Inside poly tunnel. 4.9.14

Peppers and Chives inside poly tunnel.

Based on the pepper plants looking great so far, I think the poly tunnel makes it possible to plant peppers a month earlier than planting out in the garden.  They look great.

Puttering. 4.8.14

Mostly today I rested and did take-home work.

As for puttering -

I planted 6 pepper plants in the poly-tunnel,  raised bed that I set up for them during the winter.  Temp in that bed, before I opened the polyethylene top, was 80 F.  That opens up room in the fluorescent light stand for other plants.  Given the warmth and shelter, I think they will be fine, even though this is too early to plant in-ground without protection.  These are experimental.  I don't intend to grow as many types next year.

I planted a row of Phacelia tanacetifolia (Bee Friend) at the end of one of the raised beds.  Purpose is to feed bees some organic bee forage, and keep them attracted to my garden and yard.  I've never seen this plant in person.

I planted okra seeds that I had soaked overnight.  The varieties were Baby Bubba Hybrid, Burgundy, North + South Hybrid, Dwarf Green Long Pod, and Jambalaya.  All were chosen based on reported early bearing and smaller stature, compared to other selections.  Of the plants I tried indoors, Babby Bubba hybrid is the most compact and robust, followed by Burgundy.  Dwarf Green Long Pod was weaker and more leggy.  These were all new seeds, except North + South hybrid, which were 5 years old.

One lesson I learned last year.  Many garden resources say you can't start okra indoors and the plant outside.  The reason given is the roots are too delicate.  The ones that I started indoors last year did much better than the ones I direct seeded in the same ground.  The only ones to bear, although minimally, were the transplanted ones.  Some resources say you can transplant okra.  I'm glad I did the experiment.  It gets me ahead this year.

I cut a handful of small flower bunches from pears at home, took to Battleground, and played the bee using a paintbrush to pollinate the Asian pear there.  I noted, the smaller Asian pear I have been trying to salvage, is in bloom too, so I cross pollinated that one with the larger one.

I pollinated cherries with each other.  Sweet cherries and Almaden Duke cherry.

I noted, all potatoes are up now.  All plums are dropping flowers.  No apples are blooming yet.

Home Orchard. Bloom report. 4.6.14

Home Orchard

Bloom report.

Plums.

Methley = done.
Satsuma = petals almost all dropped.
Toka = all open , 1st petals dropping.
Unknown = about 3/4 done

Stanley = doesn't look like it will bloom.

Gage = almost fully open.
 

Peaches = all varieties are done.

Cherries.

I may have Vandalay and Sweetheart mixed in this photo.   Both are about 1/4 open.
Almaden Duke = fully open.  Really beautiful tree.
Tart Cherries = neither has started.  This is good.  I wanted them to be late in case of late frost.

None of the apples are blooming.

Dwarf apple 3-way I planted bare root this winter,  Pristine, Queen Cox, Rubinette is leafing out.
Minidwarf Karmijn de Sonneville is almost blooming.
Minidwarf Honeycrisp is almost blooming.  This is new growth last year after broke off completely 2012.  I kept this with branching very low, 2 branches.  I grafted a pollinating branch of Liberty onto the smaller branch.  The Liberty branch looks like it might bloom.
William's Pride 1-year old looks like it might bloom.  One year from grafting.
Esopus Spitzenberg 1 year old is growing, I don't expect bloom.
Golden Sentinel has some unopened flowers.
Red Sentinel has some unopened flowers.
Prairie Fire has nice burgundy leaves, and clusters of flower buds. 

The unknown, original Asian pear is in full bloom.  The others have buds, starting to open.

Four O'Clock Seedlings. 4.6.14

Four O'Clock seeds, germinating

Four O'Clock germinating seed, planting in container.

Four O'Clock Seedling

I've had little success germinating Four O'Clock seeds.  Mirabilis jalapa.  Of the first batch, I planted about 4 per container, 5 containers, and one seedling resulted.  Of the second batch, I had the same result. 

I pre-soaked both batches of seeds in water, overnight.

This time, I presoaked in water overnight, on seed warming mat.  The I rinsed, and folded the soaked seeds into a moist paper towel, placed into zip-lock bag, and incubated a few days on seed starting warming mat.  Every day I check.  So far, of the 8 seeds, five have germinated. One is too small to transfer.  I transferred the two that looked most vigorous, into growth medium.

Now to see if they continue to grow.  Since Four O'Clocks have a deep tap root, I planted in tall containers.  Plastic juice cans I use for fig cuttings.

I fill the juice cans about 2/3 full with organic potting mix, and top with about 1 inch of sterile seed medium.  That way they can grow into the soil without a transplanting.

This one was firmly attached to paper towel, so I tore off most of the loose wet paper towel but did not try to completely remove it.

Once growing, the cotyledons continue to expand to quite a large size.  This was one of the first to germinate.  I dropped the plant.  The photo is after repotting.  Doesn't look too injured.

So far growing them under lights.  Some instructions state start 4 to 6 weeks before last expected frost.

Fritillaria Crown Imperial. 4.6.14

Fritillaria Crown Imperial.  4.6.14

Turned out nice.

The leaves do have a musty odor.  I don't know if that repels animals, but they haven't bothered this plant.