Random seeds and introversion

Yesterday I came home from work to find about 10 neatly piled sunflower seeds on our front steps. Since they were not chewed all to heck I figure they were not deposited by a squirrel but a fellow gardening neighbor who noticed that absence of sunflowers from our property this year.

I figure its probably one of four other gardeners in the neighborhood, but most likely one of two since I did not see sunflowers anywhere on the other two's yard. Yes, I secretly check out what my neighbors are growing. Not that I sneak in late at night, I just slow down and stare as I pass by. Now I know I could just walk up and talk to them, but if you are wondering why then you clearly don't understand the concept of extreme shyness. I need to get a feel for someone before I just go chitchat, and perhaps someone in a very obtuse or rather ingenious way is doing the same with me. Well, game on, I will plant them.

Well whoever you are...thank you.

This gives me an idea, why not leave a few seeds for some of my favorites in the suspects mailboxes.

I hereby declare today "Give a seed to a stranger day."

Preservation efforts

This spring I experimented with a variety of black eyed pea that was purported to grow to maturity in northern regions. It goes by the name fagiolino dolico di veneto. I originally got it from Underwood Gardens. Unfortunately I probably did not give them a proper start indoors, and the newly emergent seedlings got by and large decimated by pests. Fortunately a survivng shoot here and there managed to produce a few pods which despite no more than 3 or 4 leaves per plant, managed to mature with ample time to dry on the plant before frost. I ended up with about 20 seeds (peas) which is about the amount that came in the packet.

This variety is apparently only available in the US from the aforementioned supplier, and they appear to be out of stock. Hopefully they are planting a bigger seedcrop this year. Lesson learned. Next year I will start all but a few indoors (perhaps even grow one in the shelter of the sunroom) to increase the chances of survival. Based upon yeild I may offer to trade or give away the seed from subsequent years. Not necessarily on a commercial level, but I think given its potential use to us short season growers, it should be more widespread. Hopefully Underwood Seed will have enough to give this one a comeback, it would be a shame to see more genetic lines disapear.

Sore back

I did so much work outside this weekend that it all seems like a blur, I couldn't tell you what I got accomplished, but I do remember a few highlights.

1. The outdoor shower is definitely happening. I have 4 posts in the ground and the spot is perfect. Its an otherwise unusable corner of our plot that would get wasted. I just need to scrounge up some pipe and find a basin so I can redirect the wastewater someplace useful.

2. I have baby carrots! Two years ago I droped a 3'x2' box in a corner that I thought would get enough light. Its tucked between the gazebo and the garden wall, but its never been very productive. Last fall on a whim I direct seeded a few things like beets, some chard, arugula and carrots. Nothing really got off the ground so to speak. By snowfall I had a few feathery carrot leaves and a couple baby beet greens. I have for the most part ignored it this season, though I am going to try some podding radishes there. Well oddly enough I found half inch round, 2 inch long carrots growing. Not the (we're really done growing, we just keep well in the soil over the winter...I found one of those in another bed) These all have good live foliage. I'll let them mature where they are (despite the sample being tasty). Hopefully they don't bolt on me. they are cosmic purples by the way. Who'd have thought they could survive a zone 5 winter. On the other hand, if these do by chance have some genetic predisposition to survivng the cold perhaps I should let them bolt and save the seed.

Picking up the gauntlet

and slapping Monsanto in the face with it.

I will admit it, I take very few of the challenges people post on their blogs, and its not because I don't think they are worthwhile or because I am lazy...well maybe a little lazy. Time management is a problem for me, and I think it is difficult enough to get my clark kent existence squared away, let alone track the goings on of my green caped kal-el persona. There is also the issue of lois lang and the kids. I know the road to sustainability for us must be a slow one, and as much as I would jump at some of the great ideas, to get the rest of the family on board means evolution not revolution.

That being said there is particular challenge that I will be participating in again, and that is the growing challenge over at one green generation. They've upped the ante. Not only must you grow something new from seed, but save seed as well. And if the goons at Monsanto are reading this because somehow this entry shows up in a google search...I have a message for you. This simple act of saving seed shall be your undoing...muwahahahaha.

When we garden we take control of our food supply, when we save seed we take control of the future.

evening

I managed to have a decent digital camera in hand friday evening while I was out in the garden,
My actual reason for being out there was to apply about 3 wheelbarrow loads of compost to the area the potatoes were occupying. This is now holding the fall crops and about 15 sq feet of green beans. The "provider" variety is fast enough I think I can get a crop out of them and still have time to get lettuce and spinach sprouted before I have to put up plastic to keep the cold out. You can see the dark is of course compost, and the brownish is the "wonderful" clay soil that we are blessed with here in Syracuse.


Katydids can either be a nuisance or a boon depending on the variety, but I've seen two of these this year, and so far, neither really cared about the foliage, so I think they may be of the predatory variety, in which case...please make yourself at home.



Cicadas on the other hand are completely benign, as long as you don't mind the constant chirping hiss on a summer evening. 120 db at close range, these suckers really hum. This is not actually the bug itself, just the shell of the last nymph phase, they are everywhere this time of year.


these baby's are soooo sweet, its hard keeping enough ripe one on the vine, which I moved over next to the brandywines, in the hopes that some of their ethylene will start ripening the other tomatoes.


This is a bottle gourd flower, you don't see many unless you're out at dusk. They're a night bloomer, an uncommon but not unheard of practice in the plant kingdom. and the flowers, much like the rest of the plant are covered in a soft fine hair. Much nicer than your average squash leaf. This one is a male by the way.


This is an immature female:




In Other News:
A sad day as natural farming legend Masanobu Fukuoka died at 95. Domo arigato gozaimashita Fukuoka sensei.


Looks like my frontyard orchard will be at the forefront of the next emergence in home food production.

And just in case you thought it was going to be all high quality pictures from here on out...

The swiss chard plants that had gone to seed well, finally produced mature seed. A lot of it.

Want some?

And speaking of seed, the fennel flowers that are mostly pods now have started to dry into seed. When I cut the stem I could smell the liquorice, and having sampled a few, these do not disappoint. I'm going to be setting aside more for a special winter project.



And remember the sweetpea flowers of which there were two, well apparently there were three, I'm wondering if maybe this was a sign to not give up on them yet. I might just plant these next year to see if my luck improves.


I got another 2 cukes totaling 1lb 1 oz bringing my total to 38 lbs. More yellow squash (prolific indeed) is about two days away. Still no sign of the brandywines grrrrr.

And someone want to tell me what the hell this is doing in my yard in the middle of august!?

Momentum

The brandywines are getting big, I can only imaging the deliciousness that awaits



Round two of yellow squash is ready to be picked, and if you look closely, round three is getting ready.




The Beans are beaning


The gigantic swiss chard stalks are starting to make mature seed. Its the luculus variety, white stalks, its not the prettiest out there but it is a good reliable producer. This one survived a winter, so hopefully its offspring inherited that tendency. I'll be replanting to verify, its nice to have chard early in the second year. Who knows in a couple years I might have a variant that tolerates the syracuse winter fairly reliably. Lord knows I'll have lots of seed, if anyone wants some I'm open to trade. I'm 100% sure no other member of the beet family has been flowering for at least a mile radius, so it ought to be true to type.



And finally fennel, ahh the wonderful plant that makes delicious fronds, bolts at the first sign of sun, but makes a big supply of flowers to attract all kinds of helpful bugs, is going to seed as well. No worries, the seed is useful too.



And lastly the hyssop is starting to flower, but the wind picked up, so I couldn't get a picture that wasn't blurry.

pooly lit and out of focus

I thought you'd never ask

An heirloom cherry tomato plant which seems to be doing rather well. (and my first attempt at container gardening btw.)


As you can see the little bitty buds have turned into some serious pawpaw leaves.


..
The coneflower (echinacea) getting ready to flower




The valerian you may remember from my office pictures in its permanent home, after some initial dieback it is doing rather well near the weeping cherry.



It appears I will have a bumper crop of swiss chard seed, anyone want to trade?

This is the caribe potatoes flowering. Soon my pretties, soon you will make creamy delicious tubers, and then...then we feast! muahahahahah



the kiwi vine after I headed back all but the strongest shoot. Now the plant will be putting all of its energy into making this one climb. And if the current rate of growth is any indication, It ought to reach the top before fall. This one is the female vine, the male vine is being lazy right now, only about 3 inches of growth.



My wife loves petunias, practically to the exclusion of all other plant life...kidding. Anywho I cant take credit for this one, its her work. There are petunias in there, a vinca I think, and some kind of ornamental grass. Bottom line, I can't eat it...Looks nice though doesn't it?



STAY AWAY FROM MY SQUASH! This here is the ultimate in IPM, although with a massive carbon footprint...actually a massive footprint period.

Absinthe anyone? In a matter of about a week this little wormwood plant went from being barely able to fill a one gallon pot to tripling in size. Looks great, the foliage filled in nicely.



And lastly, my attempt to suppress weeds with a rapidly growing, tight planting appears to be moderately successful. That is flax, and you can see where the grass stops right at its edge. A few strays have crept in, but the spot (which is larger than this little corner) has stayed pretty clear. And yes I need to do something about where the cedar chip path meets the edge, we just havent decided what to do with it.

When Good Plants Go BAD!

Folks... Game Over for the swiss chard.

Its bolted. Actually I was hoping for this. I pushed some extra mulch over a few of the plants and they made it through winter. Chard are beets, beets are biennials. What is a biennial you ask?

You can pick em the first year,
and most people do.
But it won't produce seed,
unless given two.

anyone else make inane rhymes about plants?

winter bleh

I must admit I was initially skeptical when I opened my christmas gift. My wife got me an aerogarden, and my resistance was based in part I'm sure on my distrust of all things easy and convenient. I have to say germination time was barely a blink. (I opted to start some perennial herbs I have had great difficulty with in the past.) To add to my surprise, aerogarden offers a replacement tray that will do 70 starter plugs. Considering how well this has worked so far I am seriously considering it. They offer additional plugs, but I'm sure I can get something like rockwool and bulk nutrients for much cheaper.

One of the pots by the way has lavender seed that I saved from one of the lavender plants in the yard...Wooohooo, I've sucessfully saved seed from a Kentucky wonder bean plant last year and now lavender. Now to see if the zinnia, morning glory, and coneflower seed germinates...in spring.