Fig Cutting. Progress Report. 2.22.14

Lattarula Fig Cutting

The last of the Lattarula.  Impressive bunch of roots.  I did not remove more paper towel.  It will dissolve in the growth medium.  Planted and left in window sill.

Some of the cuttings that I planted then kept on the heating mat dried  out and died.  If I kept them in plastic bags they did OK.  I'm not in a hurry for them to grow.  Placing them in the window sill might mean a bit longer stems, but otherwise should be OK.

Late Winter Gardening. Start seeds for onions, peppers, oregano. 2.22.14.

"Flagpole Giant Green Onion" seeds

Greek Oregano Seeds

Peppers are germinating

My garden calendar for this week said to plant onions.  These were from Fred Meyer, "New Dimension Seed" "Flagpole Giant Green Onion".  They do not make bulbs, so are used as scallions year-round.  Something else to try in my raised beds.  Planting a used 6-pack.  I may be able to cut like a cake, when grown, for 4 sections per cell, 24 total.

The Greek Oregano seeds were as fine as sand.  Maybe finer.  Last year I grew catnip and lemon balm from similar size seeds.  Might grow.  Barely pressed them into the surface of seed starting medium.  Did not cover them.

The peppers are germinating.  I continue to keep them on seed starting warming mat.  So far the following have germinated:  Tabasco, Long Red Cayenne, Fish Pepper, Sweet Banana Pepper. Not all of the seeds of each.  Only one or two of each.

Flush with that success, I added another pot of seeds to start.  This time, "Hot Lemon".   There are others in my collection, but I think I will just start some more "Fish" because the variegation is nice and they would make a nice gift.  Later for those.

Ginger. More Pepper Seeds. 2.18.14

Ginger

Santa Fe Peppers

Today I transferred the ginger rhizomes to containers.  Regular organic potting soil.  Barely covered the rhizomes.

There is only room for one on the heating mat, so the other is in a south window.

I also started a container of seeds from Santa Fe peppers.  These seeds are left over from last year.

Late Winter Gardening. Potatoes and Onion Sets. 2.18.14

Today I looked at Fred Meyer for seed potatoes.  They had 2 types.

Seed Potatoes.  Pontiac and White Superior

Onion Sets Red Baron

I think these are standard varieties.  Nothing exotic.  They will make good new potatoes and potato salad.  I will keep them in a cool room for a couple of weeks.  That will move us closer to a good planting time. They will go into raised bed/containers.

Onion Raised Bed

These are Pontiac - red skin, and White Superior - white skin.

From the "Vegetables of Interest" website"  "Pontiac potato was developed in the late 1930s as a cross between an old English potato named “Triumph” and a Maine potato called  “Katahdin.” .... The “Red Pontiac” selection with its bright red skin came out as a mutation found in Southern field tests in the early 1940s.

...In particular, I like its imperfections.  If grown to maturity the tubers vary in size and shape.  They are mostly round but oblong ones show up too.  The surface of the spud is dotted with shallow eyes and subtle nobs that don’t quite become noses.  In short, these potatoes look like they have character in comparison to the perfectly shaped, winkle-free Burbank bakers.

From tuckertaters.com, White Superior:After wide commercial production for more than 50 years, Superior is still a highly regarded variety with well-known performance. It is sometimes used as the standard for early-season white potatoes  "Culinary Characteristics

• Taste/flavor: Good.
• Texture after cooking: Fairly firm, dry. Moist when baked and french fried.
• Uses: Superior mashed. Excellent for potato salads. Good for chipping.

They had some onion sets so I bought a bag  I don't know how the winter onions will do.  We buy a lot of onions.  I think we will eat all that we grow.  A lot will go for scallions.  It was a bit of a waste.  A lot of the sets were moldy or dried out.  These are "Red Baron".

These went into the same bed as I had onions and garlic, then melons, last year.  Better to rotate for nutrition and disease reduction.  With the intervening melon crop I think it's OK.  Plus last fall, I topped the bed with a big dose of soil/compost mix.  I will also give them nitrogen boost when growing.  At the moment it's raining and raining and raining, so any nitrogen boost today would be wasted via washing away.

Red Baron sounds like a good variety.  Long day onion, so good for NW setting.  From organic seeds website:  Dual purpose onion for medium sized bulb onions or purple skinned bunching onions. Deep red outer skin and beautiful inner rings of royal purple with good color throughout. For bunching, harvest at 12-15” tall just before the bulb begins to swell, or harvest for fresh eating bulbs. Long day onion.

The ground is very wet and soft.  If not for the raised beds I could not have planted these onion sets.  The photo shows them before I covered them with soil.

So I got some gardening done today.

Buddleia. Progress Report. Freeze damage. Buddleia. 2.16.14

Buddleia globosa.  Freeze Killed Growth.

Buddleia Blueberry Cobbler.  Winter Appearance.

This is the first winter here for Buddleias.  They are between evergreen and deciduous.  I can't decide if the near-dead appearance is better or worse than bare twigs of deciduous shrubs.

The Buddleia globosa may well be fully dead.  I think it's the only Buddleia that looks truly dead.  I'll leave it in place until there is a chance for some regeneration.  I have a back-up  plant if it is dead.

The leaves of Blueberry Cobbler have a silvery appearance.  Depending on the sun, they look nice.  Other times they look sad.  I think it was like this last year, as were the other Buddleias.  When Spring came, they grew quickly.