Blooming. 5.24.22

 Horseradish

Some Irises

Weigela

Starting Annual Flowers and Pickle Cukes. 5.23.22

 I set up containers flower seeds - French marigolds (my saved seeds), African marigolds, Thunbergera, Cosmos, Cleome.  This year I was going to grow flowers even if it kills me LOL.  

I also planted bush cucumbers seeds, for pickles.  Next, to plant nasturtiums and zinnias directly.

Today's Gardening. 5.23.22

 I had a long task list, got through a fair amount.

Filling in growing soil for the first container potatoes, and almost filled in for the second ones.

One of the containers was filled with a commercial soil that I just wanted to use for the first potatoes container.  I finished emptying it out.  I didn't refill it yet with the looser soil that I want to use for its next occupant, which will be a pair of Serrano pepper plants.

I finished planting peppers in the pepper raised bed.  Three Early Jalapeños, two Banana peppers, three Thai Dragon peppers and a Cayenne.  I still have Serranos, some Jalmundos (a giant Jalapeño type), and a Tabasco to plant, and some to give away.  The drip lines are installed and 1/2 of the paper mulch.

I also transplanted a half dozen Rudbeckias, planted the three Rosemary cuttings that have grown roots, and did some work on the squash bed.  Enough for one day.

A Loaf of Sandwich Bread. 5.23.22

 I used the mixer to make a batch of pizza dough.  That's just flour, water, yeast, a little salt.  I kneaded it together, let it rise.  Now it needs to age a little in the fridge, up to a week, maybe two.

Then I made a loaf of sandwich bread.  I used a recipe on the King Alfred flour website. This bread has potato flour and milk powder as dough conditioners, and some butter.

I made a mistake and cut the butter back by 1/3 without adding liquid to replace the difference.

The dough was a bit dry.  I realized my mistake and kneaded in a little more water.  It was a bit lumpy before rising.

I realize that dough hooks have been around for a generation of two, but I have always kneaded by hand.  I like being part of the process, and feeling the dough texture with my hands.  That is becoming more difficult, and it's more messy that kneading in a bowl, so the mixer is worth a try.  Cleanup is also easier.

Since the surface was a little lumpy so I kneaded a few times by hand.  Let it rise until very puffy, punch down, made into loaf and let it rise again.  I cut some slices across the top.

It came out really nice.

The bread is maybe a little crumbly inside.  Maybe I over-kneaded.  The flavor was excellent and it was  very tender.

More Forsythia Cuttings. 5.23.22

 A few months ago I forced some forsythia flowers, and kept them to see if they would grow roots.  All I did was shorten the lower end when growth started at leaf nodes, to get some of those new nodes under water.

These are a modern, shorter variety with larger flowers.   I don't know the name.  Rooting ranged from lots of big roots to none.  It's easy to see that new roots often emerge at the nodes, often where there is new stem growth at those nodes.

These are an old historic variety, which is what I'm using for the hedge.

I really didn't try.  I just filled the water jars when the level was low.  The goal is to have the plants close together in the hedge.  I think these will grow, with a little extra watering for the next month.  Eventually, I want it to be a privacy hedge.

Making a Small Water Feature. 5.21.21

 I've been wanting a small water feature to give a calming  atmosphere in my garden.  I haven't found what I wanted, so I'm making one from a ceramic planter.

The inside is unsealed clay, and it has two large holes that need to be sealed.  I'm using self adhesive rubber patches, and liquid rubber sealant.

The  I sprayed with white rubber sealant.

I messed up an area, so will get some more rubber sealant spray and repeat.  I think this will work.  I ordered a floating, solar powered mini fountain, and it will stand on a bird bath pedestal that is missing its bird bath.

Today's Gardening. 5.21.22

Today I installed and tested the drip irrigation system for the sauce tomatoes. They will also need a  support system - my idea is to make a horizontal trellis, using bamboo.  Then they should be almost no maintenance until harvest in Aug or Sept.

Here is Rufus inspecting the fresh eating tomato plants.  I ran the irrigation for an hour.  With the warmer weather, the leaves are greening up as I hoped.  Several have blossoms.

A couple of the irrigation fittings have popped off with the water pressure.  I used a zip tie and zip tie gun to tighten the  better.  Time will tell.  These valves may not be meant for this hose but they were a lot cheaper than the brand name valves.

I laid black plastic for one of the squash beds.  It's about 3/4 done now.  I have last year's experience to tell me that they grow and produce amazingly well with a black plastic mulch, and weeding problems drop to almost zero.  These will also get drip irrigation this year.  I ordered some more tubing for that.

I also installed a cedar trellis for the Honeynut butternut squashes.  I haven't grown them before.  Here is its Wikipedia page.  I also haven't grown squashes on a trellis.  

I suppose, if the squashes look too heavy for  the vine, I can make little hammocks for them.

Lemon Sugar Cookies. 5.21.22

 Today I made a batch of the usual peanut butter cookies.  Then I made a batch of Lemon Sugar Cookies.  The recipe was on the back of a flour package, Bob's Red Mill, and can be found here.  I don't know if it is copyrighted so I linked.

Here is how they came out.

These have a flavor and texture similar to Madelines.   I like them better than the Madelines that I made.  The contain zest from an entire lemon, plus 2 tbsp of the juice.  The recipe stated it made two dozen.  I though it would make more, but it was exactly two dozen.  Very tasty, lemony cookies.

I wonder if the same recipe could be used, but substitute a Mandarin orange or Tangerine for the lemon juice.  It would need to be as acidic for them to rise so nicely.

Mounding Up Container Potato Plants. 5.20.22

 Today I mounded up the grocery Red potato plants, and less so for the container Envol potato plants.

Planting Sauce Tomatoes. 5.20.22

 I was anxious to get the sauce tomato plants planted.  Today I cleaned up the raised bed for them, planted them, and applied kraft paper mulch.

I think next year I'll grow about half as many.  This year is an experiment to see which varieties do better, and whether the home-saved Roma VF seeds give a good crop.  I get the drip irrigation installed next.

Today I Completed the Batik Quilt. 5.19.22

Today I trimmed off the excess batting and backing, sewed together the binding and sewed on the binding.  After washing, here is the quilt.  It's about seven feet by seven feet, good for a queen size bed.

I think I started this quilt March 2021.  I wanted to try a disappearing nine patch for some time, so here it is.  It's  change in style from the more traditional quilts I've made, and much more colorful.

Quilt is Almost Done. Batik Disappearing Nine Patch. 5.17.2022

No garden today.  I had to be around for contractors and fuss over sick Rufus.  He seems to be improving.

I used the indoor time to finish the quilting for the batik disappearing nine patch quilt,

This is a description of how a disappearing nine patch works.

Here is the actual traditional nine patch quilt that I finished earlier this year.

Back to the current project, I opted for the modern quilting concept of sewing parallel lines.  

I think parallel lines are a good choice for this modern, geometric quilt with colorful fabrics.  It can be tedious, sewing lines repeatedly.  I used painters' tape to help me keep the lines mostly straight.

I finished all of the quilting.  

Now I need to trim off the excess batting and backing, nice and even with the quilt top, then sew on the binding which makes a nice border and edge for the quilt.  I chose plain black cotton fabric, which I think will make kind of an elegant binding.

I did not prewash the fabric.  When it is washed, I hope the washing and drying will give it a kind of crinkly quilted look.  Sometimes it works.

Chocolate Chip Cookies. 5.25.22

I made Betty's (Betty Crocker) Chocolate Chip cookies today.  We had pecans so I used those instead of walnuts.  The chips were something like 65% cacao.

Actually, I did like the last batch where I used chopped peanuts instead of walnuts.  They are all good.

My oven needs two or three minute more than the recipes state.

The bag of flour had  recipe for lemon cookies.  Maybe those are next.

Extremely Pruned Hardy Chicago Fig Tree Alive. 5.15.22

 This is the Hardy Chicago fig tree that I gave a major workover in mid March.  The final result looked like this:

I wondered if I killed it.  Now most, or all, of the branches have big swelling buds.

Harder to see, below.  But they are there too.

Give it a few weeks.  Fig trees are very resilient.  Assuming these branches continue growing, they should be tipped at about a foot, and then at another foot.  This variety bears on new growth, so maybe...

Planting More Squash Seedlings. 5.15.22

 I planted more squash seedlings in their final locations.

This is a Galeux d'Eysines.  The roots quickly start winding around.  Squash seedlings roots are delicate, so you want to get them planted ASAP.

Fortunately they are very early in their winding around, so it just took slight untangling to point the roots outward.

Now planted outside:  All three Galeux, both Costata Romanesca, and one Fordhook zucchini.  Here is a Costata:

I will need to set up deer protection for the ones outside the fenced garden.

I also gave away a zucchini plant "Sure Thing", a summer squash plant "Saffron", and two Red Kuri squash seedlings.  Now remaining for me to plant are three seedlings of Burgess Buttercup, three of Uncle Dave's Dakota Dessert Squash, one Saffron summer squash, and two or three Honeynut.  Not sure where I'll plant them, but if Honeynut has small squashes, it might be a candidate for a trellis.

Planting Squash Seedlings. 5.14.22

 So far, the squash seeds that are growing are, Costata Romanesca, Fordhook Zucchini, Galeux d'Eysines Pumpkin, Uncle Dave's Dakota Dessert (Buttercup type), Red Kuri, Burgess Buttercup.   I think there are signs of life with the Honeynut, Saffron, and Sure Thing Zucchini.  Two will be given away, and I need to plan where to plant the others so I don't confuse myself.

I decided the two buttercup types will replace the massive Pink Banana and Illinois Squashes this year.

I may plant the smaller bearing Honeynut Squash against a trellis, for space conservation.

Squashes grow fast.  I need to get them into the ground within a week.  Here is the first of the Galeux d'Eysines, which was all I could plant before rains resumed.

Irrigation for Tomatoes,1 gal/hr Emitters. 5.14.22

 I set up the irrigation system for the fresh tomato raised bed.  First, I arranged the lines on top of the kraft paper mulch, so I can see if they work.  The 1/4 inch lines are re-used from last year.  I used new emitters because of concern they could clog from a season build-up of minerals.  Plus, some broke when I took apart the lines to build the beds.

Here is a video showing the flow.

Thinking about how much to use.  When I use the watering can, one full can is two gallons.  I use roughly one full can for four plants, at a time.  Depends on how hot and how big they are.  That's about 1/2 gal per plant.  That would mean let the system run for 30 minutes for a similar amount.  The paper mulch will reduce evaporation and soil drying, so I may get away with watering less often.  I can always check soil moisture.

After the test run, I shifted the emitters to be under the paper.  Now the irrigation system is completed for this bed.

I still need to add paper mulch for the onion bed, then plant sauce tomatoes and install emitters and mulch for that bed.  In a couple more weeks, I'll do the same for the chili pepper bed.  Also, I'll install a branch for squashes which will be in ground.  Last year I watered them by hand, which was a major effort.

It seems like a lot, but the advantages are significant.  First, with about 20 tomato plants, at least 1/2 gallon per session, that's about 5 trips with the full watering can per day or every other day.  I think it's actually more.  For the onions and garlic, or beans when those are done, it's another approx 4 trips per bed, and 4 more for the large planter box.  So that's roughly 25 watering can trips per watering session.  Or the hose, which is a lot of difficult lugging the hose around and standing out in the heat (or smoke, if we get a bad fire season.  Hope not.).   It's also a major water savings over using a sprinkler system.

Potato Bread. 5.12.2022

Today I made bread using a mixer with dough hooks, for the first time.  Part of my drive down the nostalgia highway.  I used the recipe in the old Mixmaster cookbook.  The recipe was for potato bread - Mashed potatoes, water, egg, flour, a little sugar, a little salt.  The mashed potatoes were made with potato flakes, water, milk, butter.

It was very nice using the mixer to knead the dough.   I mistakenly left out the egg and sugar until after kneading, so added them and kneaded a bit longer, adding a little more flour.  Not as easy as if I included them before kneading but the loaf still came out great.

The loaf was delicious!  It had a great rich flavor, nice crust, slightly chewy texture.  Nice old fashioned home made bread.  

I never wanted to use dough hooks - sort of takes the baker a bit away from the dough.  But, I thought the process was kind of empowering.  Kneading by hand is too much work now.  Cleanup was easier too.

I could easily see going another step further, and making the mashed potatoes from home grown spuds from the June harvest.

Making Garden Mineral Supplement Using Chicken Bone & Wood Ash. 5.12.22

 In addition to eggshells, I make garden mineral supplement using wood ash and chicken bone.  I am vegetarian, and all of the bones come from the dog food I make for Rufus, which uses chicken thighs.   My calculations from the few articles that I could find about chicken bone ash, is that Calcium content is about 68% and phosphorus content is about 29%.  Wood ash is more complicated, varies by tree species and probably where it is grown.  From Wikipedia, calcium content can vary from 25% to 45%, less than 10% potassium, and less than 1%phosphorus, with the rest being trace minerals.  

By my tests, my garden soil is deficient in calcium, phosphorus, and potassium.  So I supplement.  Growing crops removes a lot of those elements, which go into the plants and the food products.

I dry the chicken bones same same as I do eggshells.  They are already slow cooked overnight in the process of cooking for Rufus' meals.  I haven't been using the woodstove much, but today was chilly so I made a fire and added a big batch of bones.

After the fire burns out and cools, I collect the ashes and spread on the garden soil.  It's a dusting, not a thick layer. I prefer doing that before planting anything in that area and letting it mellow a week or more.  In the past I tried just burying the bones, but sometimes they don't break down and I find them when  cultivating.  Burnt bones are mostly fine ash, and the ones that are recognizable are brittle and crunchy like potato chips, and disappear when cultivating.

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.