Last corn planted. First Zucchini harvested. Beans planted. 6.19.16

Today I planted another row of bean seedlings.  These are the Chinese bean seeds that are in the range of 10 to 15 years old.  Some of the seedlings had distorted leaves, and two were missing their first set of true leaves.  Most look OK.

I planted the final block of sweet corn.  I don't know if the season will be long enough, or warm enough for long enough, for a harvest of such a late planting.  But if I don't plant it, I could miss out on some sweet corn.  This is the first yellow variety that I planted, for variety sake.  This is a sugary enhancer (se) type, NOT GMO, 75 days to maturity so fairly early compared to some that are 100 days.

I take my I-pad to the store and research varieties that I'm curious about.  This is info on the sweet corn variety, "Bodaceous" via ufseeds.com:
 Beautiful, uniform, well-filled ear.
High quality yellow sweet corn that has large, mouth-watering kernels. Bodacious has 18 rows and 8" ears. Kernels are delicious, sugary and very tender. Bodacious is great for fresh eating, freezing and canning. A popular yellow market variety that holds well once picked. Tolerates cold weather conditions better than most.
 

Product Details

Breed: F1 Hybrid

Zones: 3-9

Germination: 5-7 days
Days to Maturity: 80-90 days
Ear Length: 8" inches
Ear Diameter: 2" inches
Plant Height: 84" inches
Ear Height: 28" inches
Color: Yellow
Genotype: Sugar Enhanced (SE)
Resistance: MS, MR
First Zucchini picked today.  Not bad, June 21.  

Beans from old seeds.  6.21.16

Corn Seeds Planted 6.21.16

Corn Seeds Planted.  6.21.16

First Zucchinin of the Year.  6.21.16

Seeds on sale. 6.15.16

Seeds are on sale at Fred Meyer for 40% off.   This is a big savings, and no postage and shipping for mail order.  So, it's a good time to get seeds for next year. One year old seeds of these varieties should grow fine. I chose types that have been successful for me, or look interesting.

They will go into the seed collection for next year. There were also a Fava bean variety with no variety name. I usually do well with Hume seeds.

Harvest. 6.15.16

Today's Harvest.  6.15.16

Nice harvest. Favas, snowpeas, Chinese chives for dummpling filler, peppers, eggs, and some flowers.

Recovering Old Bean Seeds. 6.15.16

Germinating 10 year old bean seeds.  6.1.5.16

Rinsed Germinating Bean Seeds.  6.15.16

Ning had some old bean seeds.  I've been keeping them in the basement in plastic containers.  These are a Chinese variety, wide bean similar to Romas but with thicker pods.  They are not squeaky like most green beans.

The seeds are 3 types.  There is a dark brown seed, a light brown seed with darker markings, and a white seed. 

I have tried to locate new seeds, but can't find the variety.  At the saturday market, we did buy some once at a Chinese vegetable stand.

I decided to try to germinate the seeds.  There might be 400 seeds.  I did not count.  I used the wet paper towel method.

None grew the first week.  The second week there were some sprouts, and some seeds rotted.  I rinsed all of the seeds in a sieve, planted the sprouted seeds, and incubated the remainder for additional several days using fresh wet paper towel and fresh zipper plastic bag.  Then I repeated the sorting, rinsing, planting, and incubate for additional time.  Now, about 2 weeks having passed, about 40 seeds have sprouted.  It's possible they won't all get to the green leaf stage, since there was some rotting of dead seads.  The purpose of the rinsing is to remove as much detrimental bacterial life, as possible.

Bean Seedlings.  6.15.16

These will get special planting and treatment when they have their first true leaves.  I intend to save a few dozen seeds, so we have fresh seeds next year. 

Milkweeds and Lindens. 6.8.16

Asclepias syriaca, approx one year after panting seeds.  6.8.16

Asclepias syriaca at one year.  6.8.16

I planted the milkweed seeds last year.  These are the common milkweed, "Asclepius syriaca". They have a tropical appearance, beautiful fragrant flower, and I think if not native / considered a weed, they would be a nursery plant.  I planted for bees and butterflies.  They were late, coming out of dormancy.  I thought they were dead.  Then they grew with a burst of vigor.

The American Linden is blooming very nicely.  There are pollinating bees, although I have not seen honeybees.  The flowers are fragrant.  I planted this tree February, 2013.

Deer damage has occurred, but minimal.  I'm a bit surprised, since Linden leaves are considered edible.

American Linden Tilia americana "Redmond".  6.9.16

Tilia americana "Redmond" with wasp.  6.8.16

American Linden "Redmond"  about 3 years after planting.  6.8.16

Some flowers. 6.9.16

Buddleia "Miss Ruby"  6.9.16

Buddleia "Miss Ruby".  6.9.16

Daylily, unknown variety.  6.9.16

Potatoes in bloom.  6.9.16

Roses.  6.9.16

Daylily, unknown variety.  6.9.16

Fava Harvest. 6.9 16

Favas Ready To Harvest.  6.9.16

 Every now and then I discover something that has been around forever but I never tried.  Favas are the next item.  I planted favas 2.13.16

They grew great.  These were amazing plants, growing before almost I could plant most other kitchen garden seeds or plants.  They were vigorous and problem-free.

I didn't know when to harvest.  The beans have grown large, so I cut a batch today.  After shelling them, I boiled for one minute, poured them into cold water, then peeled the beans.

I've never tasted favas before.  They were delicious.

Harvested Fresh Favas.  6.9.16

Shelled Favas.  6.9.16

 There are several more harvests on the plants.  Something to look forward to.

Since I"m just now planting regular beans, this is a chance to to grow and harvest legumes long before the usual bean.  The prep is a little tedious, as noted by others, but they are so delicious, they are worth the effort.

I ate a fair amount with no further prep.  Others, we had on salad with lettuce, fresh snow peas, and sliced tomatoes, with a Ceasar dressing.  Very good.

Parboiled, Peeled Favas.  6.9.16

,

Walking around. Persimmons, Figs, Vines, Kiwis, . 6.8.16

Chocolate persimmon scion, grafted 4.14.16.  6.8.16

 I was away for a week.  This time of the year, a lot changes.  Some of the last grafts are taking off.  Not fully there yet, but growth is encouraging.  Chocolate persimmon on Saijo, Fuzzy male kiwi on Blake kiwi, and Petite negri fig on Dominic.

I have left the scions wrapped.  The graft tape can be removed when they are more mature and more growth has occurred.

Nikita's Gift Persimmon Flowers.  6.8.16

It's been unusually hot.  I missed the persimmon flowers (Nikita's Gift and Saijo) at their peak.  Even though Saijo was much bigger than Nikita when planted, Nikita is much more vigorous.  There were many more fowers this year.  The primordial fruits seem to be swelling, so maybe they will take.  These are in their 3rd year.  I planted them from dry root, mail order trees in 2013.'

This is the first year that I have put significant effort into the row of grape vines and kiwis.  They were planted from early 2013 to this spring.  This year I cleaned up the row, mulched with grass clippings, and fertilized (peecycle) to promote vigor.  Most are at or above their deer cages.  There is some risk for deer damageif those animals become more ambitious.

The mulberries (Illinois Everbearing) are producing very well.  They are incredibly sweet.  For some reason, there isn't much, if any, bird theft.  I moved this tree from Vancouver to Battleground in October, 2012.  I originally planted it March, 2010.

Saijo Persimmon Flower.  6.8.16

 The Fig graft, Petite Negri on Domonic understock, is growing better.  This was grafted late March, so about 2 1/2 months now.  I tried before in 2009, but was less experienced with grafting then.  Fig grafting is not new - Eisen wrote about it in1901.  He used cleft grafting, and recommended 2 year old scion for reduced pith, and terminal buds.  So far, only one of my three scions, has taken.  But that's all I need.

All of the brebas fell off Smith Fig, but now there are main crop buds.  This tree is an experiment, not know to do well in Patcific Northwest.  Meanwhile, Lattarula figs are swelling bigger, showing promise.  Same for Carini.

Grapevines and kiwis.  6.8.16

The last of the pawpaw fruits fell off.  The trees look good.  Maybe next year.


With more nurturing, mulch, water, fertilizer, Blake Kiwi is growinbg more vigorously this year.  The male fuzzy kiwi graft on that vine is also still looking good.  There isn't a lot of info on growing kiwis in the Pacific NW, so I am on untested ground with this one.  So far, deer have avoided this vine, while eating any grape leaf that sticks out of the cages.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberries.  6.8.16

Illinois Everbearing Mulberries.  6.8.16

Petite negri graft 6.8.16,    Graftged whip / tongue, 3.21.16

Image of grafted fig tree.  Eisen, 1901.

Eisen's method for grafting figs.  1901.

 

Kitchen Garden Update. 5.20.16

Grafted "Better Boy" Tomato Plant.  5.21.16

Tomato Raised Bed.  5.21.16

Here  is how some of the kitchen garden plants are doing.

Most tomatoes are growing vigorously and a few are producing flowers.  The furthest ahead was Jersey Boy, but then the top of that was eaten by deer.  I plan to build a fence, meant to and procrastinated.

The grafted Better Boy has caught up with the others.  The grafting process puts it behind.  The grafted SuperSweet100 was too close to the Deer Superhighway, and therefore has a major setback.  I don't know how much fencing I can put in, it's awkward to work with and there is a cost, but if I want to grow plants that deer and rabbits also love, that's the only choice.

The potato plants are in the exposed  - not fenced - garden, and are growing lush and big.  I hilled them up as much as I could.

Potatoes.  Yukon Gold (front), Burbank Russett (back).  5.21.16

The collard greens are also exposed.  One plant vanished without a trace.  Space aliens?  But the others are all looking good and not chewed on so far.  They look small but actually growing pretty fast.  They have a grass clipping mulch to hold in the soil moisture and keep weeds at bay.

Collard Green Starts.  5.21.16

Egyptian Walking Onions.  5.21.16

I love the look of the Egyptian Walking Onions.  They are past the edibility stage - these are early Spring and late Fall kitchen plants.  Other onions are filling the scallion role, sets that I bought in April and am growing for bulb onions.  Back to the deer and rabbit issue, those beasts don't seem to eat onions or garlic.

I need to fence them in, but some of the okra seedlings remain.  Same theme, some were eaten last week.  That was mostly the transplants, so I won't know if early starting is helpful.  The seeds sprouted nicely without pre-soaking.

Okra Seedlings.  5.21.16

Fava Beans.  5.21.16

Fava bean pods are in the tiny stage, to about 5 inches long.  The plants continue to bloom.  I ate a raw fava bean pod, it wasn't too great, but it was raw. 

Green pepper plants - purchased - are looking good.   Pumpkins and squashes are also looking good.  I think there will be zucchini flowers in a few more weeks.

Sweet corn is looking good.  I continue to plant more seeds every 2 or 3 weeks.  The last batch was "Mirai" - wrinkled seeds that are hard to imagine they will grow.  In fact, it's been cool and rainy, and I read that Mirai seeds will rot if not given ideal conditions.  I'll give them a week and if no growth, plant something else.

Kitchen Garden Bed.  5.21.16

Sweet  Corn.  5.21.16

Graft Union for "Better Boy" Tomato.  5.21.16

Blackberry Progress Report. 5.20.16

Ebony King Blackberry, planted February 2016.  5.21.16

These are the domesticated blackberry plants that I planted a few months ago.  It has been interesting to watch them, and I have learned a few things.

First, the Ebony King.  These were packaged dry-root starts from Lowes.
The stems were about pencil size, with minimal roots, packed in peat moss.  I planted them Feb 21st.  Of the 3 plants, one started growing in about March, one in April, and one just began growing now in late May.  So they all are alive and growing, and there is some chance for a taste next year.  These are floricane varieties that bloom and bear on the previous year's canes.  It pays not to give up, since one of the plants required 3 months to start to grow.

I need to get some protection on these, from marauding rabbits and deer.  They have not eaten the Ebony King Blackberry plants yet, which are not as perfectly thornless as Prime Ark Freedom, but I don't  want to take too many chances.  Damn rabbits.   Damn deer.

Second, the Prime Ark Freedom, thornless primocane blackberries from Starks.  These were expensive, and the plants were tiny.  They are growing nicely now, with one exception that is failing to thrive and still only a couple of inches tall.  Tow of the most vigorous were eaten half-way off by rabbits or deer, so now I have fencing sleeves on each plant.  Herbivores have not been eating the Himalayan invasive blackberries - possibly due to thorns, or there could be protective flavors that are lost in domestication.  These are primocane, so could potentially bear this year.  They have bloomed at only a few inches tall, but I removed the flowers so their photosynthetic energy goes to establishing roots, canes, and leaves.

Growth on Ebony King Blackberry, at 3 months.  5.21.16

Prime Ark Freedom Blackberry Plant, Planted Feb 2016.  5.21.16

The third is one plant of Columbia Star blackberry, bought in a one-gallon container at Yard - And - Garden - Land here in Vancouver, I think in March.  The plant was really a tiny tissue culture plant like the Prime Ark Freedom, planted in larger container for sale, I suppose.  Or to grow larger in the nursery pot. The Columbia Star is growing with the same vigor as Prime Ark Freedom.  Columbia Star is a trailing blackberry that will beed some support.  I have already built a frame for that, using 6 foot long tree limb prunings.