March 2017

Veggie garden for the Pacific Northwest !

Actually planted one week ago (MARCH 24), after we set up and filled the second of our raised planter boxes. They are 4 x 2 feet, and raised about 3 feet off the ground. Next to each other, they are 16 square feet total planting space:

The photo below is peering in……the radish seeds sprouted after 4 days, the lettuce after 6!! Probably due to the cloches, keeping the cold rain out.

We bought two large plastic and metal cloches to extend the growing season and speed up some of the plants by providing warmth and protection from all the cold spring rain we’ve been getting and from sprout-eating vermin. Unfortunately, sprout eating vermin appears to likely involve deer now. We found deer prints in the soft ground in the back yard yesterday, and of course caught one red handed last fall, the first sighting of a deer in the twenty two years we’ve lived here. I didn’t want to bother with the fabric type cloches, those would blow away with our first good wind! Even these need little metal spikes to secure them. They cover most but not all of the space, but this works for an early planting. I will probably remove these cloches and plant along the uncovered borders when it warms up. Also got a square metal trellis that attaches onto one side of the planters for the bean and cucumber vines. Soil is potting soil in the back one from last year, and some compost, soil and peat in the front one (dave filled that one). I mixed in some vermiculite and fish fertilizer in each, especially the non-composted one.

I planted the early spring garden: spring onions, carrots, butter lettuce, spinach and radishes inside, and nasturtiums on the corners outside. Except for the north side, with the bean & cucumber trellis.

Next phase will be the later spring stuff, like pole beans and cucumbers, and finding tomato plant starts. I will be looking for tomato plants that advertise tolerance below 55 degrees…..we had too much ‘flower drop’ happening last year, losing many potential tomatoes to the inevitable temperature dips. So far no tomato starts to buy, must be too early.

Summer sowing is broccoli, and maybe brusssel sprouts ( only got broccoli seeds so far). Also endive is supposed to be good to plant then, for fall. Lettuce is supposed to be cold loving, and if they are protected with cloches, supposedly I can get lettuce nearly all year. But Lettuce doesn’t like the heat. Bulb onions, garlic and leeks are the other fall plantings. Carrots are supposed to be sensitive to the waning light and warmth, so they stop growing in the fall. I actually had tried a container of carrot seedlings from late last summer and they germinated fine but basically stopped growing, though they did withstand all the below freezing temps and snow we had. They are tiny white things that aren’t worth eating, so I turned over the soil in the container.

Recommendations are to take cloves from storebought garlic heads and plant them pointy tip up about two inches apart, in October. This is faster, easier and cheaper than seeds, since we always have some cloves in the house.

Seed story, beginning of spring (march 26)

Seeds coming up now: Oregon geraniums, Desert Parsley and some Allium, and maybe Gaillardia in pots. Definitely some seedlings out in the yard, maybe gaillardia, Indian Paintbrush, and maybe Woodland Penstemon. Desert Parsley seeds germinate well but seem to be getting eaten out in the yard.

Bought 3 tall Red Ovalleaf huckleberry bushes (4 ft tall and narrow) and transplanted two smaller ones into the south west lower back yard, in an area cleared by removing a maple tree. It gets dappled and indirect sun, and the soil is better and moister than where the two i transplanted were. We have two thriving in a similar environment. Other understory plants put there, some earlier and some recently: several Wild Ginger txs, several bluebell rotundifolia txs, clusters of brodiaea, Fairy bells, Trillium Chloropetalum and Ovatum, Pink Fawn Lily, Kitten tails, Miterwort, Hookers Onion, Prunella, and Loganberry.

Transplanted about half the cluster of Trillium Ovatum in the lower back yard, which I had sown many years ago, maybe six. I transplanted ten bulbs with their three-leave tops into another area, to give the remaining ones a little more room. There are about ten or more left. There are more than germinated the first year or two, and they are of varying maturity. I think some of the seeds are latent or take longer to appear above ground. The cholorpetalum doesn’t seem to do that, I left the 8 or so plants alone.

The lower back yard (west) is getting to be a GROTTO with FERNS (thriving licorice, leather leaf, sword and maiden hair) as well as TRILLIUM, HUCKLEBERRIES and the other ground covers like Wild Ginger. Turns out we don’t have very many pictures of this area, probably because it had never been particularly photogenic, it is a shady slower growing area and we’ve cleared the area relatively recently. But now it is starting to fill in, and a rangy maple taken out (full disclosure, my fault, I kept it low for view), so here are the “before” pics: I may wait for a couple of months for the follow up “during” or “after” shots, as much of it is herbaceous, deciduous and/ or growing still!

BEFORE PIX: circa 2013 or so .

Looking south towards new grotto area (upper right in photo)

Above: The foreground is Vancouvaria and Goats beard coming up…the ‘grotto’ area is in the background. The pic below is taken from the grotto area itself, looking back east.

Spring is here, or march madness (march 19)

What’s up this week? I FINALLY found a Trillium Chloropetalum var. Gigantum at Kruckenbergs garden, which is the one with fragrant deep red/brown and straight-edged trillium flowers instead off white ones (that we have about three of and some maturing seedlings of). I planted it near my maturing off white Chloropetalum and T. Ovatum seedlings in the back yard, that will form an interesting and big Trillium cluster, since the Ovatum flowers are bright white that transition to mauve,and the leaves are plain green heart shaped, and the cholorpetalum are heavily dappled and rounded. I also found a couple of new PINK fawn lilies there, and planted those with some of my white and yellowish Fawn lily plants and with an off white trillium. Maturing bunch of pink Fawn lillies are planted with some developing white ones – mix them up a bit for color

Leafy bracked aster is coming up, so far not ravaged by slugs or eaten by voles. In fact I haven’t seen slugs all winter

Chocolate lily up everywhere. I think there are a bunch of Indian Paintbrush (or something) coming up in one of the myriad piles of pumice that I left around the yard, to mark my sowed seeds……I wish I’d marked this one spot, but you know, you can’t have literally hundreds of white plastic markers sticking up all over the yard all winter and not let it get to you! I have to leave these seedlings alone, I’ve been known to pull up I. P. Seedlings by mistake. There are a bunch of bulbs seeds of some kind coming up, either blue or white brodiaea. Desert Parsley (yellow) and Oregon Geranium seeds are all opening up. Maybe a few ( or if they are real, a lot) Indian paintbrush seedlings in the pot. I transplanted three small Yellow Desert Daisy seedlings into the newer ROCK GARDEN INNIS ARDEN, which is to say our new rock garden:

Still march, more updates

Rufus hummingbirds back, the yard is noisier than ever with those things now. Lots of ducks coming and going in the pond, often four but mostly two now. They don’t seem as skittish this last week, the female walked and rested around the yard, neither flew away when I just walked by. Still no wrens trying out my nesting box – I converted the ‘roosting box’ a couple of weeks ago by inverting the front, so the hole is towards the top. That way there is ventilation (hole in bottom during winter to keep heat in) and some protection for the babies.

The nesting box is hanging by itself now (not sitting in planter), but is in the same spot. Hoping the wrens are comfortable enough to use it here. If not, will move it for the second brood.

Fawn lillies coming up, including the pink, white and off white! Some Leopard lillies and chocolate lillies just poking up. Oh, and my trilliums from seed…..in the back yard are the oldest ones, I can’t remember if they are arlund 4 or 5 years old now, but there are about 6 of them and they are all going to have the three leaves of a more mature seedling. Any flowers??? Can’t tell yet. But the oldest group also looks like they areTRILLIUM CHOLOROPETALUM (Giant Trillium). I’ll have to look that up and see whether I recorded the seed sowing or not. Those trilliums are cool, they have blotchy purple spots on the leaves….the flowers are fragrant and straighter in appearance.

OK, I just looked it all up…..According to my site entries, I apparently sowed some Trillium Chloropetalum seeds in the late summer 2010! That would mean these plants will be 7 years old and should flower this year, even if small. But, is the first winter considered the “first year”, or does the counting start the next spring? I kind of thought they may be only 5 or 6 years old, judging from how many times I remember watching for them to come up…but how time flies! In 2012, I even mentioned that I planted out the T.Chloroptelaum ‘bulbs’ along with the mention of the other propagated seedlings (trilliums take two years to ‘germinate’). Anyway, I also wrote that I planted Trillium Ovatum seeds outside and in pots in 2011, so those would be 6 years old now (and POSSIBLY flower), but the plants coming up don’t look that mature. How is it possible to lose track of plants that grow so slowly??!

March madness – duck saga

I happened upon a BUNCH of ducks in our pond yesterday ….a raft or team of ducks, apparently. They are only called a flock while in flight. I didn’t even see them and FOUR of them flew away. As I approached more, TWO MORE flew away. That makes SIX DUCKS in the pond at the same time, not fighting. Today I scared away four ducks, two at a time. And by scare away I mean simply walk down the steps….these are real ‘fraidy ducks. I think they have become that way because of the growth of the shrubs around the pond…their potential emergency exit isn’t what it used to be. I used to be careful not to get too close but so far this year I couldn’t even walk into the yard without scaring them away. Too bad for them!

Trillium seedlings starting to come up! I think these are from sowings about 4-6 years ago – the one patch showing up has seedlings from two different years. One of this patch had three leaves last year, and at least three of them now look like they are fairly mature looking as they poke up. They typically take 7 years to flower from seed, but can be as soon as 5 depending on the conditions. Exposing seeds to warm conditions early can cause this, maybe it happened naturally. Last year there only a few trillium flowers, maybe they didn’t like those early warm springs we’ve had, so maybe not so good for the flowering as it is for forcing the seedling. And almost no seeds, only the Trillium Chloropetalum produced seeds last year, which will not appear until next year (if they do). Trilliums take two years to appear above ground.