ethin's doings

[ethin]

Dec 24, 2016 18:28:23 GMT -5 keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) said:

Dec 24, 2016 17:48:38 GMT -5 ethin said:

Some interesting peas from Joseph's mixed soup peas.

If not i imagine those could be seeds from Josephs red-podded soup peas, sometimes purple coloring shows up from gray speckled pea lines, but it is never stable. The only stable colored peas lines i know of are Biskopens and Purple Passion.

keen101 I think that ^ is what these are, there wasn't any seed like that in the stuff I planted, and there where a few plants with red blushed pods. interesting, good thing I saved all the seed from that planting as specimens. So if that seed was F1/F2 that means I'll have more fun stuff to look forward to.

Thanks again Joseph!!

[ethin]

Started the year off with two storms in two days each putting down about a foot of powder, Had a low of -29.4f after the storms passed and highs in the -10s. There is a herd of deer hanging around. Had to rescue a cat that has been bedding down in a neighbors outbuilding, he went two days with out food 'cause he got snowed in. Moved half of a snow bank from the side of the driveway out front to the back yard to make room for more snow. Today it warmed to the high 30s and rained for an hour or so then froze.

So basically a normal winter here, we just haven't had a normal winter for 5 to 10 years.

[richardw]

Impressive photos, so do you pay someone to clear ya driveway

[ethin]

Jan 10, 2017 14:24:28 GMT -5 richardw said:

Impressive photos, so do you pay someone to clear ya driveway

Ya, lol, that's how I pay my parents for room and board, clear snow in the winter and grounds keep/garden in the summer.

[richardw]

good deal. They have got the hands full with that dump of snow.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

I'm excited to know what those Biskopen F1 seeds do. If your ever able to reselect for an earlier but still brick-red pea i'd love to snag a few seeds. Here's hoping i get a good growout of my peas this year so i can finally start sharing with others.

[ethin]

My lawn is like the Lawn Service guys white whale, they always come knocking but never catch anything.

[ethin]

bluemeadow, as far as I know they are common blue violets. We've had them growing in the yard my whole life, since we stopped using cides they've really started to spread. I also have dandelions, white Dutch clover, yarrow, narrow-leaf plantain, black medic, wild perennial aster, several other unidentified "weeds", and a dozen or so grasses.

[philagardener]

Out East, violets are great host plants for some native butterflies including Fritillaries. Lots of pollinators and other beneficials will love all that diversity in your yards.

www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/fritillary.shtml
nababutterfly.com/violet.html

[SteveB]

I never could understand why people wouldn't want clover in these yard. When I was young I built a flower bed over a tree stump to cover it. Planted a few relocated perennials and a couple Violet's that I dug from the yard( 12, poor, and no acces to anything outside our own yard) but those violets took off in that bed, they took it over in a couple years. They were beautiful. I was just looking at some violets yesterday in the yard and was thinking about doing the same.

[philagardener]

I have a very pretty violet cultivar called "Freckles".  It is well behaved - to the point where I wish it would spread more!

[steev]

I enjoy violets: pretty, fragrant, and tasty.

[SteveB]

Apr 2, 2017 20:28:10 GMT -5 philagardener said:

I have a very pretty violet cultivar called "Freckles".  It is well behaved - to the point where I wish it would spread more!

Wow. Nice!

[ethin]

Took some pics of what's growing in the garden so far, mainly cool season legumes.

Last year I planted spring grains in with the peas, the peas had support with out me having to put in poles or a trellis and where less of a pain to pick, and I got two crops from the same space. I did get poked in the face a few times while harvesting the peas, but overall it turned out great. Only problem was I planted things a bit sparse.

I did the same thing this year with most of the early legumes and added some flowers to the mix. Hoping the flowers will attracted more pollinators, maybe increase the out crossing rate. Also most likely added more weed varieties to the garden.

The flowers I used are: Marigolds, Cosmos, Zinnia, Flax (linum), Bachelor's Button, Sweet Alyssum, African Daisy (Dimorphotheca aurantiaca), Tree Mallow, Black Medic, Dutch Clover, Crimson Clover, Snapdragon, Celosia, and Aster. Depending on how things go I may add Malope, California Poppy, Moss Rose, and Pansy next year.


Got some green seeded chickpeas to add to the brown, tan, and black I have, now if I could just find some red seeded ones to round out the mix.

Also growing favas for the first time this year, thanks Joseph! Got them in a late, hope they will still produce some seed.


A close up of the weeding mess I made for my self.


More peas. The soup peas need more support than just the grains.


Update of the Biskopen Peas for keen101. The first pic is the speckled seeded ones, the second are the reds.



Some watermelons I sowed a moth ago just to see if how they would fair, most of them survived the snow and 29f weather I had last week.


I did plant a row of lettuce and radishes but apparently I didn't need to.


Onions, parsnips, carrots.


TPS start, the covers are to keep them from sunburning, 'cause that's how I harden things off, put them strait in the garden with a cover for a week.


Seed carrots, also have a clump of seconds else where.


Seed brassicas, kohlrabi and collards. I also had some cabbage and a purple sprouting broccoli make it though the winter.



Seed grown strawberry entering it's second year.


Seed grown raspberries entering there second year.


Apricots grown from seed from my brothers seed grown tree. His tree produces more reliably than most in our valley, the fruit is sweeter than my trees, and the seeds are sweet too.


Seed grown irises entering there third year.


"Moo", oh wait, I mean "mewo"

[steev]

Wow! You have cats and a self-seeded salad patch; envy attack!