woods edge to the hellstrip. The woods edge is becoming too dense for those,and they are nice flowers. I moved several clumps of Camassia, some Hyacinthoides, snowdrops. an Itoh peony, and some lambs ears. They don't look like much now so I'll just post a bigger image from the blog title.

I'd rather move all of those when they are dormant. However, now is the time when I can, so I did.

More Spring Flowers. 3.18.22

Some of these might be updates. Most of the plums are in full bloom now. I didn't plant many daffodils last year so these are from several years ago.

Overwintered Garlic Update. Growing Like Crazy. 3.15.22

"Musik" Hardneck garlic has been my go-to variety for a number of years. It has adapted nicely to my growing conditions, producing strongly flavored, really jumbo size cloves, only a few per bulb, and no puny tiny cloves that are next to impossible to peel. As a hardneck garlic, it keeps about 8 months, and one full raised bed grows about an 8 month supply.

When the weather warms up, the plants will grow vertical, almost like corn stalks. Last fall I experimented and bought two bulbs of a softneck variety, to see if it will keep a bit longer. I chose an Italian variety, "Lorz" which was described as a good grower with strong flavor. Not all of the cloves grew, but most did. I've noticed that home saved starts sometimes give better growth. Lorz was also much slower to emerge. I thought they might all be dead, but during the winter, they grew and have about caught up with the other variety.

Garlic grows well in large containers or raised beds, with a compost-rich soil. Fall planted crops can be a challenge to keep weeded, because weeds can grow faster than the garlic plants, early on. When the garlic plants are larger, it becomes a lot easier.

Spring Flowers. 3.15.22

There are some Spring flowers in bloom.

Radical Pruning of a Fig Tree. 3.15.22

 Here is the Hardy Chicago fig tree I grew from a cutting about 15 years ago.   There was a lot of freeze kill this winter.  There was the previous winter too, but I never got around to pruning it off.  I was going to remove the tree, but last summer it was quite productive and these are quite delicious figs.

Such a large fruit tree becomes impossible to manage.  I decided to do a radical pruning this time.   I last did that about five years ago, but this time is radicaler.  😀

Before.

After.

Well, that's a major pruning job.  Now the branches are all easily within reach for doing maintenance chores and for picking figs.  Fig trees have an amazing capacity for regeneration.  I cut one down to a foot tall, just trunk, and it grew back like crazy.  The challenge is, will it produce fruit this year?  Maybe, maybe not.  Hardy Chicago bears on new growth, so it's possible.  There's also a trick, when new growth is 6 leaves of stem, cut off the new shoots' growing tips.  That often results in the tree producing figs at each leaf axil.  

Outdoor Vegetable Seedlings. 3.15.22

 Here are some of the outdoor vegetable seedlings.  The snap peas and snow peas are on the verge of shooting upward. I think germination was about 60%.  That's plenty.  I wonder if birds got the rest, or not viable, or slugs ate them. I don't know.  That's why I sow extra.

Spinach, radishes, and lettuce are sort of biding their time, waiting for warner days.  Carrots are not showing at all.  Neither is cilantro.

These raised beds make it SO much easier to thin the plants, cultivate, and putter.  The poles are willow.  I like having those or bamboo row markers.

Perennial / Wildflower Seedlings. 3.15.22

 Here are wildflower perennials that I started in Jan and set out a few weeks ago.  They are tiny, but doing as well or better than the ones I haven't set out yet.

Top is Echinacea.  Bottom is Coreopsis.

Rudbeckia

Tomorrow, if I'm up to it, I'd like to plant out the rest of the wildflower perennial seedlings.  I think they are less likely to dry out or become root bound if I plant them in their long term locations.

Starting More Seedlings. Puttering Outdoors. 3.13.22

 Here are the seeds I planted in six packs today.  The tomatoes are for my neighbor and friend.

It rained so I didn't do a lot outdoors today.  I did dig up some chunks from an old horseradish clump and re-plant them in the "deer park hell strip" where I've been establishing an herb and wildflower border.  I also moved a somewhat tattered Hellebore plant there.  The soil was very wet and heavy, so I stopped there.

Somewhere I read that farmers have plowed up horseradish to try to get rid of them, and all of the plowed pieces took hold and grew.  So even though my digging sliced of most of the main root, maybe these will be OK.  No photos, it was raining.

Checking On Jalapeño and Serrano Pepper Seedlings. 3.13.22

 I had debated throwing these out and starting over, but decided to give them a chance.  They were growing nicely but got some whitefly, so I sprayed them with Neem oil.  The Neem burned the leaves and tip shoots. They stopped growing.

I usually cut the tip shoot anyway to make them grow low branches.  So I cut those out, and am just giving normal seedling care.  I usually give a very dilute solution of Miracle Gro but wondered if that wasn't helping, so bought some Schultz liquid.  It easier to give as a dilute solution because it's liquid drops in a dropper bottle.  

Looking very very closely, I think these are looking like they might be about  to grow new shoots at the leaf axils.  It might be my imagination, but I think these seedlings look a bit more robust now, too.  So I'll just keep taking care of them and see how they do.

The other thing that is encouraging is they have healthy looking roots emerging through the bottom holes. They shouldn't do that if there is a problem with the potting soil.  I don't recall if I used an older bacth of soil for these.  But I think they are OK.

I have other pepper plants to up-pot soon.  These are the pioneers which will tell me if conditions are right.

Seedling Puttering. Tomatoes and Peppers. 3.13.22.

 Today I thinned the tomato seedlings to one plant per cell.

The fourth six pack is basil, which I thinned to a few plants per cell.

I also up-potted the first tabasco and Thai pepper seedlings into larger silicone six packs.  I'm not crazy about those, the silicone is too floppy.  I bought them because after using and washing them, they can be sterilized in the dishwasher.  If the six pack is kept on a tray, it might be OK.

I'm hesitant to use the potting soil.  It is Miracle Gro branded I bought on Amazon.  The last plants I up-potted in it were carnations.  They got some kind of root rot and died in a few days.  But that might be because I used plastic pots from the shed, snd didn't clean them well.  I will see how these do.  Usually, when I start peppers they look kind of puny and weak, then I up pot them and they start to grow much better.  Given the unknowns, these are kind of an experiment.

First Kitchen Garden Harvest of 2022. Egyptian Walking Onions. 3.13.22

 These were from one bulb, overwintered in the kitchen garden with no care other than weeding and a dose of plant food two weeks ago.  They are not from Egypt and they don't walk.  These are quite strong flavored but I like the idea of harvesting scallions before most things can even be planted.   Respected sources report that stronger flavored onions are better health promoters compared to the mild ones.

My great aunt, Emma Herrmann, grew these back in the 1960s.  I don't know where she got her start.  She gave me some back then, which I grew in my garden.  My batch was lost in time.  I bought the start for these from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange back 21 years ago.  They have been prospering in my kitchen garden ever since then.  I'm always trying to give away starts but most people don't want them.

The starts from topsets have barely started to grow.  The overwintered bulbs, on the other hand, are ready to eat now.

A Nice Dendrobium Orchid. 3.13.22

 I forget the name of this one.  The original was too big so I downsized it by rooting a keiki.  It's just growing in arborist tree chips since planting it last summer.

Planting Potatoes, Guernsey Lilies, Moving A Rhubarb and a Redcurrant. 3.12.22

Today I planted these potato starts that I bought a few weeks ago. They have minimal sprouting so far. I had cut the larger tubers in half, so instead of five starts per type there are eight.

For someone who gardens for nutrition, potatoes yield the highest caloric product per square foot of garden.  They are high protein, high potassium, low fat. I don't know how tree fruits or nuts fit into that equation. As someone who eats about one potato per day, two rows of potatoes will yield about two or three months worth of potatoes. Plus, chickens like them a lot, so they eat the rejects and extras. 

 I also planted the Guernsey lily in the photo. My great aunt Emma grew "Surprise Lilies" which are quite similar but I can't get them to grow here. Gurnsey Lilies take their place. 

 In one of the orchard enclosures, I had planted a Redcurrant and forgot about it. Last year it yielded enough currants to make a small batch of jam, healthy and tasty. I think they are high vitamin C.  It was planted close to the fence, and deer had taken a liking to the leaves. Today I moved it to a sunnier spot in the main kitchen garden. Space there is very precious, but this is a nice fruit that isn't found easily at the stores. 

Last year I had also divided a very nice rhubarb last year, and planted it there too. Unfortunately I kept stepping on the plant. So now I moved it to a better spot. Deer don't eat rhubarb, because they are stupid, so now it's in the deer park among lavendar, sage, rosemary, and others.

Statice Seedlings. 3.12.22

I wondered if these would be difficult to germinate. They supposedly need to be on the soil surface, with just a dusting of soil of seed starting medium. I put them on the warming mat and covered with a plastic sheet. They were showing signs of life in four days.

Some internet references state that Statice germinates in one to three weeks. Maybe the warming mat sped them up. If these grow well, I want to plant half in the "deer park" as a test of deer resistance, and half in the big vegetable planter.

Planting a Mail Order Rose. 3.11.22

I bought this "Tropical Lightning" climbing rose from a mail order catalog. It came today. Overall, it looks very good but I wonder if the pale wood on the rootstock means the bark is rubbed off. That would be bad. I planted it. Now we'll see if it survives.

Testing Flint Corn Seeds For Germination. 3.11.22

With chicken feed prices rising, I thought it might help to grow some feed corn. We'll also try growing sunflowers, millet, and sorghum to see if any of those is worthwhile. I thought about doing that in the past, both regular yellow field corn and Indian corn. We did grow Indian corn 4 years ago and I still had seeds. I had yellow field corn seeds from last year or the year before, but never planted it. The books state that sweetcorn seeds only last one year. I wondered if flint corn might last longer, since it has a much harder and thicker shell. To test these seeds, I placed six seeds of each variety into folded, wet paper towels, then into zipper plastic bags, kept them warm on the seed warming mat. Here is the result.

Here are the original packets.

Within five days, five of six seeds of each variety germinated. That's more than good enough for me to plant both packets.

Mushroom Log Hashtag. 3.11.22

Somewhere between Delta and Omicron I included an order for mushroom spawn with an early seed order. I've never grown mushrooms so it will be an experiment. I bought two types, "Chicken of the Woods" and "Shiitake". According to the instructions, the spawn can be kept in the fridge for up to a year. I had them there for about three months. Mushrooms grow from fungal filamemts that are grown in labs on wooden dowels. To make a mushroom log, drill about 5 holes into a fresh tree log, use a hammer to drive the dowels into the holes, and seal it all with paraffin. Then the log needs to be kept cool and damp for nine months to a year, while the filaments permeate the log, then it will grow mushrooms. Supposedly. According to the instructions, once the logs start bearing mushrooms, they continue producing crops for three to five years. Here is what the mushroom filament saturated dowels look like.

Here is what the logs look like after the dowels have been pounded in and holes and ends sealed with wax.

That took me about two hours. Now I just need to keep them in the dark and moist for 9 to 12 mo ths.

Comparing Dwarf and Nondwarf Tomato Seedlings. 3.10.22

I planted all of these tomato varieties at the same time. Most germinated at the same time, although Reisentraube was a day or two behind the others.

Of the varieties I planted, Non-Dwarf were Sungold, Early Girl Bush, Bush Early Boy, Honey Bee, Ukraine Purple, and Reisentraube. The Early Girl Bush and Bush Early Boy are not "Dwarf", they are determinate, which means they reach a certain size then the stems end in flower clusters. Dwarf varieties were Dwarf Johnson Cherry, Dwarf CC McGee, Dwarf BrandyFred, Dwarf Livingston Stone, Dwarf Champion Improved, New Big Dwarf, and Extreme Bush. I think Extreme Bush is both determinate and dwarf. It seems pretty apparent to me that, with one exception, all of the nondwarf seedlings show more vigor at this stage, only a couple of days after germination. Only Reisentraube is small. I wonder if it will get a growth spurt and pass the dwarf types in size soon - it may just be small because it was behind the others in germinating. In the photographs, a couple that are labeled dwarf seem to have larger seedlings too, but those are the nondwarf varieties in the cells behind them.

Cedar Planter Box Is Built. 3.10.22

That went pretty fast. I did spend the day working on it. Here is the completed planter box.

Inside the box, I'll have ten extra large "Grow Bags".

My original thought was to just have the "Grow Bags" sitting out without support. Then I thought about it, and they look kind of junky. Plus I was concerned they might get floppy, so I wanted them contained. Then I had the pallets to get rid of - the cement blocks for the earlier beds were delivered on them. So I sat the bags on those, which wasn't any better but I liked raising the bags higher. So I built the planter to hold the bags. Each bag will hold about the same number of plants as a 4 foot row in a 4 x 8 foot raised bed. Maybe a little less since I space most rows a foot apart so 8 rows per bed, whereas this is ten "Grow Bags" in a similar space. If I can, I'll build platform about four to six inches higher, to bring the bags up nearer to the edge of the sides. I think I'll scrub the wood and stain it, this summer. The wood is very nice. Here is a cut through one of the boards.

Progress on Weathered Cedar Planter Box. 3.9.22

Here is the planter box so far. It's turning out pretty much exactly what I envisioned.

There is still a lot more to be done. I can see what it will be like now, which is nice. This location was sort of wasted, growing things at ground level here was challenging because of the cramped space. Being much higher will make it easier. I still need to do the remaining three sides. I may stain this planter box in the summer when it's dry. Something that looks like cedar or redwood and not too expensive. The reason is to preserve the wood longer. Or I may leave it as weathered cedar, which is a lot of things around here. The frame is pressure treated. None of that will come into contact with plants. Not on title- I planted seeds today, the sunroom got too hot (86F) but I think it's all OK. When that happens,he seed mat gets up to almost 100. I'm not going to use the sunroom for seed germination after this. A hard freeze is expected tonight. I covered the snow peas and snap peas but not anything else. I cut down two 50-foot cascara trees. They were leaning more and more. When that happens, fhey usually fall over. I thought it would be safer to take them out now. I will cut logs later. i set aside two logs to use for growing mushrooms. More on that tomorrow.rm

Tomato and Herb Seedlings Emerging. 3.8.22

It's three days now. So far, about half of the tomato varieties emerged overnight. The oregano and thyme seedlings are up. I need to be more careful to plant them more thinly. They are like dust, so tiny, but they grow fast. Basil seeds have germinated. Ratibida seedlings are up. I see signs of life in the carnation and chive six-packs too.

Off from this topic heading, yesterday I completed one long side of the container raised bed made from weathered cedar planks. It's a lot of work but coming along OK. I'd say it's about 1/3 completed. Thursday's weather prediction is for freeze down to 26F. It will be interesting to see if that affects the snap pea and other seedlings.

The First Snap Pea Seedlings Have Emerged. 3.6.22

These are snap peas I planted Feb 10, so it's nearly a month. The ground is cold and there has been snow and freeziing so they are much slower. Still it's encouraging to see a few emerge. Will more follow? Time will tell.

Planting Some Wildflower Perennial Seedlings Outside. 3.6.22

These are still small, so they need protecting. Still, getting them into the soil frees up room on my plant stand for tomato seedlings or whatever, and they are less likely to get neglected and dry out because I moved them to a less intense spot. These were outside during a recent freeze. The six-packs froze solid, but on thawing out, the plants were unfazed. Also the Rudbeckia that I planted in a raised bed a week or so ago endured fhw same freeze, amd actually look a bit more vigorous than the ones that are still in their six packs. Some Coreposis and Echinacea seedlings. I also stuck a lone Gallardia into a spot into the raised bed.

These are small, so they need protection similar tomthe onion seedlings. It's nice to have them in the ground. If I'm up to it, more will follow tomorrow.