Applestar's 2017 Garden

[applestar]

More recent successes:


...and some re-starts and more starts -- first batch Land Seaweed didn't sprout and I have given up on those, but I'm DETERMINED to grow these this year, so started some more. Bhut Peach has one that germinated and stalled in the seedzip. Not sure if it will make it.

SURPRISE germination from my saved "could be any cross-mixture of those since they were all in the same bed" Asian greens seeds harvested from Kyoto No.3 Chinese cabbage sprouted in actuality less than 1 day. Closely followed by a Chinese heading mustard.

Mustard, Kyoto#3 x Komatsuna•Tatsoi•Red Russian Kale 2016
Mustard, Bau Sin Kai Tsai (pinetree'16-17 Ellie)

[applestar]

So, nothing to be particularly excited about, but I finally planted one section of the Sunflower & House with lettuce, peas, and onion seedlings. (There are existing garlic chives and radicchio here -- the radicchio overwinters but only heads up if the conditions are right. Also overwintered clump of parsley and a couple of self-seeded chamomile. Not seeing any sign of catnip that used to be here.)



Last year, I meticulously started lettuce varieties separately and labeled them. This year, I dumped them together, so I have no idea which one the speckled beauty is Mostly planted the WallaWalla onion seedlings in the bed to the left, and planted small number of White Wing onion seedlings to the right. This was just a trial to see how the seedlings looked -- they are at just the right condition to be planted, so I should plant the rest in the next couple of days.




Compared to Carouby de Maussane and Tom Thumb which were the fastest to sprout but were seriously blasted by unexpected/unprepared-for frost then near 90°F heatwave, this Miragreen starts looked really good this morning, and I wanted to plant them before they deteriorated. ...it turned out they had grown roots out of the little Kcups ages ago... but no biggie because I could snip off the bottom and easily slip them out. But the experimental 1/2 toilet paper tube paper pots were even better. I will go with those next time.

...oh yeah... TONS of earthworms under the path mulch. They will probably happily move over to the cardboard mulch.

[applestar]

This one was best out of the three variegated seedlings I uppotted today. Two more good looking ones are waiting their turn. I'll take their pics then.

[rainbowgardener]

Yay! Plants in the ground! Looking good!

[applestar]

Subject: What kind of bog plants are you growing?

...my triple PawPaw planting dubbed "Paw and Paw and Baby Paw"

BOTH Paw and Paw are blooming this year, so high hopes for seeing some fruits later this season. I am as intrigued as ever by the gorgeous maroon blossoms.


...Baby Paw is still a little twig to the left...

[applestar]

Most of my garden beds are protected with rabbit or chickenwire fence to keep out critters, but I have a few unprotected beds where I rotate plants that are mostly unappetizing to bunnies. I was going to clear one of those of vetch covercrop and plant onions, then I noticed a grey matted fur and a hole. I couldn't see into the darkness of the hole without clearing the overhanging vetch, so I took a picture and then zoomed in and pushed the exposure....



...now what am I going to do with that bed? I planted garlic there last fall and they are getting overgrown by the vetch, and who knows what happened/will happen to the saffron Crocus. I hope they get to grow a bit and go dormant instead of getting munched down as tasty snacks. O_o

[applestar]

I found a surprise in the Garage V8 today -- one of the tomato seedlings has started to bloom

From the relative position to the extra-tall antho/purple-stemmed plant, which can only be Sgt. Pepper's, I believe the one that is blooming is Marz Pulcent (the top-middle one). Sgt. Pepper's is actually outside of the reflector so as not to touch the T8 bulb, which will burn.



...time to take these outside to join the RM (Rice Milk container) with Pill Bottle Soil Block tomato seedlings which were the first to be sent out to harden off.

[applestar]

Did I post these maps already?

[applestar]

Can you see the three super dark/antho stemmed, wispy foliage seedlings (one in left photo, 2 in right) that have outpaced the fellow seedlings and are growing past the reflector or into the lights, trying to touch them?

These troublemakers are all Sergeant Pepper's. The fruits will be Pink heart with antho/purple shoulders.



...

I weeded and dug a trench for planting seed potatoes in one bed -- I couldn't finish today, but hope to finish prepping and plant the taters tomorrow.

I weeded the beds and and buried crab guts and shells in the path between Haybale Row (HBR) and the Sunflower House (SFH) beds well as in the bottom of a compost pile I started IN the SFH. HBR will be winter squash bed and SFH will be tomato bed this year.

DH cleaned out the chest freezer and pulled out some vacuum sealed old trout. I'm burying them in the Spiral Garden Spiral swale/path -- this year's corn patch.

[McPeg]

Okay, do you own a farm? Or just have total garden around your home?
I'm drooling over your plant list...and jealous because my last frost date is the last weekend in May. Ughhh! And then it often flips to hot weather quickly.
I love your pics, thank you for sharing.

[applestar]

Yay! One of the seeds for Doe Hill pepper has germinated in the seedzip. I hope this one makes it. Two Bhut Jolokia Peach seeds that had germinated in the seedzip died -- one's root turned mushy, the other one turned into a green mush. Damped off?

...somehow not having luck with the Bhut Jolokia varieties in general ... maybe the universe is laughing at my temerity in thinking I might possibly be able to eat them

[applestar]

Okay, do you own a farm? Or just have total garden around your home?
I'm drooling over your plant list...and jealous because my last frost date is the last weekend in May. Ughhh! And then it often flips to hot weather quickly.
I love your pics, thank you for sharing.

Haha I answered that on p.3 of this thread. Thanks for the feedback. I sometimes feel like I'm just rambling on and on....

...Last weekend in May (I usually abbreviate that as 5/E) ...so you could be planting cold weather stuff now, right? Peas, carrots, Lettuce, Spinach.... onions... potatoes soon. Looking forward to hearing about your garden.

[McPeg]

Hi again, I'm going to check out page 3 in a bit. I LOVE this website. I was a founding member on GardenWeb before it was sold. I LOVE gardening and live in the country. I only garden around the house which is enough for me but I do help our friends with their small garden and share a lot of plants and seeds. For a few years I helped our local farmers market with administration and hung out for socializing until our computer business started getting busy on the weekends and I was needed to answer the phones. Talking dirt comes naturally for me. Hahahaha. I've just returned to this site after a long absence. The first thing I do is check the unanswered posts to see if I can help people. Especially the newbies. I will share garden photos later once I get going more outside.

So yes here we are planting cool weather plants. I should have waited until early June to put in my green beans but ... I got impatient. Last couple of years I ran out of major energy due to health and searing heat all summer kept me indoors with the a/c on. I cannot do the heat so my garden suffered greatly. Being on a well and given that some homes were low on water last summer we were careful with our water. I will get a post going about myself and my garden history like you have done here.

I hope to make many new friends and try to help people with their questions. I do a small amount of carrots, I love white turnip too. Lettuce I do a bit but I love swiss chard. I'm working to improve my soil and slowly digging out a lot of rocks and boulders. Nothing worse than hearing the twang of my garden fork hitting another boulder to dig out....

Gotta get to your page 3 and start catching up.
Cheers or ta ta for now!

[applestar]

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I Uppotted those silly Sgt Pepper's(es?) -- 1 in 3 oz cup and 1 PTP -- and 1 Ernie's Plump that were pushing at the lights, as well as one of the Wes in a Kcup that I'm giving away in 9 oz bevcups. Biggest three that won't fit under the V8 lights went outside on the picnic table to harden off.

2 Bear Creek and 1 Big Cheef Stripes were Uppotted into PTP's (Paper Tube Pots) and took place of the removed 3 paper tubes in the RM carton.

Look at the roots! I'm very satisfied with the way these worked and will be using this method for the next size up from Kcups in the future. I tore off the upper portion of the paper tubes but left the bottom part intact -- I think the roots are getting out from the folded bottom as well as through the sides fine on their own, and once buried, the tubes should unravel at the spiral seams pretty quickly. Remember, too, that there is a red wiggler in each tube.



I planted the blooming Marz Pulcent in a 9" square x 10" H pot and put it outside on the patio. But I added one of those little tomato cages and covered with a big clear plastic bag -- just have to remember to remove it when it gets hot and sunny. According to the gardening friend who gave me the seeds, this variety is extra early and "red - and delicious!! The plant should reach a height of about 45 cm / 1,5 ft." Another description for the variety "small dwarf plant making very large fruits for the size of the plant (40 to 70 gr). Red tomato in the shape of a cocktail. Tasty a little too juicy, but with a very good taste."

[applestar]

Really slow to get started....

- The little bit of greens growing seem like a bad joke (SELF deprecating. No offense to folks just starting out with a little garden -- I have a LOT of garden space that I haven't got around to planting you understand)

- That trench I dug up for planting potatoes is filled with water this morning after yesterday and last night's rain (silverlining -- I hadn't planted the potatoes yet ...probably would have rotted sitting in all that water. I need to work out a better drainage --at least poke more holes and fracture the bottom and surrounding soil with garden fork.)

- Just one side of the house -- HBR, SFH, SG and their annexes after first round of weeding. If you can see them, the garlic are growing well in the SFH. Also the Elephant Garlic to the left along the fence.



I really need to get planting!

(Studio Ghibli Totoro)

[applestar]

Today -- that tunnel was absolutely filled with chickweed. I have to admit I did NOT do a thorough job prepping this bed. I simply pulled the chickweed -- chickweed is actually very tough to pull out, even with the ground saturated, so I only broke the upper growth off then went over once with Japanese weed hoe which may or may not have skimmed the sub-surface roots from the basal stem. The soil and roots were roiling with earthworms so I had to go easy. The chickweed had gone to seed so seeds scattered everywhere. Yeah it's going to be a mess later.



I "harvested" some of the chickweed. Most of them went into the compost bin. I'm freezing the colanderful and the tiniest portion filled this recycled pasta sauce jar. That one is going to be topped with sesame oil to extract the essence and make a salve.

I planted Asian greens and broccoli. Michihili loose-head Chinese cabbage and Semposai or Tokyo Bekana -- trimmed the biggest leaves since I accidentally pulled off a big section of the roots. Also more of my seed grown WallaWalla onions. I was going to paper then plant, but didn't feel up to it after doing just the one section.

[applestar]

DD assembled the plant shelves on the patio for me, so more tomato plants have been evicted to harden off outside.

[rainbowgardener]

Beautiful little seedlings!

The chick weed is edible. If you know anyone with chickens, it is their favorite treat! They love it. It was the commonest weed in my yard, but I am actually reducing the amount of chickweed in the yard, because I pull a big double handful of it twice a day to give the chickens. When I do that, I try to pull it by the roots.

[applestar]

Well, the tomatoes are STILL being put in the back of the line....

I harvested these lettuces and Chinese leaf cabbages/Asian greens from under the brown insect screen cover:



And planted more overgrown pea plants (Miragreen and Ambrosia). Then lettuce mix, arugula, and brassicas ...some broccoli mixed in there, largest are Michihili -- also planted 1@ bottomless test Kcups of "Mustard, Kyoto#3 x Komatsuna•Tatsoi•Red Russian Kale 2016" and "Mustard, Bau Sin Kai Tsai (pinetree'16-17 Ellie)" -- under another insect screen tunnel. Scattered the seed started WallaWalla and White Wing onion plants among them (they are still looking good).



...also managed to FINALLY plant the seed potatoes and onion sets

[applestar]

Earliest to start blooming out of the 44 varieties (though admittedly not started all at once) is Marz Pulcent. 3 out of 5 plants are blooming



This one is Maskotka:



Both varieties are from a friend in Germany.

[applestar]

Here's my volunteer yellow peach tree that grew from a store-bought organic peach pit. Peaches are self-fertile, so you can generally count on getting a good offspring. I'd also counted on/hoped that an organically grown fruit would be a variety which is more disease resistant.

It's growing in front of the semi-standard Enterprise apple tree (currently being neglected -- don't look at all the overgrown weeds ) so I want to keep it small and train it in a more-or-less fan-espalier style. It's currently only about waist high and I tied down the two main branches along the top of that rabbit fence last year to train them. There is a third long scaffold branch forming and I need to set up a more dedicated support system.



My purchased Carolina Belle Peach tree that bloomed later than this one is not doing as well -- only one fruit since they were blasted by late frost/freeze just as they unfurled their petals.

[applestar]

Subject: 2017 - what peppers are you growing?
March 28, 2017

Its not easy to separate out in this group shot, but here is a Maui Purple, originally one of a seedling pepperhead shared with me back in 2015. It was looking very sad from mite infestation but has recovered after the predatory mites were introduced.

I'm starting to train it -- opening up the center for more air circulation and better shape -- by bending down the stems and branches. The branches with purple flowers are part of Maui Purple. I'm excited about the trunk characteristic -- those bumps will look cool after I clean up the twigs.



Later on when everybody goes outside, I'll be able to take individual portraits of this and other ones I'm designating "bonsai (bonchi) wannabe"

Still inside under Winter Wonderland lights, but this Maui Purple is amazing-looking! You can see some of the other pepper foliage in the photo for comparison.

Beautiful purple blossoms have been blooming already... and that mature red fruit as well as others that set fruit during the Winter Indoor culture should have been isolated enough not to have been crossed... but if they were, the green fruits in the foreground are Takanotsume, and Pasilla Bajio may have been blooming to the right.

[applestar]

High of high 50's - low 60's and low of 40's-50's for the next 10 days. Looks like we're going to have extended spring temps afterall. Good for the cool weather stuff, but now I have to decide what to do with the warm weather stuff.

I think I will still start planting tomatoes in last year's garlic bed (SFHX) which sat covered with a hoop tunnel and plastic sheeting all winter and spring with nothing in it At least the soil should be warmed up under there. I intend that bed to be this year's cherry tomato and extra-tall peppers bed.

Got rice (Koshihikari this year) started/soaking and pre-germinating to plant in my tiny rice paddy/raingarden. Have not started corn but will this weekend. Have to finish prepping the Spiral Garden -- the old frozen trout that I buried in the swale/path have not been dug up by random marauders, so I think it will be safe to go ahead and prep the bed. After all that rain (2+ inches) there are only two spots that are puddling -- I want the "swale" to sequester water below surface this year so as not to make me or the neighbors worry about mosquitoes, although I do want to have a couple of short duration puddles for the birds' use. There seems to be PLENTY of frogs calling in the night so they obviously need the Spiral Garden as their habitat.

Hopefully try to fashion a coldframe cover over one of the framed raised beds -with a legless square glass patio tabletop I picked up- to plant some of the peppers and eggplants in.

...plenty of stuff to do... re-fill the pallet sided high bed and the VG beds, replace two patio containers and a window box with a small framed raised bed... weeds weeds weeds everywhere... oh hopefully work on the pond surround scape some more and dig in the waterfall structure....

[applestar]

...this is sort of an experiment. These tomato seedlings have started showing signs of mite infestation. On 5/5, I positioned the 5 Kcups in the Mochi Ice cream tray, as well as the WSxFFS in the 9oz cup, nestled under these peppers (Maui Purple, Takanotsume, etc.) in the Winter Wonderland making sure that the tomato foliage was making contact with the stems and leaves of the peppers.

...why? Because these peppers had been badly infested by mites earlier in the winter, but they recovered after I released the predatory mites on them and have been growing well ever since. So the idea here is to coax some of the predatory mites to migrate over to the tomato seedlings and clean them up.

It's only been a couple of days, but the first 5 seem to me to have stopped deteriorating and are possibly showing slight signs of recovery. Today, I put 8 more seedlings that I Uppotted into these paper tubes here today in hopes of seeing these recover as well.

[applestar]

It was cloudy and drizzly today and never got above 50°F today.... All of the frost-talk around the middle states has made me nervous although I don't think our temps will get that low -- however, overnight lows forecast for the next several days are low-40's maybe a dip down to upper 30's.

...so I wrapped my seedling shelves on the patio

[applestar]

Rice seeds are starting to germinate... ... but the temperature outside has gone down -- I was going to sow the germinated seeds directly, but may have to start them and plant started plants instead.

[pepperhead212]

That temp out there is a major problem, isn't it, apple!? I have a number of things I should be getting in the ground, but it is just too cold at night! However, it's not as bad as last May...yet.

[applestar]

It's completely playing havoc with my planting plans, though maybe making me feel a bit OK for procrastinating this spring.

It got down to 36°F before dawn in open areas around here ...my remote sensor on the patio recorded low of 39°F.


...maybe it's a *good* thing that I haven't been able to take these container figs outside yet, for various reasons.


...they have fully leafed out and are loaded with fruits... They do need to go outside to ripen in the heat of the sun once the weather settles, and it's going to be a BEAR to very carefully maneuver them out through the house past THREE doorways. Can't decide if it would be better to roll them out of the garage on their plant dollies to the FRONT of the house, then somehow transport them over the uneven soft grass/ground around to the patio around back.

[SQWIB]

Same here, 39 again tonight.
My peppers are not happy!

[applestar]

Yesterday, I wasn't feeling very well -- maybe fighting a virus -- but mentally, I was full of ideas and projects I wanted to accomplish, so I pushed through it and (but only) planted two hanging baskets and a container, taking blooming overgrown tomato plants out of the protected seedling shelf enclosure on the patio.

Maskotka, which is described as good for hanging basket culture, Marz Pulcent which "only grows to 40cm" but am not sure has a weeping/sprawling habit that makes good hanging basket tomato, and Uluru Ochre -- a dwarf, but may actually grow too big for than the 2.5 gallon container I used. (I noticed later that I had another container that would have been more appropriate, ready to plant by the potting mix bin... )

I took pictures for my own records, but they look pathetic right now so I will wait to photo-and-post until they look more presentable ...unless someone wants see the before and (hopefully) after.

...anyway... I didn't check the weather forecast (I guess I wasn't mentally 100% either) and it got down to 41°F overnight. Oh well.....

I did also sow some radish seeds (saved Bunnytail) where they would get extra moisture, more carrot seeds, (Chantenay Red Core and a Korean variety -- Sinheukjeon5) cleared a small patch and planted more started onion plants (WallaWalla).

I had what I hoped was a mature Littleleaf H-19 cucumber on the counter ...almost all winter so I think it WAS mature... but I noticed yesterday that it had collapsed into a moldy mess on one end when I wasn't looking. So I cleaned it out -- inside was fine, no mold -- and washed/dried the seeds. There were a few seeds in the container that was resisting so I took those outside and sowed them.

[applestar]

Started these herbs and flowers. Need to get my old seeds used up or tossed. I thought coriander might be up by now, but no sign as yet. The lettuce seeds are from Europe. Hope they didn't run into problems while traveling and will germinate.

5.12 Herb, Basil Blue Spice Pinetree'14-15
5.12 Herb, Basil Lemon Sweet Dani Park'13-14
5.12 Herb, Basil Lettuce Leaf '16-17
5.12 Herb, Basil Lime Burpee'08-09
5.12 Herb, Basil Mixed '13
5.12 Herb, Basil Thai Siam '15
5.12 Herb, Dill '13
5.12 Herb, Mexican Mint Marigold '13-14
5.7 Flower, columbine Wm G •long-spurred Y tbug EGT'16
5.7 Flower, Milkweed Spider tbug EGT'16
5.7 Flower, Milkweed tall green tbug EGT'16
5.7 Herb, Coriander 'dynamo' 2016
5.7 Herb, Coriander Lemon scented tbug
5.7 Herb, Coriander Santo tbug
5.7 Herb, Fennel Zefa Fino Pinetree 14-15
5.7 Lettuce, Kado vendor Ellie

[applestar]

I'm back to randomly doing gardening chores. Stepped outside to check on the seedlings, water, etc. decided sparsely sprouted qt berry container of cool weather seedlings needed to be planted -- a couple of lettuce, q/w doz red stemmed chard, a couple of pathetic spinach one of which was trying to bolt with only one pair of true leaves, a bunch of seedlings that were growing well, that was NOT the dwarf kale as labeled ... after some thought, I believe these are the last of red tsoi seeds that @Gixxerific sent back in 2011? They went in available spots in the SF&H and I planted the red tsoi's under the insect screen because last time I grew them, the cabbage whites liked them too much... better than broccoli, even better than kale.

It's a good thing I upgraded the insect screen from the pop-up to the tunnel for the group on the left. More room to tuck things in.



...

Went to do a minor trimming of suspect branch on the columnar apple, then remembered I promised DH that I would prune the tree by the mailbox, that led to trimming and re-shaping the stepover around the mailbox area. Trimmings were piled up and used to mulch one end of the mailbox bed where the grass always try to move in.



The tree trimmings were handy for mulching the new pecan and pecan/chestnut mounds, then

As long as I had the loppers, I might as well prune the nectarine ...nectarine trimmings seemed like a good choice for mulching the Tilla on the curbside. So that led to lopping off all the watersprouts at the base and along the trunk up as far as I can reach.

...yeah already tired, I had meant to plant some tomatoes today...

[applestar]

After a false-start --- everything set out and ready, planted 6 seedlings, then got rained on and rained on and poured, forcing me to retreat inside.... go all of these tomatoes and some leftover peas planted

[applestar]

...I can't decide if the garlic is doing well or there are some premature yellowing going on. Maybe I should have fertilized them some more. I keep forgetting to do that due to too many other things going on in spring....

Now we need some of that steady soaking rain around here. Of course right now, we are continuing to have crazy stupid weather -- 42 °F right now at 4AM. Does that mean I still jumped the gun planting tomatoes? Meh -- I suspect (considering the several sizzling days) the ground temp will compensate.

...what am I doing up at 4AM? I'm hurting ALL OVER -- so much that I couldn't stay asleep even though I went out like a light last night.

[applestar]

Whew! I think I finished planting all the tomatoes that can be squeezed into the Sunflower House + Sunflower House Extension beds (SFH + SFHX). I'll finish by planting some peppers in the remaining SFHX space and then will try to plant lots of basils and possibly carrots and maybe some onions to fill in. Some kind of beans -- pole beans on the arch trellis and some kind of bush beans, adzuki, edamame, etc. as space opens up after the garlic are harvested.



It started raining heavily while I was finishing up, so only a bad tele-photo from the upstairs window



- that Robin swooped in to be included just as I snapped the shot.

I still need to put up or secure the supports.
Grassy looking stuff in rows are garlic. Tzan Turban garlic will be ready to harvest 2-3 weeks before the others. The clump of narrower grassy looking stuff are the perennial Garlic Chives with the mother clumps of Egyptian onions hiding just behind the arch trellis.

[lakngulf]

Back in business. Looking good. I am not sure I could ever be that organized.

[applestar]

Thanks! I will be visiting the PETC meetings soon...

[applestar]

Some of the notable tomato varieties -- more to be photo'ed and posted soon!

(was) Alonzo's Medals [Elgin Purple x Sgt. Pepper's] F3 (HBR 9.11.16) bc/antho shoulders
I'm advancing the 9-11 fruit -- VERY dark stems on these



Sergeant Pepper's (itali'16) large pink heart with antho shoulders


...the tallest has beginning of flower buds on it -- I only noticed after taking the picture and was hurrying off to do something else ... and looking at the photo now, I failed to capture them


Faelan's First Snow (DDsack.september'15 from applestar'14) variegated foliage and large purple beefsteak fruits

...these were in pretty bad shape in tiny cups -- hoping to see some more variegation developing once they recover

Dwarf bed in the SFH.
... Late-started 'Tim' [Dwf Pink Passion x HOZO F3] F2 didn't make it in here but I'm planning to plant some in containers and others in a raised bed on the other side of the house with extras of Mascotka and Marz Pulcent, as well as more of the dwarfs here -- I think I have Chocolate Lightning, Blazing Beauty and Brandy Fred. Maybe Orange Cream, too? Brandy Fred has been very susceptible to the mite infestation, but is think I have a couple that will pull through.

[Shanghaisky]

Wow! When I grow up, maybe I can be as prolific a gardener as you!

[applestar]

thanks!


Here's another one -- I hesitated to post this because these are rather lame looking right now... No fault of the variety at this juncture -- operator/gardener error -- hopefully they will exceed expectations. Location they were given is very good.


Rebel Yell [Stump of the World x Bear Claw] is a variety that mostly southern growers rave over. It has very large lush potato leaf foliage that they say provides superb protection from sun scald of the fruits... and the flavor of the large pink beefsteak fruits is supposed to be top notch... grown in the south. This is maybe my third attempt to grow this variety. If it doesn't live up to its reputation this year, I'm giving up on growing it any more.