Sunday, May 31, 2015

Fig, Persimmon,Progress Report. 5.30.15

Container Figs.  5.130.15
 Container figs all have thick mulch of chopped fir tree.  Some are doing better than others.  I've snapped off the growing tips, for branches of 4 or more leaves, to stimulate fig development.  For in-ground fig row south of house, I've done the same for side branches but allowed the central leaders to continue.

Persimmons.  The 2 trees in 3rd leaf, and the American Persimmon in 1st leaf, are all growing vigorously.  Nikita's Gift and Yates' flower buds persist. Chances are they will fall off, but I watch anyway.   All have protection from deer and rodents, and all have thick grass clipping mulch.  All have been given pee-cycling fertilizer, and all have been given extra water.

American Persimmon "Yates".  5.30.15

Hybrid Persimmon "Nikita's Gift"  5.30.15
 Pawpaws.   The three in 3rd leaf are growing well. "Sunflower" 3 fruit embryo / one flower, persists.  All have had doses of pee-cycling fertilizer, diluted 1:10, and all have been given extra water.  All have thick layers of grass clipping mulch, and nearby grass/weeds are removed.

Pawpaw "Mango", in first leaf, looks great.  That too, has been given the spa treatment, with  diluted pee, grass clipping mulch, protective fencing, and weed/grass clearance.
Kaki Persimmon "Saijo".  5.30.15
Pawpaw trees @ 3rd Leaf.  5.30 15

Squash and Corn Bed. 5.30.15

Fig, corn, and squash bed.  5.30.15
The original plan for this bed was to plant bee forage.  I have plenty of those.  I needed a place for squash and corn.  This is the warmest, sunniest part of the  yard, south of the house.

I also planted two rows of Asclepias syriaca, Common milkweed / Butterfly flower.  Those are for honeybees and local bees.  As perennials, they may not bloom until next year.

The fig trees on the left look healthy.  They do not need the space yet.  The small fig trees will not shade the annual crops, which are on the south side of the fig trees.

Gardening this area saves some mowing.  This has always been a difficult spot.  A fence, to the neighbor's field, is directly adjacent.

Chamomile for tea (tisane). 5.30.15

German Chamomile in garden bed.  5.30.15

Harvested chamomile flowers.  5.30.15
In 2012 I bough 2 plants of German chamomile and planted in a vegetable bed.   They grew too large, so I moved them to another location.  New plants self-seeded last year and this year.  I left them in place, thinking I could eventually dry the flowers for chamomile tea.  Since chamomile tea does not contain tea leaves, it is technically a tisane.  I drink chamomile / ginger almost every evening, with some honey, to settle my stomach.  Since I already use it, I might as well dry my own, fresh, local, free, organic chamomile flowers for that purpose.

I cut the flowers.   They will go into the food drier for a day or two.  I think that should do it.

Geranium (Pelargonium) shrubs. 5.31.15

Overwintered Geraniums.  5.31.15
These are the geraniums (Pelargoniums) that I overwintered for the 2nd or 3rd winter.  The front (right) box was overwintered in sun-room, and stayed green much of winter with blooming.  The back (left) box, less visible, was overwintered dry, in the garage.  Those geraniums have filled in and starting to bloom.  Nice big, full, Pelargonium shrubs.

The center box contains new plants.  Two are purchases, and one is a cutting from the back box, rooted in water after I cleaned up and pruned the plants when brought outside from their winter dormancy.

Overwintered Geraniums.  5.31.15

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Growing Degree Days, Battleground WA

This information is from Western Regional Climate Center.

Trinity SE Sweetcorn need 1,190 heat units  Based on the info below, if I understand correctly, adding to May (now) 559 growing degree days, +1,190 = 1759 which occurs in August.  But I don't know that I understand this table correctly.

Pawpaws require 150 frost free days and 2200 growing degree days, which I am thinking we get here in Sept or Oct. Might be OK.

Station:(450482) BATTLE GROUND
From Year=1928 To Year=2012
Growing Degree Days for Selected Base Temperature (F)
BaseJan.Feb.Mar.Apr.MayJun.Jul.Aug.Sep.Oct.Nov.Dec.Annual
40 M6296168275456584747756607375153694348
40 S62159326602105716412388314437514126427943484348
45 M16276314230243459260145722659182938
45 S16431062495519851577217826352861292029382938
50 M2416571652854374463081051321840
50 S262278243528965141117191824183718401840
55 M002177215028429217133101023
55 S00219912415258179881021102310231023
60 M0003266214815271600468
60 S00032991239391462468468468468
Corn Growing Degree Days
50 M16448815325833445646537321561162479
50 S16601483005598921349181421872402246324792479


I bolded the bottom line.   That seems the most relevant.

Interpretation of the table:
"M = Monthly Data
S - Running sum of monthly data. 

Growing Degree Day units =  (Daily Ave. Temp. - Base Temp.) 

One unit is accumulated for each degree Fahrenheit the average temperature is above the base temperature. Negative numbers are discarded. 

Example: If the days high temperature was 95 and the low temperature was 51, the base 60 heating degree day units is ((95 + 51) / 2) - 60 = 13. This is done for each day of the month and summed.

Corn Growing Degree Day units have the limitations that the maximum daily temperatures greater than 86 F are set to 86 F and minimums less than 50 F are set to 50 F. "