Applestar's 2016 Garden

[applestar]

Not much going on out there, but it's definitely warming up and the "Deep Freeze" is over -- not expecting temperatures below 20s from here on out.

Here is one of my garlic beds where the Sentinel -- pruned and tied into columns/cordons -- Cherry tomatoes were planted last year. It seemed like garlic would be safe here even though this is one of the only few beds that are not protected with rabbit fence (one dashed off when I approached another unprotected bed so they are already out and about, and HUNGRY)

Back: Tzan Turban, Middle: Russian Giant Marble Purple Stripe, Front: Georgian Crystal Porcelain.

[applestar]

I got some broccoli starts and germinated/sprouted peas planted

I dug up these strawberry plants last fall to overwinter in the garage V8 Nursery, thinking they are White Soul Alpine strawberries I had grown from seeds last spring, then planted out, but they are growing HUGE and SENDING OUT RUNNERS, which probably means they aren't and I accidentally dug up one of the other varieties.

...and yes those are some onion bottoms I snuggled in there a while back.

We've had a couple of frosty mornings in the front yard, but I hung the basket on a hook outside a SE facing window that is normally reserved for hummingbird feeder and viewing, so it will probably be protected from the extremes.

...and the Shiitake logs I inoculated last spring are really responding to the rainy weather we're experiencing



Subject: Mushroom Gardening?

[ButterflyLady29]

Looks good. I've never had rabbits sample the garlic greens, not even when they devoured a blueberry bush right next to the garlic.
Did you use a plastic liner inside that coir fiber pot?

[applestar]

My garden is waking up. I have some small pots of things on the patio that were not adequately marked. These were blank pots in the winter and I vaguely remembered they were to be saved and not cleaned out, but I couldn't remember what I'd planted in them. Even after they started growing, I had no clue... Then I looked at my big Echinacea and remembered These must be the ones I started from seeds last spring

I planted some of the broccoli and peas.
The peach tree is starting to bloom -- so of course there is a forecast for 27°F which could mean as low as 24°F in my garden. I hope the blossoms won't be blasted.

I also started a fresh tray and set up the vermicomposter. It's in a protected SW facing corner of house and garage outside. I'm not sure if I should cover it for tomorrow night....

[applestar]

This year's "Sunflower House" (SFH) and "Sunflower House Extension" (SFHX) beds

the compost bin used to be in the middle of this bed

I planted all of the remaining pre-sprouted peas in the SFH today.

Subject: 2016 -- starting seeds and cuttings for the new season

Here's an example of how the peas pre-sprouted in the clear egg cartons turned out. I planted all of the rest today since for the last three or four days, they were needing twice daily care to make sure they didn't get dried out in the sun or drowned when it rained. I'll post elsewhere with more details about how I'm planting them this year.

I'm using a single mounded row for each variety, except for the three 5 ft and taller varieties which were planted under the CRW panel trellis. I also sowed carrot seeds among the peas, and rutabaga seeds along the back. My plan is to plant pre-sprouted corn in the trenches later so they can be "Hilled".

I ended up with one left over mounded row, so I planted it with cabbage or cauliflower (Not labeled, don't remember ) seedlings.


The SFHX is the other garlic bed. Where I planted tiny bulbs which didn't make it through the winter, I planted the WallaWalla onion and Shallot seedlings I started in January, and I had some onion set-sized harvest last year that sprouted, so I planted those along the far right.

Plants slipped from the container and ready to separate.

[applestar]

Swale/paths are working as expected after an overnight deluge:

You can see the silty water resulting from the rain stirring up all that clay subsoil I scraped down to and forked/fractured.

[applestar]

I'm hurting today! -- Moved and re-piled the winter compost pile. Old location was next to the blueberry bed, new location is next to the columnar apple tree where a new bed is being planned. Filled an end-over-end tumbler bin with half to mostly finished ingredients from the pile, which nearly filled it, then added about 6 inches of dry leaves to counter the sopping wet condition of the ingredients. -- hoping the drying tendency of the tumbler plus the elevated, non-ground contact position of the tumbler (no heat loss to the cold wet ground) would be beneficial.

I put the tumbler in the gap between the apple tree drpline and the VG garden so any leachate will help to add fertility in the area. When finished the compost will be immediately available for using in the garden beds.

I put the second tumbler on the other side of the house in a new raised bed I'm setting up. I'll start filling this one with new ingredients -- mostly weeds and debris from this part of the garden, which will allow the existing compost pile for this area to be finished without any more fresh ingredients being added.

[applestar]

This year's outer Apple Guild garlic bed:

image.jpeg (47.13 KiB) Viewed 3324 times

RIght: Tzan Turban, Middle: Russian Giant Marble Purple Stripe, Left: Georgian Crystal Porcelain.

[imafan26]

I love that you plan your garden out every year. Mine is look in the refrigerator; spend an hour going through the seeds. Sort out what is in season and sort that into what is possible to plant now. Then I go out with the seeds to find that I don't have enough space for all of them so, I have to re select. Once the nursery bench is full, and the plants are grown then there is more germinated than I expected or none at all. I have so much space to put this in. Now, I have to find homes for the rest.

What is the actual size of your garden? I have seen the view from the window but I have no idea of the scale of things.

[j3707]

Nice to see your progress applestar... I like the mini hill/swale paths.

[applestar]

Got some radishes and lettuces and purple Vienna kohlrabi sown in the new raised bed on VGD side. Scraped and dug up the path on VGC side and filled it with all the weeds cleared from the beds. Some of the pure blue clay subsoil went into the raised bed mix in walnut sized lumps.

Topped up the knee high VGA raised bed. I previously planted the section under the window with Solstice broccoli. Sowed some Iceberg A lettuce seeds along one side. Thinking of putting hoops over this bed and covering with floating cover to moderate the temperature and protect the broccoli from cabbage whites (I saw my first one of the season yesterday ) this bed will be solid 4 ft x 4 ft of corn later.

I'm trying a mixture of potting mix, coir, PBRH (parboiled rice hulls) and sand-sized DE to cover the radish and lettuce seedbed.

I'm thinking I will sow/plant non-eating ornamental and beneficials attracting flowers in the high raised beds this year. Maybe some extra trailing type nasturtiums, too. I scattered some old marigold seeds, but I may end up adding some more soil mix

Some of the Limba broccoli and Early Burpeana peas transplanted in a mounded bed surrounding the rain garden mini rice paddy.

Organic short grain sweet brown rice from H-mart is starting to germinate

[applestar]

In addition to writing in my garden journal, I'm going to try making these picture collages of the main tasks I've done each day. It's getting so busy, and I'm maniacally gardening -- I went outside four times today -- first three times, coming in exhausted and saying THAT'S IT FOR TODAY. Fourth time, I had to talk myself down -- "Look away... Nothing to see... Nothing to do... Go inside... Have something to eat....."

But the unplanned extra tasks I'm getting done (Which I guess is a good thing) means I'm having trouble keeping track and remembering what I did. Hence the collage to remind me so I can write everything down later.

1. Fertilized blueberries and started to add wood shaving mulch
2. Fertilized Apple Guild garlic bed and sweet cherry espaliers against the fence
3. Fertilized overwintered baby carrots
4. Fertilized Peas
5. Weeded, fertilized, distributed central finished/vermicompost, forked, and prepped SF&H for planting potatoes in E and W beds and Greens in the S bed
6. Weeded. fertilized, distributed central finished/vermicompost, forked, and prepped AC bed for planting potatoes. Fertilized strawberries in each cinder block hole.
7. Weeded espalier row and trench composted and papered/cardboarded the swale to widen the espalier fruit tree bed. (Not pictured but filled the compost tumbler in the new raised bed along the same fence with unfinished compost from the SFH bin)


....don't worry I won't post and bore you all with this kind of thing every single day. I just thought I would illustrate with today's doings.

[applestar]

Started out this morning reaching for this pile of used Spoonzips, thinking I would clean up. When I picked up a couple to see how bad they look, I discovered a seedling growing in the middle of the pile. It turned out to be Fred's Tie-Dye which had some germination issues, so I was pretty stoked.

Also started the rice so I will have seedlings to transplant by last frost, and got the nasturtium and gobo seeds pre-soaking.

Now, we've talked about how you should really get certified seed potatoes to plant rather than using the grocery store potatoes.... So, I don't recommend doing what I'm doing, but when *someone* has shoved a bag of potatoes to the back of the pantry until THIS is going on by the time I discover them, what is a gardener to do? The extra long ones are actually tiniest tubers from last year's harvest that I meant to save more carefully for this year's seed.

I did also buy a few seed potatoes -- I couldn't resist the old stand-by Yukon Gold and this Purple Majesty.

I decided to try giving them a bit of protection -- as usual, I'm trying out four different methods

[applestar]

Three lavender seedlings from last year have managed to survive the winter in the Kitchen Garden outside. I'm trying to ground-layer that extra long stem.

The lumpy, crumbly texture and black color of the surface soil are due to night crawler and earthworm casting mounds.

4th seedling was so tiny and shallow-rooted that I wasn't confident, and I overwintered it in the garage V8 Nursery. But it's been outside on the patio table since last month.


Sowed a bunch of flower seeds today:

Sowed these in the VGD PSHRB

Zinnia, Candy Cane saved
Cleome, Violet Queen
Cleome, Rose Queen
Cleome, Cherry Queen
Dianthus, Victoriana; Dianthus, Lemon Fizz; Sage, Lady in Red?
Nasturtium, Fordhook mix

[j3707]

I like your spoon plant labels!