Garden Log 2/18/2010

Amazingly warm February. Taking advantage of it, but always with the knowledge that this is way too early and we may yet get freezes and frosts, even severe ones.

The half barrels seem like a great idea. The radishes and mesclun have already sprouted. I tried to plant them thinly, so I would not have to thin them out too much. I did remove a few, so they are about 1 inch apart. Counting, this leaves about 100 plants per barrel, plenty for some early vegetables or greens.

I planted a 3rd barrel. Under the plastic, the temperature was 74 degrees F. In contrast, my remote thermometer gives 53 F in the shade.
I uncovered the radish seedlings, at least for the day, to give them air and reduce risk for fungal disease. I gave them some fish emulsion.

The new barrel was planted with spinach, an Asian Radish called "Rabano" icicle, some 5-year old seeds for Chinese Parsley, interplanted with seeds for Evergreen White Bunching onion in case the Chinese Parsley doesnt grow. Finally, a Lettuce Bon Vivant Blend, multiple colors and shapes of lettuce.

In the front yard bed that had last years' tomatoes, I planted a small patch of Sugar Snap Peas. Assuming they germinate in a couple of weeks, then I'll add a trellace for them.

Ning set up these raised beds for tomatoes and other summer plants. They'll need to be topped off with some bedding soil.

The rose bed, with a little fence to keep nosey dogs out. The fence is more of a suggestion than a barrier.

Barrel with plastic cover, in the sun.

Radishes and other brassicas are sprouting nicely.

Peaches are blooming already. I'm almost thinking 'bummer' because of the risk for frost damage. It is what it is. If a frost is predicted, I'll look for some blankets to cover the peaches and apricots.

And finally, I also bought a bundle of Asparagus roots at Fred Meyer. This was an impulse - given past failures, I thought I would give up this year. It's likely that about a half dozen plants will come up form last year and, if so, that's finally a start at an asparagus bed. This bundle contained 7 roots. I had more success last year by planting them in pots, then into the bed afgter they were a foot tall. I did the same today, planting 6 into pots, but the last and smalles one was planted directly in the bed. We'll see what happens. If I get just one edible spear this year, I'll feel a little like I've made progress.

Garden Log

No photos today.

Yesterday, I noted pinkness through the plastic on the peach trees, so I unbound and uncovered them. There are a few blossoms already open. Cool+stress. Cool because so early, stress because of chances for frost. Frost can kill a blooming tree. We'll see - not much to do about it but watch the predicitons and cover if frost is predicted.

Radish and brassica mesclun seeds in barrels are sprouting. Little rows are visible. OK if these get frosted, and anyway they'll be easy to cover.

Indoor seeds, the carrots sporuted, a few more Red Delicious. Counts to be posted later.

Garden Log

Today was a day off from work at the office. I tried doing homework - my take-home laptop had a new security system installed, now I can't get into it. So plan B, I was using my own laptop, but the cord developed a short and now needs replacing. So plan C, my old desk top. Slow - now a bit faster.

So, took the pile of prunings to the Recycling center. Here is the pile at about 1/4 its final size - I didn't take a photo today. It towered over the truck. I had tried grinding them in my brush chopper - it clogs up over and over, big hassle. I tried running them through the lawnmower - too much work. So, into the truck and off to H&H recycling.



Normally, I don't let the yard get so out of hand, but last year was intense. Things grew out of control. Much of this was lavender and rosemary, roses, ivy and blackberry vines. Also a big pile of lilac prunings that I never got around to chopping, from last summer. The ivy and blackberries are the curse of invasive exotics. The pile smelled really good due to the massive pile of herbs. Rosemary and lavender continue growing through the summer, even without watering, and over the past several years have become huge bushes. Plus, I had let volunteers grow, but they have degraded, drab flower quality even though the foliage is aromatic. So a lot of those got pulled up, and all were pruned back severely.

To make the trip worthwhile, I bought a truckload of yard-waste compost - which I was going to do anyway. That makes the trip about zero carbon balance-wize for the prunings.

I cleaned up the back yard rose & fruit raised bed. Raked out old top-layer which contained leaves, some bark mulch, and some weeds and prunings. Weeds to the chickens. The rest, to low spots in other beds, to be covered over later. Then a nice layer of steamy, black, earthy-smelling compost.

If the cat doesnt use this as the world's largest litter box, that should do it for the year. A big if - depends on what she takes a shine to. It would be OK, but she stirs up the material under the mulch, mixing it together, and the exposed weed seeds sprout and grow rampantly. If she does, then it may get another layer of something. Not sure what yet - chopped straw is a strong possibility, but only after rainy season is over.

I like the appearance of a garden bed, when it's all cleaned up, pruned, weeded, and has a fresh layer of compost mulch. It looks so "ready" for the year. Now it's pouring rain, mid 50s. That will settle the mulch nicely.

I trimmed some of the center growth from the fig trees. Not much, but enough to keep them open. Took the tallest branch from petite negri, to keep it low and open. Not sure yet how much freeze damage they have. Some tip buds look dead, but pruned branches have nice green cambium.

freezing temperature.

After making a big deal about the mild temperatures, it dropped to 32F last night. We'll see what effect that had.

Pepper seed sprouting experiment.

No need for photos. So far the following have sprouted:

(1) Cayenne pepper 2008 - 4 seeds.
(2) Red delicious pepper 2006 - 2 seeds.

I removed 3 of the Cayenne and the 2 Red Delicious to small containers containing moistened seed starting medium. I don't know if that will work, but there is plenty of time for failures. In fact, this may be way too early.

One Cayenne sprout was rotton-looking. Not promising, so it was discarded.