Insects again

A few more bugs in the garden today. These were all on coreopsis plants. Not sure what they like about coreopsis in particular, as I didn't see them on anything else.

Some kind of beetle. I've found it is very difficult to identify any given bug, unless you have an idea of what it might be.

At first glance I thought these were Colorado potato beetle. I am glad I didn't smash them. They are Ladybird beetles (Ladybugs) Paranaemia vittigera.

THIS, however, is a three-lined potato beetle (once again, I think).

A good harvest today

It's different to have garden plots across town than to have them right in your backyard. I would probably spend a little time each night checking on things were my plots close to home. Since they are not, I might go twice a week or, usually, just once. Therefore each time we go it means more than a few hours of weeding, planting, intensive watering, bed preparation, and harvesting. That's why I have lots to report on about once a week, rather than every day.

The Rapini (also known as Broccoli Rabe or Raab, Broccoletti, Broccoli di Rape, Cime di Rapa, Rappi, Friarielli , and Grelos) is ready. Although it shares name and outward appearance with broccoli, it is actually closest to the turnip. I let mine go a few days too long (a downside of my cross-town plot) and a few florets flowered. These are edible, however, along with the stems, toothed-leaves, and florets. They have a pungent, slightly bitter, broccoli-like taste. Best steamed or sauteed as you would any normal broccoli.


Radishes are about finished off. They hold for only 10-14 days after maturing, after which they begin to split open or are lost to chewing insects. A few of our biggest are beginning to split. I'll probably sow a small fall patch later on this summer.

Pollination attractors are blooming!

Tomatoes are setting fruit, butter-crunch lettuce can be picked next week, and peas are growing strong. Here's how the garden looks today.

The foremost bed will have pepper and eggplant transplants in a few weeks, with the bed behind soon holding carrots and salad mix. The bed far in the back will get direct seeded cucumber, squash, and ice-box melon maybe by next weekend, if the weather cooperates.

Sowed and transplanted today as well:

- 6 row feet Mesclun Blend salad greens
- transplanted 8 clumps of salad onions from 2" pots (Guardsman, Purplette, and Copra) (sown 03.16.08)
- transplanted about 12 pots annual dahlias (sown 3.06.08)

Sowed some tropicals

We had two inches of snow today by noon. Rain turned it to slush by 4 pm, and 2 hours of sun melted it all away by 6 pm. Didn't stop me from sowing my heat loving tropicals.

Sowed two 2" pots each of:
- Eggplant Twinkle Hybrid (Solanum melongena)
- Peppers (Capsicum annum)
Early Jalapeno (hot)
Miniature Chocolate Bell (sweet mini)
California Wonder 300 (sweet)
Italian Pepperoncini (fancy sweet)

The annual collared dahlias sown a month ago have outgrown their 4" pots. Each soil mass was lightly tapped out of the pot and the plants gently separated from one another, with extra care taken to avoid any damage to the root system of each seedling. I filled about sixteen 2" pots with either one big seedling or two smaller seedlings. Seeing as it did snow today, it may have been too early for them to be outside, even in my cold frame. We'll see how they do.

Summer vegetables

Yesterday was a big day for our summer veggies. Sowed lots of seed:

- four 2" pots Copra Hybrid onion (long keeper)
- two 2" each Guardsman onion (salad onion) and Purplette (bunching or keeper)
- two 4-packs Buttercrunch lettuce
- four 2" pots Sorrento broccoli (early spring raab)
- four 2" pots Derby Day cabbage (early cabbage)
- one 2" pot each of 8 tomato varieties:
Stupice (ultra early 2" fruit)
Sun Gold hybrid (sweet, orange cherry)
Oroma (italian sauce)
Cherokee Purple (heirloom)
Super Marzano Hybrid (sauce/drying Roma )
Cabernet (small red grape)
First Lady II hybrid (early slicer)
Brandywine (THE heirloom tomato to which all others are compared)

Started a bunch of flowers in 4" pots in the same manner as a week ago.

- Columbine (aquilegia 'McKana's Giants')
- Coreopsis 'Plains' (Coreopsis Tinctoria)
- Butterfly Chantilly Snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus)
- Bells of Ireland (Moluccella laevis)
- Pride of Gibraltar Cerinthe (Cerinthe major atropurpurea)
- Dwarf Dahlia 'Unwin's mix'
- Dahlia 'Fireworks'

Spring Cleaning

Even though the soil was still a bit too wet, today we went ahead and prepared our first bed. Our process for spring bed preparation is as follows (this is for NEW beds - or in our case, an established bed that has not been properly prepared for many years):

- First, weed entire bed.
- Make sure soil is dry enough to work by collecting a handful and squeezing into a ball. The ball should crumble and come apart easily under pressure. If it will not form a ball at all, it is too dry. If it stays together and compresses under pressure without breaking up, it is too wet.
- Using a 12" digging fork, break up soil by plunging fork all the way down and pulling back, moving back 4" each time, across the entire bed.
- For a clay soil, like in most of Bellingham, broadcast about 50 lbs per 1000 sq ft lime and work in deeply. Also work in 1-2 gal per 100 sq ft complete organic fertilizer (around 5-5-1).
- Add 1/4-1/2" well rotted compost and incorporate into the top 3-6".

After this was completed in plot C10, we transplanted all our perennial herbs from elsewhere in the garden. These included:

- 2 x Arp Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis 'Arp')
- 2 x Grappenhall Lavender (Lavandula x intermedia)
- Greek Oregano (Origanum vulgare cv. hirtum)
- Hot and Spicy Oregano (Origanum vulgare cv. hot and spicy)
- Sweet Marjoram (Origanum majorana)
- Garden sage (Salvia officianalis)
- Tri-color sage (Salvia officianalis cv. Tri-color)
- Purple Sage (Salvia dorii)
- English Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

We also moved over two Alpine Strawberries and one Pineapple Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa), a very sweet (and pine-appley) yellow fruited variety.

- Sowed 5 row ft Bloomsdale Spinach under plastic tunnel cloche

Today Emily transplanted lots of flowers that I held over the winter in pots or around the garden plot. Included were a few varieties each of German Iris, Coneflower (Echinacea), and Blanket flower (Gaillardia).

I also am attempting propagation by softwood cuttings. I took 6 cuttings each from two establish lavender plants. Provence lavender (Lavandula intermedia "Provence") and Blue Start Spanish Lavender (Lavandula stoeches "Blue Star"). These will receive bottom heat for a few months until evidence of root growth.

Flowers and peas

Ok. Although I am a few days behind, I did get some of my seeds sown today. Here's the method I used to sow many different seeds in 4" pots:

- fill pot to 1/2" from rim with fine, sifted soil
- compress soil slightly to restore capillary action
- place pots in sealed tray and fill bottom with water so pots wick up water until surface glistens
- empty water from tray
- sow seeds evenly across soil surface
- cover seeds with soil to a depth of 2-3x seed diameter
- spray soil gently to moisten
- cover with clear top to maintain high humidity
- place in a 70-75 degree environment until germination

When these seeds have germinated, the cover will be removed and the tray will be placed under florescent lights 12 hrs a day. When the seedlings' first few leaves have formed and they begin to get crowded in their 4" pots, they will be broken up and potted up individually into 6 packs or 4 packs to be grown on.

Today I sowed annual flowers to give them a head start and get them into flower earlier than if I waited until after last frost (May 1) to sow outside. I also started some perennial flowers that need to be started early if flowering is expected the first growing season. I also sowed my earliest spring (lowest temperature tolerance) veggies: sugar snap and snow peas.

- Sowed three 4" pots each (about 30 seeds each ) of:
Border Pansies "Satin Boudoir" (Viola x wittrockiana)
Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea)
Collarette Dahlia (Dahlia Variabilis)
Gazania Daybreak Tiger Stripes (Gazania splendens hybrid)
Johnny Jump-up Viola (Viola tricolor)
Bee Balm (Monarda hybrida Lambada)

- Sowed four 4" pots each (30 seeds each) of:
Oregon Sugar pod II (Snow pea)
Mega (Snap pea)

Whew.