Test of Potting Soil / Up-Potting Some Carnations. 3.21.22

Here are the little pepper plants that I up-potted into that Miracle-Gro branded potting soil about two weeks ago. They haven't grown at all and are starting to die off. This never happened to me before this round of starting plants. I used new, unused container and had sterilized my tools, so I feel certain the issue is the potting soil. Disappointing, after caring for these plants from planting seeds until now.

I bought a different brand, labeled "organic", via Amazon. Kind of pricy but I am not ready to go to the stores quite yet. As a test, I up-potted the next six-pack of carnations into some of the new potting mix. Since the past bunch of carnations all died within one or two weeks after up-potting into the MG mix, that seems like a good test for this one. I'm using fresh, never before used containers this time and everything else hase been cleaned and sterilized. Seedlings on the same rack but not up-potted are growing fine. I hope they take off and grow in their new medium and don't just sit there and gradually die.

What I noticed about the MG potting soul was that it has a LOT of fairly sizable chunks of fibrous plant material, like chopped straw or shredded tree chips. Maybe that contains fusarium or verticellium or other pathological fungus. Under the guise of "compost", there could be yard waste or other compost like is made locally at the recycling center, or animal manures. All of that could contain plant disease or herbicide residues. There is no transparency so we really don't know. I'm not trying to dis the MG products. I've used their products manyntimes before and likely will again. But if the replanted carnations grow, then the only think I have left is that the MG potting mix was really bad somehow. The new "Organic" mix also contains similar fibrous stuff. It must be a trend.

Statice Status. Seedlings. 3.21.22

 Statice seedlings are growing their first sets of true leaves.  So far, so good.

Depending on how fast the seedlings grow, I might skip the up-potting stage and plant them directly outside in May.  Also, I might put half in the deer park and half in the new big planter box.   Then I can test for deer resistance and have some on reserve if Bambi takes to eating Statice salad LOL.

Transplanting Itoh Peonies and Camassia Clumps. 3.20.22

It may not be the best timing, but it's what I have. These needed either moving, or just forget about them. This Itoh peony is about three years old. Huge root mass now. I tried not to break many roots, but a few did break. I cut them so the cut would be smooth.

I gave these a bit of granular organic vegetable fertilizer when I replanted them. 

The camassias looked like this one. In a few, I accidentally shoveled through a bulb or two.

After planting, the peony looks like this.

My helper helped a lot.

Peach Blossoms. 3.18.22

The genetic dwarf peaches are blooming profusely. I think this one is "Garden Gold".

The other genetic dwarf (eldorado) is much smaller but is also blooming. The full size but (I hope) peach leaf curl resistant tree, Nainamo, is blooming for the first time. I'm hopeful for some nice peaches this summer.

Things I Planted So Far In The Fence Border. 3.18.22

This area was a challenge. The neighbor used their entire 30 foot easement to put in ten foot wide drive, with the drive going all the way to the internal edge (my side) of the easement. With the fence, that leaves a hell-strip that is too difficult to mow, and which could potentially get overspray if they (illegally) spray chemicals. In the long run, I might add more plastic outside the fence to reach the edge of the gravel drive, so there is nothing left for them to spray. I need a border that won't be too much work in the long run, is deer resistant, doesn't need watering, hopefully ever, and doesn't need hand mowing. I propagated forsythia to grow a privacy hedge. That will need a few years to fill in and grow tall enough. Plus I need to propagate a dozen more for the rest of the hedge. Here are some of the first ones, that I planted last year. They are nice in bloom, and should fill in to give some privacy in a few years.

I moved tall herbs from an area that Ning is converting from a pollinator meadow to grow chicken food grains. I don't know if they'll survive but some look OK, such as this rosemary bush.

In addion to the rosemary bushes, I moved a half dozen lavender plants and a dozen sage plants. They were scraggly with a lot of dead wood, so I pruned them back, cleaned them up, and replanted them. The lavender alternates in the hedge with the rosemary. I planted the sage in a circle around this pre-existing fig tree, which I already had in this location.

Inside the circle of sage, I scattered poppy seeds. Most were Shirley poppy seeds I saved in 2020, but some were an old (2018) packet of oriental poppy seeds, and some were a new packet of red flowered California poppies. It will be interesting to see if they grow. I have also been moving Spring flowering bulbs and other perennials further into my yard away from the hell-strip - Hyacynthoides (Spanish Bluebells), An Itoh peony, multiple big clumps of Camassia, some Snowdrops, Rhubarb, Horse Radish, Lambs ears. Most of that work is done. Then what will remain is the wildflower perennials I've started, and annual flowers.

Above, are one of the rhubarb divisions, a horse radish division, and a snowdrop that I transplanted in bloom. I'm apprehensive about what the neighbor will do, spray or mow or whatever, on the drive side of the fence (which is still my property but they were mowing there last year). I am trying to avoid a dispute, so I'm doing the best I can to make the best of a bad situation. It should be a very fragrant border, with lots of very bee friendly flowers this summer and beyond.

Fig buds swelling. 3.28.22.

Fig buds are just beginning to swell. Most of the early Spring fig pruning is done now. I hope there are somecgoid figs this year, for fresh eating and sharing. Maybe even canning, now that I'm the canning demon LOL.

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.