California

I was on vacation in California for thanksgivings. It’s December and they still have blue skies, crisp air, pretty flowers, green hills, ripening tomatoes and fruiting trees. There’s a reason people want to live in California.

Sun soaked Marigolds

 

Lemon Tree, I am thinking Thai curry with lemon leaves

 

 

 

 

 

Persimmon Tree, there were 100+ fruits on this 8 feet tree.

Rosemary

 

I spotted fennel growing wildly on freeway side, this is on Concord, Vacaville side. a closer look and it is indeed Fennel. Fennel is weed in California

FROST

Western Washington is experiencing record breaking cold this week, we are in 20s during the day and teens at night. Ground is frozen solid, I still have carrots, beets and Brussels sprouts, don’t know how these fare against this frost.

For records, my backyard had first killer frost on 2nd December this year.

Frozen Pea vines

Methi: 4 days of hard frost killed young methi leaves

 

Broccoli buds have appeared

I have my doubts about broccoli, 6 of the plants look pitiful. I seeded broccoli back in July, never thrived, finally 2 of them are setting out tiny buds. Not sure how big they’ll get at this point. I am still giving them few more weeks before pulling them out and declaring ‘failure of 2009’. Not sure if edible yet but this picture is quite pleasing.

Growing Methi (Fenugreek)

When I first started out experimenting with growing vegetables, Methi was my first garden attempt. What I found was It works no matter you have green thumb or not. Methi is easiest to grow, ready to harvest in as little as 30 days. I was delighted to taste tender fresh methi from my own garden very first time I harvested, yield is far better and bigger than what you get at your neighborhood Indian store.

Most of the Indian stores sell methi wilted, about to make seed pods and sometimes it tastes like grass. And I used to pay 99cents for few twigs of methi. Well, not anymore. From early spring till late fall, I grow my own methi and buy frozen packs for rest of the year. Methi is semi-cold hardy so light frost doesn’t kill it. Methi makes it the perfect crop for those who just can’t wait to get the garden going, just open the pantry and soak some methi seeds in water.

How to grow fenugreek (Step by Step):


1 – Methi (fenugreek) seeds are sold in Indian grocery stores, $1.99 packet will get you more than 500 seeds. Store bought seeds work beautifully.


2 – Soak seeds in tap water for 12-24 hours

3 – Prepare ground by working soil, adding some compost. Methi can be planted in containers as well. Methi seeds are seeded densely (not in rows). Scatter methi seeds dense in desired growing area.

5 – Germination is expected in 1-3 days, methi seeds upon germination look something like above.

6 – Ready to harvest in 30-35 days.

Some harvest methi as micro-greens, just before first true leaves appear. Fleshy first leaves are bitter and are used extensively in daal or with fish preparation in Mumbai cuisine. If harvesting for micro greens (samudri methi), it is ready in 5-7 days after germination.

Also, I found that methi develops it’s trademark bitter pungent taste in warmer, hot weather. Methi grown in spring and fall has mild taste.

More about Methi: for those with botanical interest, methi belongs to legume family(Fabaceae) – flowering plants that produce edible seeds. Fenugreek is termed as Trigonella foenum-graecum.

medicinal properties: In West, fenugreek is widely used by lactating women to boost milk supply. Tablespoon of fenugreek powder 3 times a day is the trick. Fenugreek is natural remedy to control diabetes.

Green Elephant Plant Swap in Redmond

Last weekend was quite an eventful, among many social gatherings with friends and family, I found 2 hours on Saturday morning to mingle with amazing gardening enthusiasts. I got to go to Green Elephant Plant swap in Redmond where group of people trade/give away extra plants, tubers and many gardening tips.

Jim Eichner organizes Green Elephant plant swap four times a year in Redmond. People gather extra wooded plants, divided perennials, tubers and swap. It is sort of tailgate party where we open up our car trunks, put stuff out on display. Towards the end of trade extra plants, shrubs, bare roots, tubers go into the big free pile. 
I had my inhibitions at first but it turned out great! I went with 7-8 pots of strawberry, Golden oregano, lupines, geraniums and Shasta daisies. Well, strawberry babies were everywhere and looked like everyone was trying to get rid of them I put all my stuff into give-away pile and glad to have found takers for oregano, geranium and lupines. I came home with mint, stone crop, hen & chicks and giant Dahlia tubers. OMG – Dahlia tubers were a steal, a nice gentleman was unloading them by wheelbarrows into free pile. These tubers are expensive – that’s like $40-$50 in free stuff right there!!!
Taking the advice from other gardener, I planted mint into container and not in the garden.

Dahlia tubers that I scored…

There were at least 50 people trading plants, it was cold, chilly and pouring heavily – a true rain or shine experience. It was my very first swap and I was totally amazed at the generosity and openness of everyone. No one left empty-handed and some brought non-plant items like birdbath, planters and cookies to keep it fun and interesting.

Here’s website for more information – http://www.holycrossredmond.org/greenelephant.htm

Peanut Butter Tree

 

 

We moved into our new house last year in fall, most of the shrubs and trees had shed leaves by then. In front yard, a wonderful smallish tree caught my attention – It had pinkish buds with blue berry like fruits. Quite unusual I thought. In Summer around late July this tree started blooming – had thousands of small pink-white flowers that looked like Jasmine and had very strong aroma. Many people who visited us in summer wondered about this tree, they had never seen such thing.

And I kept looking…searched folia, USDA plant database, internet but couldn’t find the name.  All of a sudden, 2 days back, I landed on Petunia’s blog. I was jumping in joy to have stumbled on her page. Thank you thank you Petunia. There it is – It’s called Peanut Butter tree or Clerodendrum trichotomum or harlequin glorybower

More research on it –
USDA link is here -http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=CLTR

Why is it called Peanut Butter Tree?
Internet tells me leaves of this tree have very strong pungent smell, when rubbed these leaves give out peanut butter smell. well, I never noticed before, I went to front yard for my own taste test, and yes, it does kinda smells like peanut butter.
Now that I remember about flowers, stamens of this flower do have strong PB like aroma. when stamens removed, flowers give out very sweet fragrance – earthy jasmine like.

Soggy Fall

This is the soggiest fall in my memory (of 6 years in Puget sound). It’s raining non-stop for last 2 weeks and more rain is predicted for another 10 days. Halloween was super-soaker, bad for the trick-o-treaters. There was a big mix of weather yesterday – rain, thunder lightning, dark clouds, sun came out and a rainbow! wow! I snapped this quick photo.
 

This rainy weather is actually extending last frost date, last year frost came on October 22nd. This year cloudy blanket is keeping us warm and above freezing.

November harvest

Few of beets, Icicle radishes, last Zuk and few peas. Beets were seeded in July, Icicle radishes on 5th Sep. Peas have been great success so far, I have been picking 5-6 every other day for last couple months, I have 8 vines that are producing snap peas heavily. They apparently are liking this cool weather and have not slowed down like all other plants.

failures 2009

In retrospect gardening went well this year, many great harvests and equal amount of failures. In all, I’m happy with my newfound gardening interest. It is very delightful to witness small seedling magically appearing from soil, flowers budding from plants and many fruits/veggies getting to their prime.

With this, there are many failures to list.
Lettuce – I grew too much, last of few I added to compost pile directly

Bokchoy – fall sown, something kept eating leaves and stems never grew any fatter

Spinach – won’t grow beyond 3 true leaves

Brussels Sprouts – started way late? I still have hope as I think I can harvest it till December?

 
Peppers – planted in non-so-ideal location, these need more light and fertile warm soil. Although I managed to get 7-8 big size peppers, these small ones were still growing when I pulled up plants. I need to set these in sunnier location and maybe cover soil with black plastic to help them retain heat.

Butternut squash – sown too late, see above tiny raw lone squash I picked last week. I am sure if it had one more month to grow, would have grown and ripen. I’ll seed this variety earlier next year. It looks cute though, right now it is adorning Halloween decor inside the house.

Garden Planning 2010: growing Indian vegetables

Year 2009 gave me good learning and more encouragement to grow my own vegetables. I grew lots of lettuce, peas – western vegetables. I did better with fenugreek (methi), dill (shepu), cilantro, mint and peppers. Next year my total focus will be growing Indian vegetables – that I love to eat every single day.

Here’s the 2010 plan –
Greens: Fenugreek (methi), Chinese Spinach (math), Spinach
Squash: Dudhi/Lauki/Bottle Gourd, Cucumbers
Beans: Green beans, Snap Peas, Long beans, Okra
Alliums: Spring onion
Fruit Vegetables: Tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Eggplant, sweet peppers, hot peppers
Root Vegetables: Potatoes – Yukon gold and fingerlings

I’ll grow below veggies just because I have free leftover seeds from this year
Greens: Basil, Lettuce, Brussels Sprouts
Squash: Zucchini , Butternut Squash
Alliums: Spring onion 
Root Vegetables: Beets, Radishes 

Fun veggies:
I am planning to grow Kala vatana and Rajma just for fun, ever inquisitive mind wants to know how seedlings look like, are flowers beautiful? I also want to grow just 2 of each – cabbage and cauliflower. Just for fun.

Apart from leftover seeds from this year, I am planning to order few Indian veggie seeds from these seed stores, I checked their websites. Time to order for catalog
Johnny’s Selected Seeds – got good selection with bottle gourd and greens
Evergreen Seeds – Specialized company with Asian vegetables, good selection
SeedsofIndia – everything and anything from India. I usually tend to buy seeds from local area suppliers as these seeds are developed suitable to environment. I suspect success rate with seedsofindia as it seems these seeds are imported from India?

why I want to grow my own potatoes next year

From msnbc.com (http://health.msn.com/nutrition/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100246775&page=2)

What the farm director won’t eat: nonorganic potatoes

Jeffrey Moyer is the chair of the National Organic Standards Board.
The problem: Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides that wind up in soil. In the case of potatoes—the nation’s most popular vegetable—they’re treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they’re dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting. "Try this experiment: Buy a conventional potato in a store, and try to get it to sprout. It won’t," says Moyer, who is also farm director of the Rodale Institute (also owned by Rodale Inc., the publisher of Prevention). "I’ve talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals."

The solution: Buy organic potatoes. Washing isn’t good enough if you’re trying to remove chemicals that have been absorbed into the flesh.

The alternate solution from me: grow own potatoes, at least a few pounds

Update – Surprise squash vine

I wrote about mystery vine that looked line from squash family. Here’s update -

Looks like this is pumpkin, not sure still. I ripped off the vine as it was growing bigger and getting unmanageable. From the looks I think this is volunteer pumpkin. how cool… To give some background: Back in June, I spotted this squash like seedling volunteer. Instead of weeding it, I let it grow. I never knew this small innocent seedling will grow into giant in couple months.

Will I be growing pumpkins again? intentional or not – answer is NO. Pumpkin vines are gigantic, even without any compost or special soil, they’ll grow monsters and take up way tooo much space. I have a small yard and I’ll use it to grow something more cool – maybe potatoes?

Pumpkin Patch

Me and girls hit pumpkin patch at the base of Sahalee way yesterday, it was good fun.

What’s that got to do with gardening? oh yes, I witnessed first hand how pumpkins are grown in rich, moist soil. learned that sunflowers + corn + pumpkins are grown in vicinity because sunflowers ward off bugs on corn, yellow pumpkin flowers attract abundant bees helping pollination, birds gathering to collect sunflower seeds eat harmful bugs…organic growing concepts at their best.

Harvested fall planted fenugreek

 Harvested last of the zucchini, few snap peas and loads of fenugreek planted on 5th Sep here. I wasn’t sure if fenugreek will grow in cool weather, it did.  I am going to sow some more seeds in container today, let’s see if they give me yield before frost hits

Out of season berries

What’s going on with Raspberry canes and blueberries? We are in cold zone, temperatures almost touching 40F at nights and 60s in days. Plants and shrubs should be changing colors and going dormant to face wintry weather. Instead raspberries are budding and blueberries are giving me second crop?

Raspberry flowers?

After  windstorm 2 days back, it was partially sunny day yesterday. I went to examine raspberry came damage and saw cluster of buds on one of the canes. A good friend gave 3 canes as gift in early summer, since these are new canes friend told me that they’ll start bearing fruit next season. I wasn’t hoping on fall harvest. These are in sunniest spot in garden.. maybe that’s what to do with it. Not sure at this point if they’ll bear fruit or not… let’s wait and watch together. I am excited

Blueberries are going crazy too, I am surely getting 2nd tart crop in few days. Do these typically give 2nd harvest?

Blueberries

Peppers

I seeded 2 kinds of peppers this year, back in March when things were cold and dreary – 1 packet of banana peppers ( 30 cent seeds from American Seeds) and 1 packet of bell peppers (30 cent seeds again). Banana peppers were a disaster and I pulled them mid July, they never grew beyond 4 leaves, were stunted. On other hand bell peppers were semi-success. I learned so much about growing peppers, what to do and not…..

I pulled all bell pepper plants ( 6 total) yesterday, got about 7-8 large green peppers and about 10 tiny ones.

Lessons learned, here’s what I’ll try to do next year:
1 – Pepper seeds are slow to germinate, they need 80F to germinate. Since I don’t intend to invest in fancy heating mats, here’s what I’ll do (which worked this year tooo.). Soaking seeds 6 hours in lukewarm water, heating soil block before sowing pepper seeds and placing it in oven with lights on. This guarantees germination in 6/10 days.
2 – Placing seedlings under light and keeping on heated surface
3 – Heat soil in pots and cover with black plastic before transferring seedling to final pots
4 – Choose sunniest location

Windstorm

We had forgotten how winter feels like after picture-perfect incredible summer. We had huge windstorm yesterday with gusts upto 50mph all day long. We went straight to Winter and skipped fall.

Wind shook all tress, dried loose orange red fall leaves acted as sails and intensified wind velocity. In my neighborhood, beautiful display of orange, yellow, red fall colors was gone in 6 hours….

Comparatively little damage in my backyard – Pea supports were down, Zucchini plants uprooted (it was time anyway…) and raspberry cane broken (sad).

Blackberries along the fence wall

Although unwanted but still qualifies as surprise. Volunteer blackberry vine along he back fence has always annoyed me, I meant to get rid of it for months. While weeding on the retaining wall along the fencing wall yesterday, I spotted surprise cluster of blackberries. Hurray!

I don’t REALLY need blackberries in my own garden, they grow like weed here in pacific northwest. 10 minutes of berry picking in my neighborhood once a week in Aug-Sept keeps my kids very happy in this berry season. I don’t even go far, we got plenty of blackberries just walk around the this suburban community.

So what happened next?
I popped sweet ripened berries in my mouth and at the same time whacked berry vines, so ungrateful of me. Hmmm.

 

Beets are ready

Purple/Red beet heads are peeking out of ground and ready to be harvested. These were started from seeds on 20th June , transplanted in a month and ready by 5th October. That’s 100 days till harvest. Not all of them are ready yet, some are still in ground, not sure if this depends on amount of sun or water they are getting.

Notes added later: I went back and checked seed packet information, these are – Detroit Dark Red. Packet says 60 days till harvest. (?, it’s almost 100 days now…)

I am finding that Vegetables in my backyard are typically taking plenty more or less time to mature than what’s on seed packet, it just varies. Peas and cucumbers were earlier than maturity days on packet. Peas (50 days, maturity days listed on seed packet – 70 days) and cucumbers (muncher, 45 days, maturity days on packet 62 days) . On the other hand, butternut squash listed as 90 days, I seeded those on 1st June, it’s 130 days today and all I have is tiny tiny green fruit that may never ripe. I think I just have to go by what works for me, make a journal of success/failure from this year.

 

Bloom Report: Roses, Geranium and more

Yellow-orange fragrant rose by the back fence

Geranium weed flowers: These were identifies as wild geraniums by UW botanical guests at Farmer’s market. UW (University of Washington) sends experts every Saturday to Redmond Farmers market; many people seek guidance on identifying plants, starting a garden, bugs, pests, organic gardening etc. Many times King county plant and wildlife department also holds informative sessions on ‘Invasive weeds and control’, ‘Identify friendly/invasive plants/bugs/animals’. Thank you for such a great service.