Applestar’s 2021 Garden

[imafan26]

I've been catching up reading through the saga as well. You certainly have got a lot going. I remember, you started late this year, but caught up bountifully. I read on one of your posts that the shadow of the house was creeping up at 3:30 p.m.

I was visiting my friend in Seattle a few years back and at that time the days were long the sun was shining at 3 a.m. and did not set until 11 p.m. That was my first encounter with a long day. Before that, I really had no concept of day length because I have always lived in Hawaii where the day length only varies by less than 3 hours. It was also my first encounter with black ice (no fun there), icing on the car windshield, fog so deep you could not see 10 feet ahead. I remember someone showed me a picture they took when they went home to Canada and I saw all the dead looking black trees against the white background of snow. I thought at first it was strange that they took a black and white picture, until I noticed she was wearing a bright red coat.

The days are getting shorter now, but for the Summer you make up for it with your longer days. You can also get bigger fruit than I can ever get because of the long days.

[applestar]

Yes @imafan. I think these differences are what making gardening so much fun. I enjoy comparing “notes” with you …and also, hearing about your garden and efforts you are making makes me appreciate how big the world is and how diverse and at the same time bring us closer.


Here is a random collage of what some parts of my garden look like right now —

[applestar]

Wes has reaffirmed its status as recurring favorite variety. The fruits are red oxheart — blossom drops or develops with green shoulders in worst heat, with some cat facing during hot humidity… good size when perfect, and reliably productive by heirloom standards — 2 or 3 per truss. When allowed to ripen indoors several days after harvest — pushing 5 to 7 days when possible — the full flavors mature into rich and complex, with deep and lingering umami and excellent meaty texture.

It is one of the indeterminates that always surge back in fall after hunkering down through the worst heat and fungal disease onslaught, and produces a few more fruits before frost.

Here are 6 more Wes fruits on two plants trying to ripen — tied to trellis cross beam (5/8” to 7/8” bamboo poles) 6 feet up in the air….

[applestar]

This is the 6 ft x 6 ft VGC (Vegetable Gardenbed C) with the bamboo pole frame and two layers of painters dropcloth plastic.

I hung the “double wide” camping mosquito netting on the inside — nominally 5ftx6ftx5ft tall and secured some cpvc pipe arches (originally used for the 4ftx4ft VGA a couple of years ago).

The pipe arches are taller than I expected — I may or may not rethink this. They need to be secured to each other and at least one cross-brace need to be added later when I can get the ladder over here.

For now, the walls with open top seem to be enough to keep the peppers and eggplants warmer than if they didn’t have this protection. I have a single layer plastic flap over the 2ft wide doorway opening that I can (and did) close for the couple of 46°F mornings. but temperature has warmed up a little with lows in high 50’s to 60’s for the next week. So I won’t try to put a roof on for a while and I’ll try to figure out the roof support in the meantime.

VGCX (extension) bed that had Poona Kheera cucumbers growing during the summer is now planted with and growing Precoce Aquafaba Fava beans and (I think) Supersnap snap peas. They won’t need protection until it gets much colder, but may benefit from the warmer mass next to them… but have lost much of the direct sun. But the plastic sheeting may create a “fiber optic effect” and supply a “glow” from the sunlight — we’ll see.

[applestar]

For a lazy gardener like me that is allergic to repetitive boring tasks, using these row tunnels presents a challenge when it comes to opening up the tunnel and working under it.

I had to admit yesterday that it’s time to get under the long tunnel in the Sunflower House — and I needed guidance for what I should be paying attention to —


Fall/Winter Cabbage/Broccoli — 3 major care issues in October


Time stamp — 2:03~3:57
1. If early stage cabbage/broccoli plant is slow to grow or wilted, and watering/rain has not been excessive, don’t try to water or fertilize more, gently dig up the plant and check roots for root damage due to OVERwatering or pests.

In this portion of the video, he found TWO june bug or Japanese beetle grubs — one when soil under the plant was thoroughly dug up and examined, and another one hiding in the rootball.

He said broccoli/cabbage are pretty resilient and could be re-planted even in the wilted state he found it. If the probelm is overwatering/drainage, he said to correct the issue first.

2. Check carefully for caterpillars. Use forceps/tweezers and empty drink bottle to capture if you can’t just squish them.

3. Diligently hill the stem of broccoli and cauliflower several times to keep them from falling over —
- can bury as much as halfway up the stem to first set of true leaves
- use soil from path if growing in raised/mulched rows
- tie with string to stake if necessary — they will be growing tall


NOW, I HAVE AN ACTION PLAN FOR TODAY

[applestar]

It’s been a difficult few days… our kitty took her last breath around midnight on Thursday

I found some pictures from before her surgery in spring when she had full coat of fur — a digital watercolor, one with her sister, and also from a few years ago when she was hunting a mole out in the garden…

[webmaster]

Sorry for your loss!

[applestar]

Thank you @Webmaster.

We knew this was going to happen, and she would have been very very lucky if she had lasted to the end of the year. But it is difficult…. but we did have more time with her than worst case scenario, and she did hang on and we were able to take care of her to the end.

I had bought her all kinds of special treats to tempt her, and — barely lifting her head — she would pick and choose from them… turning her head away if not what she wanted, and then daintily eating a bite or two of her favorites, she would purr, loudly and continuously until we were begging her to stop so she would not be left breathless and working hard to push lungs for each breath….

Ah, she was a good girl and knew just how to be lovable.

[TomatoNut95]

Oh-no am so sorry!

[imafan26]

Sorry for you loss Applestar. Miss Kitty knew she was loved.

[applestar]

Thank you all for your condolences and kind thoughts.

I might still be sporadic for a bit, but I know my best therapy is to keep busy growing my garden, and sharing with you all — so I’ll continue to take pictures and post though maybe not as verbosely….

Here are recent harvest photos — figs and persimmons are winding down— less than 1/2 dozen left on trees. Peppers are coloring up and maturing

— the Rocoto mini-Olive F4 surprised me by coming OFF the calyx like ripe cherry tomatoes — I tossed in a couple to spike the HOT pepper sauce I finished making yesterday. ***what else can I make with them?***

— Trifoliate orange Flying Dragon has been neglected and is turning into the namesake dangerous creature with all the wicket hooked “claws” going every which way. But this location is basically leachfield from the Vegetable Gardenbeds, and it has thrived without fertilizing, etc.
—The fruits have ripened and are starting to fall off
— …some of them reached very respectable sizes and I squeezed out about a cup of juice from maybe 6~8 fruits for lovely hot and cold “Flying Dragon-ade” that we have enjoyed over last couple of days.

[applestar]

I’ll “add more color” to (embellish) these later —

[applestar]

…Trifoliate Orange — both standard and the natural dwarf Flying Dragon - is the only kind of orange that can survive the winter temps here outside. No cover/protection needed although I did plant this one with some natural shelters — West-facing in front of the white picket fence means good westering sun heat especially during the summer when the sun sets in the northwest, a weeping cherry in the front yard to its north that provides wind shelter all the way to the ground level with the long trailing branches, the driveway with our SUV and pickup trucks parked that also block the north winds, AND tall street trees beyond for solid height wind block.

Good thing too — With the wicket hooked thorns, I doubt I could cover it with anything except very heavy solid not woven vinyl tarp….

…One of my back burner projects is to grow some seedlings or cutting-propagates and try grafting some of my other seed-grown citruses onto the Flying Dragon rootstock to hopefully confer the extra cold hardiness and dwarfing traits.

[applestar]

My order arrived for last minute sowing of seeds —
* Komatsuna Tender Green
* Baby Bok Choy
* Tokyo Bekana
* Arugula
* Yukina Savoy
* Mizuna Red Streaks

I really need to curb my ambitions…. Any experiences/thoughts about any of these greens?

[Vanisle_BC]

Around here Arugula is quite winter hardy and will self seed if you let it.

[applestar]

Thanks!

[applestar]

TOP ROW
- Chinese napa and loose leaf cabbages
(Fun Jen or Chirimen) loose leaf, (I think this is a green one that occasionally show up in Red Dragon packet), several Asperbloc broccoli and Tokinashi turnip, Red Dragon, (Fun Jen or Chirimen), and Michihili
- Peas starting to bloom behind the tunnel

CENTER ROW
- Fioretto 60 stick cauliflowers and Asperbloc broccoli are sprouting. They don’t form large heads but produce multiple cuttings of clusters.
- They as well as these mini cabbages are kind of stunted — not sure if those cabbages will produce harvestable heads….
- Broadbeans are starting to bloom

BOTTOM ROW
- Last couple of days of harvest … accidentally cut off the vine to those green tomatoes. Hopefully they are far enough along to blush and ripen.
- Maybe I should have waited until frost, but I couldn’t resist harvesting this big turnip. I’m pretty sure this is Eastham.
- Greek Sweet Red squash — these are huge — one on left might be OK to harvest — it’s tendril has dried up — not sure if it’s better to harvest or leave attached until vines are dead….

[applestar]

THE LAST PERSIMMON

… go ahead and picture me on the top of the ladder doing this and trying to take a picture

— one fig ripe, 2 more should be ready in a day or 2 … and about 5 more greenies on the tree

— first 2 saffron crocuses opened … I have maybe a couple dozen

— the intriguing multi-flora cherry is striped, yellow, narrow necked and pointy, and falls off when at this still pretty hard stage

[applestar]

Applestar; lucky you with the figs. Our 'tree' - chest high shrub - has many figs on it for the first time but they are small, hard & green and starting to fall. That's despite having had a very warm/hot summer. It's 'Brown Turkey' which is locally recommended. Any hints?

We got a lot of comments about fig growing in response (before I could! ). So this discussion will be split off to its own thread and I’ll pitch in as well.

Figs green fruits dropping near autumn frost

[applestar]

Here are some of my Fall-Winter season extension projects and THE BIG experiment in the NE Side Yard Garden.

As the days get shorter and the sun’s path lowers, the taller trees behind the house as well as the house cast bare branch-dappled and solid shadows that almost entirely cover this area except for few rare glimpses of direct sun.

The front yard outside the North fence is the area that is hit hardest by frost and freeze, and the soil here can get saturated and freeze solid during the winter deep freeze.

Future projects will include additional plantings on the front yard side of the 5 foot picket fence to act as natural wind barriers….

[applestar]

Sometimes, a super intriguing caterpillars is totally NOT what you want in your garden

— Species Cucullia convexipennis - Brown-hooded Owlet - BugGuide.Net Hodges#10202

[applestar]

^^^ Yeah that was a snap judgment solely based on it being “owlet moth” — typically related to cutworms and hornworms.

Even though adult moth is not particularly pretty or impressive, I decided that occasionally finding THIS colorful caterpillar might actually be a plus for my “Monarch Waystation/butterfly sanctuary”. So I let the caterpillar go in my small patch of “Wildflower Meadow” garden where there ARE many more asters and goldenrods than the Patio-side Gardenbed where I originally found it.

[applestar]

I’m using a quail egg carton for fridge pre-germinating just a few seeds of lettuce and Asian greens plus some carrots as experiment to start growing in the Winter Indoor Garden

If this works, I’ll succession start the lettuce and other greens.

[applestar]

- Still continuing to harvest handfuls of cherry tomatoes — Moona Mints, Molten Sky, Molten Sun, Intriguing Multiflora, NOT Soldacki, etc. although most of the tomato plants have been “called”, “culled”, and cleaned up.

- The “still standing” and trying to finish ripening among big fruited indeterminate varieties are — Wes, Grandma Oliver’s Chocolate, Grightmire’s Pride, Wessel’s Purple Pride, Lucky Cross, TerhuneX, Cow’s Tit….

- Others waiting for the final fall harvest are a few more Chicago Hardy figs and the two big Greek Sweet Red winter squash, Myoga Japanese ginger flowerbuds, Saffron crocus stigmas and stamens, and the fall brassicas — cabbages, kales, Asperbloc and Fioretto stick broccoli and cauliflower.

- Peppers in the Sunflower House were decimated by mite attack (downside to plastic mulching to keep things hot and dry).

Patio Kitchen Garden SIP3

- peppers are still going strong (except for the Rocoto which flushed and were harvested).

Vegetable Gardenbed C

- The peppers are keeping warm inside the structure. Eggplants are actually blooming, though I’m not sure if they will get anywhere
- I added a loosely secured roof when it got so cold, and then overhead sprinkler watered yesterday … aghast to find it had collected all the water in a GIANT sagging mass that needed to be poked to drain this morning….

- In addition to the original designated seeds, I filled in with lettuce, asian greens and some carrots where seedlings failed to sprout.

Sunflower House
- I’m DETERMINED to complete readying this structure for the over-wintering experiment this year. It’s slow going due to haphazard, TOTALLY ad lib design that sometimes won’t solidify in my mind in pre-planning “drawing board” stages and I end up slapping things together after staring at the available components and staring at the structure while standing outside. It’s almost like a garden sculpture
- I KNOW what features I want the end result to have …I just don’t know HOW to achieve them sometimes. All this while the clock is running out with approaching frost and freeze….
- The biggest of the greens under the insect mesh tunnel are pushing against the fabric and I’m having to spray di-pel Btk until I can get the entire structure enclosed. I’m nearly ready — maybe 2 or 3 more days of work needed. The cold snaps have diminished the hot weather pests but the aphids are starting as well as the last desperate moths in egg dump mode.

Spiral Garden
- daikon/turnip patch that was started in late August is looking pretty good.
- the insect screen tunnel-covered patch of fast growing Tokinashi turnips + radish and some beets has grown some more and needs to be thinned.
- Two more small patches of greens have sprouted.


I SAW A BIG migrating size MONARCH BUTTERFLY! When I noticed it, it was flying skyward to head south over our house. It could have eclosed in my garden this morning.

[applestar]

I woke up in the wee hours of the morning, so I made some “Flying Dragon” Curd, substituting strained Trifoliate Orange “Flying Dragon” juice diluted to 1/2 strength for the lemon juice AND the grated lemon zest in this recipe.

Younger DD and I licked the utensils and the bowl after I spooned the finished still-warm curd in the jars, and agreed it was almost impossibly yummy

[applestar]

SUNFLOWER HOUSE
— just a little more

• I need to figure out what to do with the base of the rear end wall, including weeding and leveling the ground and (most likely) laying pavers,

• …and tweak the rear screen window a bit

• And finish the front end wall and the doorframe+door — the screen goes in the as upper panel of the door, and I have to figure out how to fit/mount an automated-vent in the lower panel

• …unfortunately those narrow screen windows don’t fit as part of the sidelights, so I’ll think of a way to use them elsewhere.

• For now, once all of the framework are done, I’ll be able to layer and secure large swathes of insect mesh and clear greenhouse poly (those plastic walls are just temporary).

• *** Once the more “solid” roof materials go on, the structural integrity will be tested by rain and wind, and eventually snow load ***

• I intend to fit hinged solid poly-lined “windows” inside the screen window frames as “storm windows for the winter” from the inside and work out how to automate the venting… but that can wait a little while longer

[applestar]

I started cutting up the component lumber and channel locks day before yesterday, but it still took me all day to assemble my Sunflower House door… and I still couldn’t finish it because I was unable to find a clear plexiglass or other panel to fit over that opening above the vent. I also may or may not attach metal cross bracing across the door.

* When I set the door up in the door way opening (to be finished later), I was all kinds of disappointed to find that top gap to the right. I though I might have not squared the door properly, then thought maybe the overhead metal pipe is not level (which I know I’d checked over and over again)

* AFTER I left the Side Yard Garden and closed and secured the “gate” I REALIZED THE ISSUE — the bottom metal pipe that forms the threshold had fallen off the cinder blocks on the right end! DUH!!!

* I said to myself “I’ll fix it tomorrow” …but found myself Unsecuring the “gate” … Center photo of inside view and Right photo of the front side after the pipe was repositioned and secured with bricks (it will be more permanently affixed later)

* I’m so proud of my door <<< BUT!!! IF YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG OR QUESTIONABLE WITH IT LET ME KNOW SO I CAN FIX IT >>>

[applestar]

…while thinking about and reviewing what to do for the secondary protection of crops that are already growing inside the Sunflower House (SFH) — currently covered with low hoops of insect mesh but will need fleece covering at least as temperatures get lower and lower, even inside the SFH — I stumbled across an old post from 2015 in which I laid out the issues facing this project. (It’s been a back-burner project for a LONG time! )

It looks like that thread wasn’t followed up, but great input posts from @digitS and @pepperhead that are still relevant… And I mentioned something that I had forgotten about — what to do about the door freezing shut or if snows and accumulates above the doorsill threshold …

Fleece Tunnel VS Poly Tunnel

I'm still only casually trying different things, but my conclusion so far is that I'm going to need something more permanent or semi-permanent/sturdy for the "winter months" -- defining this as when the ground is frozen.

I like the concept of walk-in height double poly tunnel with internal low fleece tunnels in case of severe low temp.

With hoop type structures, the support system needs to be in place with no room for adjustment BEFORE the ground freezes.

With any type of covering but especially loose fleece and poly, serious thoughts about HOW TO SECURE THE BOTTOMS. When air is frigid, poly stiffens and is difficult to manipulate. When ground is frozen, the material also freezes to the ground and fleece will rip easily.

Also MUST consider the force exerted when strong winter wind gets in somehow -- but venting may be necessary on warmer sunny days for a tight structure with poly.

Also must consider collapsing under weight of ice and snow.

Ergo -- air-tight structure with sturdy (and automatic) vent system and personal access ABOVE average frozen ground level as well as what to do if it snows above the access sill. I'm stuck at this point because it seems like some serious construction is in order and this is looking more like a greenhouse.

But for a temporary seasonal tunnel structure, I'm thinking I still need a solid insulated north wall/entry/vent. I've been thinking about using DIY shed braces/brackets somehow.

Another BIG problem for me is the angle of the sun during winter. ALL of my backyard and side yard becomes blocked by neighbors houses and a stand of trees on the east-southeast of the property and there is no where that gets any significant amount of direct sun. Only winter sunny space is in way out in the front yard on the side away from the front door and impossible to get to from the back door if the garden gate freezes in the snow

[applestar]

…Throughout this year’s planning process, I had a concept in mind to build a sort of a poly-roofed “front porch” or “portico” or “awning” in front of the door … but in this late stage scramble, was about to nix that detail — NOW I’m reminded WHY that particular feature was in the overall concept design of this structure …

[imafan26]

Does the door open in or out? If it opens in then would it be less of a problem?

[applestar]

LOLOL!! @imafan, I saw your post AFTER struggling for the day setting up the door in the nearly finished doorway to open OUTWARDS.

…You are probably correct, but initial design scheme called for the door to open outwards so as not to get in the way inside the limited space.

I think I can still slap together a covered walkway in front of the door, making use of the the wire fencing trellis along the garden border fence.


… today’s (well, yesterday’s) collage featuring the Sunflower House (SFH) —

• I brought out my small wood carving set to mortise the door jamb for the hinges THIS I know how to do, and reminded me of my earlier post saying this SFH project is like a garden sculpture. I haven’t done any wood carving sculpture in ages and this isn’t even my good set of tools, but “it’s like riding a bicycle” as the saying goes.

• mostly finished door (decided to frame the opening so I can have option of using insect screen and/or poly film. I could also double the polyfilm for extra insulation during winter.)

• Possibly last tomatoes to ripen. 2 Cow’s Tit and 2 Grandma Oliver’s Chocolate — all are a fraction of potential size. There are maybe 4 or 5 green half matured fruits left.

• I didn’t take pics of everything under the long insect mesh tunnel, but these are the Chinese cabbage-types that are starting to form first leaves in the center to head up.

• A view of developing pea pods and blossoms. These are Emerald Archer shelling peas so it will be a while yet to harvest.

[applestar]

The door has been hung, and ALL necessary attachments have been installed.

SUNFLOWER HOUSE with FIRST LAYER of insect mesh roof and sides (with general barrier kneewall along the long North and South sides)

This also meant I could remove the inside low tunnel of insect mesh and let the Aspabroc broccoli stretch out instead of pushing up on the mesh.

Only one I managed to get to grow out of the last few seeds of Red Dragon chinese cabbage looks stunning.

The excesses of insect mesh fabric are hanging right now, but will be trimmed after I’m sure of their placement.

We’re looking at Wed night temp low enough for patchy frost forecast. So I’ll want to put up the next layer which I’m pretty sure should be solid polyfilm wrap around sides : front-side-back-side-front.

[applestar]

Frost tonight for sure. Temp may get as low as 33°F

I harvested all remaining tomatoes (few really nice sized Wes, etc.) and the two Greek Sweet Red squash I was letting stay on the vine as long as I could — C.moschata (related to butternut but bigger)

[applestar]

The two winter squash were all I managed to grow this season, but I’m happy.

They were raised on a 2ft wide x 6ft tall piece of wire fencing trellis secured to two 7ft T-posts driven into the ground, and occupied maybe 3 ft. x 2 ft. x 6.5 ft of air space above ground. After terminating the main vine at 5 true leaves, I only allowed 2 children vines to grow to bear 1fruit each, although I let a 3rd sucker vine crawl on the ground as supplemental photosynthesis powervine (it grew about 5 feet, but the vine remained weak with small leaves — it may have helped by setting down additional roots in the ground, but these leaves probably didn’t get as much sunlight, and maybe apical dominance and fruit-preference directed most of the growth energy up the other two vines?)

I’ll weigh the two fruits later to record their weight at harvest (and added to the post above). According to available C.moschata type winter squash instructions they should be “cured” in a warm space with air circulation for 2 months, then store in a cool location after sterilizing (bleach wash recommended) the surface and eat within the next 2 months.

[applestar]

[…]

BOTTOM ROW
[…]
- Maybe I should have waited until frost, but I couldn’t resist harvesting this big turnip. I’m pretty sure this is Eastham.
[…]

I scrolled back to see when it was harvested— DH made a big stockpot of soup today …his soups are amazing — just tons of flavor from meats and vegetables, nothing else, added to the pot in order of cooking time. We call them “soup” but he won’t cut anything small and meat is expected to fall apart and potatoes are scrubbed and tossed in whole with skin on.

He agreed to add my turnip if I cut it up — it was too big and we only added about 2/3 of it in today’s soup made of lamb, steak, onions, potatoes, carrots, turnip, and two 1qt freezer bags of trimmed peak fully ripe cherry and small tomatoes from the summer’s bounty. DELICIOUS!

[applestar]

It’s been a busy and exhausting couple of days with first frost and first freeze arriving back to back.

• With all these season extension and fall-winter harvest projects going on concurrently, I’m getting a pretty serious workout to keep everything alive and without suffering setbacks.

• Additional protection seemed warranted, both inside and outside the Sunflower House.

• The temperature activated automatic foundation vent on the door is operating — closed in the morning at nearly or at freezing temp… open with sun shining and increased warmth in the afternoon.

• I pulled off all greenies of tomatoes and the Queen of Malinalco tomatillo. Also harvested a beautiful turnip and a few more carrots.

[applestar]

Wow it’s been a while since I posted last. I’ve been busy with stuff, but also have been tweaking the Sunflower House ventilation (it reached 88°F inside the other day since it warmed up this week…)

Today, DD’s helped replace the temporary wiggle hooks to secure the covers with full-lengths of wigglewires ahead of the expected weekend storm starting overnight~tomorrow.

Then I cleared out the tomato plants that were done and harvested the big turnips? malformed stumpy daikon? …and took some pics from under the fleece. Everything looks great! (I’m going to remove the pink and green cellophane mulch, refurbish the beds and then lay down black eco-film mulch so I can pop in some started seedlings of greens and other winter hardy veg as part of the Fall-Winter season extension experiment.)

I had also harvested the pretty China Rose daikon/radish and a little head of cabbage last Saturday.

Taking a peek under the protective covers, the Fava beans and peas in independent beds (VGCX and HBR) are looking good, and peas have made some pods that are almost ready to harvest although maybe not as steadily as the ones in the Sunflower House.

[applestar]

Major project for me this past week was finalizing the planting design layout and planting my Dad’s memorial rain garden in the front yard corner. (It was his birthday last Thu.)

For some unknown reason, my neighbors planted a large clump of ornamental grass on their side next to the bed I had prepared earlier in the summer, so I had to go taller than I originally had planned, to work around the encroaching foliage. I don’t know if they realize I will be forced to trim anything that will detract from my Dad’s garden — you can see they planted the clumping grass awfully close.

I’ve already planned on maintaining a sod-cut border around the bed, so I just have to make sure to exclude the grass’s roots and offshoots and any effort to clump into the bed. At least it’s a type of grass with seed head that can provide a nostalgic feel for my Dad, so I’m hoping to work WITH it effectively.

In addition to existing elements as extension of the Front Yard Fence Row and the Native Bog Garden Corner on the other side of the fence that include —
- Prok persimmon tree
- Pawpaw trees
- Elderberry shrub
- Winterberry shrubs
- Autumn clematis
- White turtlehead flower
- Husker Red white flowered penstemmon
- (dying and may not make it so not strictly included in design Red Osier dogwood shrub)

…I have planted —
- Red Cardinal flower
- Redbud tree
- Arrowwood viburnum shrub
- Virginia sweetspire shrub
- Blue flag iris
- Yellow bearded iris
- scarlet California firecracker
- White dogstooth violet
- Camassia Blue Melody
- Camassia Orion

…and left some room in the front for low growing bedding plants like pansies etc.

My hope is for this bed to bloom year-round throughout the seasons, but particularly in Spring when he passed. So I wanted to leave some room to observe and add/fill in as the garden grows next year.

[applestar]

Since I was getting the COVID boostershot yesterday, I took it easy on Sunday to be well rested, but worked inside the Sunflower House on Saturday. Forgot to take pictures and the process isn’t finished anyway, but removed the cellophane mulches and reshaped the mounded beds to the right (South side of the main path), moving quite a bit of soil around and weeding. (I also finally leveled the exterior ground at base of the back/East end wall and arranged/laid down concrete paver flag stones for more secure fit to the ground.)

I plan to possibly bury a section of trench compost inside, as well as working in some of home made, biologically active buckwheat hull bokashi (before starting another batch to slow culture over the winter using what’s left as supplemental starter), then lay down black eco mulch and plant a few things that may or may not overwinter with additional low tunnel protection. (Mid-November is supposed be last chance to sow any seeds before Persephone Days so I have to hurry.)

While I was working, it started to drizzle, so I brought my jacket and tools like bow saw and pruners I’d used earlier to finish pruning the Prok persimmon down to more manageable height earlier. Good thing too because soon after that, it started to pour and thunder/lightning. I was stuck

Since it wasn’t closed up tight, some rain blew in, but mostly it was cozy in there.

I think even though I didn’t get to introduce compost or bokashi to increase biological activity, just moving the soil around did actively create more heat generating conditions since the Sunflower House temperatures for the last couple of days/nights seemed to stay more stable and warmer than previously.

If I can keep it from getting below 20°F in there into January, there might be some hope for these Chinese cabbage and Asian greens to mature more and head up, but that’s a WILD stretch. I think I’ll concentrate on weighing whether to harvest or risk freezing as we head into the deep freeze….

…I did cull-harvest some including a baby turnip that were too close, as well as raspberries to snack on and Super Sugarsnap peas from VGCX on the other side of the house earlier.

[applestar]

I couldn’t get a lot done today — I was exhausted after a couple of hours … but I did secure the roof poly for the Sunflower House a little better, then set up a bucket of water inside. This is a medium recycling bucket that had been replaced by a wheeled large bin for pick up by automated truck. Since it has drainage holes, I lined it with a black, heavy duty yard bag. I didn’t get to do any more work on the beds, but you can see there is a turnip in the back and a dill in the front, still growing strong, and less in view but there are 3 pepper plants that lost all their leaves due to mite infestation that are still alive despite some freezing temperatures over the last couple of weeks, and are coming back with new leaves.

…

The Afghan refugees resettlement flights have been busy — a lot of passenger jets on low overhead hop from the air base to the Phila International hub. They pass over our house and neighborhood at about the altitude the moral-boosting military flyovers flew during last year’s Pandemic — I watched the ones that flew over all of the local hospitals one by one and passed quite close to our neighborhood.

I think this one might have been a Hawaiian Airlines jet?