Still here 8 August 2009

Cup Plant blooms, sunlit on 27 July

I’m still here.  As those of you that personally know me already know, personal issues have kept me busy of late.  Today was the first day in a while that I got to spend much time in the garden.  The nursery lost so much business in our extremely cold, rainy June that they’ve already brought out their “buy one get one free” sale on all but the largest perennials, so I recently bought some more plants there, and today I planted most of them.  One was the relatively new echinacea, ‘Fragrant Angel,’ which is a creamy color somewhere between soft cream and lemon yellow, and while it is a bit fragrant, it is not as fragrant as its name might lead you to believe.  (Here is one of many pages about it on the web, which also notes the lack of strong fragrance, which many gardeners find important to note as many catalogs make it sound like it’s ridiculously fragrant.)  It was originally quite expensive, about twice the price of their regular perennials (maybe even a bit more), but I got it at regular perennial price in their sale, which quite pleased me, and to be honest, was the biggest reason I bought it instead of buying one of the other echinaceas in the sale.  Though I did also like its off-white color to provide some contrast to my three pure white echinaceas.  Even though I didn’t have any more space near them after planting the several more smaller-potted echinaceas I already got earlier this summer, and thus it is off by itself, though with its more daisy-like appearance than other echinaceas’ lowered petals (also noted at the link), perhaps it is best it’s closer to the shasta daisy than to the rest of its clan.

Anyhow, I also planted another hyssop (much larger in size than the three already in the garden, and blooming, unlike them), two more perennial salvias (Salvia nemerosa to be specific; ‘Blue Hill’ and a deep rose one which is a nice complement to all the mauve and pale pink flowers in the garden, as I have a tendency to pick those latter two shades of pink), another agastache, another rock cress, another pineapple sage, and…I think something else.  I also transplanted a mountain mint and the lemon verbena.  It’s been so windy this summer that the tall plants near the ‘wind tunnel’ are pretty much permanently on severe tilt (some at ninety degree angles or more!), and thus are shading the lemon verbena more than it otherwise would have been, so I hope its new home is sunnier.   I also finally FINALLY planted the poor front-garden dahlias (3 ‘Winsome,’ which is probably my favorite glad, as well as 1 each of ‘Thomas Edison,’ ‘Juanita,’ ‘Prince Noir,’ ‘Jersey’s Beauty,’ and ‘Kidd’s Climax,’ all from Old House Gardens)  – all of them are more heat-tolerant than most dahlias, which typically prefer the warm-but-not-hot days and cool nights of their originating land), and at the bottom of the box I’d been storing them in, discovered a gladiola that had been unwittingly buried beneath them (‘Atom,’ also from OHG, as are my other glads) and so planted it with the other short glads.  The glads have been growing quite vigorously in the warmer weather and the sporadic deep rains and with the manure mulch, but they haven’t budded yet.  Many other gardens have blooming glads now, though, although I imagine they planted theirs before I did.  I see more gardens with glads every year here and I am happy to see them coming somewhat back into fashion after decades out of style in gardens.  I also see the gorgeous huge blooms for sale at the farmers’ market every year now, which makes me happy too.   Anyway, I then used the last of the manure to mulch the dahlias and glad ‘Atom.’  I’ve still got the rest of the dahlias to plant in the back garden, which is often 10 degrees F colder (sometimes more) than the front garden on summer days.

In addition to ‘Atom,’ the glads I’m growing are:  ‘Apricot Lustre,’ ‘Bibi,’ ‘Elvira,’ ‘Fidelio,’ ‘Friendship,’ ‘Lucky Star,’ ‘Melodie,’ ‘Spic and Span,’ ‘Violet Queen,’ and ‘White Friendship’ (the last one isn’t on OHG’s website any more, but I suppose the name is pretty self-explanatory – it’s a white version of ‘Friendship’).  That sounds like a lot, but like with the dahlias, with several of them, I only planted one corm.  Also like the dahlias, I planted them in clumps with two to four types in each clump.  (I also tend to do this with hardy bulbs, though in those cases, they aren’t always the same species.)  I base my clumpings loosely on color, height/size, and bloom time.

One of my mums and one of my asters are already blooming, as has been common in other gardens in recent weeks.  I don’t know if it was the gloomy weather or the cold weather, or a combination of both, that triggered their early bloom.  (Some people posit that it’s short day length that triggers the fall-blooming flowers; others posit that it’s colder temperatures.  As far as I know, nobody has yet proven which is true, or whether for some plants it is a combination of both.)  Both of my blooming ones typically bloom in September here, sometimes into October, and some asters start blooming in October.  I’ve noted that most of my other asters and some of my other mums, as well as some of my goldenrods, are also already budded up.  In some gardens literally all of the mums or asters are already blooming; in many cases they began by mid-July.  It is odd to see so many of them blooming now here, and I find it sad that the autumn flower display, normally so gorgeous here in New England, will be somewhat less than normal.

My scarlet runner beans have grown rampantly this summer – many of the vines are eight feet now – and then this week they abruptly finally started to bloom.  So far the species (Scarlet Runner Bean) and cultivar ‘Painted Lady’ are blooming.  I suppose it is not surprising to hear that scarlet runner bean has scarlet flowers.  ‘Painted Lady’ has flowers that are half a bit of a softer red and half white.  They are climbing tall poles together (though not tall enough for them, but really, who would want to get out a ladder and harvest beans at nine feet anyway?) and look quite pretty blooming together.  My other runner beans are not as rampant (though in fairness, they are not supposed to be) though they have been growing strongly as well; they have yet to bloom.  Many of my other beans (garden beans, not runner beans) are blooming now as well; the purple ones are still blooming in shades of purple, and have been joined by other bean flowers in shades of yellow, white, and cream.   The peas died in the heat wave we recently had, but astonishingly to me, some of the fava/broad beans survived and have begun putting out new flowers now that it is comparably cooler (mid-70s today, but low 80s in recent days) and sunny again.  This is by far the longest they have ever lived for me in this climate.  My tomatoes have grown a lot (finally!) but still haven’t flowered.  The cucumber dropped its second cucumber as well, but has two more cucumbers forming (they formed before it dropped the second one).  As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never grown a cucumber before.  It seems to dislike wildly inconsistent temperatures/weather.  Unfortunately we’ve had those a lot here this year.  Probably more than usual.  A high of 60 F was not uncommon for us earlier this summer, though that would have been quite uncommon in past years!

Planting plants, planting seeds / Cowpeas, Lima Beans, and more 26 June 2009

African daisy (yellow bloom) with lantana 'Citrus,' marigolds, annual ice plants (succulent foliage), Felicia heterophylla (blue blooms), foliage of Swan River daisies (ferny), and Mt. Atlas daisy (white blooms). This area is one of the very hottest in the garden, as it's where the retaining wall corners meet and it gets a lot of sun. I often move things out of here as their seasons pass. It had already gotten too hot for the African daisy before today and I've moved it. Mt. Atlas daisy is one of the very best groundcovers for searingly hot spots (I've no idea why it's so little-known here in the US!), but its bloom period is up by now. And Felicia heterophylla has its season, from spring to early summer, and then it's over; most of them have already set seed and died (though the one pictured is still alive). In the African daisy's place, I've planted one of the dwarf sunflowers and rudbeckia 'Indian Summer,' the latter of which did extremely well for me in that spot last year after I made sure it got adequate water for its first few weeks.

I planted some plants and some seeds today.  Our warmest day yet this month clocks in at a normally-not-hot-for-late-June low-80s F.  I put in replacements for the stolen plants – a santavila, a Swan River daisy (the fifth in the garden this year), and a plant that seems to only be known by its botanical name, and which I’ve never even grown before, but figured I’d try, as there were so few annuals left in small pots at the nursery (just like with the perennials, they sized up to almost all huge pots by mid-June this year, which I don’t recall them doing [with either kind] in previous years).  I also planted another tender salvia, another penstemon, the sunflowers grown for seed (4 of the 5 ‘Mammoth’s), the dwarf sunflower I picked up at this week’s farmers’ market (a second ‘Big Smile’), the sad-looking six-pack of salvia ‘Marble Arch’ (mixed colors in white, purple, and rose) that I picked up at last week’s market but hadn’t had the chance to plant,  a silver thyme, and, um.. some more stuff.  I also moved a few more things to new spots.

After taking a break, I went back outside and finally planted most of the warm-weather-loving beans, as with our average temperature for the past month having been an astoundingly low 59 F, I’d been worried the seeds would just rot in the cold and frequently wet soil.  I planted my four lima beans and several cowpeas, as well as one tepary bean (haven’t grown them in a while), a gram bean, and a moth bean (have never grown either of them).  As I’ve mentioned here in recent months, this is my last try with lima beans here in the North.  I’ve planted them in a different location than in the last 2 years in this garden, so we’ll see if that makes a difference.  I planted the other beans near them as well, as they all have somewhat similar cultural requirements and all prefer less water than the rest of my crops.  In addition, I planted the sword bean (also haven’t grown that before), the winged bean (ditto), and two edamames (soybeans), one that had accidentally gotten stuck in with the warm-weather beans and which I thus hadn’t planted, and one that I ordered with my autumn seed orders since the edamame plants are still so small anyhow.  I’d also meant to plant the hyacinth beans and yard-long/asparagus beans today, but I found that after all the work involved in expanding the bed to make enough room for all the cowpeas (including digging up two giant rusted panels, which took an incredibly long time and quite a lot of effort in a patch of sunlight on this hot, humid day), I was just too tired to snake my way into the middle of the bed (a delicate process) to plant them close to the scarlet runner beans.  I like planting things of similar size together, and hyacinth beans and yard-long beans are just as prolifically huge as scarlet runner bean. (Well, I’ve not actually grown yard-long beans before, but that’s what I’ve read.  Hyacinth beans sure are, though.)  See the end of this post for descriptions of the beans I planted today.

I also did some work yesterday, this time in the back garden.  I finally put up the bird netting, using metal plant tags to anchor it (that’s why I hadn’t done it before; I had to go out and buy them), and plant supports (the hooping kind for stalks) to hold the netting up off the largest seedlings.  As of this morning, when I last cleaned and refilled the bird bath, it was still working to fend off the super destructive squirrels from digging in my crop pots, but I haven’t checked on it since.   The process involved in doing that was much longer and more painstaking than I expected, and ate into my gardening time.  After completing it, I finally planted the nemesias, browallias, and most of the (back garden’s) violas, all of which had been growing (and blooming) in pots since I bought them in the spring.  This year my nursery started carrying a white browallia, and I just don’t get the point.  I’ve always thought that everyone else loved browallia for its pretty bluish flowers, just as I do, and I don’t get why anyone would want to plant a white-flowered cultivar.  Unless they’re using it for contrast with the blue ones, I guess?

This is our 17th day in a row with rain.  It rained again overnight, and then again during the day, though it was sunny before and after.  Now it’s clouded up again and it looks like thunderstorms are headed this way.  The newly planted plants sure appreciated the rain (it occurred between my two stints in the garden today) and I imagine the seeds would like a good soaking now that they’re in as well.

The morning glories are abruptly coming up.  The majority were seeded in near where I cleared the cowpea patch today, and I saw several tiny seedlings coming up.  I seeded in nasturtiums a couple mornings ago, but I have yet to see any nasturtium seedlings.  Though I seeded in the zinnias at least a few weeks ago now (possibly longer), I’ve yet to see a single zinnia sprout.  Perhaps they are like the morning glories, waiting for a warm day.  I also noted while out there today that the scarlet runner beans and the cardinal climbers appeared to have grown at least a foot each on this sunnier, hotter day, and that many things had put out new blooms.  Additionally, the first buds appear to have developed on one of the morning glories I planted as a young plant.  And the beans ‘Yellow Arikara’ are still flowering (they actually seem to have even more flowers now than before).  Pea production has slowed but not stopped, and the fava/broad bean production seems to be continuing apace despite the weather. Perhaps they are provided some extra shade by the now-taller pea plants on the trellis.  It would be interesting to see if it could be replicated in another garden – the supposition being that the favas are bushier at first than the peas, and thus though planted on the north-by-northeast side of the main pea trellis, they still get a good amount of the sunlight coming in, and then, as the pea plants start to bush up and reach their full size, the more dappled amount of sunlight actually helps prolong the favas’ lives.  Is this supposition correct?  I don’t know.  I guess we’ll see how the upcoming days go for the favas.

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Today’s Legume Seed-Ins

Miscellaneous

Tepary Bean ‘San Felipe Pueblo White’ Large white seeds mixed with enormous (for a tepary) light tan, flattened seeds. White and lilac flowers, large leaves. A collection from 5200 ft. in New Mexico.  (Native Seeds/SEARCH)

Sword Bean ‘Akanata Mame’ This sword bean cultivated in Japan produces pinkish-red flowers and beans. The beans, which have a ridged edge, are harvested when they are still immature, or when they are roughly 4″ long. Prepare these beans as you would snap beans. Maturity: Approx. 70 days (Kitazawa Seed Co.)

Winged Bean Every part of this climbing tropical bean—from the leaves and flowers to the pods and tubers—is edible and high in protein. The winged pods are best and most sweet when picked very young, about 3″-4″ long. Cross-sectioned pods have four corners. Prepare these delicious beans as you would snap beans. Maturity: Approx. 75 days (Kitazawa Seed Co.)  Adding the description from Baker Creek’s catalog:  (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) This is one of the most unique beans; it produces delicious pods with four winged edges, the leaves are cooked like spinach and the roots have a delicious, nutty flavor. This high-protein bean is an excellent crop and is so useful in the kitchen. The plants are tropical and do best in warm areas. They will not produce well when the days are long, so it may not yield until fall. Soak seeds 24 hours before planting. We have had a hard time keeping any winged beans on the shelf ever since Mother Earth News ran an article on this bean.

Edamame ‘Envy’ Early 80-day variety is great for the North. Perfect for Edamame, fresh shelling or dried; nice green-colored beans have good flavor; developed by the late Prof. Elwyn Meader, UNH.

Edamame ‘Davis Family Blend’ 75 days.Vigorous 3 foot plant. Harvest plump, green pods before any yellowing from late August into September. Pale green or yellow seeds. Can be boiled in the pods when young and tender. Called edamame in Japanese cuisine. A favorite of the Davis family’s community supported farm. (Turtle Tree)

Moth Bean Phaseolus aconitifolius (Mat Bean, Mother Bean) Indigenous to India, and highly drought resistant. The sprawling mat-forming plants do well in very hot weather (to 100-120 deg. F) and protect the soil. Small pods 1-2 “ long,1/2” wide contain 4-8 /tiny beans. In India the young pods are a vegetable and the dry beans are used like lentils as “dal”. Very high protein at 22-24%. It alone did well in drought-stricken north Kenya. In California trials as a green manure it smothered all weeds except milkweed. (Bountiful Gardens)

Gram Bean/Mung Bean ‘Black Pod’ (Vigna radiata) Gram or Mung beans have so many uses. Popular in all of Asia; can be used in soups, stews, curries, breads, fermented, for sprouting and so many other uses; so easy to grow. This variety produces pods that ripen to black with small, green seeds.  (Baker Creek)

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Lima Beans (AKA Butter Beans)

Jackson Wonder (Bush) 66 days. Standard southern variety. [Introduced 1888. Originated by Georgia farmer, Thomas Jackson]. This popular heirloom variety yields well under hot, dry conditions. Contains 3 to 5 seeds per pod. Seeds are buff-colored with purple-black mottling. Good especially as a fresh or dried butterbean. Also does well in northern areas. (all my limas are from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange)

King of the Garden (Pole) 88 days. The most widely grown heirloom lima. [Introduced in 1883 by Frank Platt after selecting 5- and 6-seeded pods of ‘Large White’ pole lima.] Produces 4 to 7 in. long by 1-1/4 in. wide pods, containing 4 to 6 large creamy-white seeds with honey-like flavor. Vines grow to 9-1/2′ and bear heavily over an extended season. An old favorite of excellent quality. (SESE)

Worchester Indian Red (Pole) The hardiest lima we offer. [Introduced in 1990 by SESE. Reported to be of Native American origin, pre-1868.] Produces medium-sized limas on heat and drought-resistant plants and is a prolific producer under adverse conditions. Seeds range in color from dull red to dull maroon-red. This variety still exhibits a wild trait: a few pods spring open (shatter) when the pods are completely dry. (SESE)

Violet’s Multi-Colored Butterbeans (Semi-Bush) 80-90 days [Banks County, GA, saved by 4 generations of Violet Brady Westbrook’s family.] A rainbow of colors – cream, beige, red-brown, and violet-purple, with speckles and swirls. Small seeds have great flavor, good both fresh or dried. 3-5” pods. Semi-bush plants have good disease- and drought-resistance. (SESE; no longer listed on their site)

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Cowpeas (AKA Black-Eyed Peas, Southern Peas, and more)

I had no idea just how crazy I had gone with the cowpea acquisitions this year until I sorted my beans this spring!  It just goes to show that I should really keep a running list of what I’ve bought/swapped after each purchase/swap (or better yet, write out everything I’m planning to buy/swap beforehand), but hey, at least life’s interesting this way.  We’ll see how the cowpeas do with their own patch this year instead of being planted on the edge of the pole bean patch as in the last two years here (without the greatest success, or I wouldn’t have changed it – although they’ve done better than the limas).

Corrientes Collected in Nayarit, Mexico. Extremely hardy and prolific, with dark red seeds. Excellent as green beans or shelled. (Native Seeds/SEARCH)

Texas The color of red sandstone, this cowpea is from the Eagle Pass area of Texas. They were described as a heat tolerant ‘pole bean’ with superior flavor. (Native Seeds/SEARCH)

Haricot Rouge du Burkina-Faso An heirloom from Burkina-Faso, West Africa. Colorful, red-purple pods have deep red seeds. This pretty variety produces well even in extreme conditions.  (Baker Creek)

Sugar Cream Delicious, cream-colored peas are great dried or as snaps. Robust, yellow flowered vines produce heavy yields of this southern heirloom that has been grown for generations. (Baker Creek)

Cream 40 (Texas Cream 40)— 65 days Texas Cream 40 is a distinct, early variety. The semi-bush growth is very prolific. The pods are six to eight inches long, medium sized, and slightly curved. The seeds are small, kidney-shaped, and white with an orange eye. (Victory Seeds)

Big Red Ripper (Mandy) 70 days. [Heirloom from VA and NC] Large number of peas per pod. A good flavored table pea with 10″ long pods containing as many as 18 large peas per pod! Reddish-green pods are borne high and are easy to see in the foliage. The vines are resistant to very hot, dry summers. Use fresh or dried. Very popular with our Texas customers. (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange)

Peking Black 80 days. Flavorful, large black peas. [From the collection of the Southern Seed Legacy via grower Harry Cooksey.] There is a bit of mystery about this variety’s origins. But there is no doubt that it produces an abundance of delicious black crowder type peas on vigorous disease free plants. (SESE)

Whippoorwill 85 days [Brought to the Americas from Africa during the slave trade, grown by Jefferson at Monticello.] Once the standard for southern peas, this variety is drought-tolerant and will grow in almost all soils. 5′ vines produce loads of 7-8″ green pods with a purple tinge. Mature seeds are small and light brown with black speckles. Seeds are good eaten green or dried. (SESE)  Editorial note:  This is a legendary cowpea, considered one of the oldest still in cultivation in the US.  There are said to be two types being grown now in the US, one the true heirloom, another a more modern variety with the same name (possibly originally developed from the heirloom, but I’m not sure).  There is a way to tell which one you have, which I am currently forgetting the entirety of, though I believe part of it is the size of the leaves.

Colossus 58-65 days [1972 Clemson U. release] One of the largest and best of the crowder peas. Light-brown seeds in straw-colored, purple-tinted 7-9” pods. Very prolific, easy to shell. (SESE)

Arkansas Razorback [1960s U. of Arkansas release] Very colorful red-and-white calico peas with good flavor. Yellow pods on moderate 3’ vines. (SESE)

Peas, favas, and Arikara beans 23 June 2009

Pods of pea 'Golden Sweet' ripening on the 12th: One of the most unique things about this pea is that the areas of the plant right around the flowers/pod are also a golden yellow, as you may be able to tell in this photo.

I harvested 11 peas this morning, the most yet (by 1 pea).  There were 10 more snap/sugar snap peas as well as the first shelling pea.  This cool, rainy weather has slowed flowering, but there are many peas already ripening on the vines.  It looks like there will be several more shelling peas ready soon.  The weather seems to have especially negatively affected ‘Golden Sweet,’ and I am wondering if this is because my stock came from a market in India (according to Baker Creek’s catalog) and perhaps it finds this weather especially unfavorable as a result.  There are also many fava/broad beans ripening now and it looks like the first couple are almost ready to harvest.  The fava beans seem completely undaunted by the weather, still putting out flowers daily and they appear to have more pods ripening each day as well.  The Arikara beans (cultivar ‘Yellow Arikara’) have started flowering!  I noticed it this morning, but spent very little time in the garden yesterday so it could have begun then.  They are only a couple of feet tall.  (They are bush beans)  I hope the coming heat wave does not kill them before they can produce anything like happened last year.  For those that have not read previous entries (or missed the relevant ones), Arikara beans are rare in that they actually prefer relatively cool weather despite being beans.  Hot summers typically kill them.  They were developed by the Arikara tribes of what are now the Dakotas in the US to produce in the short seasons there.  They can be planted earlier than any other garden bean I’ve yet found.  I have no idea why sources (even most of those selling them) typically do not mention this fact as I find it the most valuable thing about them.

My plans to work in the garden like mad (before the coming heat wave) have been hampered by this weather.  It’s so incredibly humid and misty that I got sticky just harvesting the peas and checking on the other crops!

Some photos 12 June 2009

Marigold 'Tangerine Gem,' calendula 'Flashback Mix,' and lavenders waiting to be planted on 29 May: These were from the first farmers' market of the year.

More plants waiting to be planted on 29 May: Bidens, knautia, various salvias, coleus 'Alabama Sunset' (one of my favorite coleus), and Scottish bluebells

New handmade vase with dianthus 'Rainbow Loveliness' and ragged robin (a double-flowering cultivar) on 7 June: First garden bouquet of the year

Plants waiting to be planted today: Chamomile (budded), two kinds of celosia (a red-on-red and the one that looks like little brains), a variegated felicia, and (behind chamomile buds) globe amaranth

Peas ripening today, with pea flowers, fava/broad bean plants, and a salvia flower

Peas ripening on 'Golden Sweet' today: Just two of many pods. (Also a green pea pod to the right of the foremost golden sweet.) I'm not sure if this has really been my best performer so far or if it just seems that way because the peas are so easy to spot!

Peas forming on 'Capucijners Blue Pod' (AKA 'Pois a Crosse Violette') today: My other colorful pea! (plus a bonus green pea) I don't know how well you can tell in a photo, but the one in focus (the one farther back) is the craziest pea I've ever seen - it's MARBLED in different shades of purple! (You can click the photo for a larger sized version to see the marbling better.)

Peas forming on the dwarf pea plants today

Fava/broad beans blooming today. (Pea plant blurry in foreground)

Perennial salvia with bolting cilantro 'Salsa' today. Ornamental grass 'Shenandoah Purple' in background.

Zinnia 'Profusion Fire,' gold coin, lantana 'Lavender Trailing,' creeping thyme, and golden oregano today. You can't really see it here, but the thyme is just starting to bloom.

Dianthus 'Rainbow Loveliness' with African daisy, marigold 'Tangerine Gem,' and tovara 'Painter's Palette': Like most dianthus, it does not look its best after a downpour.

One of my favorite color combinations in the garden at present: A marigold with an angelonia. (Heliotrope in background.)

Peach-leafed bellflower 'Telham Beauty'

Today was rainy and humid and day four of thick greyness in the sky. Then, abruptly, the clouds broke, and it turned gorgeous! This is the sky after the clouds broke. The sun still sets farther west every day here. Almost solstice!

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)

Another day, another update 23 May 2009

I’m trying to be better about updating, so I’m trying to update at least every couple of days.  In that spirit, here is what’s going on in the garden today:

*After two days of heat (mid-90s F two days ago, around 90 F yesterday) and sunshine, the weather has drastically changed, and the temperature is cooler now, at midday, than it was when I went to bed last night (when it was in the mid-70s F).  It’s in the 50s F with a cool ocean breeze and it is thickly grey.  We have had a very dry May after a cool, wet early spring, and it was quite nice to feel a medium rain as I was walking home from the nursery, umbrella-less, this morning.  The rain didn’t last very long (maybe 10-15 minutes), but it continues to look as if it could start again at any moment.  I hope it does.  I continue to believe that no matter what watering devices and watering sources we humans come up with, there’s no substitute for actual real rain for plants.

*Speaking of the nursery:  While there today I got some more annuals –  flowers and coleus (I’ve been disappointed that their selection of herbs has remained pretty static in recent weeks, and am looking forward to the farmers’ market starting this coming week, when I will have new herb plants to choose from!) – and three crop plants, two of them heirloom tomatoes – one each of ‘Sioux’ and an Italian one – and a Japanese cucumber plant, which I think has ‘Kyoto’ in the name.  The potted cucumber actually has two seedlings growing in it instead of one.  We’ll see if they both survive.  ‘Sioux’ is supposed to do better in heat than most tomatoes (which I actually didn’t realize till I brought it home; I just liked the description when I was at the nursery), so I’m thinking of planting it in the front garden instead of in a pot.

*The ‘fruit days’ period (in biodynamic parlance) ends shortly today, so I went out after I got home and sowed a runner bean I was given yesterday, ‘Aztec Half Runner,’ which is supposed to be quite dwarf, about seven inches tall, as well as my edamame (as I discussed possibly doing in my last post) – soy beans ‘Lucky Lion,’ ‘Moon Cake,’ ‘Kouri,’ and ‘Tankuro’ – and the melons (‘Chanterais,’ ‘Hale’s Best Jumbo,’ and the rather dully named ‘Old Original’) and other cucumber, also a Japanese one (‘Soyu’).  I am, in fact, somewhat sensitive to cucumbers, and so I thought I would try growing the ones that we English speakers call ‘Japanese,’ which are supposed to have both a different chemical composition and a different taste than European cucumbers.  ‘Moon Cake’ is a bit of a mystery to me – it seems to barely be offered by any companies (if even that), and even the one that I ordered it from over the winter no longer lists it on their website!  It was just introduced earlier this decade, according to what I read this morning, and is supposed to be much taller than most edamames, averaging 5-6 feet.  My other three are all from Kitazawa Seed Co., one green seeded, one brown seeded, and one black seeded.  (See their descriptions pasted below.)  Green seeded soybeans are by far the most common ones in the US, perhaps because many catalogs erroneously list other seed colors as being only for dry beans (in reality, whether the beans can be eaten fresh has nothing to do with the color of the planted seed).

*The purple-podded beans have started to sprout, joining earliest bean ‘Arikara Yellow.’  So far, ‘Blue Coco,’ ‘Trionfo Violetto,’ and ‘Purple Podded’ are coming up.  (See descriptions pasted below.)  The runner beans have yet to show sprouts.

*I noticed while I was out sowing that the blueberries seem to have doubled in leaf numbers just since I mulched them with compost two days ago.

*The fava/broad beans are doing even better now that it’s cooled off.  They’ve increased their bloom count.  The ants are obsessed with wandering back and forth on them, like they always do.  I’ve never figured out why.  (There are certain other plants in the garden that they are also obsessed with – especially my autumn-blooming colchicums, but only when they’re in bloom.)

*Continuing my disappointment with Cook’s Garden (sure do wish I’d remembered Burpee’s had bought them out before I ordered), they just notified me yesterday that they were finally shipping my shallots.  It had been so long that I had actually forgotten I’d ordered shallots from them!  The notice piously said that they were shipping at the right time for me to plant them in my area, but it is well past the best time to plant shallots here.  Johnny’s Select Seed sent me their shallots a couple of months ago, and Moose Tubers (the root slips division of Fedco Co-Op) sent theirs a few weeks later.  (Both those are in Maine.  Cook’s Garden is farther away, in Pennsylvania.)  Well, hopefully they will be OK planted this coming week (they have yet to arrive), even though they should have been sent earlier.   My already-planted shallots appear to be doing well.

…

Soybean ‘Kouri’ Brown-seeded soybeans are uncommon in the United States. They are highly prized in Japan for their sweeter and nuttier flavor compared to the traditional green/tan seeded soybeans. Even though the seed for planting is brown, you will find the color of the bean dark green at harvest and it retains this color when cooked. The pod’s pubescence is light brown. The plant habit is semi-upright growing about 2 feet tall. Warm day temperatures and cool night temperatures are important for good results. This is an early maturing variety and seeds are sown from early May after danger of all frost to late June and harvested from late July to early September. Boil in salted water and bite or squeeze the beans from the pods directly into your mouth. Maturity: Approx. 85 days  (Kitazawa Seed Co.)

Soybean ‘Tankuro’ In Japan, the black-seeded soybeans are noted as having a richer and sweeter flavor compared to the traditional green/tan seeded soybeans. Even though the seed for planting is black, you will find the color of the bean dark green at harvest and it retains this color when cooked. The pod’s pubescence is light brown. The plant habit is semi-upright growing up to 2½ feet tall. Warm day temperatures and cool night temperatures are important for good results. This is an early maturing variety and seeds are sown from late April after danger of all frost to early June and harvested from mid July to late August. Boil pods in salted water and bite or squeeze the beans from the pods directly into your mouth. Enjoy! Maturity: Approx. 85 days  (Kitazawa Seed Co.)

Soybean ‘Lucky Lion’ This variety of soybean is prized for its high yield and excellent nutty flavor. There are typically 3 beans per each bright green pod. This is a mid-early maturing type variety, indeterminate type and grows about 2 feet tall. Warm day temperatures and cool night temperatures are important for good results. Prepare as an appetizer by boiling pods in salted water and serve cooked beans or “edamame.” Maturity: Approx. 75 days (Kitazawa Seed Co.)

Pole Bean ‘Trionfo Violetto’ Purple climbing French type bean. 75 days. Beautiful bean, long, slim and very crisp. Makes a stunning fresh bean salad when mixed with one of our green and yellow french beans. Turns green when cooked. Like most French type beans, should be picked when no thicker than a pencil for greatest tenderness and best flavor.  (imported from an Italian seed company)

Pole Bean ‘Blue Coco’ 59 days. Distinctive flavor and color. [Pre-1775 French heirloom.] The name ‘Blue Coco’ refers to the bluish-purple color of the pods and the chocolate (coco) color of the seeds. Leaves are green, tinged with purple. The fleshy, slightly curved flattened pods range from 6 to 7-1/2 in. long, and have a nice meaty flavor. Outstanding characteristics of this variety are color and ability to produce under hot, dry conditions. (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange)  I love ‘Blue Coco’ so much that here is a second description about it to entice you: Blue Coco (pre-1775) – Also known as Purple Pod and Blue Podded Pole. One of the oldest of the purple podded pole varieties, this rare variety was known in France as early as 1775. The young pods are delicious harvested young as snap beans and the beige to “coco” colored seeds have a meaty texture when used as a dry bean. The coloration of the dry seed varies with soil and climate. It is very durable and excellent for short season climates because it is quite early for a pole bean and is also very tolerant of adverse conditions. (60 days for snaps) Pole. EXTREMELY RARE. (pasted from Heritage Harvest Seeds in the UK)

Pole Bean ‘Purple Podded Pole’ This is a heavenly, almost fluorescent purple pole bean, hailing from the Ozark mountains. This lovely heirloom beauty was found growing in a garden the 1930’s by the old Henry Fields Seed Company. It is most likely of European origin and probably dating much earlier than that . Very vigorous grower of vines reaching easily over 6 -8 feet , but not out of control like some pole types I have grown. […] These gorgeous snap beans are stringless, nice and meaty . They are less than 1/2 inch across by about 5-7 inches long. The entire bean plant just glows and is quite ornamental with purple vines and veins in the leaves, and as you can see in the photo lovely bi-colored purple flowers as well. Fairly early for a pole sort. Seed is a buff brown color, with a hint of lavender.  (Amishland Seeds)

Long Time No Post 22 May 2009

I’m sorry it’s been over a month since I updated.  The thing about spring is that you’ve got so much to do in the garden that’s it’s often a choice (at least for me) between updating the garden blog and actually being out in the garden!  I have some partially finished posts saved on my computer and hopefully I will be able to finish those and upload them soon.  I also have a lot of photographs to upload, hopefully also soon.  In the meantime, here is a brief update on things here in the past month-plus:

*The shade/partial-shade garden in back is doing really well.  Spring is really its best season, I think.  There have been bulb blooms, woodland phloxes, epimediums, primroses, and violets, and now the columbines and wild native ginger and the alpine strawberries and the last bulb (Silver Bells)  and the new lowbush blueberries and new mourning widow cranesbill are blooming, and the foxgloves and comfrey are budded. The foxgloves I seeded in last year have survived the winter with pretty good germination and most of them are budded (in addition to the foxgloves that I had last year; all but one of those have come back for another year). The comfrey is doing unbelievably better than its sad start when I first planted it last year (if I hadn’t watered it regularly, I think it would have died) – it is huge and has several bud clusters and looks like it is forming new ones as well.

*More improbable winter survivors: In the back garden, the Salvia patens has survived another winter, and this year not just one calla lily has survived, but five (so far)!  In the front, all the agastaches appear to have survived, even the ones that weren’t supposed to be winter-hardy here.  Additionally, the two hardy begonias finally sprouted over the past day, rewarding my belief in them.  That means that all but two things survived in pots in the back garden – the ones that didn’t make it were one epimedium and one sedge.  Even the other stuff in tiny pots did, like violets and lyre-leafed sage.  My incredible experience with this last year led me to take more risks with it this past year, and I know I’m lucky my risking paid off.

*Self-seeding: There has also been some nice self-seeding.  I always appreciate plasnts that are tough enough to be able to self-seed in my harsh front garden.   The sundial lupine (Lupinus perennis), in particular, has pleased me so.  I’ve counted at least five seedlings, some nearish the parent plant but others farther afield in the garden.  Sunflowers have again self-seeded and/or been seeded in by birds.  It also looks like the tovara (‘Painter’s Palette’) has self-seeded this year (something it is notorious for doing, and how I first got my plants – a friend gave me their self-seeded seedlings), and it looks like there may be at least one baby echinacea as well, which would please me so.  The squill, muscari, and glory of the snow have all developed seedheads, but we’ll see if that results in actual self-seeding (I hope so).

*Overwintered plants: I carried out most of the overwintered plants today, another hot and sunny day here.  The brugmansia (‘Charles Grimaldi,’ now with me for two years), Cestrum (‘Orange Zest’), and lemongrass have done the best over the winter, all growing significantly from their size in autumn.  The sweet violet and fuschia (sharing a pot) and the tweedia and snail vine have also done decently.  The bay seems to still be alive but is continuing not to seem particularly happy, still about the same size it was when I got it several months ago.  I saw that the nursery is offering bay laurels that are larger and look more robust than the one I got from them last year, and am considering trying a second plant to see if it does better than the first one has.

*Blooms in front: We are up to the stage where the heirloom irises are blooming or budded.  ‘Eleanor Roosevelt’ was first (as she is well-known for being even in gardens with dozens of irises), with just one bloom so far. ‘Gracchus’ is blooming now, with several more buds spread over two bloom stalks, and there are many buds on ‘Quaker Lady’ and ‘Mme Chereau,’ which were the two irises to bloom their first year here (last year).  My other three irises have yet to show visible bloom stalks, but I haven’t given up hope yet.  All seven are growing more robustly than last year (when I think the trauma of having their roots stomped on, having heavy things dragged over, etc. by the workmen really damaged them), so I think there is definitely a possibility they will yet develop bud stalks. The wild native columbine is also blooming (I planted that this spring) as well as the Mt. Atlas daisies, and there are buds on the (parent) sundial lupine, the false/Carolina lupine, the peach-leaaved bellflower, the dianthuses ‘Rainbow Loveliness,’ the chives (which have been budded since the last heat wave in late April), and one each of the perennial salvias and the cranesbills.  There are also a lot of blooms on annuals I’ve planted – pansies, violas, bacopas, heliotropes, snapdragons, Swan River daisies, stocks, Felicia heterophyllas (that beyond-gorgeous blue-on-blue daisy that I planted last year, not realizing it was a different Felicia than the species I’d grown the year before until it bloomed), an alpine calendula I’ve not grown before, …  Lots of success with direct-sowing in front, as usual.  There are a ton of clarkias (nearly 100% germination, as last year) as well as smaller numbers of many other things, such as California poppy, annual poppy, corncockle, calendula, and love-in-a-mist.

*Crops: The fava/broad beans have started blooming!  The garden peas are growing like mad now.  Some of the garden peas had poor germination in the first round, so I recently seeded in a second batch of those and they are catching up now (‘New Mexico,’ ‘Tall Telephone (AKA Alderman),’ and ‘Mammoth Melting’ are the ones I can remember off the top of my head).  I don’t know if it was a difference in placement (perhaps different amount of sunlight/different intensity, different texture to the soil, etc.), if perhaps they happened to be more prone to rotting before sprouting than the other cultivars, or what.  The fava/broad beans seem to have had pretty even germination rates amongst them, even though they are planted in a row westish to eastish like the peas are.  The lentils, meanwhile, have had very uneven germination.  (If you forget, this is my first year growing lentils.  See a recent post for more details.)  ‘Spanish Pardina’ germinated first and to date has germinated best (I think it may have had 100% germination).  ‘Black Beluga’ germinated second and has similarly had overall second-best germination.  The other three haven’t done as well, with a handful (‘French Blue,’ ‘Petite Crimson’) to none (‘Urid Dal’) up so far.  I’ve also had no srpouts of the garbanzo ‘Black Kabouli,’ but my beans ‘Yellow Arkiara’ (the earliest garden bean to plant) have sprouted and are growing nicely, and now with the heat and sun, the runner beans and purple-podded beans are coming up as well.  (Purple-podded beans can be planted earlier than other beans because there’s a special chemical in them that both gives them the purple coloring and makes them less prone to rotting in cool, wet soil.)  Aphids turned out to have sheltered over the winter on the fuschias and decimated the majority of my seedlings in just a day.  After they had mostly died out, I started a second batch of seedlings.  I’ve got lots of young plants again now:  26 cherry tomatoes (nearly 100% germination), 20 regular-sized tomatoes, 12 tomatillos, and 2 chiles (the chiles survived the onslaught better than the tomatoes and tomatillos, so I didn’t seed as many new ones in).  I’ve never had aphids on indoor seedlings before, and it’s really a serious pain.  I also got a cherry tomato plant at the living green festival my town held recently.  A non-profit that does gardening work locally was selling them to raise money.  They said it was an heirloom hand-selected by their main grower (and indeed, it appears to be named after him), but the two people staffing the stall couldn’t tell me more about it.  When I tried to ask more detailed questions, they just kept shrugging and saying, “It’s a cherry tomato,” as if that explained everything.  So I figured I’d just grow it and see for myself what the answers to my questions are.  There are also shallots, parsley, cilantro, French sorrel, thyme, and sage growing in front, and the scallions, chives (or as the person that gave me the Chinese leek division two years ago calls them, “American chives”), lavenders, winter savory, and Chinese leek/garlic chives have all survived the winter and are doing excellently.  I also finally planted the bare-rooted highbush blueberries in front since my last post, and after initial shock, they seem to be adjusting well.  In the sifted compost, I found a squash vine, and transplanted it to the main crop area.  I’ve also got melon seeds to sow.  Today’s a ‘fruit day’ in biodynamic parlance, as is tomorrow, so I should do that while the time is right.  Perhaps I should seed in my edamames today too, and give them a chance to get going before the pole beans shade them out (which seems to have been their biggest problem the last two years).

*Compost: Yesterday, in anticipation of yesterday and today’s heat, sun, and wind, I mulched all the back beds and the main crop area in the front bed with compost.  I also top-dressed the front’s plants that I know most like it – the Oriental poppies, peonies, scallions, and chives – plus I added some compost around the blueberries, stocks, and alpine calendula.

*Caterpillars: I found a caterpillar in the crop patch recently, the first I’ve ever seen in the windy, hot, high front garden!  It was so convincing at playing dead I thought it really might actually be dead until I gently poked it with a twig and it freaked out.  I also found a couple caterpillars in the back garden yesterday, one green and hanging out on the sifted-compost holder and the other munching the comfrey.

*New plants: I mentioned some of the new plants above.  I’ve also gotten more new plants from the nursery and mail-order.  I’ve planted some of them and others are awaiting planting. Some of them, particularly much from my Select Seeds mail-order, are meant to go in pots:  a datura, petunias, fuschias, tender (‘zonal’) geraniums.  I’ve also got flowering tobacco, salvias, tender vines,  coleuses, and more from Select Seeds.  I’ve already planted lantanas and some salvias and a double-flowered feverfew and a silver foliage plant from them. I’ve also got some tender “bulbs” to plant – dahlias and gladiolas and a rain lily from Old House Gardens and a few cannas from the local hardware store (Old House Gardens had already sold out of cannas by the time I placed my quite tardy order).

I think that’s plenty for today!  More another day.

More legumes in the ground 20 March 2009

I placed my order with Kitazawa Seed Co., a company I’d never used before (though it got good recommendations on the Garden Watchdog site), on the 17th.  I was stunned today to find a box sitting on my porch waiting for me!  The whole way from California!  So I already got to put fava/broad bean ‘Nintoku Giant’ in the ground, as well as the two peas I ordered from them, ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’ and ‘Taichung 13.’  ‘Nintoku Giant’ only had seven (appropriately gigantic) seeds in the packet (seriously, they were by far the biggest fava seeds I’ve ever seen), so I only planted three of them, in case disaster strikes as per my recent comment about my low-seed-count pea as well. My pea cultivar experiment some years ago in my old garden showed heirloom ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’ to be the most frost- and snow-tolerant/resistant of all the cultivars I grew that year (literally growing up through a late snowfall), so I planted more of those than I’d planted of any other pea.  ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’ has also become a popular variety for shoot harvesting, so I figured I can always harvest them if I have 100% germination anyhow.  Yum, pea shoots.

I’d also become attached to the idea of growing out an eggplant despite Amishland Seeds being out of the one I’d ordered, so I ordered seeds for one from them, Japanese eggplant ‘Kamo’:  A highly prized traditional “kyo yasai” or Kyoto vegetable, from the Kamo area of Japan. It has been a delicacy in the region of Japan for many hundreds of years. A Kamo eggplant is unique. It is fat and round with a flat bottom. It has lustrous purple-black skin and purple calyx. The fruit is about 4″ in diameter, and weighs up to 1/2 pound. This is the choice eggplant served at top restaurants in Japan. Its tight pulp has a rich flavor. Particularly delicious when coated and baked or fried with miso and tofu.

I may be one of the few white Americans that generally prefers Asian eggplant cultivars to European ones, and I would be fine with that.  A couple of the farms at the market sell the long and typically somewhat curved type of Asian eggplant on and off from July to early autumn, but I’ve never seen one like ‘Kamo’ here, not even in Chinatown (though, in fairness, I don’t actually go there very often).  So in keeping with my general focus in this small garden on growing things that are difficult or impossible to find here or are only available for 1-3 weeks out of the year, I thought I’d try it.

There are more basils, fennel, and tomatoes up.  The last time I checked on the chiles (this morning) there weere still five ‘Cochiti’ and no other chiles at all.

Seedling Extravaganza! / Basils / Fava Beans AKA Broad Beans 19 March 2009

The indoor seedlings are coming up like mad now!  Not only are there more tomato (including cherry tomato) and tomatillo seedlings, but late yesterday I finally spied my first chile seedling, and today I noticed that the basils and bronze fennel are finally starting to sprout!  Even late bloomer “Paul Robeson” tomato is finally up.  Today I also noted that there are four more seedlings of the first chile, “Cochiti,” bringing the total to 5 before any of the others have sprouted at all.  In terms of tomatoes, two of the first three to sprout still lead the pack – “Myona” tops the total with 6 out of 8 seeds sprouted, followed closely by “Manyel” with 5 of 8. “Toma Verde,” the first tomatillo to sprout, still leads the tomatillo pack by a wide margin.  For the herbs, there are a handful of bronze fennel seedlings up (“Smokey,” from Renee’s Garden Seeds), and three “Red Leafed” basil plus one in the same pot that may be a “Red Leafed” or may be a “Mrs. Burns’ Famous Lemon” (it’s slightly tinged in red, but not nearly as red as the others), and then there are a few coming up in the second pot of basils, but it’s harder to tell what kind those are because I sowed “Eritrean” and “Mayo/Yeome” in the same pot and I believe they are the same color as seedlings.  (See below for a list of the basils.)

We’ve had so little rain since the snow melted that yesterday as I was working in the garden I saw a strong gust of wind pick up dirt/dust from the street and gust it down the boulevard with litter, as if this were the Southwest.  And yet we had such a good snow/ice season that the ground is saturated anyway and the broad-leafed evergreens look their healthiest at springtime in a few years.  Today it is finally thickly cloudy (after days upon days of brilliant sunshine) and sporadically sprinkling; it is allegedly going to outright shower this afternoon, but we’ll see.   This morning I went out to sow the peas and fava/broad beans, as it is ‘fruit days’ and I wanted to get them in before the possible-rain, plus tomorrow is supposed to be colder and today is already crisper than yesterday, the temperature having peaked around dawn this morning.   The ground is so wet that all I had to do was press my thumb into it to create a hole deep enough for planting a legume seed, as if I were working with dough or sliding a warm knife into butter.

I planted the favas in the front of the crop patch, since that worked well last year, and planted a long row of most of the peas behind them (in a row just because it makes it easier to trellis them), with the two definitely dwarf peas off by themselves.  I reviewed the pea list I compiled here in a recent entry before planting to check on sizes and to arrange them by type of pea.  I planted the row from shelling peas, to the pea that can be shelled or used as a snow pea, on to snow peas, then peas that can be used as snow or snap, and finally the snap/sugar pea.   I should’ve compiled a fava list before I did so for this post (see below for list), as I’d forgotten “Iant’s Fava” is so much bigger than normal fava plants, and would have planted it behind the others if I’d’ve remembered.  I planted the two dwarf peas by themselves in the southeast corner of the patch, but I don’t know if that’s the right place for them, so we’ll see.  I planted five of each fava, except for “Purple Guatemalan,” as I was so charmed by the purple fava seeds in my hand that I planted an extra one.  I planted six of each pea, except for “Capucijner’s Blue Pod,” as I only received ten seeds of that very rare (in the US) cultivar and didn’t want to plant over half the pack only for disaster to strike, so I planted four of those instead.  See my recent entry “Spring and Peas” for a list of the pea cultivars.

It was cool and gusty with very damp air, and by the time I finished sowing the seeds, my pants, bare ankles, and bare hands were all caked with mud and I was cold and stiff, but I knew that my reward was going into a heated home for a warm shower and a hot mug of tea, so it was all good.

While I was waiting for the tea to steep, I thought I’d check the seedlings for watering needs, and forgot that – I know this will shock you – recently used gas burners are hot.  So I, not surprisingly, accidentally burnt a few small holes in the bottom of one of the seed trays.  The good news is that it appears that it was just the main tray holder that was damaged, and those are extremely cheap & easy to replace (in fact, I have some extras in my home at present).  Plus, I learned my lesson, and hopefully will not do something so dumb again.  And it also speaks to the high quality of my seed trays that so little damage was done despite sitting on a hot burner!

Basils

Mrs. Burns’ Famous Lemon This variety has been grown for 60 years in southeastern New Mexico. It is an Old World introduction and readily self-seeds. (Native Seeds/SEARCH)

Mayo/Yeome A strong smelling medicinal plant commonly grown in Sonora, Mexico. Good for cooking and flavoring vinegars and oils. The white and pink flowers make it an attractive garden plant. Do not grow with other basils if saving seed. (Native Seeds/SEARCH)

Eritrean (O.GRATISSIMUM) [Family heirloom from an Eritrean Exchange student] Compact plant with beautiful, purple-tinged green foliage, stunning in flower. It has a strongly attractive and spicy odor, and is much used in African cuisine. (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange)

Red Leafed (Ocimum basilicum) Annual. Beautiful, deep burgundy-red throughout; adds color to salads and soups, with the same great basil taste as green leaf varieties. Start indoors and transplant outside after frost. (Turtle Tree)

I also have three more basils that I haven’t sowed yet because I didn’t have them yet during my last basil planting.

Broad Beans / Fava Beans

Broad Windsor 85 days. Plants grow 24 to 36″ tall and produce 1″ wide, 6 to 8″ long pods containing 5 to 6 large beans. We love to substitute this bean for chickpeas in hummus. (Southern Exposure Seed Exchange)

Iant’s Fava Originally introduced by Alan Kapuler of Peace Seeds. A large-seeded Guatemalan variety that reaches 6 feet tall! The bright yellow seeds are reputed to contain elevated levels of dopamine, and may have benefits for those at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. A fine plant for improving garden soil. Abundant production of delicious fava beans (Baker Creek)

Guatemalan Purple Large deep purple colored seeds from Guatemala. Produced well in our winter grow-out in Tucson and a spring growout on our Conservation Farm (4000ft). (Native Seeds/SEARCH)

D’Aquadulce a Tres Longue Cosse Beautiful black and white flowers attract many beneficial insects. Well-filled pods to 8’’. Beans have a warm nutty flavor, meatier than lima beans. Edible leaves. Very disease-resistant.  (Bountiful Gardens; leftover seeds stored since last year’s planting)

I ordered one more fava bean this week that I will plant as soon as it arrives; here is its description:

Nintoku Giant This variety’s yield is heavy. Most bean pods have 3 large seeds in a pod. Sow seeds in late spring in cold winter climate areas. For warm and mild winter climate areas, sow seeds in fall and harvest in spring. These sweet, tasty beans are especially prized in China and Japan, where they are parboiled and then stir-fried in oil with garlic. Boil beans and serve cooked as an appetizer or add to salad. Broad beans are extremely high in nutrients, including protein, iron and potassium. Maturity: Approx. 90 days  (Kitazawa Seed Co.)

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)