I have scattered so many seeds I’ve lost track….
Today in pictures April 14, 2013
Strawberry plant with dew on the leaves
The beginnings of my first bkueberries of the year
Yay mushrooms....ugly ones even as mushrooms go but they help break things down so that my plants can use the nutrients.
The view along the moat/ditch
Stevia that truely is in the raw. It has lettuce and peas in the background as well.
Crazy wild blueberries
My not so lovely nemesis. This is a lone star tick. Please note the white dot on the back.
Sorry to my friends and family up in Michigan, still covered in snow...here is my first ripe tomato of the year.
Mustard greens going to seed, peas 5' tall and blooming, figs starting to leaf out....spring has sprung 🙂
The area I was working on today can be seen in the background here
My moat (aka the ditch) and lovely raised planting mound currently starring tulips
Pink tulips out in full effect
The shirt and I were both white when I started
that’s so CORNy
I have 4 types of corn. 2 are heirloom varieties, “festivity” and “truckers favorite”. I would really like to save seed from the festivity because it is a fairly unique variety, having multicolored kernels at the stage when sweetcorn is picked and eaten. Most multicolored corns do not develop color until well past the eating stage. Corn can cross polinate with other varieties from miles away because the pollen is carried on the wind so having pure seed to save and growing other varieties at the same time poses a bit of a challenge. If I have other corn on my tiny property with pollen at the time my festivity corn is being pollenated I will have a hard time getting anything but hybrid seed. There are a couple of different ways to tackle this problem. One is to plant the corn at different times to make sure that the festivity corn is not being pollenated at the same time my other corn is producing pollen. The second way is to cover several ears with bags as they form and do the deed by hand and then recover those ears. I have never tried either method before so I don’t know which is best. When in doubt try everything, right? I am going to try planting just the festivity this week and wait a couple weeks to put in the other varieties. I will probably try hand pollenating a few ears anyway just to help ensure seed purity. Luckily I am not in an agricultural area so there is not as much pollen from outside sources to worry about. Wish me luck because I will not know if it worked for a year and a half! The other corn I bought seed for is hybrid. These 2 varieties are a silver queen hybrid and a peaches and cream hybrid. With hybrids it is nearly impossible to get any seed true to the parent plant but modern hybrids are usually far superior in flavor and production to heirlooms. Corn is one of the few things you will ever hear me say this about. I don’t mind buying some seed every year to have delicious, extra sweet, sweet corn. I am really hoping that my heirloom varieties do well here but planting a diversity seems better to me than just crossing my fingers.
Today’s flower seeds
This is far from being everything for the day, but here are the flower seeds I plan on planting today. Some are being planted for specific purposes. An example of this is the marigolds that will help keep root nemotodes away. Others, such as nasturtium, will hopefully act as a trap plant drawing pests away from my fruit and veggies. Some of these flowers have medicinal uses as well. The purple coneflower is a great example of this. It is also known as echinacea, known worlwide for immune boosting properties. Even the flowers with no specific purpose will add beauty for us humans and a varied food supply for beneficial insects throughout the year. Some insects have a relationship with specific plants such as swallow tail butterflies and pipe vine. Others have more general needs such as european honey bees, which will take just about any nectar or pollen they can get. This makes it important to plant a diversity including native plants in your garden. I have some transplants and veggie seeds planned for today as well…..let’s see how far I get 🙂 I’ll try to remember to update as the day progresses but my regular readers know how that goes sometimes.
Trying concord grapes
These are not particularily well suited to my area but they are my favorite grape so I am going to give them a try anyway. I bought 2 bareroot plants and put them in the ground while dormant. Now they are coming alive. I better hurry up with some trellis 🙂
Pecans in peat update
OMG…it actually worked. 2 out of 20+ is not too great but I’m sure others will come along as well. For anyone who hasn’t been following along these are pecans foraged last October from a grove in West Ashley. They were nice full nuts with great flavor so with any luck the babies will be good producers as well.
That silly peach tree April 5, 2013
Remember that crazy peach tree that popped open buds way back in February?
Now I have baby peaches and the other 2 peach trees are just starting to bloom. The trees are all small at this point so numbers are limited, but I should have a couple months of peach harvest this year. When these trees grow up some it is going to be just great.
Revival 