A Very Good Pumpkin Pie. 11.13.2021

This was one of my best pumpkin pies ever. I used puree from Galeux d'Eysines pumpkin. It's basically the Libby's pumpkin recipe, except I used light coconut milk for baking, instead of evaporated milk. I also rolled sesame seeds onto the crust before transferring it to the pie plate. I blind baked the crust, leaving the aluminum foil on the crimped edges throughout baking. Definitely grow Galeux d'Eysines pumpkins next year.

Winter Cover Crop. 11.13.2021

I have not tried this mix before. I've grown buckwheat as a cover crop. Deer love it. This seed covered 1/2 of the area where I want to plant sweet corn next year, and where I grew squashes this year. I don't know if this is too late, or how they will do, or if deer will eat all of the plants, or if they will be too weedy. It's an experiment. I don't want to leave the soil bare, or encourage thistles, so it is worth a try. Today was a break in rain. It should rain again over the next several days. That should get them settled in and starting.

Here is the seed mix: Austrian Winter Peas Winter Wheat Triticale Forage Collards Hairy Vetch Daikon Radish Fenugreek Crimson Clover Berseem Clover Yellow Mustard

Persimmons. 11.23.2021

Birds have started eating the ripest persimmons, so I picked them all. Persimmons ripen just fine indoors. Most of these are "Nikita's Gift". There were also more "Saijo" than I expected.

New Raised Bed #1 is Done. 11.10.2021

This one is completely done. I topped it off with some well aged compost, then a layer of good raised bed soil from the one I'm digging out. I also planted a few dozen topsets from Egyptian Walking Onions at the ends. Still thinking about whether to plant a cover crop on the rest, or just a thick layer of leaves.

I cut the wire fencing and plastic fencing to use as mole deterrents for the bottom of new raised bed #2, and moved some blocks nearby. When these, and the rebuilt smaller bed with wooden sides are done, I really don't want to do more big garden construction projects after this. The entire idea is to reduce heavy work. Meanwhile,the hardest part is to level the soil for the blocks, and lay the blocks kevel and plumb. After the base rows are in place, it goes better. Maybe ten more days? Also thinking about pathways between raised beds. This year, moles did a lot of damage, undermining sides and corners of beds and burying the woodchips with soil. Plus, I got behind pulling perennial volunteers - mainly four o'clocks and potatoes - and it became a challenge to access those garden beds. I'm thinking laying down wire fencing in the walkways, top with black plastic, then I don't know. Wood chips? Gravel? Depends on how I think moles will affect this area.

Saving Pickle Cucumber Seeds. Part 2. 11.10.2021

This is after they fernented for four days. I rinsed the seeds in a strainer. Now they are drying on a piece of newspaper.

I also have a back-up packet of open pollinated, bush type pickle cucumber seeds. Just in case these don't do well. This was SO easy, I can't see ever needing to buy pickle cucumber seeds again.

Raised Bed Update. 11.8.2021

 Here is the first of the new raised beds, so far.  Today I spread a thin dusting of lime on the previous fill of soil, which is about nine inches from the final surface level.  Also compost and some leaves.  I wont be able to mix the contents, so it's sort of a "lasagna" soil building.  Then I added another approx four inches of soil from the raised bed that I have to tear out due to mole damage and falling over.  A dusting of ashes, then will add the final topsoil layer, also from that bed.  There are lots of earthworms so I know they will be tunneling through and mixing it up nicely.

In his book about Gardening West of the Cascades, Steve Solomon recommends building soil via a cover crop of garden peas. Their roots grow deeply, and the plants enrich the soil. Garden peas can be planted very early. My current though is, around late February or early March, plant the raised beds with peas. If they grow quickly and we get a harvest, great. Otherwise, at tomato planting time in late May I can pull them out and feed the plants to the chickens. The idea is to get the soil building benefit, more than the peas.

Makem and Clancy, Inch By Inch, Row by Row.

 I don't know if this will embed.  It's "The Garden Song", recorded here in 1988 by Irish folk singers in their final stage appearance.  John Denver and Pete Seeger also recorded versions, and it was on the muppets.

I think it's a lovely song and performance.  It speaks to my gardening peacefulness.  It's too bad our society got into fakeness, unfathomable greed and selfishness over the past decade.  Not that it wasn't like that in places and times before, but holy moly, what happened to our souls? By that, I'm not referring to someone's idea of what idea of what idea of their chosen gods and which tribe they supposedly adhere to, supposedly justifies their thoughtless grievances and narcissism, but rather our inner kindness as human beings.  How will we find that again as a people, and be inclusive and kind and honest about it to boot?

Anyway there's still that patch of soil out there, a truckload of leaves to spread and the next raised bed to build block by block, inch by inch, row by row.  Tomorrow more "rain will come tumblin down" according to the prediction.

I hope this plays.  I can't just post the lyrics, which I guess have a copyright, so it's a Youtube embed instead.  This is via BBC late late show in Jan, 1988.

Here is David Mallett's version.  He wrote the song in 1975.

Saving Pickle Cucumber Seeds. 11.9.2019

 This summer I let the last few pickle cucumbers reach full size and mature, for seeds.  Those were grown from seeds I saved last year.  The cucumber should be very ripe.  This one was kept in a garage window to complete ripening.

Cucumbers are "wet seeds".  They need to be fermented 2 or 3 days, then rinsed and dried.

Saving Seeds. 11.5.2021

 For dry seeds - seeds that naturally have a dry seed head, such as onions, cilantro, marigolds - I collect the seed flower heads and save them in a brown paper lunch bag.  I let them dry a couple of months.  Then I reach into the bag, crush them with my hand, and remove the big dry stems.  I place them on a plate, and for seeds with light chaff, I take them outside, swirl them around and blow away the chaff.  Some need to have the flower petals hand picked off - marigolds.

I processed most of the dry seed heads today.

Lettuce, black seeded Simpson.

Sweet basil. I grew these plants from saved seeds from last year.

Lettuce Leaf Basil. Open pollinated so the shape might not be true but the flavor should still be very good.

Cilantro. The seeds are actually coriander, which is nice in chili.

A pink four o'clock. I also have mixed seeds and a yellow four o'clock from last year.

I also processed marigold seeds. 

 Last winter, I bought a grocery store shallot and planted it. It bloomed, so I collected the seeds. It's probably a hybrid, so maybe not a great idea but might grow some anyway.

All of these went into envelopes made from mailings or paper bags.

Trying to Start Some Peach Seeds. 11.3.2021

These seeds are from my best peach tree. I grew that tree from seeds I collected from an Oregon Curl Free peach tree. That was pretty free of the dreaded Peach Leaf Curl, but succombed a year later from a terminal case of leaf canker. If it's not one thing, it's another. Meanwhile, this seedling tree grew like gangbusters. I didn't know what to do with it, so I planted it in the chicken yard. For the past two years, that was my best peach crop ever. Especially this year. Nice size, juicy, peach-tasting peaches, and a lot of them. They can very nicely and make great peach pies. No leaf curl at all, and no canker either. I wonder if the rootstock was an issue with the canker. I don't know. Anyway, so far the offspring is canker free. I tried grafting some scion from this tree onto purchased rootstock. Didn't take. I'm not good at grafting peaches. Here's my thought.

 (1). Generally speaking, most peaches are self pollinating and seed grown peach trees are usually similar to their parent. Not always, but often.

 (2). Maybe it's better to have peaches on their own roots anyway. No grafting complications, rootstock borne disease, nursery-borne diseases. 

 (3). My experiences so far are that seed grown peach trees start bearing as fast as grafted peach trees. 

 (4). I think in general, peach trees often die young. 

 So if you have a peach trees that's been bearing well for a number of years, this might be a good time to start a new one. All that said, I collected pits from my "special" home grown peach tree. I planted a bunch of them in a row at the mend of the garlic bed, where if they start growing next Spring, I'll see them. 

 I also cleaned up a dozen peach pits, wrapped in wet newspaper, and placed into a jar. That went into the fridge. Now is about four months, so I took half of them, cracked them open (hammer on concrete garage floor), and washed off the seeds. Those are going into damp paper towel, in a zip lock bag, in my office. I plan to do the same with the others after another month of stratification.

Originally, I designated this peach "Cowlitz" in honor of the people who preceeded us in this area. However, I thought that might be improper, so I renamed it "Sunny Day Peach". As far as ai can find, there is no other fruit with that name. 

 I just looked up peach trees on the Raintree website. $59.99 plus who knows what shipping! And my experience, most (almost all) don't do that great, if they survive at all, in my garden. A free peach pit from a reliable, well producing tree, is a real bargain! 

 Edit 11.3.01 I only had these in my office for a few hours. Further reading, it looks like peach pits need roughly 90 to 110 days to germinate. We are still a week or two from that date. Some people remove the seed from the pit prior to stratifying. So I think we should be OK.