Progress Report: Still Alive!





Strawberry: Sequoia



Herb Pot

 

Sunflowers: Solar Eclipse and Incredible 

Sugar Daddy Snap Pea

 

Sugar Daddy Snap Pea

Sugar Daddy Snap Pea

Sugar Daddy Snap Pea

Nasturtium: Milkmaid

Corn: Martian Jewels (1 of 5 pots)

Bean: Blue Lake Bush

Bean: Blue Lake Bush

Bean: Scarlet Runner Pole

Bean: Scarlet Runner Pole

Bean: Scarlet Runner Pole

 

Zucchini: Dark Star

 

African Marigolds

The Lay of the (Pot) Land (Post Stage)

My pebbled patio is replete with 60+ tiny circles, each surrounded by the unavoidable green algae and moss that emerges from yes, even cement during the dreariest of seasons in the pacific Northwest. The excitement that follows those now barren circles is simple delight in watching everything grow and (for the most part), thrive in their nondescript potting containers. Better yet, the possibilities to come in the following weeks and months.While we have been rain free for the past week, we have managed to get the beds cleared and staged pots into their permanent locations for the season! *Woot*  I thought it would look awful, but other than being majorly restricted to straight line side beds, it doesn't look too, too shabby.  Ordinary, but good.  Mediocre, but awesome for what those pots and plants will soon bear.

One week later, there are no fatalities and plants are thriving.  There is still a most abundant area for all the nightshades, and I can't wait until the foliage from all starts spilling forth.  "Container Gardening "One or None" still a "1" for now and hopefully remains so! :)

Original prestaging condition of the BackYard Pot Plots.

Out Came the Sun and Dried up all the Rain...

 

And the (not so) itsy bitsy slugs went up the water spout...

Our pots have been inundated with the rain for nearly a month. The first two weeks, there were at least several hours of dry time between the heavy showers and the plants were at least content with the refreshing drink during early growth.

The past couple of weeks those same plants have endured an almost constant barrage of rain.  Just this week, we saw leaves begin to yellow and the early signs of drowning ready to consume my hard won seedlings, which were becoming large enough to call plants.

A sad pot of snap peas that had endured not only the past month of rains, but two previous wind/rain storms will likely not make it.  I reseeded under the dying growth in the hopes they will spur to life before it gets really warm (we have partial sun/shade spots, so hoping they have a chance).

I did not fret too much as anything that may have drowned was reseeded, will be reseeded, or appeared to be just fine.  But when the yellow leaves began to show on everything, I worried--just a little.

With the rain, the pots are still staged on the patio.  We hope to finish weeding the side beds this weekend and get those pots where they belong (which, with another month of rain, has all kinds of great growth and new things to remove).  The Scarlet Runners shy of their tall teepee and clinging to one another on the overgrown temporaries that will have to be left in place under the large teepee.  They are quite happy, save for the couple of skinny feet at the top with nowhere to go.

 Black Turtle Beans

 Green Onions

 The patio pot staging zone (the DMZ). All set for sidebeds this weekend, hopefully! Good weather on the horizon!

Nasturtium (Empress of India)

 

  Nasturtium (Milkmaid and Alaska Mix (Variegated)

Connecticut Field Pumpkin

Dark Star Zucchini with slug hole.



Nasturtium (Milkmaid) under Scarlet Runners



Nasturtium (Milkmaid)

Black Turtle Beans



Green Onions



 Sugar Daddy Snap Peas



Sugar Daddy Snap Peas



Sequoia Strawberries

 

 

Jersey Blueberry 

 

 

 

The photos are from today as the sun unleashed itself through the dense cloud barrier that has been so dominant these past weeks.  A bit yellow, but looks like everything will survive (at least that how it appears right now). 

As We Make Our Way Out to the Sun

EWWW! Even the baby snails ran for high ground during all those weeks of rain. This is the top of the sliding glass door-disgusting.   I was really just fighting my way out of the door to clean all the glass.  It gets a little mottled after such a lengthy deluge of rain. 

They are smashed properly disposed of now. While the slugs were mowing the carrots, we wondered what tiny thing gnoshed tiny holes in the center of the nasturtiums.  Now we know!

These guys are not nearly as gross (or intriguing) as the giant African snails in Hawaii--just saying!

Break over--I just wanted to share the gross out of my current heebie jeebies! This is definitely not what one wants to find when cleaning all dirty rain spots off the glass!

Off to assess the rain damage to our little green friends. . .

Slimy Marauders!

Slugs just mowed my carrots down to the nub somewhere in the rain during the past few days.  Five juveniles caused some malicious mischief in my carrot pot.  What I did notice in respect to the slugs in that pot in my staging area of the patio, is that they only gnoshed on the contents of the shorter containers.  Carrots and thyme (Thymus vulgaris).  Neither the carrots or thyme was an easy germination, but both were thriving once they started.  It isn't crop failure, yet.  A single green top survived and the pots are presently re-seeded. Disappointing at best as I'd hoped the containers would slow them down, even just a little.  Since none were evident in the larger containers, I'll take that as a good sign to get the small ones up in the morning and spot check the larger containers just to be sure.

In the meantime, what to do to eradicate?

Organic Sluggo (iron phosphate, not the metaldehyde version) is the obvious and probably most effective choice, but even though its claimed to be mostly organic, Sluggo can result in iron poisoning for pets and children. 

Eggshells, are they fact or fiction? There seems to be some variable thoughts on the topic. Do they cut the slugs to bits or do they just not like crossing the coarse shell bits?  How fine does the shell need to be crushed--have seen dust to large pieces mentioned, but nothing definitive.

Coffee grounds are said to avert slugs for two reasons: they don't like caffeine and do not like to cross uncomfortable surfaces, much like the eggshell option.  I've just seen these slugs wander into my pot staging patio which is roughly pebbled cement with obviously no issue. Sans the caffeine, gritty sand and wood ashes are also said to be effective or the same reasons.

Diatomaceous earth. Another non-crossable barrier for plants as the edges are quite sharp.

Citrus halves - simply tuck into your garden, collect the slugs drawn to the citrus, and put them back.  Slugs must be collected and disposed of. Your choice how to accomplish the disposal.

Beer makes for a great drunk. Drowning drunk slugs.  They crawl in to the shallow dish or side tipped bottle and don't crawl out (or not too far if they do not drown first).

Nut shells are another slug barrier that they just aren't comfortable crossing.  Toss around your plants, checking daily to make sure the barrier has not had a path bumped through it.

Copper is supposed to incite a neurological shock upon the slug crossing the narrow strip and they turn back from whence they came.  Copper is pretty pricey these days, so not the most economical for a large (or even a small) garden.

Salt and foam.  Simply salt the hungry buggahs and watch them foam away to nothing.  Quite messy and you risk the excess salt harming your plants and your soil in the garden.  Great for driveways in theory, but not directly near vegetation.

Grab and Smash! Really. Just pick up, and cut in half or smash accordingly.

Living options: ducks, chickens (sometimes), and garter snakes.  When I go from wanting to remove small and slimy to larger and seems like slimy--the snake, who is not slimy, but is stereotyped to be slimy). I'd probably opt for ducks, had I the option to do so right now.  Hungry, hungry ducks!  

What do you do with all the slugs and bodies? Disposal options - salt the living in a container and dispose of properly.  Take them for a one way ride out to the woods and set them free (they will be back!).  Tag and release! Kidding! Maybe!

Back to serious, make sure to wash your hands thoroughly as slugs do carry parasites.

Alas, I'm fairly certain we need to draw in as many as possible to dispose of primarily to lessen the local population of the yard.  I think once the pots are in their permanent spots, we should decide on what we are going to sprinkle the area with.  For maintenance, perhaps just a shared beer in a bowl weekly to keep the population down.

What has worked best for you in ridding the slug population in and near your garden?

Weather Woes

5/21/2013 19:30:00PM
The more days of rain, the more effects I see on my large, fledging pot garden.  The pots are still grouped on the patio for ease of care and monitoring.  I am starting to see yellow leaves.  There are far too many to bring in.  Hoping for longer dry periods to remove the excess moisture that was good in recent days, but beginning to show the potential toll on the seedlings, some of which are growing into full on plant phase.

The winds today changed direction over and over.  The paper birch tree was doing a hula swaying one way and then the other throughout the day.  What we thought was a fine pruning, the winds have totally shown us to be false. 

5/20/2013 10:52:00 AM
Gray, rainy, windy. Wash, rinse, repeat. For the past two weeks.

Really.

Little sun, but quite lovely when it pokes out between the fog and the long overcast mornings. Spotty at best and insufficient time out to keep the hardening process up outdoors.

They promised 70 degrees and sun this afternoon. Welcome to the PNW!

Tomorrow is a new day.  I shall continue working on the previous blog posts that have yet to be published.

Late Italian Garlic

Variety: Late Italian Garlic
Sown: 12 APR 2013
Germinated: 18 APR 2013
Photos: Garlic Pot #1 - 10 May 2013 and 19 May 2013

Again with the "never grown before" in my world... Again with the especially never grown in a pot or container of any type before...

This garlic was ridiculously simple.  Within the week, the garlic hard broken ground and was off and  running.  We don't expect to see glorious and chunky bulbs.  We may even end up with rounds, but we do know now that we live in the 4th largest garlic producing county and our weather is apparently just right for growing softneck garlic. So far, so good! We hope to be as productive for our little plot of dirt in a pot.

However, it is Spring.

Sow in the fall. Next year for certain with the Spring yield.

The temptation to use these for cooking was tremendous.  I'll say that I'm looking forward to the harvest, braiding this garden to hang in my pantry, and definitely looking forward to using it a great many dishes.  Next year, I will probably quadruple the number of pots for this garlic, alone!

Yes! That good!

I'd love to grow hardneck, but not sure it is possible in our "neck" of the woods.  If for nothing less, for the garlic scapes alone. More research to do!

Mothers Day Addition

Asiatic Lilies - no info on the label, unsure of what variety these may be. Beautiful nonetheless and the thought with which they were delivered was so very special--my other half knew I was missing the islands and thought they would brighten my day and remind me of what was "home" for so many years. He did select just the right shades and really made my day with such a vibrant colour choice.

Does anyone know offhand which variety these are?  I have found similar varieties, but not an exact duplicate.

Green Onion Renewal: Who Knew!

I don't want to call this "recycling" as green onions are a living thing!  But that act is exactly what it is--recycling.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one could not only recycle the green onions, but propagate an equal amount weekly! For free!  Amazing! As we would say in Hawaii, onolicious, too! I've been buying those weekly forever! As of my discovery, I do not plan to purchase green onions in the future. Like, ever. Not again.

It only takes a bit of the white end of the green onion to renew itself.  As long as there are roots and enough of the base onion to hold those roots whole, it is as easy as snipping and placing in a cool glass of water in a window sill.  I change the water every couple of days because, ewww, don't want to eat something that has been sitting in rank water for long.  I've even left them for 3 days and water appeared fresh and not slimy.  One only needs enough water to cover the roots. The nub needs enough white with roots to proceed.

After two harvests, I planted the original cut onions (which I also cut long to test this recycling deal) into soil, so I have a glass tumbler (a mismatched leftover of a bygone era) holding up my onion stems in the kitchen window and a pot of onions outside.  I plan to rotate them every so often because I cannot find any information as to whether growing in water will maintain full nutritional value. An educated assumption of reason tells me that after some time, the nutritional value may weaken due to lack of renewed nutrients. 

Then again the new onion is well,  renewing, so alas, this question begs an answer.

The onions we harvested this way were perfectly pungent (perfect aroma/oils for a green onion) and were crisp and juicy.  Very impressive.  I cannot even recall the last time I had green onions that fresh or tasty.

My poultry shears are getting a little dull, so I highly recommend a nice sharp pair of shears for harvesting. I will be getting a new pair or using a dedicated pair for this purpose.  After these first few weeks, I am absolutely thrilled that I have garden fresh green onions at my whim!

Luckily, the last grocery store green onions we purchased were organic.  I do have green onions growing from seed after two failed attempts that are now thriving.

Variety: Evergreen Bunching Onions
Sown: 1 APR 2013 (first attempt totally indoors-frail and weak)
Germinated: The current thriving batch: end of April - 4" long as of this writing.

Epic Fails

How many times, no matter how ahead of the game we think we are, do we inevitably have a batch of seedlings that fail to thrive or seeds that act as if they are never going to germinate! 

The bane of my very existence this year seems to be getting my tomatoes warm enough or in enough light.  Lesson learned.  More light.  Many of the first batch seem to stunt after the first couple of weeks.  While I have seedlings from 4/1, they should be much, much larger than they are now.  Subsequent plantings two weeks ago have caught up with and bypassed those original starts.

I've reseeded my Jelly Bean tomatoes time and again--I will be lucky to get a single plant much less a couple of each, both red and yellow and still at this point, I'll be really lucky to get one.  I was so looking forward to that little grape delight!

Amazing, right?

Nightshades. yes, all of my nightshades, same problem.  Same fixit--start over.  I somehow seem to be determined to provide TLC and CPR to those first stragglers who are slowly trying to nap out of it.  Some because I'm running out of a couple of those varieties... my herbs are not doing so hot, I think that is due to bad environment, they get shoved aside time and again.  They are in the right conditions now, so I hope to not have to bother with them any time soon as they were flourishing previously.

I know we all have some plants that just don't grow for us, whether it is level of care, temperatures, weather, light, humidity or lack thereof, and other environmental issues such as soil--too warm, too cold, too damp, too dry.  The list goes on. . .

As for houseplants, specifically, I've never been able to keep a Boston fern alive for long at all, while my father could keep immense ferns alive for decades. I've never really had a problem with my nightshades, so I'll blame it on being in the PNW on the Western side of the slopes, haha.  C'mon, we've all got to have an excuse! ;)

What are some of your lesser successful germination plants and problems?

The Art of Handcrafted Trellis Architecture

Art? Handcrafted yes, artful, not so much. Simple? Yes! Effective? Yes! Architecturally precise? To be determined.

Materials: 1/4' and 1/2' bamboo cane and twine (jute, sisal, and an unknown kitchen twine (likely cotton)).
Purpose (Arbor): 4' x 4' (3x4 once set in soil) The arbor is specifically to hold up a Luffa gourd vine and the (hopefully) abundant produce.
Purpose (Trellis): For Sugar Daddy snap peas.
Purpose (TeePees aka little oil derricks): Beans, beans, and more beans!  While these are only 4', I am going to have to wrap the 6' over the 4' this weekend to provide enough climb space.  Already the vines are scrambling for more.

Lashing bamboo is simple and so simply complicated. . .

I lashed that bamboo as close to authentic as possible.  The joints were remarkably stable.  I used a (too) long doubled up twine and ended up with the pretty solid and thick joints, but better that it holds up together rather than with so much less, right?

My fingers at the end of building these were simple and complicated, too. . . Oops, I meant, the faintest of blisters from winding so much of the prickly twine had all but failed to prudce the grandest of blisters.  Had I any smarts, I would have purchased simple arbors, trellises.  nah, this was much more fun and my family will not know what to do once I remove that little arbor from the kitchen and set it to action!

The Arbor: Seedling is not yet tall enough to utilize, but looking forward to the transition! It is sized to fit particular pots and tied at a slight angle which straighten with the soil pressure. Works beautiful!

The Trellis styles: The snap peas are loving it so far.

The Plain ol' sticks: Place in dirt, guide vine.  Not very effective on the pole runners.