Category: Fruits and Vegetables

Fall Seed Starting

I got the seeds started for our fall harvested vegetables. We bought these little seed starting trays on Amazon — a tray, a 12-cell insert, and a humidity dome with an adjustable vent. The kit came with plant markers … but it seemed silly to write something permanent on the marker. So I turned them into reusable markers by adding some of the blue tape you use for painting a room (because that’s what we’ve got & pen works OK on it). First I put three of the markers in a line on the tape.

Making plant labels reusable

A couple of quick slices with an Exacto knife, and I can change the label as needed.

Voila – reusable labels!

I started the normal fall veggies — broccoli, broccolini, chard, and lots of cabbages. But I also started a sweet tomato that’s meant to produce in 60 days and a watermelon that’s supposed to produce in just 75 days. That’ll be the end of September so maybe we’ll get some watermelon this year!

Seeds started!

Orchard Layout

We should finally be past freezing nights for the season, so it’s time to get the fruit plants out in the orchard. I’ve got a couple of gooseberries and a hardy fig to put somewhere. But, in the next few days, I’ll get the currants, honey berries, seaberries, pawpaw, and cherry trees planted.

Home Automation and Gardening

Something like 20 years ago, I tried to grow a plumeria flower in my apartment. I had a broad-spectrum light, plenty of heat, and plenty of humidity. But getting the light turned on and off at the right times wasn’t easy (especially if I was at work all day!).

This seems like a really good use for home automation — our home automation system tracks the sunrise and sunset times for our zip code. It’s possible to essentially cron “stuff” off of these times — e.g. get the birds ten minutes before sunset. I could easily track sunrise and sunset in Honolulu then have my light turn on at sunrise (or first light) and off at sunset (or last light). Voila — “sunlight” that runs for the proper duration every day.

2022 Seeds

We’ve saved seeds from the garden (and seeds from both ground cherries and hot peppers that we picked up at the farmers market) that will make up much of our garden this year. I purchased a bunch of flower seeds to expand the bee garden, and a few new vegetables. And I really hope to get asparagus established this year!

Seeds for Honeybees

Autumn Beauty Sunflower Seeds – XL Packet

Ballerina California Poppy Seed Mix – XL Packet

 Calendula-Balls-Orange-Wildflower-Seeds

Ball’s Orange Calendula Seeds – XL Packet
Asclepias-tuberosa

Butterfly Weed Seeds – 1/4 Oz

California Giants Zinnia Seed Mix – 1/4 Lb

Globe Annual Candytuft Seeds – XL Packet

Fairy Bouquet Snapdragon Seed Mix – XL Packet

 Chrysanthemum-maximum-dwarf

Dwarf Shasta Daisy Seeds – XL Packet

Swiss Giants Pansy Seed Mix – 1/4 Oz
Single-Mixed-China-Aster-Wildflower-Seeds

Single China Aster Seed Mix – XL Packet

Painted Daisy Seeds – XL Packet

Money Plant Seeds – XL Packet

Ice Plant Seed Mix – 1 Oz

McKana Giants Columbine Seed Mix – XL Packet

 Gaillardia-pulchella

Indian Blanket Seeds – XL Packet

Imperial Rocket Larkspur Seed Mix – 1 Oz

Imperial Pincushion Flower Seed Mix – XL Packet

Iceland Poppy Seeds – 1 Oz

Sparky French Marigold Seed Mix – XL Packet

 Asclepias-syriaca-01

Common Milkweed Seeds – 1 Oz
Seeds for Food
Sugar-Beet-Beet-Seeds

Sugar Beet Seeds

 Anise-Herb-Seeds

Anise Seeds
Chioggia-Beet-01

Chioggia Beet Seeds

 Easter-Egg-Radish-01

Easter Egg Radish Seeds

 French-Breakfast-Radish-01

French Breakfast Radish

 
Sparkler-White-Tip-Radish-Seeds-01

Sparkler White Tip Radish

White-Icicle-Radish-01

White Icicle Radish Seeds

 

  

Hickory King Corn
Pencil Cob Corn
Triticale Winter Rye Dundale Pea
Hull-less Barley Burbank Hull-less Barley Stalks of oats stock image. Image of ripe, harvest ...

Oats
Wheat on farm field stock image. Image of agriculture ...

Wheat

German Extra Hardy Garlic

 Chesnok Garlic

Music Garlic

Dutch Red Shallot

Dutch Red Shallot

 

Hazelnuts!

Our hazelnut bushes are finally growing the male part of the flower that comes out in the Autumn! Fingers crossed, we’ll be harvesting hazelnuts this time next year. It’s been seven years since we planted the bushes, but deer and rabbits chomped them down to little nubs the first year they were planted.

2021 Garden — Seed Starting

It’s almost time to start seeds for this year’s garden. I’ve got about two weeks to get some pots ready — we’ll get the peppers, asparagus, celery, and verbana started. There are a few herbs that we can start too — oregano, rosemary, and thyme. I’m not growing any eggplant this year.

 

Plant Indoor Sow Date Start Indoor Sow Date End Transplant Start Transplant End Direct Sow Start Direct Sow End Action Date
Bell Peppers 17-Feb 6-May 17-Feb
Celery 17-Feb 6-May 17-Feb
Oregano 17-Feb 29-Apr 17-Feb
Rosemary 17-Feb 6-May 17-Feb
Thyme 17-Feb 29-Apr 17-Feb
Asparagus 22-Feb 21-Mar 28-Mar 16-May 22-Feb
Eggplant 22-Feb 7-Mar 16-May 30-May 22-Feb
Verbana 22-Feb 21-Mar 16-May 30-May 30-May 22-Feb