Seed Catalog Order

Not exactly the same as planned, but it's exciting to look ahead. I ordered from Burpee this year. I liked their user reviews of varieties, accessible right on the variety description. It looks honest - varieties that are labeled as user favorites, and featured prominently, are not necessarily the ones that won the reviews. For example, most thought that Tomato variety "Red Lightening" was tough-skinned and not flavorful. Much less expensive, and much older variety, "Supersweet 100" had a much higher rating for flavor, but complaints about splitting - exactly my experience. "Brandy Boy" was panned by many who grew it - so I changed my mind and went to old reliable "Better Boy", which has that old growing-up-in-the-midwest flavor, is reliable, disease resistant, and bears many big juicy tomatoes. I also added Black Truffle hybrid due to rave reviews, but kept Northen Exposure and 4th of July despite so-so reviews, as an experiment due to early bearing properties and reported tolerance to cold.

Photo Thumbnails from Burpee.com (note - they aren't paying me anything at all to post, or giving me any special deal or product - this is just my garden log. But I hope it's OK to include them in this discussion. Full sized photos can be seen at the Burpee website)

55103A Bush Bean Roma II 53 days - 1 Pkt. (2 oz.) 1 $2.95




83139 Burpee Booster for Beans and Peas - 1-3oz. Pkg (40' row) 1 $8.25

53512A Snap Pea Super Sugar Snap V.P. 64 days - 1 Pkt. (200 seeds) 1 $3.95

52936A Tomato Fourth of July Hybrid 49 days - 1 Pkt. (40 seeds) 1 $3.95




56663A Tomato Northern Exposure Hybrid 67 days - 1 Pkt. (30 Seeds) 1 $3.95

56812A Tomato Cherokee Purple (Heirloom) 85 days - 1 Pkt. (50 seeds) 1 $3.95

52027A Tomato Super Sweet 100 Hybrid (Cherry) 70 days - 1 Pkt. (30 seeds) 1 $2.95

67265A Tomato Black Truffle Hybrid 75 days - 1 packet (30 seeds) 1 $3.95




50724A Tomato Better Boy Hybrid 72 days - 1 Pkt. (30 seeds) 1 $3.95

62120A Tomato Black Pearl Hybrid 65 days - Packet (30 seeds) 1 $5.25

65005A Bush Bean Eureka 55 days - Packet (2 oz.) 1 $3.95




54460A Eggplant Millionaire Hybrid 55 days - 1 Pkt. (30 seeds) 1 $2.95




65025A Eggplant Fairy Tale 50 days - Packet (30 seeds) 1 $5.25

54148A Hot Pepper Big Red Hybrid 70 days - 1 Pkt. (30 seeds) 1 $3.95

63770A Pepper Red Popper 55 days - Packet (40 seeds) 1 $4.75

56020A Costa Rican Sweet Pepper 70 days - Packet (40 seeds) 1 $4.75




57109A Zucchini Sweet Zuke Hybrid 48 days - 1 Pkt. (25 seeds) 1 $3.95




53231A Zucchini Butterstick Hybrid 50 days - 1 Pkt. (25 seeds) 1 $2.95




62810A Cucumber Palace King Hybrid (Oriental) 62 days - 1 Pkt. (30 seeds) 1 $4.95




62802A Cucumber Early Pride Hybrid (Slicing) 55 days - 1 Pkt. (30 seeds) 1 $2.95

91056 Seedling Heat Mats - 1 Mat - 10in.X20-3/4in. 1 $36.75

This seems like a lot of expense, but I take the following into account:
1. It's a hobby.
2. Given the evaluations, and my past experience, I'm confident that most of these are high-potential varieties in my yard. I chose for early yield, reported disease resistance, and either my personal experience of reliability or multiple reviews. With storebought, it's more difficult to do this.
3. For tomatoes, varieties that turn out well - and a few are already proven performers - this is a 3 or 4-year supply of seeds. Some are admittedly experiments - 4th of July due to reported very early yield, Northern Exposure for reported good bearing in cool short summers. I usually experiment with a couple of new types - I love the black varieties, so will try Black Truffle. Cherokee Purple has always done well for me, as have Better Boy, Supersweet 100, and Lemon Boy. I'll see if my old Lemon Boy seeds sprout, if not see if some are locally available, since Burpee doesn't carry them. They should do fine, they are only 1 year old seeds.
4. For the beans, this will be enough for about 20 meals for two. Plus, when the plants quit bearing, they are fed to the chickens and become eggs. Both the Romas and the yellow beans are excellent, better than anything from the store.
5. For the zucchinis and cucumbers, two plants of each variety will be enough for many meals and snacks, plus some to give away, plus some for the chickens.
6. The pepper seeds may also last 4 years or more. I'm not sure about what to expect, but experience tells me they last longer than that.
7. The eggplants are listed as early bearing varieties. In fact, among the earliest. That's needed here, because they start late and bear late.

The seed mat is part of my master plan for peppers, especially, but also tomatoes and some of the others. Warmer start means faster start, and maybe even more seeds will sprout. It should last a long time. One year I used a heating pad - it seemed to help, but not recommended, they are not made for that.

Cool Orchids

Cool terrestrial orchids. I enjoy looking at the photos, even if I haven't bought them.

In addition to (or because of) being very cool, they're also expensive. I can't justify the price. I suspect it's OK with the company if I show their product (note - no connection between me and the company. I haven't even bought their product - yet) -

White Flower Farm orchids

Cypripedium reginae

Cypripedium parviflorum pubescens. "
evenly moist, humus-rich soil with a slightly acid to neutral pH and dappled shade."

Then there are Bletilla, which are East Asian ground orchids but not lady slippers.
Bletilla ochracea Chinese Butterfly


Bletilla striata Kuchibeni. This one is more in my price range. I don't know if these will thrive in the Pacific Northwest dry-summer climate. The Cypripedium, either, for that matter.





They also carry a burgundy Paphiopedilium hybrid. However, I already have one. The instructions note "Lady's Slipper Orchids thrive in bright but indirect light. An east-facing window is ideal, but plants can also grow well in a south- or west-facing window if shaded somewhat by neighboring plants or a sheer curtain. If the leaves begin to bleach to a pale green or yellow green color, then your plant is receiving too much light. Lady's Slippers need warm temperatures (70-80°F) during the day and cool temperatures (60-65°F) at night to set their flower buds. They also prefer a high relative humidity -- upwards of 50%." Since my little plant has pale leaves, it may have had too much light, but now it's in a shaded W. window, and during the winter in Pacific NW I don't think that excessive light is an issue.

The Cypripedium really is out of my range. Maybe if I won the lotto. I keep thinking about the lower priced Bletilla.... It's the only way I'll ever see one in person. I'll think about it for a while. There is one spot that might work, with shade from large old Cherry tree, privacy fence on west, and chicken house on south. Exposure is East, and this is the spot were I moved most of the hostas. If it is kept from drying out too much in the midsummer, it might work.


Wikipedia on Cypripedium: "As with most terrestrial orchids, the rhizome is short and robust, growing in the uppermost soil layer. The rhizome grows annually with a growth bud at one end and dies off at the other end. The stem grows from the bud at the tip of the rhizome. Most slipper orchids have an elongate erect stem, with leaves growing along its length." (Illustration from Wikipedia, Cypripedium acaule)

Here's another site I ran across. The prices are getting more tempting. I can't vouch for the source.

New Year's Day Rose Pruning

This is considered the "wrong time" to prune roses. However, I see it done now, and earlier, around my neighborhood and their's do fine. The theory is that early pruning stimulates early, frost sensitive growth. That tender growth uses the plant's stored sugars, and when the new grow freezes and dies, there's nothing left for replacement growth.

Maybe my neighbors created a Darwinian evolution, with the easily killed varieties now dead, and the varieties that tolerate midwinter pruning thriving. Whatever the case, waiting longer means more work in the Spring, so I also pruned one of our two rose beds. Most of these are David Austin, own-root varieties. A few are rustled (home cuttings from a bouquet or rogue bush in the treeway), also own-root. A couple are grafted tea or florabundas.

Difficult to see them in the jumble. Heights from 3 to 6 feet tall.

Some modern authors recommend just cutting back a little, with shears, and not being too specific with what is cut. I suspect they haven't tried this method organically. I try to remove all dead and diseased canes, and all crossing or misdirected canes, and generally thin a little. I also cut them back more. My theory is that I'm removing more disease potential, and since I grow organically I don't use any toxic sprays. There may be fewer or less humongous blossoms, but there are plenty and I like them as they are.

After, most are now 1 foot tall. A few grocery-store miniatures, that I felt sorry for and planted about 5 years ago, I pruned almost to the ground. Tamora, a rank-growing David Austin variety, I basically pruned to 2 feet and didn't thin much. Too difficult now and I was wearing out. Scepter'ed Isle, another own-root David Austin variety, had grown to 6 ft tall. I pruned it back to about 2 feet, it was just way too tall.

Dendrobium orchid, and a book review

This week I saw this one at Trader Joes. I'm much pickier now, since I seem to have at least one of each of the readily available, home-grower-friendly genus / intergeneric hybrids. If subsequent seasons result in a mini-Cattleya, laeliocattleya, or similar small home-friendly variety; or a miniCymbidium, I might add those. But the current collection is enough to see if they will actually grow and rebloom in my home setting.

Authors differ on whether to repot new orchids on purchase. I did, moving this plant into a ceramic orchid pot with many holes in the sides. Maybe should have sought a bigger one, this had a small amount of extra room but not much. By planting in an orchid pot, I think I'm less likely to cause rot diseases by overwatering.

I've been using a standard Ortho orchid food at recommended strength, about half of the time when I water. The package recommends using every time, but it seems excessive in winter. I also used a standard orchid bark-based mix for the repotting.

For some reason, I like the cane-type pseudobulb varieties (Dendrobium group) and pseudobulb varieties (Oncidium) more than the rosette and other monopodals. I don't know why I prefer these. Plus, Paphiopedilum are rosette-type, and I like them. No accounting for my own taste, I just like them more. The cane-type have an almost bamboo-like appearance.

Book Review.
I bought a book at Safeway, "Easy Orchids" by Mimi Luebbermann. It's a nice little book, lots of pictures (which is why I bought it), and discusses briefly numerous of the easy-to-grow types. A fun book to read and keep for later browsing.

Traditional New Years Day Grape Pruning

Each year, I prune grapevines on New Year's Day. It's a good way to remember to do it. Plus, I don't have to remember "It seemed to work last year, but when did I do it?". Despite aches and pains, I pruned. Carefully.

Observations this year: There are a lot more dead canes and spurs than I've seen before. Must be the record cold in November - down to 12 degrees, several days. Venus appears the most susceptable, but all varieties had some dieback.

For the most part, I kept to the spur method, leaving new stems with 2 buds past the initial growth. Last year there were too many grapes, so I thinned some spurs to 1 to 2 new stems. In addition, I removed some larger branches from Canadice, which I don't like as much, and left a new cane from Venus, which I like better, to fill in. I also left 2 replacement canes on Interlaken, which I like a lot; same for Price - my favorite of all. On Price, I may have left too many spurs, but it started raining. Plus, Price clusters are smaller, so more spurs may be a good idea.

The larger grape arbor, before pruning. Canadice on left, Interlaken on right, and Venus on left, in back.

Grape arbor after pruning. Some of the canes were twice my height, so 12 feet of growth. Without major pruning, they would quickly get out of hand.

Price grape, before pruning.

Price grape, after pruning. I left a couple of canes as well, in case too many spurs died.