Lotsa Seed Sowing…

I know I’m late sowing my Tomato, Pepper and Zinnia seeds, but I’m going to plant them anyways. I know they can catch up.

Lots of Seeds Sown

Here’s a list of what I planted:
Continue reading

Another Busy Gardening Day…

I started the day off harvesting some Swiss Chard ‘Green’ for lunch… My Mom used it in Filipino dish called Nilagang Manok, which literally translated means Boiled Chicken. I really love Swiss Chard, including the stems which remains firm when cooked. They are not stringy like some Bok Choy stems.

After lunch, I when to the garden and did a bunch of seed sowing. A few years ago, I experimented with winter sowing. I used milk jugs as containers, but didn’t have such good luck. I think the base didn’t have enough soil and it dried out too quickly. This winter, I’m going to use 6-8 inch pots as the minimum size. I also used standard 1-gallon containers. I filled the pots lower than if I were to plant a plant in them. This will leave some protection when the seedling emerge. I used plastic covers with elastic sewn in the edges to cover the pots. These were pretty cheap; I think the box came with 12-18 covers for $1. This will keep the soil from drying out and I think the elastic may even help keep the slugs out… which is another problem I had previously. I sowed the following seeds:

Agrostemma ‘Ocean Pearl’
Alyssum ‘Gold Dust’
Zinnia (Fall 2005)
Mystery Flower (maybe Gazania Daisy?)
Sunflower Lemon Queen (old seeds that I found hidden away in storage)

I wanted to get rid of some really old seeds like the Sunflower above and I also found two packets of Radishes from 1984!!! I emptied the two packets (Radish ‘Red Deveil B’ and Radish ‘White Icicle’) into a 12 inch pot… I don’t really expect them to grow, but if any are still viable, here’s their change to grow.

I planted a 10 inch pot with lots of Cilantro seeds that I harvested last year. I hope the Cilantro grows densely so we can harvest a lot. I then replenish one of the 3-gallon GeoPots that we harvested the Purple Bok Choy from and planted a bunch of Lettuce ‘Wildfire Mix’ that I bought a few days ago. I still had a bunch of seedling, so I potted to into large cell-packs to plant out later.

I’m not sure where to plant the other new plants I got, so I divided the small-packs of Kale ‘Rainbow’ and Kale ‘Siberian’ into 3 inch pots, so they can grow a bit before I figure out where to plant them. I was surprise how healthy the young seedlings were. I was able to divide the Kale ‘Rainbow’ into 17 individual pots!!!… and I’ll give some away to friends and relatives.

I also started grafting, since our Asian Plum tree near the storage is starting to bloom. I grafted four total today and will do more later:

Asian Plum ‘Golden Nectar’ (Graft 2012-01)
Plumcot ‘Burbank’ (Graft 2012-02)
Asian Plum ‘El Dorado’ (Graft 2012-03)
Apricot ‘Canadian White’ (Graft 2012-04)

I hope these take.

Wintersowin’ 2011…

A few days ago, I discovered another way to wintersow… so I’m giving Wintersowing another chance.

I purchased two 50 qt. Sterlite plastic bins with covers.

Wintersow

I was able to place twelve 3 inch pots into each one.

Wintersow

I planted mostly flower seeds and a few vegetable. Continue reading

Nets + Zinnias + Taro + Dried Snap Peas…

Earlier I tweeted: Are Gurney’s ( @GurneysDeals ) and Henry Field’s are the same company?… because I am getting identical emails from both of them. I got a responce saying: “yep. Same with springhill and michigan bulb”

When I got home from work, I noticed that my Mom set out the net to catch the Plums Folia that are starting to drop.

It's Falling Plum Time Poor Zinnias

My Zinnias grown from seeds have been in their small cell packs for a while. I haven’t had the time to transfer them into better pots until this evening. I planted them in my Solo drinking cups pots, with each color representing a different variety. By the time I got them all potted, it was already dark outside.

Potted Zinnias

My Mom found some of the Taro in our pantry sprouting. She cut of the growing tips, placed in a bowl with a damped towel and covered with a pastic bag to keep it moist. This evening I took the Taro tips and planted them temporarily in a big cell pack with potting soil, so the root will grow and develop.

Taro Sprouting Taro Planted

Finally, I shelled the old Snap Pea Pod that I put out to dry. I’m not really saving these to plant, so we may use them as food somehow.

Dried Snap Peas Shelled Dried Snap Peas

Sage + Rain Barrel Overflow + Yam Leaves + Sprouts

10:54am Happy “Blame Somebody Else” Day!!!… Go out and blame someone for something!!!… hehe #

6:01pm I showed a coworker how big my Sage plant has grown :: he then told me about a Brown Butter Sage Sauce j.mp/cdclHW #

Sage Overflown Rain Barrel

6:18pm Our rain barrel overflowed during the last two days of rain #

6:19pm Found out Turmeric comes from a plant in the Ginger family :: j.mp/9RAU0n #

11:19pm Got some Yam leaves from the grocery store. We’ll cook the leaves like Spinach, and save the stems to root and plant #

Yam Leaves

11:32pm Just 4 days after sowing the Envy Zinnia, Whirligig Zinnia, Fruit Smoothie Zinnia and Lettuce Leaf Basil are sprouting… #

A Whole Bunch of Gardening Going On…

12:45pm I’ll be planting alot soon and almost out of blank plant labels, so I’m erasing (they were written with pencil) used ones to be reused… #

4:06pm Tulips and my Mom’s Azaleas are blooming the the back yard… #

4:19pm Borage, Osteospermum and Snapdragon are blooming… #

4:28pm Comice Pear graft, Asian Pear near sink and Persimmons are starting to open its buds… European Plum near veggie bed is starting to bloom… #

4:31pm Envy, Fruit Smoothie and (Seeds from 2005) Zinnias are sprouting… #<

5:39pm Sowing 3 types of Tomatoes: Black from Tula, Beefsteak and Rutger-Select… #

5:43pm Sowing various Peppers: Emerald Giant, Golden Marconi, Red Bell, Carmagnila Rossa (G3), Sweet Mini Red, Sweet Mini Orange and Thai Dragon… #

5:49pm Sowed other Nighshades: Easter Eggplant, African Orange Eggplant, Congo Trinidad Pepper, Datura Golden Queen and Datura Purple Queen#

5:54pm Almost forgot to sow the Scarlet Chinese Eggplant (G2) seeds… #

6:36pm My Mom is top dressing her hanging tuberous Begonia with compost… They are starting to sprout… #

6:46pm Sowed some flowers in cell-packs outside: Tithonia Torch, Moonflower, Cleome Rose Queen and Cleome Four Queen#

6:46pm Sowed even more flowers in cell-packs outside: Orange Butterfly Flower, Blue Flax, Statice Rainbow Mix and Coreopsis Plains Bicolor#

6:47pm Sowed Strawflower Dwarf Mixed Colors in milk carton container… #

6:50pm Sowed 4 veggies into cell-packs outside: Misome, Miike Purple Giant Mustard, Marvel of Four Seasons Lettuce and Broccoli Raab#

6:51pm Kiwis, Figs and Pomegranates are starting to leaf out… #

6:54pm It’s been a busy day in the garden and it’s now dark… I would stay out longer to sow more seeds, but the mosquitos are annoying me!… #

10:35pm I noticed that the Sugar Cane now has a second sprout. The first one is about 3 inches now… #

Gardening Update + Edible Broccoli Leaves?…

5:16pm Lemon Verbena is breaking dormancy and starting to leaf out… #

5:18pm The grafted Peach ‘Flavorcrest’ is starting to bloom… #

7:26pm Potted up my new White Chinese Ground Orchid into a one-gallon pot… #

7:47pm Are Broccoli leaves edible?.. We got a bunch of Broccoli with leaves from my cousin and the leaves look almost as good as Collard Greens… #

8:30pm Winter-sown Zinnia ‘Whirligig’ is already sprouting… #

[update]

turtleinashell from LiveJournal send me this link:
Broccoli Greens! on Daily Grocery Co-op

It Was a Really Busy Garden Day…

  • 12:24pm I like how Guy Fieri (Guy’s Big Bite) promotes composting kitchen scraps, even if it’s just in a bucket for your houseplants. #
  • 12:45pm Spring Starflower, Snapdragons, Daffodils, Candytuff and Calendula are blooming in our backyard… #
    Spring Starflower  Daffodils  Mini Daffodils  Calendula 'Pacific Beauty'  Candytuff
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