Applestar’s 2022 Garden

[applestar]

Wow I hadn’t started this year’s garden thread YET?

Well, it’s because I haven’t been out in the garden to do anything meaningful all January.

These recent super deep freeze and the snowstorm haven’t been helping. I did take some pics of the snow covered structures, etc. and maybe I’ll share that at some point.

I guess I can preview this season’s garden by listing the new seeds, etc. I got and am planning to grow — These are the new, and I’ll also come up with a list from my seed stash. It’ll take longer to figure out the tomato list.


Adzuki Bean - Wase
Beet Seed - Golden Detroit
Beet Seed - Bulls Blood
Chinese Cabbage Merlot (F1 Hybrid 60 Days)
Cucumber H-19 Little Leaf (Organic 57 Days)
Daikon Radish Green Meat (50 Days)
Eggplant Black Egg (70 Days)
Eggplant Seeds - Shoya Long - Hybrid
Eggplant Seeds - Money Maker - Hybrid 
Flower Alyssum - Carpet of Snow
Flower Nasturtium - Alaska Mix
Flower Pansy - Cool Wave Berries n' Cream Mix
Flower Portulaca - Happy Trails Mix
Flower Snapdragon Magic Carpet Mix
Flower Viola Sorbet Mix
Greens Asian Arugula - Salad Savor Mix 
Greens Asian Baby Bok Choy - Salad Savor Mix 
Greens Asian Red Mizuna - Salad Savor Mix 
Greens Asian Tendergreen Komatsuna 
Greens Asian Yukina Savoy - Salad Savor Mix 
Kohlrabi Kolibri (F1 Hybrid, 43 Days)
Kohlrabi Korist (Organic F1 Hybrid 42 Days)
Lettuce Pinetree Winter Mix - 500 seeds
Lettuce Wild Garden Mix (Organic 40-60 Days)
Melon Seeds - Dae Jang Geum - Hybrid 
Melon Seeds - Ichiba Kouji - Hybrid 
Onion Red Long of Tropea (Heirloom, 90 Days)
Onion Seeds - Bunching - Ishikura Winter Long 
Onion Seeds - Bunching - Kyoto Kujo Negi 
Onion Shallot Zebrune (100 Days)
Pea Snow Swiss Giant
Soybean - Kouri 
Soybean - Tohya 
Strawberry Plants Jewel
Strawberry Plants Annapolis
Watermelon Seeds - Hime Kansen - Hybrid
Zucchini Cashflow (F1 Hybrid 47 Days)
"
"

[applestar]

I prefer to grow OP and heirlooms for which I can save seeds and grow again. The hybrids in the above list are my attempt to compensate for deficiencies in my techniques or skills (or overcome adverse climate/growing conditions) to get them to grow adequately.

I might try growing out the melon hybrids for several generations to see what happens/if they retain some of the desirable characteristics, but for the most part, I intend to find good hybrids for crops that are harvested in immature stages so I won’t have to agonize over throwing out or keeping seeds….

I’m also going to explore using the melon and watermelon seeds in other ways — we recently got some yummy cookies made with watermelon seed flour in the ingredients. Melon seeds make great birdfeed, etc.

Watermelon I believe is also good as sprouted seeds? Melons that I tried were bitter.

[Vanisle_BC]

@Applestar; Like you I grow open pollinated almost exclusively, and save seed - for economy, for fun/interest, because I support the idea of keeping seed lines alive, and in hope of developing locally adapted strains. Now with many empty spots on retail seed racks and 'out of stock' notices online, seed-saving is more useful than ever.

It's difficult to isolate plants from others of the same family to guard against crossing, but I've been successful with bagging the flower heads before they open. I feared that ants or other small insects would infiltrate the bags but that doesn't seem to have been a problem, even with plants growing close to each other. I love plants like peas & tomatoes that almost never cross so I don't have to isolate their varieties. In general my own saved seed is physically bigger than what I can buy.

I haven't tried growing seed saved from hybrids. What do you think the results might be; would you hope to establish an OP variety distinct from either parent? Personally my knowledge about genetics is pretty sketchy and anyway I wouldn't have the patience and discipline for that kind of experiment.

[imafan26]

I have grown some of the plants on your list. Bulls blood beet is grown for its greens, but it also makes a bulb. I like Summerfest komatsuna better than tendergreen.

I have Ishikura green onions. It is a long shanked onion so lots of white parts if that is what you like. I treat green onions as perennials. I used to replace them after a couple of years. I thought they would die after they bloomed. I found out that they bloom because of the cold weather and even the younger ones would bloom. They also don't die either, so I have a few pots that are 3-4 years old. The green onions do get big and tough, so I do plant new ones for skinny tops and replaced the oldest ones.

Alyssum is an annual but it reseeds readily. I treat it more like a perennial. I just pull out the dried up stems and I don't have to do anything else since it reseeds. Six weeks later, they bloom again. The same thing happens with nasturtiums. I have them in a place that gets mostly shade all year, so they never died back in summer. Except for the feral hen, ripping things up, the nasturtiums will also reseed and sprout on their own when the time is right. Shiso will also do the same thing. I found out cold is what makes shiso bolt and die. It likes it warm and does not mind full sun.

[applestar]

Most of these are new to me or I have had problems growing in the past. This year, part of the reason to try growing them is by making use of the hoop houses for season extension, warmer in-season, and/or insect screened houses to grow in.

I’m also currently using several Japanese gardening youtube video channels as reference and they are based in USDA zone equivalents of 9 to 8, so I’m inclined/ inspired to try the crops they are growing.

@Vanisle — Actual hybrids I have tried growing out through several generations have tended to lose the most desirable trait, such as size, early maturing, prolific fruiting, or disease resistance.

I think this might be due to the way hybrid varieties are made, with the two designer halves that are intended to be crossed to produce the offspring hybrid.

I have better luck growing out generations of intentionally or accidentally crossed OP’s and heirlooms, and selecting for desirable traits.

I’m not always as careful about preventing accidental crosses as I should be, bagging blossoms, etc. often ends up preventing fruit set, etc…. and I’m never fully confident that I have/am saving seeds correctly — not an issue for my own use, but I hesitate to claim that my saved seeds are (still) the specific variety….

[applestar]

Maybe it’s related to the recent aggressively volatile weather patterns — too cold, too windy, too wet = stiffness and aches and pains, or maybe I’m emotionally stressed lately, but it’s been difficult to get enthused about stepping out into the garden.

For this year’s garden to progress, I need to —
1. get out and inspect what’s left or survived …or not… in the Sumflower Hoophouse, and then
2. (clean up), prep the 3 beds, and plant the cold/cool early spring seedlings and starts that are ready to mostly ready (before they become stunted from being in too small cells too long). These include onions, lettuce, cabbage and cold hardy Asian greens. Some flowers.
3. THEN Start the warm weather crops like peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, and flowers like alyssum, snapdragons, portulaca maybe nasturtiums) to raise in the vacated space

4. I also separately need to start peas to transplant out — I don’t trust direct seeding due to rodent raids on the unsprouted seeds.
5. Need to prune fruit trees and
6. Cutting down or pruning/trimming overgrown landscape trees and shrubs
7. Start cleaning up other veg beds
8. Also necessary projects like mixing up a big batch of bokashi fertilizer, turning the compost pile to wake up and kick start the “cooking” process

9. There is a defunct space called “Sunflower & House Bed” in the backyard that I have plans to turn into new “Berry Stardome” — this bed needs to be finished by end of March so I can dig up and transplant all of the blueberries from their current location…. The Stardome construction can’t start until weather warms up in May, though maybe I could start by setting up the base of the border structure
10. POND — lots to do for the pond


…maybe I’m overwhelming myself by planning too far ahead…

[applestar]

I suppose there are different ways to motivate yourself.

My method is usually to impose an incentive and reward system. Since gardening is pretty high on my list of wants, it has a way of being used as the

Yesterday I had a “lightbulb” moment, solved a particularly knotty problem, and was able to complete one stage of a boring but must be done project this morning, finally releasing me to do something (fun) for the garden.

So I started the eggplant and first set of pepper seeds

Eggplants
Black Egg*
Kamo
Listada di Gandia
Money Maker*  
Shoya Long*

1st set of peppers
Aji Dulce Amarillo
Brazilian Starfish
Alma Edes or St Lucia’s Island
Chocolate Cake NOT
Donkey Ears
Doux Long D’Antibes
Goldfish #2 orange
Goldfish Large Fruited
Largo de Reus
Pepperone di Senise
Ros de Mallorca
Takanotsume
Sunset Aloha
Tollie’s Sweet or KOTN

* are the only new seeds in these groups. Others are saved or traded seeds and some of these peppers are very old and may fail (…which makes for a perfect excuse to start way more seeds than I technically have room for… )

[imafan26]

I know the feeling. I am currently trying to create new spaces by moving my "junkyard" over to the wall.

[applestar]

Getting ready to start additional group of peppers and the tomatoes.

So far in my “starting line up” I have 26 varieties of peppers altogether and 45 varieties of tomatoes. 5 of eggplants. (some are really old seeds that are less likely to be still viable)

Actual number of varieties grown in the garden this year will depend on germination and total number of plants will depend on seedling performance and my endurance + time management performance.

[applestar]

OK, got 22 of the tomatoes started. One of my crosses stood out because these seeds are golden brown. Can you see how pretty they are? Two of its sibling segregates’ seeds are “darker than the usual” tan color … sort of “golden oak” color, too. They seem to have become dyed like this while fermenting.

Got a new thermostat for the heating mat with soil temp probe (my other one is keeping the guppies warm (with a heating mat pressed against the reservoirs). Temperature started out at 68°F and stopped heating at 73.4°F and the indicator turned green (the thermostat was set to 76°F). It’s been bouncing between 73.3°F and 73.5°F ever since. The instructions said it TURNS ON when 4°F below the set temp. I guess this is good enough.…or should I set it higher?

I’m always afraid of overheating them.

Not pictured, but also started some alyssum seeds and two varieties of Basil.

[applestar]

Two tomatoes (sown earlier on a whim; not pictured) and two of the eggplants (Money Maker) have sprouted.

A whole bunch of eggplants (all of the Money Maker and 2 of the Shoya Long) a couple of peppers in pre-germination method and have germinated and have been planted/sown in potting mix to sprout.

I put a small set up rigged that is in dark maintaining approx 80°F for pre-germinating. I added a clamshell of plug cells. This morning that 2nd Money Maker had sprouted and was unfolding pale leaves, so I transferred it to one of the available cells in the. if tray. Just in the past hour it’s greened up quite a bit.

This window gets sun, and with the sun shining on it, the thermostat probe has registered as high as 86°F before I hurriedly removed the plastic covers. It’s registering 84.6°F right now with no cover.

[imafan26]

Your greenhouse is hotter than it even gets outside. It is 81 degrees now, at 1 p.m. It is going to cool down from here. This is actually perfect weather for me. It is warm, but there is a breeze and it is not particularly humid so it does not make me all sweaty, unless I start to do physical work. All my seedlings are started on an open bench in the sun. My biggest problem are that the birds like to forage for the seeds in the pots.

[applestar]

Tomato varieties that have sprouted at least one seedling so far. (Includes some from 2014 seeds! )

Tomato

Black Mountain Pink (black) Gixx’14 3/9/22 3/14/22

Caspian Pink (ellie) 3/9/22 3/14/22

George’s Greek Beefsteak PL F3 (red) (kgolden) huge plants 3/9/22 3/14/22

Northern Lights (tbug) 3/9/22 3/14/22

Schmeig (Stoo) NOT.Striped Hollow SFH’21 cream orange DET TASTY! 3/9/22 3/13/22

Sgt. Pepper’s F5 seasideseeds’14 3/9/22 3/14/22

Terhune AGB’21 3/9/22 3/13/22

Wes VGB.R’21 BIGGEST 3/9/22 3/13/22


Tomato cross

[Dwarf Arctic Rose x Utyonok] DARxU F3-1 KGP.S2 salty mandarin 3/8/22 3/13/22

[Dwarf Arctic Rose x Utyonok] DARxU F3-2 KGP.S2 y.epi tangerine 3/8/22 3/12/22

Faelan’s First Snow SFH’21 3/8/22 3/13/22

Li’l Wild Rosa F5 VGD’21 4~5ft sweet semi-determinate? 3/8/22 3/13/22

Molten Sky (紅蓮の空）F6 or F7 VGB-FR x2truss? 3/8/22 3/14/22

Molten Sun (太陽のトロ) F6 or F7 VGB-FL 3/8/22 3/14/22

Moona Mints (ムーナミンツ) F6 /F7 SG’21 Lg flattened ovoid cherry mm 3/8/22 3/11/22

MR.CF X-short F4 SG’21 Xtra sweet! White Li’l Wild Rosa >> Li’l Bianca? 3/8/22 3/13/22

S7xA F2 (look for microdwarf) [Shimofuri (霜降り)F7 x Aztek] F2 “Blunt ” micro&var 3/8/22 3/13/22

S7xA F2 (look for variegated) [Shimofuri (霜降り)F7 x Aztek] F2 “Flattened” var&micro 3/8/22 3/12/22

S7xA F2 (look for variegated) [Shimofuri (霜降り)F7 x Aztek] F2 “Sm Fruit” micro&var 3/8/22 3/12/22

Sergeant Peppers NOT SG’21 sweet umami GROW AGAIN! 3/9/22 3/13/22

Shimofuri (霜降り) F9 KGP.S2’21 3/8/22 3/12/22

TerhuneX SFH’21 3/8/22 3/14/22

Wild Rosa F5 {MRxC F4 A-1 SFHX Jul’17} 2 3/7/22

Wild Rosa F6 or F7 AGB’21 8.27 sweet umami! variable shape neck 3/9/22 3/14/22

Tomato dwf

Beaverlodge Slicer Laurie’14 3/8/22 3/14/22

Golden Fleece Russian DTM 50d DET orange sugo! (becca’20) 3/8/22 3/14/22

Himbeerfarbig pink cherry basket (becca’20) .early flavor bit boring 3/8/22 3/14/22

Mikado White PL SFH’21 3/8/22 3/13/22

[applestar]

@imafan, I was getting worried about those temperatures. I think this weekend was the last of the really subfreezing cold, and we won’t see much more temps dropping down in the lower 20’s.

So basically any freeze and frost tolerant early spring crops ought to be able to handle the overnights, and I won’t need to be concerned until I start keeping the warm weather seedlings out in the hoop houses.

I have to start UNlayering the hoophouse covers.

* Today, I started by eliminating the layers over the door. I want to remove the entire extra layer of greenhouse film over the front gable-roof-back gable, but I couldn’t get the ladder out today, so I only unsecured the end over the doorway.

* I checked on the remote thermometer readings right after I removed the

I also removed the plastic film covering the long bed but didn’t get the chance to take a good look inside the hoop house.

* It’s hard to see in the pic, but the scallion bottoms I planted under the low tunnel in the right side bed are still green and alive. (lowest temp in the hoophouse over the winter was 12°F)

* That large daikon or maybe rutabaga in the back bed was still alive too, even though that one didn’t get any extra covering

* When I walked around to the back (north side) of the hoophouse, there was an iced over puddle (did you notice it was 95°F INSIDE?)

…when I checked a little while later, the hoophouse temp has moderated to about 85°F. I want to try to keep the maximum temp in the 80’s to low 90’s for now.

[applestar]

Got more seeds started — trays of peas, and most of the tomatoes are up.

Some more of the exciting late arrivals from really close to oldest in my stash include Brandywine from Croatia, Todd’s County Amish, 6 Lb Giant, Jersey Giant, Paul Robeson, Dana’s Dusky Rose….

[TomatoNut95]

Got more seeds started — trays of peas, and most of the tomatoes are up.

Some more of the exciting late arrivals from really close to oldest in my stash include Brandywine from Croatia, Todd’s County Amish, 6 Lb Giant, Jersey Giant, Paul Robeson, Dana’s Dusky Rose….

6 LB giant? I gotta know more about this one, please!

[applestar]

I went back to the seed envelope to see if there was additional info. Apparently, I’m growing from 2013 harvested seeds that I received in an end of 2013 season seed trade. (2 seeds sprouted out of maybe 6?).

I tried the website and they are still active

6 Pound Giant
https://www.delectationoftomatoes.com/s ... Giant.html

From what I remember, they specialize in competition level big tomato lines, and two other varieties from them that I grew in 2013 — ‘Leadbeatter’s Lunker’ and ‘Casey's Pure Yellow’ — were amazing and outstanding —

BIGGEST ONE YET

[TomatoNut95]

Wow!!! What a whopper!!! I definitely want that but it doesn't say if it's a hybrid or heirloom.

[imafan26]

I wish I could grow that but it is impossible. I can get close to a one pound tomato (14 oz), but my day length is too short to get anything really big.

[applestar]

It’s a tricky balance of ideal conditions to grow the really big ones.

I have trouble because most really big fruited varieties are late maturing — 80 days or more, extraordinary methods are needed to plant early with last frost tending to be last week of April to 1st week of May … humid/muggy fungal disease season arrives by mid-June, and warm nights in the mid-70’s°F are typically limited, with most nights falling to upper 60’s… which is nice for comfort but not an advantage when trying to grow any kind of summer garden fruits.

We do have our share of the heatwave days in the 90’s+, typically in late July to August during which fruit set suffers, and then even if the plants recover, it’s an even bet that the temperatures will decline in September and we start seeing days and nights down in the 50’s and 40’s, 30’s in October… meaning second flush of fruits that take long time to size up and ripen might run out of time.

[TomatoNut95]

I have gotten a few fruits that weighed over a pound. One variety was Big Rainbow and another was German Green. I'm most anxious to grow bigger ones, but it's true environmental conditions can mess up your chances of getting perfect fruit. I'm hoping to shoot for a two pounder this year.

[applestar]

I use “just in time” method for seed starting because I have very limited space with ideal conditions for growing seedlings (light, temperature)

The perpetual difficulty with this method is that once they start to sprout and grow, you have to hop to it and keep progressing them to the next situation, be it uppotting to larger containers or acclimating them to outside conditions and planting them out.

So, the tray of Swiss Giant snow peas are ready to be planted (for the time being, I put these pre-germinated and sown pea trays outside in the Patio Hoop House as soon as they started to sprout in the house) and the tray full of mostly tomatoes and few eggplants and peppers absolutely need to be separated and uppotted.

…I’m thinking must st least get started on the solanacea tomorrow…

(Of course I couldn’t help but to start just a few more peppers since too many of the previously started pepper seeds failed to germinate )

[applestar]

I need to sit down and organize recent developments and photos, but I thought I’ll share this photo of my Goldfish (a Fish pepper sport discovered among overwintered peppers in the Winter Indoor Garden) that appears to have decided to be precocious and display a variegated seed leaf while in what is essentially an “incubator”

…I’ll try to get this one and the other sprouted pepper seedlings all planted in a cell tray tomorrow….

— the old pepper seeds have not cooperated, and I only have these peppers to grow from seeds this year:
Aji Dulce Amarillo
Chocolate Cake NOT (red thick walled)
Chocolate Cake X (mottled red/brown)
Doux Long d’Antibes
GoldfishX (3”L)
GoldfishX (RED biggest)
Rocoto Mini Olive F5

I do also have overwintered Aji Dulce Amarillo, Bolivian Rainbow, Fish, Goldfish, and I think BTS Ladybug(?) as well.

[applestar]

Hadn’t gone outside in a few days — we’ve had rain and more rain, even a pellet hail a couple(?) days ago….

I was afraid the cool weather seedlings in the Patio Hoophouse might have dried out (too ironic to be under roof with all the water outside) and made myself go check on them just before sunset.

They were all OK but was really needing a good drink, so I mixed up a fortified drink for them with cultured pasta cooking water and rice washing water + (hmm what was in this one? …yogurt whey, yeast, finished bokashi juice… and a squirt of eggshell vinegar, I think.)

[applestar]

I think I have “enough” pepper seedlings growing despite the initial rocky start —

I was trying to grow more bells and other sweets this year, and less of the hots, but my Goldfish seemed to think otherwise, so …

— a good number of Goldfish seedlings,

— a couple of Rocoto Mini-olives…. Aji Dulce Amarillo….

— Sweet yellow Doux Long d’Antibes made a surprise late effort and sprouted extra seedlings,

— as did seeds from a Chocolate Cake X bell pepper that was notably sweet.

— And that Oda bell pepper seed had germinated among the pile of “to be discarded” — mostly dried up ungerminated seedzip spoons — and was recovered at the last minute.


… Oh, and that lone tomato is a single seedling of 6 Pound Giant that had started to keel over from apparent damping off, which I cut off above the affected stem line and tried rooting in water. Good root system developed, so am trying to see if it can grow on.

[applestar]

As I reported elsewhere, the tray of variegated tomato seedlings are under attack and are suffering from “damping off.”

…Hoping a new remedy I’m trying will have beneficial effects.

[applestar]

Part of this stage of starting a widely different type tomato seedlings that I find so intriguing is seeing the different leaf types

[applestar]

Finally got out to work in the garden yesterday.

- something keeps knocking over admittedly loosely secured side wall of my main compost pile. It could just be the severe wind gusts… hopefully not some animal of sufficient size trying to rummage — not time or allotted energy to turn compost and rebuild pile, so loosely resecured again

- even though next few days are going to see temp dips cold enough for possible frost, I had to remove and loosen more of the extra layers on the Sunflower HoopHouse so sunniest early afternoon temp won’t climb into 100°F
- also took away the fleece covers over the daikon and chinese cabbages which, although mostly overwintered with only a couple of winter kills, have been enthusiastically blooming…. —> Harvested The surviving AspaBroc side shoots and still-unfurling and tender daikon and chinese cabbage floral buds
- “called” the overwintered daikon and turnips in minimally protected Spiral Garden arc — harvested the roots and tops even though they have all started to bolt
—> loosened the ground, fortified with some of the remaining home made bokashi and dolomitic lime, then planted the overgrown Swiss Giant snow peas
— Culled/harvested most of the overwintered komatsuna and baby pakchoi in center of the Spiral Garden
— provided protection for the snow peas and the remaining greens in center of the SG in case pests are lurking about
- weeded the Vegetable Gardenbed A — fully grown and nearly ready to shed bitter cresses — just in time and they hadn’t started to scatter seeds,
- Sooo, decided to start a “Drowned Weeds” bucket and gathered every single bitter cress I could spot — filled the 4 gal cat litter bucket. Inoculated with fermented liquid bokashi and filled with water. It will take a while — a couple of weeks — if the temp remains low

[applestar]

…BTW I’ve mentioned my “drowned weeds” before, but a quick review —

I can’t guarantee it, but by the time the “drowned weeds” are finished, it will have gone through a fermentation process, bubbling and heating up — it will smell like fresh horse manure, and will need to be treated with “respect”

I strain the liquid through several layers of burlap to use diluted as nitrogen-rich liquid fertilizer and bokashi booster, and the final dregs will be used as compost activator.

[applestar]

Here is the original recipe from 2015, after having tried making it based on various nettle leaf tea and other green/vegan manure tea instructions, and trialing the results for a few years.

That was made like “wild sourdough”. More recently, I also add whatever known quality random probiotics that are available.

One way to compost weeds that will not die in Luke-warm composting environment is to thoroughly dry them up first -- pile them where they can't set down roots like pavement or on a tarp.

Seedy weeds and persistent weeds that will go ahead and mature seeds even after being cut or pulled from the ground can be composted after drowning and fermenting. I do this by filling up a 5 gal bucket with the weeds then adding water to cover. I make sure they are completely submerged by stepping in with my booted foot. To keep out mosquitoes and flies, I cover this with double layer of burlap tightly secured with a string.

If the bucket wasn't full, you can add more weeds and keep stepping them under. The water will turn murky green and will start to bubble and ferment. It will eventually smell like fresh horse manure -- it takes 1-2 wks I think. I never actually made note of the time it takes. I suppose it depends on temperature, etc.

I call this ""DROWNED WEEDS". Very rich in GREENS/nitrogen. I suppose weed seeds that survive digestive system of cows and horses may also survive this, but this mixture really heats up the compost pile when layered or mixed in.

[imafan26]

Applestar. What is the difference between daikon and turnip. Mostly I think of daikon as a radish. I have some shogoin turnips and I have grown purple top turnips, but I don't think they taste like daikon.

Daikon is good for making takuan, especially the Korean varieties (they are crisper). I use it to make nishime. I tried it in stew. That, I did not like much. It can be made into namul with carrots and seaweed. I usually can't eat that because it has a lot of salt. What else can I do with it and besides baking turnips, what do you do with it?

[applestar]

@imafan I’m not that well versed in root vegs. to grow them.

But maybe a little more to say when cooking them —

My general impression is radishes/daikon are waterier and have well-defined radiating channels, whereas turnips are denser. This difference is particularly visible when cut equatorially and also when cooked or pickled.

Pickled sliced young and fast maturing turnips in sweet vinegar and kombu/kelp is always good. I have always liked cooked/stewed turnips — again dense opaque turnip vs semi translucent radish/daikon. Young and fast maturing turnips are sweet, but I think older turnips can be earthy/bitter — when in doubt, offset the bitterness with sweeter ingredients like carrots and parsnips in the stew.

Daikon/radishes can be spicy and inherently well suited paired with fatty/heavy meats (due to the digestion prompting enzymes). Classic stewed daikon recipes paired with …Chicken thighs, pork belly and pork boston butt, beef chuck… atsuage and age tofu, oden (fried fish cakes), etc.

Daikon is also eaten fresh raw thinly chopped into match sticks, shaved into ribbons, or grated, to serve with fatty raw or grilled fish.

Japanese “traditional” or “heritage” vegetables can be confusing because they are often given same names based on where they are grown. So there are Shogoin TURNIP and Shogoin DAIKON. The roots look similar — white and round, but have the distinct rounded turnip leaves vs. divided daikon leaves.

[applestar]

Finally got out in the garden again. REALLY quick inspection to assess, then critical priorities in limited time I had today.

My most pressing need is that most of my seed-started tomato plants have passed what I would consider to be the limit for staying in these cell trays.

Two of the trays wouldn’t even fit under one of the the light setups any more — these are T5’s which means if these tender leaves reach up and touch for 3 minutes, they wilt, and by 5 minutes, they are burnt.

So even though forecast is calling for 40, 36, 36, 37, then 40°F overnight lows this week, I’ve had to put them in the SFH Hoophouse. I’ve put them under a double layer partial fleece + vented plastic low tunnel inside the hoophouse, but I can’t batten down and tightly seal the hoophouse because it gets way too hot during the day, and I haven’t been able to get outside regularly, so no am/pm daily adjustments.

I dug up a big patch of german iris to move them and refurbish the Kitchen Garden, and loosened the soil in part of the Haybale Row.

Harvested more ostrich Fern fiddleheads and AspaBroc side shoots, radish and turnip flower buds —

…I had some of them, salt-rinsed and steamed with mixed whole grain rice and buckwheat along with delivery Chinese food (sesame beef)

[applestar]

Sweet violets in mixed lawn area under the weeping cherry tree at far side of the driveway

…Harvested a bit more fiddleheads and found some Purple Passion asparagus hiding behind the tangled blackberry canes (Almost missed harvest window! Despite the long stems, they were still tender due to growing inside the thicket. )

…I had some of both steamed on top of rice; and DD2 said she enjoyed the rest of the asparagus by baking/roasting in the toaster oven with butter and sea salt

[applestar]

I thought I killed my bareroot strawberry plants. It’s been over a week and I haven’t been able to plant them.

I did try to sustain them by removing the bunched crowns from the bag (in each clump several had dark green tiny leaves but they were mostly still dormant), adding about a pint of potting mix fortified with kelp meal and eggshell vinegar in the bottom of the bags, then adding about a cup of 10% bokashi liquid.

I’m hoping to finally get around to planting them today (I started prepping the bed a couple of days ago), and when I peeked in the bags, the crowns have almost all sprouted and are looking READY! (This will be the last chance — if I don’t get them in the ground, they will likely weaken and die.…)

[imafan26]

Your garden bowl looks a little bit like mine. I have a broccoli side shoot, a few snow peas, and beans in mine.

[applestar]

There were 27 Jewel and 29 Annapolis strawberry crowns in the bunches of “25” each.

I managed to plant 12 of one and 13 of the other today where I really wanted to start a new strawberry patch.

I’ll have to figure out and prep another bed for the rest …or maybe plant in some kind of a container. (I think I have a fabric “raised bed” kind of a container somewhere. Maybe I’ll use that. I also have a couple of plastic 12 or 14 inch hanging pots. Maybe ) hmm.

Afternoon was sunny with outdoor temp up to 70°F, meaning I had to open up and vent the two hoop houses in a hurry.

When I was releasing the wiggle wired down back gable flap for the Sunflower House, I noticed a movement inside. Peering inside, a HOUSE WREN flew from one side to the other. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE!!!?”

…Went around to the front and opened the door wide (one of the wooden stay for the automated vent was pulled off — no doubt the silly bird was trying to find a way out)

I was talking to the bird the entire time — saying there was NO WAY you could have gotten in because this hoop house is fully clad in insect screen mesh as the first layer — it’s supposed to KEEP OUT cabbage whites and SVB’s, leaf-foots , leaf miners and hopefully pepper maggot flies, so I can grow vegs that need to be protected.

With the front door open, I walked around to the back wall and slapped at it from the outside until the bird flew out.

Thinking back, yesterday, the wren was singing at first, but then it wasn’t singing any more — one of the reasons I confidently cleaned out the nestbox this wren had been eyeing up. I think it must have snuck inside from the open doorway while I was inside or had stepped away with door open to get something, and I must have shut it inside for the entire rest of the afternoon and overnight

(After I was done for the day, I heard the wren singing over the cleaned out nestbox. I had fun imagining the conversation — This house came furnished at first, but it’s better — now, you can decorate it exactly the way you want…. )

[applestar]

Today, either the same wren or another one got in the Patio Hoop House while I was working in the garden. One of the front flap zipper was open about 2 inches… but ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I planted almost all of the rest of the strawberry crowns today. They are in sorry shape… hopefully they will recover.

I also planted some of the Iona Petit Pois peas that have become overgrown in cell trays, as well as lettuce starts that had become stunted.

…I know what I’m SUPPOSED to be doing, and I’m good at keeping seedlings alive way past reasonable time in their seedling start containers, but it bums me out to no end that I’m unable to keep up with the intended schedule.

HOWEVER, if these peas and all the started tomatoes and eggplants, peppers, etc. manage to pull through, by the time I’m done, I’ll end up with one of the fun effects of starting seeds in containers and have grown seedlings to plant — AN INSTANT GARDEN.

You can see the visual effect below with the peas.

…I’m pre-germinating short grain sweet rice and they have started to grow seed roots. If all goes well, I will prep and plant my Rain Garden mini-Rice Paddy which has stood fallow for the past …three?… years.

[applestar]

The strawberries are perking up

[applestar]

Those short grain sweet rice are sprouting now. I have a 8x6 plug tray and a community bowlful.

…will put them outside in the Patio Hoophouse to grow — they should be planted (under protection if necessary) around mid-late May.