ethin's doings

[ethin]

Well I've been lurking here for six moths, suppose it's about time I said "Hello" and post some stuff.

First things first, can someone please tell me how to post images?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Ethin: Welcome to the forum.

Host photos on an image hosting web site such as Photobucket, Flicker, or Picasa, or a blogging site such as WordPress, or on a private web site. Then use the "insert image" icon to display them in this forum. That creates code that looks like [ img src="http://" alt=" "] which can also be typed in manually. (remove the space in "[ img" for it to work properly. "src" is the complete URL to the photo and "alt" is a description for the photo.)

[ethin]

Thanks Joseph.

To start things off, here is one of last years projects. I started a bunch of golden arborvitae from seed. Only two dozen have survived to this date. This spring I hope to get them trans-planted to their permanent locations outside.





I also grew pumpkin to sell last year. Most of the ones in the photo are f1 hybrids except the cheese wheel looking one. The cheese wheel one came from store bought seed that claimed to be Jack-O-Lantern, all the plants in that hill grew similarly shaped fruit, it will be interesting too see what their offspring produce.





Random ornamental gourds from last year, I'll see what they contributed to the the pumpkin gene pool later this year.





Lastly some ornamental corn just for the fun of it. Maybe I'll get enough this year too make some rainbow (brown) corn mill. lol

[ethin]

One of this years projects, cranberries from seed.
The seeds came from "fresh" store bought cranberries my dad got for a traditional mid December dish. I planted five seeds the day after collecting them the rest I stored in the refrigerator.

After about a month of day time temps in the 80's to 90's and night time temps in the low 50's in my "sun room", the ones I planted for a germination test came up. The image was taken nine days ago, since then one of the seedlings died (either because the compost was too moist or from damping off) and the other two are putting out their second set of leaves.

The seedlings are growing in home produced compost, hence the moss and the weeds I pulled before taking the photo. My water is also rather alkaline, the white and yellow deposits, I guess I'll find out if my high ph water and soil are too much for them.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Don't worry about the moss. I have been spending a lot of effort to try to grow mushrooms. Getting a few now and then, but more failures than successes. So I transplanted tomatoes the other day, and the pots immediately sprouted mushroom mycelia. Can't grow it in sterile conditions, but it sprouts all over where I don't need it.

My friend is also growing mushrooms. Last week she had one fruit from the floor in the bathroom!!!

[ethin]

Ya, I've accidentally grown mushrooms too. I grew more mushrooms in and around my potted blueberries last year than blueberries.

I'm not too fond of fungi, but the kind that grow on people seem to think I'm rather tasty. Perhaps if I eat more of them they will change their minds. lol

[raymondo]

Welcome. Nice collection of plants. I tried cranberry seeds from dried fruit but without success. Perhaps seed need to be fresh.

[ethin]

Thanks raymondo.

I've been growing and saving my own flower seeds for the last twelve years, only recently (last four years) started with edible plants.

I defenitly have a wide rang of seed including one I'll never use. Ones that either wouldn't survive in my climate and would get too big to house indoors like grapefruit and lotus, or like cyclamen that the secrets to getting them to reach maturity and survive dormancy phases still elude me.

[richardw]

Hi ethin and welcome,some great looking pumpkin's & gourds there.
I'm into growing trees also,other than the arborvitae's do you grow other types of trees

[ethin]

Hello and thank richardw.

I have some Joshua Tree's that I grew from seed (I know they're not true trees), also some English Oak seedlings that I started in the fall.

I grew five English Walnut's, an Almond, and a couple of Hazel nuts last year, I'm anxiously waiting to see if they survived the winter. I also have some Almond and Hazel nuts stored in the refrigerator that I'm planing to start this spring.

I planted a Black Maple the other day (I have fantasies of making syrup), however I know the probability of success with only one seed is low.

I also have seeds from the fruit trees on my property, Bartlet Pear, some variety of smaller plum, peache, apricot, five varieties of apple, and Black Mulberry.


Almost forgot the Alder and Pine seeds.

[bunkie]

Welcome to the forum ethin. Your 'doings' look good!

[ethin]

Thank you bunkie.

[ethin]

Planted more Cranberries from seed, also Raspberries and some Irises.

[ethin]

I planted Coneflower, Yarrow, and Salvia today. (I'm trying to plant more stuff for pollinators in the yard.) I all ready have some Coneflower and Yarrow, a small patch of each, figured I needed more. I also started some Rosemary, Oregano, Thyme.

I use furrow/ditch irrigation so there is lots of wasted water between the hill plants, I decided that I might as well plant flowers there. So I had a 40' row of Cosmos in the garden last, it really attracted pollinators. Had bees and wasps of all sizes swarming them, also had humming birds dive-bombing me all summer.

[ethin]

Wohoo! First real day of gardening this year.

Finished cleaning up some of last years debris that the rotor-tiller might not handle (Sunflower root balls and steams).

Rescued a few plants, a Cabbage that amazingly survived the winter, something that might be one of last years Celery, and some "weeds" that I'm not too familiar with (they might turn into something interesting).

Tilled part of the garden, and planted shelling Peas and Chickpeas.