Sunday, February 16, 2014

Late Winter / Signs of Spring / Chinese Chives. 2.16.14

Chinese Chives starting to grow - Illinois strain

Chinese Chives 1 year seedlings.  Illinois Strain
 Chinese chives are growing.  These, along with daffodils, some alliums, and onion chives, are among the first early signs of Spring.

The Illinois strain originates from a small cluster of plants I dug from my parents yard about 10 years ago.  I originally planted those when I was a boy, probably more than 45 years ago.  Here they have multiplied vegetatively.  The cluster is several times larger than originally.  I also planted seeds last Spring from flowers late 2012.  Those are finer, but growing nicely now too.

The commercial strain of Chinese chive, grown for a vegetable, is more robust.  This is all seed grown, through several generations of seeds / plants / seeds / plants.  They start growth later than the Illinois strain, but when growing are larger and faster growing.  The Illinois strain is more delicate.  I've been holding off as many harvests of those, wanting to build up a supply.
Chinese Chives.  Commercial strain.

Home Orchard. Progress Report. 2.16.14

Newly moved Karmijn de Sonneville Apple
 As far as I know, this is the last of the movable trees from the Vancouver yard  This is Karmijn de Sonneville apple on M27 rootstock.  From the top, it looks like there might be a large root mass.  Digging it, the rootstock is small, one shovel deep if that.  M27 keeps the tree very small, 5 or 6 foot, and is easy to topple over.  So it always needs a stake for support.   I planted close to the Honeycrisp, also on M27.

I doubt this tree will miss a beat.  Digging, it seemed to have no root damage at all.  I lost one or two buds at most.

It needs a fence.  I can make one in 20 minutes and install today.

Peaches and plums have swelling buds.  It's too early but nothing I can do about it.
First pink, buds of Oregon Curl Free PEach

First Pink.  Buds of Toka Plum
 Charlotte peach.  The same for Q18 and Indian Free.  The fuzzy buds have been visible, with a touch of pink, for a month.  The weather is unpredictable.  If I had more energy and time, I might construct covers for the trees to reduce freeze risk.  But I don't.  So time will tell.

Same for the plums. Toka and Methley are showing a lot of pink.  Less for Satsuma.  None for the European plums.
First Pink. Buds of Methley Plum

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Orchids. Progress Report. 2.12.14

Green Cymbidium

Dendrobium nobile
Some nice orchid flowers now.  This is the first rebloom for this green flowered Cymbidium.  Pale green with white center.

The Yamamoto Dendrobium nobile is equally nice.

These make February more tolerable.

These had little pampering this year.  I had them outside, east side of the house in Battleground, for the summer and early fall.  I brought them inside as it started to cool off.

I rarely watered them.  When buds started to form, I watered using dilute general purpose plant food.


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Grow Your Own Ginger. 2.11.14

I've been reading on growing culinary ginger.  Like other zone-inappropriate plants, growing ginger will require at least part of the project indoors, in containers.
File:Ginger farm.jpg
Ginger Farm.  Image source:  Commons.wikimedia.org
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Koeh-146-no_text.jpg
Botanical Drawing of Ginger.  Zingiber officinale

Based on info from various websites, it's a doable project. Use grocery store ginger root.

Buy a fresh looking root with multiple growth points. 
Cut so that each section contains several growth points.

If cutting the ginger root, allow it to dry so that the cut end does not rot when planted.

Some websites recommend soaking the ginger root overnight, in water.  Some sites recommend keeping the ginger root in a damp paper bag until it sprouts.  Some web sites recommend planting without pretreatment.   Hortmag.com has a good discussion.

As for planting, some sites recommend planting on the soil surface, while others recommend barely burying the rhizome, or burying it about an inch deep.

The ginger rhizome is planted in well drained potting medium.  Container size, looks like 6 inch to 1 foot diameter plastic pot will work, with 1 foot depth.  Keep lightly moist until the growth commences, then water regularly.

I've read that ginger requires much warmer conditions than we have in Pacific NW.  I'll keep that in mind.  Other tropicals can grow if I keep them in a warm place, especially in containers.  This is a good candidate for the sunroom.  Which is not built yet.  I will keep it in container, as I do with the citrus trees.  Ginger requires 230 to 300 days to mature.  Young ginger roots are juicier, compared to old roots.  Older roots have more concentrated flavor.

Ginger rhizome cluster

There was no fresh ginger root at Fred Meyer yesterday.   I found this rhizome at the Battleground roadside store.  Fat firm rhizome with multiple buds.

I cut it into 2 growth pieces and one to eat.  I will let it dry a few days before planting.

 I use a lot of ginger, to settle my stomach.  It does not have the somnolence and dry mouth side effects that often occur with nausea medications.

Dominick, Carini, Lattarula Fig Cuttings. Progress Report. 2.11.14

Dominick Fig Cutting.  About 6 weeks.
I moved the 2nd Dominick Fig cutting from juice can to slightly larger container.  Nice roots.  The first continues to grow nicely.


I took one cutting to work.  It did well there.  When I took respite vacation 2 weeks ago, I brought it home.  Somehow,that damaged the plant.  The leaves wilted and fell off.  They were the size of a cat's ears.   I am continuing to nurture it.  Doesn't look promising.  This is why I start multiple cuttings.

Dominick Fig Cuttings
 I had additional Dominick fig cuttings in the refrigerator.  These are stored in sealed plastic bag, so they don't dehydrate.  I trimmed them and placed in moist paper towel, plastic bag, to root.  This time no incision or rooting hormone.  It's OK if they take a while.

I did the same with 2 remaining Carini fig cuttings.
Lattarula fig cutting.

I planted this Lattarula cutting in the usual juice can / seed starting medium setup.  It's in a plastic bag for a week to get it settled.  I removed the tiny figs.  Others are almost ready.



Peppers. Progress Report and Planting Seeds. 2.11.14

Peppers planted 2/11/14

Pepper Seeds Planted 2/11/14  Fish Pepper

Peppers Planted 2/11/14 on seed heating mat
 Today I planted more chili and sweet pepper seeds.  These were from orders from early winter.  Varieties as shown and in labels.

These are re-used labels.  The sharpie mark is not permanent.  It washes off with a little scouring, easy.  The scouring also makes the plastic less slippery.  Maybe that will make the sharpie label last longer.  I cut 2 inches from the lower end.  These were too tall.

These are in a packaged peat-based seed medium.  I didn't want peat but that was all I could find this time of year.

Fish Pepper is a traditional variety from African American roots.  Passed from one generation to the next.  Thought to originate from Africa although ultimately all peppers originate from South America.  The plant, and the peppers, are variegated.  Very pretty.  From Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.

Now they are all planted and on the seed warming mat.

Meanwhile last week I replanted the 3 Portugal Red hot peppers, each to its own container.  I didn't plan on 3 but was reluctant to discard any.  All 3 look great.

The fluorescent lights are doing a good job.  These are standard light fixtures.  Not special plant fixtures.  The pepper and figs are not leggy.  The okra isn't so good but maybe it doesn't do well by this method.
Plant Starts from 12/24/13

I checked at Fred Meyer for a replacement light sustem.  A small, special plant growing light system was more than $100 and the larger one was more than $150.  I bought 2 under cabinet lights for $12 each, and used flat bungi cords to install them for tghe top shelf.  These are 17 watt.    Some gardeners use CFLs which might be an option for supplemental light.

I soaked and planted Burgundy Okra seeds 2 days ago.  I don't know if the red leaves will do better or worse in this system.

This setup is in an East window.  Currently  I think there is more light from the artificial lights than from the sun.
Fluorescent Light Garden

Sunday, February 09, 2014

Tail end of blizzard. 2.09.14

Raised Bed Garden in Snow

Row Cover did not hold up in snow.
 We were able to get to Battleground today.  Some road challenges but overall OK.

Raised bed garden is blanked in snow.

The repaired low tunnel collapsed again.  I used row cover, thinking that would allow drainage.  I did not account for snow.  So I will need a different plan.

The red twig dogwoods are bright against the snow.

The plum buds look OK.  It's not the snow that concerns me with those, but the harder freeze last week.
Osier Dogwood

Plum buds

Saturday, February 08, 2014

More snow! Blizzard Saturday. 2.08.14

Ning walking dogs

Front view

He doesn't like snow on his paws.

Thursday, February 06, 2014

Snow! 2.06.14

Front View 2/6/13
First big snow of the winter.  It's been snowing all day.  We could not make it to Battleground today to check on things.  I think it will be ok.

Yesterday felt bitter cold, but was only into 20s.  I am not so rugged any more.

Sunday, February 02, 2014

January temperatures. Some more lows predicted for early February

Jan was milder than Dec
This is prediction from WeatherUnderground.com.  It's been mild for most of Jan.  Many trees have small buds.  Some major freezing expected.
Sunday, Feb 2

46 | 30 °F
Partly Cloudy
20%

Monday, Feb 3
41 | 26 °F
Partly Cloudy
20%

Tuesday, Feb 4
33 | 18 °F
Partly Cloudy
10%

Wednesday, Feb 5
30 | 15 °F
Clear
0%

Thursday, Feb 6


32 | 16 °F

Clear 

0%
Friday, Feb 7
36 | 23 °F
Clear
0%
Saturday, Feb 8
33 | 28 °F
Overcast
20%
Sunday, Feb 9
41 | 35 °F
Ice Pellets
80%