April planting part 2

~ Homo neanderthalensis ~ 3 Comments

It’s almost all in. I say almost because despite the fact that rain wasn’t forecast until tomorrow… it started today. So I got most of my plants in anyways.

The blackberry will have to wait until the rain stops- but at least the tomatoes and the mess of zucchini are in.

The zucchini was an adventure however.

For one thing the root ball was very stuck in.

Yeah, not gonna be able to separate that.

On top of that, the other problem is this bed that has the best room for the squash ball is fairly shallow. I tried to separate the roots so I could have a few plants in different areas- but that dog wouldn’t hunt. Faced with lots of roots… I improvised.

I took a bag of potting soil and mounded it up into a hill. Then I dug as deep a hole I could and put the sure start inside. And then I planted my squash ball and hoped for the best.

I still have to mulch the hill, but as mentioned, we’ve had a rain delay.

Mount squash. It’s gonna be real interesting to see how good a neighbor the zucchini monster is going to be to the romaine lettuce and the green onions. Not so worried about the scallions mind, as long as they have some vertical room they’ll grow. Hope the romaine don’t get squashed.

Heh. Squashed by squash.

I might have to find some sort of trellis system- but I have to do more research.

The tomatoes were much more straight forward.

The Roma mega pot went into the big green pot. Similar to the squash pot it’s three plants in one big root ball, which is also semi-crazy but the plants are super healthy and Roma tomatoes are like the gold standard paste types so I’m affectionately referring to the red pot as the sauce pot from now on.

I put all the soil around the pot while the pot was still on the plants, then removed the mega pot and put down my sure start and planted the big boy.

I mulched it and put some extra stakes in.

I’m gonna string some soft ties around the stakes to support the stalks. it’s a Gerry-rig but I’m known for that!

As for my other tomatoes, it was much easier.

I bought a sweet 100- your bog standard red cherry variety, and a funky heirloom called “black krim’. I chose the black krim because it’s a globe but not a beefsteak and it was developed in Russia. I.e., if we have a cool summer it should still produce since it was bred to perform in an even colder climate than ours.

Also the fruits look SUPER COOL. Like red with black streaks. I’ve also totally bought these at farmer’s markets before, and they are super delish.

I pulled the sassy salad from the green pot- it was going to seed anyways because of the increasing sunshine- and some sure start later- the black krim was in.

It’s a pretty runty plant so far- I have to figure out how I’m going to cage it- but it looks healthy.

The sweet 100 went into my new extra large terra-cotta pot, along with granular fertilizer, sure start and lots of potting soil. I think the old tomato cages will do for this one- on Wednesday when the rain breaks I’ll assess my options.

I’ve got my eye on you miss blackberry- and while I’m probably going to have to buy you a friend in a week- you’re getting planted soon enough- wait your turn!

God I’m so excited about putting in a blackberry.

Stupid rain delays!

April planting part 1

~ Homo neanderthalensis ~ 3 Comments

Well almost April, as it’s March 31st. But it’s basically April, and it’s time for some planting.

But I’m exhausted- so it’s part 1 and tomorrow I’ll finish it up.

First off before I planted anything, hell, before I even went to the garden center, I mulched.

Here’s some mulch around the baby green beans, and there’s also fresh mulch around the baby zucchini and purple peas. Water retention- weed suppression- mulch is good.

Unfortunately I made the executive decision to kill the mystery mole pepper. It’s just a mess. It was falling over and has looked like death for weeks.

RIP pepper plant. I’ll get another pepper (or peppers…) later this year- I have the little lipstick pepper seedlings growing, though those won’t be ready for transplant til May or so.

I really wanted a 6 pack of haricot vert seedlings- that’s what I got last year and they’re great green pole beans, but for whatever reason they did not have them today.

They had… a lot else.

I’ll discuss the gigantic squash plant(s) and tomatoes tomorrow, along with the belle of the ball, a Marion blackberry- but it was also herb time. That’s what I had the energy to plant today- tomorrow is vegetable and fruit time.

Here’s my new chamomile. I’m a confirmed insomniac, so I drink a fair amount of teas and tisanes. Might as well grow my own.

I also got a few new curly leaf parsley, as my current ones seem to be going the way of the dodo. What I love is that the parsley types have such grand names. The type I tried to grow from seed was just “green moss” but the two plants I put in were “green river” and “Aphrodite”.

Aphrodite!

There’s my new “Aphrodite” parsley. You can see the sort of meh plants next door- the “green river is farther to the left.

My final herb was one I’ve always wanted to grow, not for culinary use per se, but because it smells good and can attract bees- and for its long long history.

This beautiful mint is pennyroyal. Pennyroyal is an ancient medical herb that in the days before modern medicine would have been a major part of the herbalists toolkit. It is also somewhat toxic. Not as much as other herbs- if I really wanted to eat some I’d probably be ok- but it can damage the liver. I like it as a sort of botanical momento mori- a reminder of how important some of these herbs were to our ancestors. And it’s flowers attract bees! So more bee food- and a nice smell. That works.

I’ve marked out where the veggies and fruit are going in tomorrow, but I’m so tired so that will be tomorrow’s task.

Soon.

Finally putting some seedlings in the beds

~ Homo neanderthalensis ~ 3 Comments

Hallelujah! It’s finally planting time! I mean, it’s still going to rain off and on until mid-April, but it shouldn’t be anything like the deluge of past months. So it’s time.

First the zucchini!

Yesterday I found some aphids on the back of the leaves. Green aphids, which are pretty minor on the aphid scale of badness, but aphids nonetheless. Easy enough to kill them and then spray a little insect soap- but considering the absolute explosion in the ladybug population in the last few weeks- I’d rather have nature take care of my aphids.

Luckily the roots looked pretty good.

Now those are some good roots. The plant itself looked a little pot-bound but the roots were fine. All three squash went into the ground in the bed next to the apple tree.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on them- I’m not sure if all of them will take- but now that it’s warmer I’ll probably plant more via seed- and maybe a few from plants I buy, so I’m not worried about my squash this year.

I’m gonna have so much squash.

The peas also need to go in- their roots are little less well grown.

But the plants are putting out tendrils so they need to be in the ground and staked. One of the peas I put in the ground did sprout, but none of the other did, so that’s what the six-pack of seedlings is for.

Luckily I found some old bamboo stakes inside and I put them up.

It’s a bed that doesn’t get a lot of morning sun, but plenty in the afternoon, so it’s good for peas, and also greens. Not so much for beans or cucumbers. Eventually I’ll put some greens in front of the peas, since only a few of the radishes I planted by seed came up.

But what about my largest sunflowers?

One I put in the bed with the zucchini’s- hopefully the flower will attract more bees to the later squash flowers.

The other I put in a pot by the fog tomatoes.

To attract bees to the future tomato flowers!

I really have to update my garden map- maybe tomorrow after I mow everything. It’s really starting to get busy- There’s even some flower buds on the baby sungold tomato which is crazy! I’m hoping the bees will come in time. Soon I’ll put out the bee house- but I really have to wait until all the rain is gone for that.

But at least I’m not cooped up inside from too much rain.

The glory of weeds

~ Homo neanderthalensis ~ 3 Comments

We had some sun showers today but it was otherwise bright and sunny- perfect for some work, and for taking stock of how much the weeds have been growing.

But that’s not such a bad thing, even though I will be mowing tomorrow.

See those little flowers, the purple and the white? They’re all over the garden.

There are those awful oxalis of course, but also those little blue flowers that look like forget-me-nots speckled throughout the garden.

My favorite of the flowering weeds are these red guys. They’re in front of my back beds and while I’ll be mowing the others, I’m not going to pull these. The bees will thank me I’m sure. See that’s the thing about these native weeds, they feed the native bees! So while I mow and keep things level when I can, I don’t tear these guys out by the root.

Of course, there’s also the edible weeds!

See those round weeds? That’s miner’s lettuce! Supposedly a favorite of the miner 49ers during the gold rush, it’s a native Californian plant that I used to eat on hikes when I was younger and backpacked. I fully plan to snack on these tomorrow when I mow everything else! And hey maybe they’ll grow back!

Then I can eat more miner’s lettuce!

…

I really like miner’s lettuce.

Seedling progress late March

~ Homo neanderthalensis ~ 4 Comments

Well at this point some of the seedlings are less seedlings and more plants.

That is a baby zucchini and it needs to go into a bed soon. As there is a bonafide thunderstorm forecast for tomorrow the zucchini will have to stay in a pot for a few more days- but soon it will go into a bed.

The baby purple peas are also raring to go, I’ll give them at least 5 more days but I also suspect by the weekend they’ll be in their bed.

This fellow is the one purple pea that actually came up when I sowed it in the bed directly- I’m glad he made it and soon his buddies will be next to him.

In other exciting direct sown news:

That is a beautiful bean plant. It looks like 5/7 of the bean plants I direct sowed are coming up- two of them look damaged, but I can always put another two seeds down. This is the Trionfo Violetto pole bean that performed so well last year. And yeah, it’s purple too.

I like colorful vegetables alright?

The Joi Choi are colorful too- crisp white stalks and lush green leaves. Of course it’s going to be interesting finding room for all of them- I was expecting a few dud seeds when I sowed 12… there were no dud seeds…

No duds here either- these are some more sunflowers who have no purpose whatsoever except to look as pretty as possible and be nice for the bees.

I’m worried about my older romanesco seedlings- they’re awfully leggy. The one Boston pickle cucumber that I had to replant after the first one died has sprouted nicely- and a few of the telegraph improved cucumbers are starting to come up. The two sunflower seedlings I salvaged from the greenhouse disaster also look nice.

Be fun to scatter the sunflowers around the garden for maximum impact.

The lipstick pepper seeds have also come up though they’re slow growers and it will be a long while before I can put them anywhere.

Spring is officially here, but it won’t feel like it to me until after the thunderstorm. It looks like Thursday is the last of the heavy rain, and anything afterwards will be more like scattered showers.

Which is good- I have work to do in April!

Captain’s log: vaguely late March

~ Homo neanderthalensis ~ 5 Comments

It’s really pouring again but in short bursts punctuated by bright sun. So spring is here but it’s also quite damp. That’s not stopping my neighborhood criminal from lounging in my pepper pot.

The nerve of some people! He also likes to sit on my leeks.

Which is always cute but I’m worried if he sits in my baby tomato pots he’ll crush them with his big cat butt.

Baby sun gold is growing nicely- fresh growth already. I’m hoping the deluge, as intermittent as it is, won’t damage them.

My seedling zucchinis are pretty much ready to put in a bed, but it’ll have to wait until it’s dryer.

Right now the zucchini and other seedlings are under the house’s overhang on the work table. During a worse downpour earlier they went indoors for a while.

This took up some space but better than having them get washed away.

Spring is really here- I’m seeing the first big fat ladybugs. I’ll have to put out my bee house soon.

The original potatoes are growing like crazy- the rain is helping them be their best potatoes.

This is my latest project- I’ve taken cuttings from my various mint plants and I’m attempting to grow some plants for friends. We’ll see if they take- but I have high hopes as mint is indestructible.

I’ll leave you with yet another of my plastic owl guardians- now hanging from the apple tree being judgmental.

Of course he’s not the most judgmental thing in my garden.

This cat is the most judgmental thing in my garden. He sits. He watches. He judges.

As long as this guy doesn’t stick his furry butt in my pots.

I don’t have high hopes.

Potatoes and cauliflowers planted

~ Homo neanderthalensis ~ 5 Comments

This was an early day for me- I wanted to get everything in so I’d have some time to see what took.

Not that I’ll know if the potatoes are duds in a day- more like several weeks to know if they’ll sprout or not.

The cauliflower are a different story.

These were the sets I bought yesterday- just your garden variety 6 pack, except that several of the cells held doubles. That’s always a problem as you have a choice- do you separate them to get more potential plants? Do you just kill the weakest and plant only 6? Or do you not separate them and get stunted plants?

I opted to separate them for maximum cauliflower. Which may not have worked out so great.

Some of them are really perky!

Some of them are runty and wilty. It’s only been half a day since I planted them- I won’t know for a few days who will live and who will die.

But I decided to take out an insurance policy.

A while ago I ordered these great terra-cotta watering spikes. The idea is that you put a bunch of water in a wine bottle and stick the spike on top. Then you invert it and stick it deep in the soil. As the soil dries out it draws the water from the bottle out of the permeable terra-cotta.

Since we’ve had so much sun and warmth the bed I just planted might get dry so I put the first wine-spike there first.

Maybe it will rejuvenate those wilting cauliflower.

Maybe I’ll need to buy more cauliflower sets next week.

Who knows.

Who by fire….

Sorry got morbid there for a minute. On to the potatoes!

These are fancy actual seed potatoes- as opposed to my home ripened store bought taters that I used in my last two bags. “Russian banana” is the type. Look. I really don’t care about type when it comes to spuds. Is it a potato? Great! I’ll eat it. But supposedly these are real tasty so I’ll give them a shot.

Whoever put the potatoes in the box made a mistake however as there were not 6 seed potatoes but 8!

My mother had to physically restrain me from ordering two more potato bags.

Apparently 10 total potato bags is too much.

Her very smart idea was to double up the seed potatoes in two of the bags to take advantage of their small size.

Like so.

Planting potatoes in bags is easy. You put a little dirt in your bag, that you roll down to a third of its complete height- put your seed potato in- then cover it with about an inch of more dirt.

Then you water.

Then you wait.

Bam! 6 more potato bags!

Here’s one of the old ones growing strong. Once this plant gets taller I’ll pour more dirt in to cover all but the top-most leaves. All the covered leaves will become potatoes!

God I love potatoes.