Bee Forage. 8.23.15

Buckwheat in bloom.  8.23.5

Honebee on buckwheat flower.  8.23.15

 Buckwheat is in full bloom.  I planted the buckwheat seeds 7.21.15 to 7.23.15.  They started blooming, barely, one week ago.  So it takes about 3 weeks to begin blooming, and 4 weeks to be in full bloom.

Yesterday I did not see bees foraging the buckwheat.  Today they are foraging in force.


I replanted some bare patches where I must not have spread the seeds evenly, today.  I also planted buckwheat seed among the cornstalks, where I harvested that last of the sweetcorn today.

Other bee forage:

Very active on Chinese Chive, compact version.
Autumn Joy - type Sedum starting to bloom and activity is growing.
Active on  the remaining borage and oregano.

Honeybee on Buckwheat Flower.  8.23.15

Honeybees on Sedum flowers.  8.23.15

Honeybees Foraging Sedum Flowers.  8.23.15

Cluster of Autum Joy - Type Sedum, Starting to Bloom.  8.23.15

The sedum flowers are just beginning to open.  Sedum is a bee favorite - they will be foraging with many bees per flower cluster, until the plant is finished blooming.

I'm impressed with how long the oregano blooms and is foraged.  It looks almost done, but the bees appear to seek out every last flower.  When they are done, I want to save seeds for starting a much larger patch next year.

Honeybee on Oregano.  8.23.15

Late Summer Kitchen Garden. Starting Seeds. Barrels. 8.26.15

Barrel #1.  Asian Greens, Kohlrabi, Bunching Onions.  8.26.15

 This is a progress report on some of the seeds I am starting for later Summer, or early Fall starts, for Fall and early winter benefit.  These are all barrel planters that I either had with something earlier that finished, or had left alone for a year or two and now being called back into service.   If there were weeds, I pulled out the weed plants - easy with soft potting soil, then turned the top layer of soil with a hand-spade, and added a top layer of a few inches of potting soil.  The one with the dead bamboo, was too root bound, so I just added some potting soil on top.

Barrel #3.  Chinese pole beans and last year's garlic.  8.26.15

Barrel #4.  Roma beans, Turnips, and a few E.W.O. Scallions.  8.26.15

 I want the beans mostly for seeds.  Seeds take longer than fresh beans, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

This year is projected for a warmer winter due to the impending el Niño effect.  I speculate that will extend the season.  If not, that's OK too.

Days currently in 90s.  Nights in 50s and 60s.  Seeds are germinating quickly.  The barrels need daily water.  The plants are concentrated in small spaces, so shade the soil and not needing as much care as if in the ground.  I am watering with 1/4 tsp miracle grow in 2 gallons of water.  Basically fertigating.  For some, I occasionally peecycle with 1/2 liter of home-grown fertilizer in 2 gallons.  Not more, because I don't want salt build up.

I'm getting excellent, rapid growth for Egyptian walking onions,  nasturtiums, and Swiss chard.  Should have some for cooking in 2 or 3 weeks.  Spinach might also be ready in 3 or 4 weeks.  The nasturtiums are for adding leaves too salads.  The E.W. onions are for scallions, and to maintain my crop.  I got about 80% viable from the ones that were in the bed I wanted to renovate, chewed off by rabbits or deer, crowded by wild carrot, and left dry.  E.W. Onions are a damn hardy breed.


As I dig more into the old E.W. bed that I want to renovate, I remove more, clean them up, and plant them in random spots among other plants.  That will give a more extended Fall harvest of scallions, and also some to leave through the winter for Spring harvest and to maintain the clone.

Barrel #6.  Nasturtiums, Spinach, and some E.W.O. Scallions.  8.26.15

Today I planted seeds for Kohlrabi - expect harvest in 60 days, and Turnip - expect harvest in 50 days.  With the hot summer weather, they should get a fast start, then slow down a little as it cools.

Barrel #7.  Egyptian Walking Onions.  ~3 Weeks,  8.26.15

Some of the seeds I am starting.  8.26.15

I also planted an Asian Greens mix that contains equal parts Arugula, Chinese cabbage, Japanese spinach, mustard-mizuna, mustard-green, mustard-Ruby Streaks, and tatsoi. Those were planted about one week ago and now are all germinated.  Cilantro seeds are also included in the barrel gardens, and growing.  The goal with those is to plant a few more each week, for extended harvests.

I planted scarlet bunching onion seeds because I saw them in the store and wanted to try something different.  At the time I didn't know if the E.W. onions would grow.  The scarlet bunching onion seeds are also germinating.

All in all, I think the late summer planting in large containers, has a lot of potential for kitchen gardening.  Easy, more accessible for the older or less vigorous gardeners, and grow more in a very compact space.   Not much bending over at all, very easy to pull out tiny weeds and putter.

Saving seeds. Cilantro. 8.18.15

Cilantro Seeds Ready To Collect.  8.18.15

 I left a bunch of cilantro to go to seed.  It's brown and dry, so ready to collect seeds.

I may use some for spice.  Cilantro seeds are the same as coriander.

Saving seeds is very easy.  I used scissors to cut seed bunches, placed them in a bowl.  Then worked them for a couple of minutes with my fingers.  The seeds fall off the stems.  They don't need to have all of the chaff removed.

I'll let them sit a little while, then they go into an envelope to save for next Spring.  I might plant some this late summer.

Partially Cleaned Cilantro Seeds.  8.18.15

Autumn Joy - type Sedum. Propagation. 8.18.15

Sedums are starting to bloom and the bees are already on them.  There were 2 broken pieces.  This may not be a good time for taking cuttings.  If so, nothing lost.   If they take, then there are some more plants.

Sedum First Blooms.  8.18.15

Sedum CUttings.  8.18.15

 Most are "Autumn Joy" type sedums.  I read, many are sold in the US with that name but in reality are unnamed seedlings.  No problem.  They are great in the border and are great bee forage.  The dark red one might be "Munstead Red". 

I cut the broken pieces into shorter lengths.  I took off the bottom leaves.  The cuttings were allowed to dry briefly.  Not long.  It's in the mid 90s today.  Then I filled small containers with organic potting soil and inserted the stem cuttings and leaf cuttings into the medium.  They are watered and now in the shade.

No rooting hormone.   I read this method works earlier in the year.  Sedums are vigorous, so maybe it will work now.

Root primordia had already formed near the base of the green variety, above the break.   That one should grow even if the others don't.

Low growing, trailing sedums don't need special care to grow from cuttings.  I just cut or pull off pieces and insert into soil where I want them to grow.  These bushier types might not be as easy, or they might.

Sedum Cuttings.  8.18.15

Sedum cuttings.  8.18.15

Sweet Corn Comparison, Ear to Ear. 8.16.15

Sweetcorn.  8.16.15

Until this year, I never attempted to grow sweetcorn here.  This year I planted two varieties.

Today was a good comparison of the two varieties. 

The Trinity plants were much taller, more than 6 foot.  The Early Sunglow plants were only about 3 or 4 foot tall.

Trinity made a much, much larger ear.  With larger kernels.

Flavor-wise, I think the Early Sunglow has a slightly richer, sweet-corn flavor, and the Trinity is sweeter.

They were grown on opposite sides of the yard.  There might have been a soil difference.  I planted the Early Sunglow about 2 weeks earlier than the Trinity.  The Trinity is just beginning to bear.  Early Sunglow is done.  Only a few ears developed on the Early Sunglow plants.  Each and every Trinity plant has an ear.  Some have two.

If I didn't have them here to taste side by side, I would think the Trinity is as good as the Early Sunglow.  Given the big difference in yield, Trinity looks like the more preferred variety by far.   The flavor difference is too subtle to matter.

This difference might just be in my yard, or might be that the soil was not good in the location for Early Sunglow.  It might be worth a try in a different spot next year.