Reed's Garden Report(s)

[reed]

I imagine some snow might have saved lots of stuff. Added all together we might have had an inch over the whole winter. We may still get a foot or two of wet snow now that spring is almost here, wouldn't surprise me a bit.

[richardw]

Next colour ready

[mskrieger]

Funny, I just posted in reed 's old thread about things that survived the winter. Pretty much same results as you guys. Everything died save garlic and leeks. The ripsaw freeze thaw cycles and open winter is what did it.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I was just out to my garden. It looks like about 7 fava plants survived. That's out of hundreds that went into winter as small plants. That's wonderful odds for a plant breeder.

The favas that were planted in November germinated, and grew under the snow. The leaves are yellow as can be, but they should perk right up with a few days of sunlight.

[richardw]

The younger the fava the better they survive the winter here.

[reed]

Yea! finally got some garden planted. Spent yesterday and day before hauling that giant pile of wood chips the power line cleaners gave me (well about 1/3 of it) over to more convenient spots inside the fences. Today, just finished up getting a nice long row of potatoes in. Nothing to do tomorrow but plant. Figuring on putting in some poppies on one side and radishes the other side of the potatoes. Then long rows of carrots, lettuce, chard, onions, mustard, not sure what else.

I tilled the potato spot to make it easier to make my deep trench and filled it with a mix of the wood chips and nice soil on top. Most of the rest I'm not gonna till at all, just hoe off any weeds and plant. Time allowing I'm gonna go ahead and put up trellis for the tomatoes and pole beans so come time they will all be ready.

Next get the electric fence all in place before stuff starts coming up. O'yea, dragged out the cold frames, if time allows I'll get them fixed up too. After that it'll be back to hauling the rest of the chips so it'll be handy for mulching later on.

Now to get the seed coolers downstairs so I can get into them in the morning before daylight. Wouldn't do to tackle that task upstairs while the woman is still asleep.

[reed]

Well lo and behold, I found four, count em four lettuce plants. Not 100% sure they are over winter survivors or late winter volunteers. I'm hoping for the the survivor scenario and the stems are pretty thick to be new sprouts. In any event I'll take it. Also found two turnips. So add that up with the three wheat plants and the previously discovered lettuce plant and things not quite as bleak as I thought.

Changed my planting plan some, as usual, but finally got some more garden planted. I have six little beds all 10 ft long and ranging from 3 to 5 feet wide. Got them all cleaned up and four of them planted with mustard, radish, lettuce, carrots and barley. Made a new little bed along the fence in another spot and planted oats. In the bigger part I cleaned up and tilled two beds, one 3' x 45'  and planted it with White Superior Potatoes. Along the edges I planted more lettuce and on the other side onion sets for green onions. I figure the onions and lettuce will be gone by time to dig the potatoes.

The second bed is about 5' x 45' and I ran the rows across it at 5' long. That makes it easier I think to hoe and mulch while staying in the paths. Rows are maybe 14" apart and 2/3 thirds are planted with all the rest of my onion seeds, a mix of toomanyirons's TPOS and Joseph Lofthouse's bulbing onions. I also have some of both of those in storage to be replanted soon for seed and also some that overwintered. I'm happy with my onions now, I think I'v got what I need to be self sufficient with them from now on. The other 1/3 of that bed is Swiss Chard and some more spring greens mix. 

When I cleaned the smaller beds I just scrapped the weeds off with the hoe and save it all with the dirt that came with it and mixed that all up with some of the finer wood chips I got from the tree trimmers. Got plenty of it to fill all my sweet potato pots. I also put a pile of it over by the potatoes, I'll use it later to hill them up. 

Didn't get my seed radish mix or any peas in but will do that at the next opportunity. I'ts chilly and wet today and supposed to snow but that's OK. I hope and expect to see lots of new stuff growing the warm spell. 

[richardw]

In all full glory..

Whats interesting is the last plant to flower is the same colour as the non white (what would you call that other colour?) but its slower to flower.


Here's one for ya, how many varieties of plants can you see in the photo

[reed]

Mar 28, 2018 15:31:56 GMT -5 richardw said:

In all full glory..

Whats interesting is the last plant to flower is the same colour as the non white (what would you call that other colour?) but its slower to flower.


Here's one for ya, how many varieties of plants can you see in the photo

I count about 17 different plants not including the trees in the background but doubt if I got it all quite right.

Here when the asters are in full bloom like that most everything else is already gone for the season. They are the last flowers of the year, when there isn't much other color left in the landscape. I call the darkest ones purple. Glad you have some of them as well as the white, now in future you should get all the different shades in between. 

[richardw]

Yes i got 17 including the orchard grass. I had a few other small plants still in a large pot over summer, ive only just planted out some these thinking there might be some other colours amoung them. How many do you reckon there could with that seed batch reed?

[reed]

Mar 29, 2018 12:24:10 GMT -5 richardw said:

Yes i got 17 including the orchard grass. I had a few other small plants still in a large pot over summer, ive only just planted out some these thinking there might be some other colours amoung them. How many do you reckon there could with that seed batch reed?

There are lots and lots of colors but they are really just different shades of the same color. The darker ones are most common, the lighter ones are rare and white is rarest of all. It's like if you took a cup of white paint and started putting in drops of purple paint.

I guess what ever genes cause the color blends somehow rather than being one or another.  I don't think they breed true cause although I always pay special attention to make sure seeds from white ones get dispersed good there are years when I don't have any white. It just happened that I had two or three nice white ones when I harvested some for you and put a good amount of them in the bag. 

There is another flower form where white is the norm. Those flowers are smaller with more petals, I don't like those as much and select against them. They remind me too much of the tame commercial ones which I think are ugly. They are actually most common in the wild but after many years of culling I have almost exclusively the larger flowers now. 

When I collected your seeds I went around and picked from just the best of the best in flower size and color range but was careful to make sure you got a lot from the darkest as well as the white. I'd say with a pure white one and a dark one you'll have the whole range from now on. 

[richardw]

I called in to some folks yesterday to ask them if they would like pumpkins and they had a Aster in the driveway, same colour of the purple, but a slightly different leaf shape though, i'm header there now so i'll get a photo...

[richardw]

Slightly larger flower and more compact plant

[reed]

Weather is so awful, can't do much outside so I thought I'd make a list of stuff I grow in the garden and yard as well as things I plant and tend to outside the yard and on neighboring lands.

COMMON BEANS
-A hand full of specific varieties (all pole) for specific things like canning green beans
-A landrace of pole beans for dry beans

LIMA BEANS
-landrace for dry beans

RUNNER BEANS
-landrace for dry beans and to cross with the common

CORN
-Sweet corn landrace, short season with a little z. diploperennis mixed in
-Field corn landrace, but specifically selected for colorful floury kernels

SQUASH
- Summer, mostly patty pans, zucchini and yellow
- Winter, more of a landrace selected for small tasty fruits that keep good

POTATOES
- whatever I come across, dabble a little with TPS

SWEET POTATOES
- from seed and focusing for now on reliably producing lots of seed

TOMATOES
- large fruited group for slicing, selected for flavor and production
- large meaty group for processing, mostly Ox heart types
- snack or salad group, various sizes selected for flavor, some s pimpinellifolium genes in this group
- for drying, this is a "want to" variety but so far F3 and 4 of the hybrid Plum Regal seems to be working

RADISHES
-Love my radishes, landrace for eating the seed pods and let the roots rot and till the ground

TURNIPS
-for now same use as radishes but looking for winter hardy landrace of the species for winter/spring greens

LETTUCE
-what ever grows, looking for semi-wild landrace and winter hardiness

ONIONS
-not too hot, hardy and that keep good, easy to propagate

GARLIC
- mostly just let it be wild

DILL
-cause it is well established weed and I like it

MUSTARD
-looking for hardiness, don't care it it and other plants of the species cross and become a weed

CHOI
-same as mustard

SWISS CHARD
- haven't been successful on getting seeds but will keep trying

BRASSICA OLERACEA
- Looking for a weedy, hardy, mix up for greens and seed pods

CARROTS
- looking for short, fat, sweet, orange not successful on getting seed yet, fingers crossed for this year

OATS
- hulless, love the whole grain coked with a little honey and cream

BARLEY
- hulless, love it whole in beef based soups

WATERMELONS
- like sweet small fruits, don't care what color

MUSHMELONS (that's what I called them as a kid)
- prefer small fruits but aromatic and flavorful is most important

PEPPERS
- hot but not too hot mix for dry pepper flakes
- sweet, also for the dry flake mixes

DAHLIAS
- don't know how to use the roots yet but love growing them

BREADSEED POPPIES
- a nice addition to the garden

MARIGOLDS
-mostly cause they are an established weed and I like them, select for tall plants, simple single color flowers

SUNFLOWERS
- another established weed, multi branched, small flowers mostly reds

SUNCHOKES
- haven't eaten any yet but love having them

HORSERADISH
- can't get along without it

PATIENCE DOCK
- don't know what to do with it but it's a beautiful plant. larger version of our wild dock

BURR DOCK
- don't want it here but tend a patch on the neighbors land, in case we want to try it out sometime

ASPARGUS
- too much trouble keeping it weeded so just tend the wild patches along the road a little

RUBARB
- don't use it much but it's pretty and easy to grow

BLACKBERRIES
- mix of wild and tame, mostly around the edges of the yard

RASPBERRIES
- same as blackberries

CHERRIES
- rarely get any cause of birds

APPLES

PEARS

PLUMBS
-little pinkish colored wild ones, trees don't live a long time but grow easy

PEACHES
-produce good one year in three, put them up as jam

GRAPES
- dozen or so kinds, mostly just eat fresh or make jelly

HOSTAS
- always had them just for decoration, will try them out as food

DAYLILLIES
- same as hostas

HONEYBERRIES
- haven't thrived but are hanging on

GOJI BERRIES
- haven't had big enough harvest yet but think they will make good jelly

KIWI
- love these but male plant died, got to get a new one

RUGOSA ROSE
- hope to get these started for rose hip jelly

PRICKLY PEAR
- not in my yard but got a patch over on the state's land

MOREL MUSHROOMS
- never found one on my land but have secret spots, I never pick them all

BLACK WALNUTS
- great producing trees wild all around

HICKORY NUTS
- best trees I know are and easy walk

PECAN
- have planted lots from favorite trees, oldest ones are producing now

Not sure this is a complete list but covers most of it.

[mskrieger]

Yes, the weather is awful but your list is making me happy anyway, reed. And reminds me I should check on the horseradish!

richardw Your garden pic is beautiful. How do you choose which plants to put next to others? And do you organize by row or by bed? (I'm struggling with garden layout right now. It's bigger than it's ever been and yet somehow I have nowhere to put my tomatoes...on my plan, at least.)