Canning article / Recently in the garden 27 May 2009

There is a pretty nice article on home canning in today’s New York Times, targeted towards beginners, Preserving Time in a Bottle (Or a Jar), with a sidebar, Some Canning Dos and Don’ts.  The online version includes a video clip and a slide show.

The snowmelt has emphatically run out in the front garden by now.  Yesterday many of the areas that I hadn’t watered recently (I try to do hand-watering of selected plants when possible instead of whole-garden watering) had quite literally turned to powder.  The ability of the wind and other weather patterns to so completely dry out the front garden so fast never ceases to amaze me.  Thankfully, as I type it’s finally raining, though again the heaviest rain is tracking away from us (usually in the past month it tracks to the south, but this time it’s tracking to the north).

Yesterday I did some planting.  My biggest focus was on the vines that I ordered from Select Seeds (4) and picked up from the nursery recently (2) as they all appeared to be pot-bound and because I know vines want to get going – want to become vines instead of being trapped, being a tiny size in a tiny pot.  I ended up planting 5 of the 6 with the little stand of sweet peas, figuring they could take over when the majority of the sweet peas inevitably die with the onset of long-lasting heat.   The 6th, Spanish Flag (Mina lobata), I planted at the base of the cup plant (Midwestern US native Silphium perfoliatum), a sturdy trellis if there ever was one.  Cup plant is such a hefty presence in the garden that I already get people asking about it even though it’s far from flowering and still short (for cup plant’s standards – maybe 3 feet tall).  Anyway, the biggest reason I picked Spanish Flag for tht spot is because it’s suppsoed to be more tolerant of partial shade than the other vines I planted, and I figured cup plant would, just because of its impressive stature, make whatever climbed on it a bit shaded.  The others I planted were Purple Bell Vine (Rhodochiton atrosanguineum), Creeping Gloxinia (Asarina erubescens) ‘Wine Red,’ Mexican Flame Vine (Senecio confusus) ‘Sao Paulo,’ one of two plants sold as Cardinal Vine, and a morning glory that I think is ‘Blue Star,’ and which I was enchanted by at the nursery because of its tag’s photo of a flower that reminded me of things washed up on seashores, but in photos online looks to be blue-on-blue instead of the photo’s appearance of blue-on-white (still, it appears to be pretty).  After I finished planting them, I handmade a trellis using bamboo poles and garden twine.

I also planted two more creeping verbenas (the two I already had are a deep purple; the new ones are one each in pale lavender and a medium purple), another lantana (‘Citrus,’ which I’ve never grown before [I don’t know if it’s a new cultivar] and which is a pale peachy-orange ringing a bright yellow, and looks lovely planted with the yellow African daisy, the white-with-yellow-centers bacopa, and the pastel stocks, as if it ties the two color themes together better), and twelve young annual ice plants in a mix of colors, ten of them ringing one corner of the garden, one more planted slightly off by the yellow African daisy, and the last one planted at the front retaining wall to provide a bit of consistency.  I think I might’ve planted a couple more things too, but I can’t remember.  I also found a young pea growing in the flower bed and, unsure if it was a sweet pea or a garden pea, transplanted it into the crop patch, off by itself, to see what it becomes.  I assume the ants did the redecorating, as usual.

The peas and fava/broad beans are doing really well.  More favas have blooms every day.  I still love their beautiful white blooms with black splotches; they have such character to me.  Yesterday I noticed the first pea bloom, a white one on one of the dwarf peas (I think it’s ‘De Grace’), and then realized that several of the tall pea plants had buds.  It looks like the rain and crisp air are encouraging them to open their blooms today. The runner beans, edamames (soy beans), and garbanzo bean hadn’t sprouted yet in my last thorough check yesterday, but the last three purple-podded beans have come up since my last update.  (Information on them is pasted below.)  As I’ve said before, how I love purple-podded beans!

Yesterday and today were/are ‘flower days’ in biodynamic growing parlance.  I mentioned what I did yesterday, and today I’m hoping to sow the zinnias, nasturtiums, marigolds, and morning glories.  Marigolds are the first plant I ever remember growing from seed, in window boxes at my bedroom as a child, and I still love their ease of growing from seed and their beautiful flowers, especially the single flowers that I grew up with (neither I nor the pollinators are overly fond of most floofy double marigolds).  Zinnias and nasturtiums are two more of the easiest flowers to grow from seed, and as I noted here last early summer, sowing them shortly before storms works very well as the storm soaks the seed, meaning you can skip the general recommendation of soaking them for 12-24 hours before planting (also a recommendation for morning glory seed).  It’s supposed to thunderstorm later this week (though we’ll see) so I’m hoping planting them today will mean they’ll be soaked shortly and then sprout in the hotter temperatures to come at week’s end.  Right now it’s frigid for this time of year; clocking in in the upper 40s F, it is colder than our average low temperature.  Lucky for ‘De Grace’ that it loves this kind of temperature (it’s supposed to be one of the hardiest garden peas, able to handle some frost well, though in fairness, I’ve found that many of the other heirloom peas are similar in this regard).

My neighborhood farmers’ market starts today, not the best day weather-wise for it, but I am still quite looking forward to perusing all the seedlings for sale, many often things that can’t be found at the local nursery and/or are not organic there.  (Most of the farms at my market are organic, be it in label or solely in practice, but most of the nusery’s suppliers are not.)  Usually the first two or three weeks are mostly plants with some produce, and then the ratio gradually flips until by midsummer there’s usually just one stand selling plants, a fairly new stand that was so unfriendly that I don’t remember them ever even saying hello to me even though I browsed for several minutes at least three different weeks, and the first time, would have probably bought a couple plants from them if I’d been able to find a staff member (that week, there didn’t even appear to be anyone manning the stand when I stopped by, and I wasn’t the only one seriously looking at the time).  Anyhow, the point is that I’m looking forward to seeing the staff again and to getting quality plants and tasty food!  Yay for farmers’ markets!

Royalty Purple Pod Bush. Purple bushes with short runners and purple flowers. Bright-purple stringless 5″-6″ pods cook to dark green. Buff colored seeds germinate in cold, wet soil. Bred by E.M. Meader at the University of New Hampshire and introduced in 1957. (freebie from Peaceful Valley; I strongly favor pole beans, and don’t grow many [sometimes any] bush beans)

Dean’s Purple 55. days. Vigorous, prolific, beautiful. [Family heirloom from Tennessee.] Supplied to us courtesy seedsavers Mark Schonbeck, Valerie Lyle and Dean Turley. Dean recieved the beans as a gift from a student whose family brought it to Frost Bottom, Tennessee when they settled there 150 years ago. Plants form a gorgeous purple and green screen loaded with vivid purple beans. Save both light and dark seedsfor the more tender purple pods and finer taste. Minimal bean beetle damage when other varieties were destroyed. (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange)

Purple Marconi Just in from Italy, a fabulous violet purple Italian pole bean. I was so pleased with these pole snap beans. Vigorous and growing on strong vines up to 8 feet, these are just too beautiful to eat! These were grown on a trellis but they got so big and strong we had to attach an “addition” onto the fence holding up the trellis. They are very ornamental and lovely. The “Purple Marconi Pole Beans” have flat 5-7 inch long pods that turn green when blanched, but the color can be maintained if steam blanched for under 2 minutes. These have a sweet but hearty taste, and are best picked young. Another edible ornamental for your garden, try them raw with crudites for their gorgeous color. Pretty early for a pole sort at 67 days to maturity. (Amishland Seeds)

Gardening year retrospective, part 2 16 January 2009

Here are more thoughts on the past year’s growing season.

Biggest Flower Successes

• Clarkia – As I said here last summer, I was astonished at how well the clarkia did this year.  I was used to clarkia growing in partial shade in moist soil in a sheltered location.  I seeded them into the front garden as an experiment, curious as to what would happen.  I was astonished at the extremely high germination rate – one of the highest of any seeds I’ve ever sowed in this garden – and the long, beautiful bloom time.  The plants were shorter than in my old garden, but they were tough as nails and lasted a long time and stuck their little flowers out of every crevice that seeds had fallen.  I will most definitely be seeding them in again this coming year, and am planning to look for more varieties (almost every clarkia seed pack I’ve ever seen, if not every one, is a mix of at least two colors though, usually more).  Annual here.
• Patrinia – Patrinia was a real star of the garden this year.  Tall and graceful, with a very  long bloom time and flowers that attracted scores of pollinators and predator insects, the plants also served as a living trellis for a Japanese morning glory and one of the cardinal vines.  Perennial here.
• Cardinal vine – Speaking of cardinal vine, these did amazingly this year!  The leaves were quite interesting in the lengthy lead up to the flowering time, and when they finally did flower starting fairly late in the season (I’m guessing they are day length sensitive, though not positive), the blooms were amazingly beautiful.  Even the leaves that had been frost damaged provided a beautiful contrast to the leaves that were still green as the season wound down.  This was my first time growing them, but it won’t be my last – I am most definitely growing these again!  Annual here.
• Sweet peas! – This was my best year for sweet peas in years.  I specifically picked heat-resistant varieties and it made a huge difference.  I was astonished at how long they held up under incredibly adverse conditions, the kind of conditions I imagine as sweet pea hell – blistering heat, strong winds, regular dry soil.  Annual.
• Rudbeckia ‘Indian Summer’ – This was my first year growing this cultivar, annual but reputed to be a good self-seeder.  I got it in an approximately 2″ x 2″ x 2″ pot from the farmers’ market.  It did spectacularly, flowering till hard frost.  And birds loved the seeds!  They started eating them while the plant was still flowering.   Annual here.
• Echinaceas! – The echinaceas had a brilliant year, flowering wonderfully and producing huge luscious seedheads.  Like with rudbeckia ‘Indian Summer,’ birds loved the seeds too.   Perennial here.
• Sunflower ‘Vanilla Ice’ – I’m guessing whomever named this doesn’t know much about 80s pop music.  Regardless, this was the one sunflower that did stupendously for me this year.  I got it as a young plant from a gardening acquaintance and it was the one sunflower from her to thrive despite the shock of transplanting (which sunflowers hate) and it bloomed early and often till late summer, when it abruptly stopped (which is apparently common for cucumber-leaved sunflowers).  It was my first experience growing a cucumber-leaved type of sunflower and I enjoyed it so that I am planning to expand their presence in my garden next year.  I have also read this winter that birds will choose their seeds first.  I’m sure the fact that their seeds are produced earliest of the annual sunflowers helps in that regard.   Annual.
• Fall-blooming crocus and colchicum – Each year I add more and each year the display just gets better and better.  When the snowpack melted at the end of December 2008 the last few fall-blooming crocuses were still blooming away underneath!  Perennial here.

Garden Failures of 2008

• Bean ‘Yellow Arikara’ – I said at the time I planted these that I thought I was planting them too late and I was right.  They did abysmally.  This year I am definitely planting them earlier, before the last frost at the very latest.   This type of bean was grown by the Arikara Dakotas according to Monticello (where I got my seeds) and were valuable as the earliest bean.   Lewis and Clark got them on their trip West.  Monticello’s seed store has a page of information on them.  I am still very interested in succeeding with these and I am going to give it another go this spring.
• Okra! – As you likely know if you have been reading this blog for a while, my okra planting was another abysmal failure this year.  Most of the okra seeds (I tried two cultivars this year) did not germinate; the ones that did took a while; and of the five seeds that did germinate, two were snapped off at the bottom of the stem by birds and three others died in infancy for no apparent reason.  Okra is such a gorgeous plant – you can see its relation to hibiscus in its flowers – that many adventurous garden writers recommend growing it ornamentally even if you don’t have any interest in harvesting okra.  I am planning to try okra again this year despite last year’s severe problems, though I think I will try different cultivars this time.
• Lima beans – In my years gardening in Boston I have never once had a good lima bean year and I am close to giving up on growing them in this climate.  This year I didn’t see a single lima bean pod even though several plants sprouted and grew a decent amount.  I think part of my problem this time was that the garden beans and hyacinth beans grew faster than the lima beans, shading them out and possibly causing them to decline in health.  I have a few different ideas for how to change this.  One is to plant cultivars that grow taller; another is to plant cultivars that produce faster; a third is to change where I plant them so that they won’t be shaded even if the others grow faster.  I haven’t definitely decided what to do.
• Garden peas – Like with the bean “Yellow Arikara,” I simply planted my peas too late this year.  As a result I only got a small crop before the heat made them stop producing and then killed them.  I just need to get them in earlier next year.  I’m also considering trying at least one cultivar that’s reputed to be heat tolerant after having such success with heat tolerant/resistant sweet peas in the past growing season.
• In situ zinnia sowing – Like with some other things on the list, my timing was just off.  They turned into robust plants that produced lots of foliage and some buds but were damaged by frost before they could ever actually bloom.  As above, I just need to be more together about timing in the coming year.  (The zinnias put in as seedlings did just fine.)
• Annual scabiosa – These did well planted as young plants from the farmers’ market last year, but the market didn’t sell them this year, so I sowed seeds myself.  As far as I could tell, not one so much as germinated.  No idea what happened here.
• Rudbeckia ‘Toto Rustic’ – These annual rudbeckias did great in 2007 but they were felled quickly in 2008.  Powdery mildew quickly overtook them and they never recovered.  I think planting them too late (I got them as seedlings from the farmers’ market) this year was part of it – our summer came on fast and hot, which caused trouble for many plants – and I also read this year that inconsistent water or too little water can cause powdery mildew in young rudbeckias.  Not sure I will bother trying these next year since ‘Indian Summer’ did so well without as much coddling.  (It even survived having powdery mildew, unlike the ‘Toto Rustic’s.)
• Sunflowers other than ‘Vanilla Ice’ – The rest of my intentionally planted sunflowers (all the common annual sunflower rather than ‘Vanilla Ice”s cucumber-leaved species) did much worse this year than last year.  No idea why. The only other sunflowers to do decently were planted by the birds and bloomed late in the season, one classic yellow flower per plant.
• Chervil – This bolted nearly as soon as I planted it and the seeds didn’t produce any more plants during the same growing season.  I think I planted it too late in the growing season and the stress on the cool-prefering plant was just too much for it to bear.

Next post: Plans for 2009.

Cover crops / Photos 22 November 2008

A couple months ago, I abruptly realized that I had wanted to sow cover crops this autumn but hadn’t ordered any.  Unfortunately, my poor planning meant that by the time I ordered them, Bountiful Gardens’ shipping was temporarily suspended due to being in the process of moving buildings, so I didn’t get my cover crop seed packets till just about a month ago.  Combined with the fact that we’ve had a fairly cool autumn and an incredibly cool past week, I’m not sure any of them are going to make it.  Here are the pictures I took of some of the seed packets just before I sowed cover crops almost exactly one month ago.

Seed packet of mixed cover crops

Seed packet of cover crop favas

Seed packet of clover cover crop

Please note that favas are not hardy in my climate.  I am saving the fava seeds to sow in earliest spring, “as soon as the soil can be worked” as books/packets always put it.

Here are a few pictures from around the same time as the above ones:

Patrinia seedheads with Japanese morning glory and cardinal vine

Nasturtium and ornamental peppers

Centaurea Colchester White, a bit wilty in the cold wind but still going

Beans forming: Some of the last of the season. By the time of this writing, the bean vines are dead.

Caryopteris, still blooming on 25 Oct 2008: I bought this at the end-of-year sale at the nursery. It bloomed through light frosts.

The fickle fingers of frost: A mix of frost damaged and healthy cardinal vine leaves.

New York ironweed seedheads

Ironweed and Maximilian sunflower seedheads. I recommend clicking through for the full sized version of this photo.

Healthy buds and leaves of cardinal vine: an undamaged portion of one of the three cardinal vines. Anise hyssop seed head and white zinnia flowers in the background.

Fall-blooming crocuses (with nasturtium leaves)