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). 

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.

Luffa! Loofah!

As you can tell by now, my return to the garden also brought with me a few bit necessarily unique, but 'unique' side items.  A friend of mine mentioned growing loofah, while my education is fairly well rounded, who else did not know the "rough scrubbie" (not the soft squishy sponge for afterwards) was borne of a gourd instead of from a pineapple under the sea?!

Me.

I've used these silly things since I was a small child--both the luffa/loofah and sea sponge to exfoliate and smooth. It's not often that I am taken aback with new information, but more so I am taken aback that I just never thought to think more about it.  What I do know, however, is that cheap plastic scrubbies tear the skin and often leave lacerations (I recently got married with a small scratch on my forehead to illustrate this point).  While one can certainly do the same with a natural luffa, the likelihood of leaving a wound is far less is moistened appropriately before use. 

It's all good now! I've got a packet of seeds and a handcrafted masterpiece of a bamboo cane arbor I lashed together in only 5 hours!  (See post here: The Art of Handcrafted Trellis Architecture ).

The seeds were quick to germinate, seedlings quick to grow.  The luffa did not go through the hardening process well.  While one plant transitioned to the outdoors with ease, the other wilted slowly with the change.  As with all of my indoor starts, I plugged a couple of seeds in the soil when they stayed outside permanently.  A short week later, the surviving plant wilted.  It is still hanging on, but we are now relying on the upcoming starts originally planted directly outdoors.

More on growing and harvesting soon!

Variety: luffa aegyptiaca (H)
Sown: 08 APR 2013
Germinated: 15 APR 2013

I'm Digging Up My Baby Bamboo Shoot...

Sing the post title to the tune of "I'm bringing home my baby bumble bee...".  Add a huge amount of sheer glee, as we have germination and a baby Moso bamboo shoot (whom we shall call "Baby Boo #1")! Count them, just fifteen days to germination and ground break! Mind you, it's only a single seedling, but it lives!

So exciting!

I was expecting anywhere from a month to several to see the skinny green twig of a culm escaping the small plot of soil it would be lounging in, teasing us while we waited.  I've let it sit for a couple of days just to make sure it had sufficient humidity.  Bamboo should not be in the same level of humidity once there is any inkling of green rising from the pot.

This one sprouted on the coconut coir side of the sown seeds.  I will repot in nice soil with about 25% coir to avoid any shock.  As it turns out, this transplant was so simple--just pricked it out with a plastic spoon, set it on the 4" azalea pot, raked the mix over rhizome, tamped lightly, and set it in the window.  I am keeping it under warmth at night however as the window can get drafty with the furnace air return just under the sink.

Moso bamboo is very fast growing, so an inch a day on some days at this infant stage of the lifecycle is interesting to oversee and not uncommon. The growth will slow, but right now it is an amazing specimen to ponder.

Cross your fingers and green thumbs for the next!

My Asparagus Corral

Variety: Mary Washington Heirloom Asparagus
Sown: 8 APR 2013
Germinated 23 APR 2013

I thought these heirloom Mary Washington asparagus seeds would never give up the ghost! Really! I've never really known what asparagus looked like in the seedling stage, so it was definitely an interesting wait!  While I've had gardens since my early 20s, apparently asparagus was not on the radar--perhaps it was the 3 year wait, perhaps I didn't care for it back then.  At 40 something, I definitely have more patience and better taste. 

I researched asparagus seedling photographs and care, as well as the growth phases.  I truly thought these seeds would never give in!  I've noticed I have a bad habit of stirring around the seeds in the starter soil, but whether coincidence or not, tiny asparagus popped up soon after. After all, how would I know if they just simply rotted--that's a great justification.  I'm sure I will continue that bad practice until I potentially harm something...

When they reached about six inches, they were drawn to the heat of my hand and fell over.  I will not have perfectly pretty, little and ferny trees growing, but a tangled mass of tiny, green and ferny stalks. It was like a rodeo roundup of  their little stalks for transplant and during transplanting.

I had to manufacture, shall we call it, a corral.  An Asparagus Corral to be exact. While it likely isn't ideal, the seedlings are happy and are standing a bit more upright now.  They definitely have some curl from leaning on each other and the label stick.

As I try to harden them off, I notice a few brown ends, broken (wind blown) tips, so I'm keeping them inside for a bit longer until they can survive without my constant hand outdoors. 

Growing asparagus in a pot is a little out there, but I figure if I'm just going to be looking at it for the next three years, I may as well try.  I will try to document the growth pattern in said pots along the way.  There is definitely next to zero information out there on this particular method for asparagus.

I germinated these seeds successfully in both rich soil and some in coconut coir.  There was a notable difference in the growth in each, with the soil producing faster and heartier seedlings.  The seedlings in the coir needed to come out quickly, while the seedlings in the soil were still thriving wholly in the soil.

The Asparagus Corral is comprised of cotton kitchen twine and shishkabob skewers.  Speaking of skewers, I've discovered that they make a great gardening tool; the skewers hold up label stakes (address label wrapped around), rick out young seedlings for transplant with ease, stir soil when impatience reigns over intelligence (lol), and are great for digging earth out from under fingernails. 

Guardian Gatos of the Seedlings

Our feline family members are strictly indoor cats (all are rescues or adopted from no kill shelters).  The two youngest door dart occasionally and become so frightened of actually being outside that we've never had a problem getting them the two steps back into the door. The oldest rescue we found starved, a mere skeleton, several years ago--she will absolutely not go out the door, ever.  She knows what can befall her. 

We do know they long to explore the mysticism of the great outdoors, but for safety, alas, they must stay inside.   Any time there is something green within their reach, they must touch or taste.  They all simply adore the holiday season having a tree to lounge underneath.

So far, they have let the seedlings be and not made their own kitty salads.  BUT, when the trays are getting their sun bath, we must watch.  Weather is iffy at best, save for the spurts of constant warmth.  We are still enduring spring storms and showers, so the door is the strongest location for the trays. So while we are mistakenly serving up the greens while they are sunbathing also, the cats assume said greens are fresh for their nibbling. 

They have so far:

- Huffed half a tomatillo seedling, fresh from the soil. Literally snuffed it up!

- Eaten jalapeno seedlings, as well as the difficult sweet California Wonders. 

- Plucked thriving tomato seedlings straight from their cups.

If we happen to catch the moment, the oldest of the triad of doom, will just brush her tail across anything it can reach, touching ever so slightly with a curl of her tail.

All in all, it has not been too bad--keeping up with the cats, that is, as I really expected to hear crashing pots in the middle of the night. So far, they have really behaved above all expectations.  They won't have their cat grass back until it is warm enough for the nightshades to go outside and stay.

After all, how's a silly feline supposed to tell the difference between which set of greens they can and cannot have! It shall be their reward.

Moso Bamboo Propagation from Seed

*Whew* Hopefully, my desire for  a privacy screen in a pot will be worth the effort of propagating Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis / Phyllostachys pubescens) from seed.  While this has little to do with my organic pot garden, I shall share my results with anyone who can gain from them. Besides, bamboo shoots are edible!

Delving into the sowing of Moso bamboo seemed daunting after much research.  Not too many years ago, there appeared to be little information on the topic available and those in the know were keeping that information close.  In the last several years, there have been many like me who have journaled their experiences in growing Moso, which has proven to be much more insightful than the generic information of "those in the know" that is so prevalent.

While Moso can reach grand heights of 70-80' in the right environment and maintain very thick culms (this is a timber bamboo, after all), I expect for the time we are indentured to our city lot that when the time comes to head South, that they will be bouncy, leafy, and manageable, clump-like juveniles in my current zone and still fairly simple to transport. 

While there are large bamboo growers in the PNW, we plan to work the up potting along the way the first few years.  I have always been drawn to well kept bamboo, but I am especially drawn to the Moso for its large leaves in the juvenile stage and the cascading small leaves at its larger size. 

This is truly a trial and error venture, but there is a certain satisfaction in growing your own from seed.  I may just be a glutton for punishment.  The germination rate is not fantastic, the environmental conditions must be well tended.

To begin, I hunted down two sources of seed as bamboo only flowers every 100 years, thereabouts.  Estimates vary in years and is not quite an exact science.  Did I mention bamboo can flower globally and then it dies?  Really.  Seed collecting is therefore, not too easy to accomplish and not particularly easy to come by from reputable sources.

I purchased a lot of 25 and a lot of 50 seeds.  Imagine the 50 count lot was 13 short.  *panic*  Luckily, the seed vendor sent me another packet of seeds (another packet of 50, which was also 16 short of 50).  In any event, I ended up with well over 50 from that supplier for a total of over 90 seeds.

I've sown 66 and hoping for a handful!  (Photo shows uncovered seed). I have read that the Moso seed can be planted a couple of inches into the soil, germinated in a Ziploc with moist towelette (wetted paper towel, coffee filter, toilet paper, etc.).  Most of mine were planted  horizontally across the top of the soil. I also tossed some in both directions (thick side up, skinny side up and vice versa) just to see if there is a difference in germination rate.

I am saving the last of the seed for experimental germination methods should the soil and coir mix fail to produce.  I did not soak or treat these, though I understand it is best to do so to avoid fungal problems and damping off later on.  I have 62 in a seed tray and 4 outside in large seeded colour pots.  Really, if it grows in near identical conditions in China, it ought to propagate here much the same without human interference.  We shall see how that goes (or not!).

Have any of you ventured into bamboo seed propagation? What species and what were your results?