Garden Blogger's Bloom Day March 2013

Welcome to my GBBD  post, join other gardeners around the world on gracious hostess Carol's May Dreams Gardens website to see what's blooming now.  Spring seems to be arriving here, probably about on schedule.  We have been having very warm temperatures though, usually it has to be raining constantly to get this warm.  The best winter bloomer would have to be Helleborus niger and orientalis.

I even went overboard adding to my Hellebores yesterday, from Fred Meyer and Shorty's Nursery, some that have more upfacing flowers and frosty leaves- no name-

Winter Moonbeam-

Pink Beauty-

Ivory Prince-

Winter Jewels Cherry Blossom-

White Marble-

And blooming in my yard, the first daffodils of the season-

Self-sown Pulmonaria-

A Muscari, one year I had some that started blooming in fall.

A winter-blooming Heather-

A bedding Primula, oddly all the ones that have returned and are blooming now are this rich blue-

And finally, some of those Pansies I couldn't resist at the nursery, these are double and ruffly, I will put them in my baskets-

Spring is only a week away, enjoy!

Hannah

Wildflower Wednesday

I want to show off my latest acquisitions from Forest Farm.  They are mostly Goldenrods, which I became interested in from photographic enticements from Wildflower Wednesday posts hosted on Gail's Clay and Limestone blog, visit her for Wildflower Wednesday links to other gardens around the world.  So, here are 5 cultivated forms that should perform well without being too aggressive.  From the top clockwise are Solidago Golden Fleece, S. Laurin, S. Little Lemon (little leafy top cut out of photo),  S. Solar Cascade, oddball Persicaria affinis Dimity, and S. Fireworks.  Most are short, 1' to 2-3'.  I favored ones that don't need moist soil.

I find the Goldenrods interesting not only for their bright yellow blooms that appeal to pollinators, which flock to them, but also because they tend to spread well with rhizomes and I am looking for plants that can compete with the weedy grasses I battle every year.   I also like their medicinal qualities, they are native American plants and have been used by various native tribes for various ailments.  There seems to be a lot of variation among the different species and varieties, judging from the difference in leaves among the 5 plants I ordered.   In addition I have S. odora on order, which is the one with anise-scented leaves and flowers that makes good tea, and am attempting to grow S. nemoralis- Grey Field Goldenrod, and S. Golden Baby from seed, so far without success as they seem to need chilling and are in pots in the refrigerator.

Forest Farm uses lots of newspaper cleverly arranged and taped to keep the pots and soil from moving around, in the bottom of a tall box standing way above the little plants.  It will be interesting to see how they do, now I have to decide on where to site the different plants without really knowing where each will do best, though research helps a little.

The plants will hang out for a while on my east-facing concrete front porch, which acts like a heat sink to keep plants there warmer than the ambient air temperatures.   Some other plants I have been overwintering there are some mini roses that do better in pots since rabbits like to eat them in the wintertime.

To the right are a Sarracenia and a Venus flytrap overwintering, most are native in the southeast USA, though Sarracenia purpureum is native here, this will be their second winter and I should probably get the right soil and repot them to give them more room.  In front are some  Primulas grown from seed last fall that will be planted out later.

Things are moving on toward spring here too, Gail, can't wait!

Hannah

Joys of Winter Gardening Under Lights

I was a little late starting my gardening under lights this winter, I like to start some perennials in the fall so they have a jump on the season and are closer to blooming the next summer.  But I was having a problem with aphids coming indoors and infesting plants under my grow lights which are by an outside French door, so I moved all the plants out and tried to wash the leaves off regularly to get rid of them.   And I left the grow shelves empty for a while to try to get rid of any stragglers.   I think at least in the case of my aquaponics system (where I can't use pesticides, even natural, because of the fish) by a sliding glass door that was wiped out by aphids last year, that large black ants were actually carrying the aphids in.  I try to stop bringing in plants at the end of the growing season, frequently they have aphids.

So here are my tomato seedlings, started Feb. 7 in small beading ziplock bags with wet paper towel inside, and the sprouted seeds are then planted into individual pots.  I used to start tomatoes 4 per expandable Jiffy peat pot.   Sometimes 4 would sprout, sometimes only 1, the range to come up was from 7 days to as much as 31 days.  Long ago I even kept the 4 plants growing in the one peat pot until planting out in spring, and they did go on to make tomatoes OK.   Then I tried sowing into pots with soilless seed mix of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 perlite, and 1/3 potting soil, sterilized by cooking in a microwave for 10 minutes.  Next I tried sprouting seeds in ziplocks and transplanting seedlings to 2 1/4" pots to give the seedlings lots of room and cut down transplanting.   With ziplocks I wait until the little sprouts are 1/2 to even 1" long and plant directly into 2 1/4" pots, then later sometimes into 4" pots if they get too big under lights for my shelves, about 11" tall, or if I have to hold them longer without planting out.  I get a smaller incidence of stuck seed coats this way, and less time wasted on preparing unnecessary pots for seeds that don't germinate, etc.  There can be a problem with the occasional seed that wants to wait 31 days to sprout, but usally germination is faster in ziplocks.

I use my treasured 2 1/4" rose pots for all my seed starting, I originally acquired a good supply buying up mini roses for $.50 when Justice Mini Roses quit business.  Unfortunately most of those roses are not around any more, since rabbits seem to like to eat them to the ground in winter.  When I started needing more rose pots I found Anderson Die and Mfg. Co. was in Portland and wouldn't sell retail but with a business license I could buy them wholesale, a box of 950, #1680.  So now I have a supply and reuse and bleach them when needed.  As long as they are not in the sun they last for years.   The whole advantage of the rose pots is that they fit 9 rows across and 4 deep in standard flats that are around 10" wide and 20" long, and flats fit 2 to a shelf on my metal shelves that have 4' fluorescent fixtures suspended below 2 shelves and plants on the 2 shelves below.  The lights do extend past the ends of the shelves, and the flats stick out past the ends of the shelves, but it works.   It doesn't take up much floor space and can be stuck in a closet or along a wall.  With 4 flats of 36 seedlings, one unit holds 144 plants!  I've had 4 shelf units going at once.  Once plants are in 4" pots fewer fit.

Here are some of my perennial seedlings, this is a group of several kinds of Agastache- A. nepetoides, A. mexicana 'Sangria', and A. anisata, with A. hybrida 'Astello Indigo' and A. rugosa just germinating.  They are in the mint family, generally with anise = licorice scent/flavor, many are native to the USA (unlike Mentha which is mostly introduced), many will bloom the first year from seed and come back the next year, and they can be used for tea.   They range in size from 12-18" to 4-5'.    Butterflies, bees, and other pollinators are attracted to them, and hummingbirds like the orange or pink ones.  Deer did bite off the buds on some of my A. rugosa last year but left some A. rupestris alone, but deer are hard to predict.

I generally try for 9 seeds to a little pot, since germination is uncertain and I can generally handle that many seedlings and up for transplanting.   I don't cover them with plastic like is often recommended because I had trouble with mold in that situation, but I do mist them with a hand sprayer 2 or 3 times a day.   Here is a typical pot of seedlings, I wait until they have true leaves and are a little developed before transplanting, these Platycodon 'Hakone' double  blue Balloon flower seedlings are about 1 month from sowing, coming up after generally 7 days.  My computer is not playing nice so I couldn't rotate this-

Platycodon is an interesting plant, some I grew before are still alive several years later but overrun by other plants so I don't see them bloom much.   They have a fleshy root used in Chinese medicine.

To transplant I first put my middle finger over the center of the pot and invert them into my hand, then break apart the little seedlings gently, hopefully keeping some soil on the roots.  

I fill 1/2 of the pot vertically and press the soil, then hold the seedling by the base and line up the root junction with the top of the soil, the add a couple of tablespoons of soil at a time and backfill the other side.

The finished seedlings vary some in size, the smallest ones may not make it, but generally plants are like computer programming, if the conditions for growth are met they grow.   Seedlings that have died on me generally needed sandy rather dry conditions or alkaline soils, and were too wet.  Or died from not being watered enough when things got too busy, or so many plants make it hard to see which ones need water.

Well, what are you growing under lights?

Happy 2/3 winter, Hannah

Winter Experiments

This last fall I experimented with sowing some Primula seeds, elatior 'Silver Lace Black' and veris, mixed cowslips.  Part of them I planted outdoors, and then covered them with one of my TunLCovers after temperatures got down around freezing.  I looked at them today and they are doing very well, larger than when I planted them and in good condition, P. elatior-

and P. veris-

By contrast, here are the same age seedlings that have been kept under lights all winter.  They are noticeably smaller.  A few still have good color, some were underwatered and died, and one looks pale, not sure what is going on with it.   I'm in the process of putting them in sheltered outdoor conditions on my east-facing front porch to get them ready to start growing with the warmer temperatures of spring, then I can observe further how the two over-wintering methods compare.

Another nice surprise is that the Meadowfoam, Limnanthes douglasii, seedlings that I noticed last fall, which had self-seeded themselves from the plants that I grew last spring, have made it through the winter unscathed.

I was disappointed previously with how much slower the Meadowfoam was to bloom that was direct-sown as compared with the ones I grew indoors under lights and transplanted out in early spring, now I see that they are tough enough to fall-sow or summer-sow and make it through the winter.  They are also called Poached Egg plants and are very cheery.  I may try sowing some in very early spring to see if they can come up in the cooler temperatures.  It is great to find a plant that will naturalize.

Another plant started in late summer and planted out vs growing under lights is yarrow, Achillea, either millefolium 'Cassis' which is red, or filipendula 'Cloth of Gold'.























Here are a couple of Achillea that have been under lights, one looks actually comparable in size to the outdoor plant but partially dried out, the other dried out and died.

I also tried to start some plants from cuttings last fall, here are the ones that survived, some roses and Santolina-

This is not a very good photo, taken without flash, but of Vernonia (Ironweed) seedlings with pretty good growth.  One dried out and lost its leaves but stayed green so I think it will get some new leaves when planted out.  It will be interesting to see if the early start will be enough for them to bloom this year, I haven't grown them before and they may like more watering than I usually give plants in my dry season.

The final surprise outdoors was the first bulb coming up, Galanthus, Snow Drop,

I planted a few more new bulbs last year and am looking forward to seeing them bloom.  Meanwhile, I am now starting seeds of annuals and perennials, a few are chilling in the refrigerator for a month or two, and the rest are already coming up under lights.   It is so cheery to see little seedlings coming up when the garden is pretty bleak outside.

Happy Gardening!

Hannah

Winter Garden- Black Spanish Radishes

Here is another great winter vegetable, the Black Spanish Radish.   Unlike the long oval purple-topped Italian turnips, freezing weather doesn't seem to cause damage to the flesh of these radishes, which have very dense flesh that cooks up firm but with a nice taste.

This radish has made it onto my permanent winter sowing list.  Winter is half over!  Soon I will be harvesting greens from turnips, radishes, chicory, and possibly cabbage and brussels sprouts.

Hannah

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day December 2012

Welcome to What's Blooming Now,  join other blogs from around the world on Carol's blog, May Dream Gardens, for GBBD.  I actually found a couple of flowers blooming outdoors.   I've been waiting years for my 2 Camellia sasanqua varieties to bloom in the winter like they are supposed to.  I'm still waiting on Yuletide, but there were a couple of blooms on Apple Blossom, which I didn't catch until this one was overblown-

Down in Portland near the river and up in Seattle near the Sound, roses can practically bloom all winter, but here not so much, but a blossom is still lingering on my personal Queen of the Roses, Zephirine Drouhin.

But the flowers that are the cheeriest now are indoors.   My favorite little geranium was divided into 3 little plants that have bloomed nearly continually, here is the current one blooming for the second time under lights at night-

And charmingly in the daytime under natural light, a delight while I'm washing dishes-

And again, looking ethereal-

My Christmas cactus was a little early, I like the color of the flowers, a little closer to red than my even earlier one.

Finally, I was gifted with the ubiquitous flower of the season, but admittedly a nice red-

I hope you have some flowers cheering up your winter.  Happy Holidays!

Hannah

Twisting Together some Turnip Tunnels

I grew long oval Italian turnips last year in a new bed reclaimed from lawn, and last winter I killed the grass to make a new bed 4x as large.  This is the bed, loaded with turnips, and also  Black Spanish Radishes from J.L. Hudson; a few Asian radishes from Kitazawa- Giant Luo Buo, Hyb. Big Time, and Miyashige Green Neck, which have been mostly disappointing; Italian Chicory Galantina, Brussels Sprouts Mezzo Nano, Cabbage San Michelle, Kale Cavalo Nero aka Lacinato, from Seeds from Italy; and saved Wild Red Kale.  Somehow those little seeds, broadcast, amount to a lot more plants and especially turnips than I can imagine when throwing them around, apparently too exuberantly.

My favorites turned out to be the Black Spanish Radishes, I even leave the black skins on, and they cook up firm but not tough, bland yet intriguing, and are supposed to keep rock hard all winter.   Here is one on a scale-

A few did bolt in late summer, I mostly pulled them so I don't know if they will reseed.  Here is one in the ground, the yellow tag is 5" long for reference-

The turnips are very good, and I eat the greens as well, but they can have a few fibrous areas to trim off or chew and spit.  Here is one still in the ground-

Last year the long turnips were damaged by freezing weather, since the tops sticking out of  the ground turned brown and mushy, though the part underground was sometimes still usable.  So this year I decided to experiment with making tunnels to cover the beds and see if I could protect them from freezing enough to harvest more of them.  I tried putting some mulch on some beds to try to insulate the tops somewhat.  I am also using my extensive collection of PVC 3/4" pipe from previous tomato house endeavors to make tunnels.   I start with a pipe going across the width of the bed, grouping some of similar length, then add elbow joiners, spacers cut from pipe, then a "T" joiner for the vertical pipe.  A length-wise piece, these are grouped in 3's, is attached running down the side of the bed;  on the other side a longer spacer moves the T down so the vertical piece goes into the second of 2 T's at the top, staggering them.  I prefer the verticals to be close in length but here one side is longer because of the pieces of pipe I was working with.  I then add a top length-wise pipe.  Working down the bed, I add T's, vertical pieces, occasional pipes across the bed, and top pieces, then end with the elbows again at the end.  I have added some straight tubular joiners to make longer pipes out of 2 short pieces.   I use heavy plastic sheeting 10' wide from a 100 ft roll from Home Depot.  It has held up well so far for 3 years.

Here are the rows of tunnels I have made so far, I ran out of plastic.

I use spring clamps from Home Depot to hold the plastic on the pipes at the top/ends, they had a nice mesh bag with assorted sizes cheap, though some were too small for PVC pipe.  I also have some from Harbor Freight.   I will give a report later when I see how well the turnips are protected from the lower temperatures, it has gotten down to 6* F here a few times.  Smaller round turnips have in the past had no problem living through until spring, unprotected.

The one disadvantage of just twisting the T's and connectors together with the pipe is that they can stick or else untwist by themselves.  This can be prevented by drilling holes in the T's and pipes and inserting a screw, but that would be a lot of work and perhaps weaken everything, so I haven't resorted to that.

Here is the Chicory, I cooked some as a green, and they were OK as a spinachy type green.  I will use them more as the turnips are used up and I am curious how they last over winter and into spring.

What's still harvestable in your garden?   I can still go out and pull as many turnips and radishes as I care to cook every day, and hope the cabbages and brussels sprouts will make a crop in spring.  I can also usually count on some turnip, kale, and other cole crop greens and flower buds in spring for very early greens.  I'm thankful for winter vegetables and year-round harvest.

Hannah