Spring is Finally Here

Well it appears that Spring has finally founds its way to the Willamette Valley! Starting with yesterday's sunshine filled day, we have mostly sunny and dry days forecast for the next 15 days. And it looks like we might actually hit 70 degrees mid-next week! Wonders will never cease. I spent today's lovely day outside, slowly knocking a few things off of my to-do list. My big project of the day was laying out the plan for our new rose flowerbed. This past week Mom and I finally narrowed our choices down and picked and ordered the five roses that will grow in this flowerbed. I wrote down each roses' mature width dimension and then outlined the placement of each rose in bone-meal. After that as done I took out the plants that we purchased last Saturday up at Garland's Nursery and we decided on their placement. Then I got busy and did some actual planting!

In front of our future "Birthday Girl " rose, I planted the two  Dianthus "Everlast" red and pink. I also set in the Salvia "Pink Dawn" that I gave Mom for Easter and the Coreopsis "Big Bang Star Cluster". It is exciting to finally have some plants actually planted in this new, full sun flowerbed.

I was really glad that I took the time last Sunday to pot up the lilies that we purchased. Two of the "Casa Blanca" lilies had already pushed up above the soil line. Now we are hoping with crossed fingers that the rabbits don't eat our young lily plants.

I also had a chance today to plant the "Cortland" onions that I bought at the Farmer's Market last Saturday. I set in 16 plants and then watered the onion bed and the garlic bed with a solution of balanced liquid fertilizer. Another thing crossed of my list!

Onion Planting

I lucked out once again today and was treated to a rain-free weekend day. After such a rainy week - again! - today dawned clear but cold. I started my day at the Lane County Farmer's Market, wearing my down jacket and shopping for onion starts. I picked up the "Candy" sweet onions from my regular vendor Roger and then made my way over to the Hayhurst stand to get my storage onions. Unfortunately, they didn't bring the variety that I wanted. They did promise to bring it next week, so I headed home with only half of what I had hoped to purchase. Once it finally began to warm up in the afternoon, I started working in the Kitchen Garden. I began by removing the remay and the hoops from my garlic row.

Then I hauled in multiple buckets of Natures's Best to build a new raised bed for the onions. Once that was completed I planted 8 "Candy" onions in the first part of the bed. The rest of the bed will get planted with the storage onions I will pick up next weekend. I watered the young plants in with a water soluble fertilizer and then covered the bed with a protective remay tunnel. I always hope to plant my onions around April 15th, so it was so nice to actually get at least half of them planted on time this year.

More Onion & Dahlia Planting

Tonight after work I planted my final onion variety for this year. I set in 10 "Candy" onion plants that I had purchased at the Farmer's Market. I have grown this sweet variety before and it has done well for me. Being a sweet onion, it is not a keeper. Because of this, it is the variety that I begin to harvest and cook with mid-Summer and on.

After I finished planting the "Candy" onions I returned to potting up my dahlia tubers. I was able to get an additional 22 planted tonight, for a total of 73 potted. A good start but still a long ways to go!

Working on the Kitchen Garden

We ended up with about a 2-3 hour window of dry weather between more serious rainfall today. While I certainly didn't get anywhere close to as much done as I had hoped, I still was able to make a little gardening progress on this wet, wet weekend. I focused today on the area I call my "overflow" kitchen garden. I began by giving it another quick, complete weeding. Then Dad helped me and we added 6 buckets of fresh Natures Best to extend and build up the bed.

Then I placed my two large size grow bags and planted the "Red Chieftan" potatoes that I had ordered from High Mowing Seed out of Vermont. The minimum order was 2.5 lbs and that was really more than I needed. But of coarse I had to plant all of the seed potatoes that they sent. So 6 went into the largest bag and 5 into the slightly smaller one. 

As you can see they were definitely ready to be planted! I also stuck a small volunteer potato plant of "Red Norland" into another pot placed between these two bags. It had sprouted up in the middle of this bed and I couldn't stand to toss it into the compost pile.

Next to the three potato bags I planted a row of 9 "Redwing" onions. I purchased these storage onion plants at the Farmer's Market a few weeks ago and I am glad to get them in the ground.

After I got the whole row planted and water in, I covered the row with two hoops and remay fabric. This will provide some protection from both the deer and the birds.

When I was weeding the bed I was pleasantly surprised to discover 3 small plants of Cosmos "Bright Lights". I had some plants of this variety growing here last year and apparently they self seeded. So I moved the 3 starts to the front of the bed where they can happily grow in front of the Zinnias I am also growing for this area.

And speaking of those Zinnias, guess what starting germinating today? When I looked inside the greenhouse this afternoon I discovered that the first 8 "Country Fair Blend" Zinnias had come up!

When I checked the other flat I found the first 5 Cosmos "Xanthos" and the first 11 Cosmos "Rubenza" had also germinated. Since I had only planted this seed Wednesday night, and the last two days have been cool and rainy, I wasn't expecting the seed to germinate quite so soon. So even though I planted my seeds a little later than I had hoped,  I am off to a strong start with germination rates this year.

A Few Plant Purchases

Today I was on a mission, running various errands all over town. But I did manage to find the time to make a quick stop at The Lane County Farmers Market and Down to Earth. At both places a few plants jumped into my basket!

• "Candy" Onion - a yellow skinned sweet onion. Not a keeper, so I harvest and use this one throughout the Summer
• "Red Wing" Onion - This hybrid red onion is a large one that is suited to Northern climates. Perfect for fresh salads and slicing. It keeps longer than any other red onion and the internal color gets deeper red during storage.
• "Snow Crown" Cauliflower - An early, adaptable variety. Good quality, medium-sized white heads. 2 lbs. heads are 7"-8" across. An AAS winner.
• "Red Riding Hood" Penstemon Schmidel - Zone 5-6; Partial to full Sun. Covered in bright red tubular flowers on long stems. 24' X 30" tall by 18' X 24" wide. Blooms in the Summer. The goal of the Dutch breeders of the Riding Hood series was to breed plants with excellent Winter hardiness, a compact growth habit, a longer flowering season, and numerous showy flowers.

Continuing to Plant the Spring Kitchen Garden

This past weekend, I had hoped to get my onions planted. But like so many things on my "to-do" list it didn't get done. So this week, after work and dinner, I have been puttering in the Kitchen Garden, getting it ready for some serious Springtime planting. I had to start by re-weeding the whole area. The rainfall that we have received, combined with the very warm temperatures, has been the perfect recipe for weeds. It took two night to get most of the area weeded. Then tonight, with Dad's help, I rebuilt a long raised bed. Then I planted 16 "Pontiac" onion starts purchased last weekend at Down to Earth.

"Pontiac" is a hybrid, disease resistant, yellow storage onion. It has a very large size potential and strong, bronze colored skin that protects the bulb well in storage.

I was pleased to get all of the young plants settled in tonight as we are expecting a rainy day on Friday and I was hoping to have them planted before the rain hit. I will plant the rest of this raised bed with a fresh use onion variety, but I haven't purchased those plants yet. I finished the evening by planting a small bunch of chives in the corner of the garden. I have always loved the happy, purple chive blooms that appear each Spring. I am hoping over time this clump will increase and I will be able to enjoy freshly cut chives in the future.

Onion Totals on Harvest Monday

On Sunday, I finally got around to harvesting my onions. Back on April 12th, I planted 8 young "Candy" yellow, sweet onion starts and 17 "Cortland" yellow, storage onion starts in the Kitchen Garden. The tops had fallen over, one by one, in the last few weeks and it was past time for them to be dug and stored.

A bunch of freshly dug "Cortland".

After I got them all lifted, I trimmed and cleaned each bulb and set them in trays. My 17 "Cortland" onions weighted 7 lbs. 12.7 oz. The largest bulb was 10.1 oz, the smallest was 5.2 oz., and the average size was 7.34 oz. I grew "Cortland" this year because I wasn't able to buy the "Frontier" starts that I had grown last few years. The "Frontier" averaged one ounce heavier but it is hard to compare the two varieties with so many variables affecting size. I need to grow "Frontier" at least one more year to see if it is a reliable producer for me or not.

My 8 "Candy" onions came in at 3 lbs. 10.2 oz. The largest bulb weighted 9.9 oz., the smallest 4.7 oz., and the average bulb size was 7.28 oz. In comparison, the "Cortland" were ever so slightly bigger than the "Candy". But the "Candy", once again, performed well, in such a dry, hot Spring and Summer.

The tomatoes have started to ripen at a quick pace. Pictured above, a pretty truss of "Matina".

A loaded truss of the yellow cherry "Galina".

A new-to-me variety that I am growing this year is the cherry  "Matthew". It is producing small, plum-shaped, orange fruit.

Today's harvest filled a pretty blue mixing bowl with a nice combination of fruit size and color. The harvest consisted of:

• "Mountain Magic" - (4) 3.4 oz
• "Matthew" - (10) 3.5 oz
• "Esterina" - (10) 2.3 oz
• "Galina" - (38) 9.3 oz
• "Matina" - (22) 14.7 oz.

So today's total tomato harvest was 2 lbs. 1.2 oz.

I also picked the first on my peppers this past week. I am going to bring them to work for a pepper-loving co-worker to sample. I am hoping her taste-test will shed some light on the identity of my purple, mystery pepper. I don't know what it is but I most certainly know it is not a "Padron" plant as it was labeled. So, my pepper harvest this week was:

• "Gypsy" - (1) 3.3 oz
• "Mystery Plant" - (1) .4 oz.

Early July in the Kitchen Garden

Now that July has arrived, I have finally finished planting the Summer crops in the Kitchen Garden - I think. It has been so very hot the last two weeks, but for the most part, the plants have come through with flying colors.

I spent some time Sunday re-building my onion raised bed. My watering had eroded one side badly. The onion bulbs were getting quite exposed and most of the water was just running off the bed. So I built up the right side once again and leveled off the top. The onions are much more stable now and my watering is more effective and much less wasteful.

Here's a nice "Candy" onion. I should be able to start harvesting them in the next month.

And here is a "Cortland" yellow storage onion. I am hoping that they will start to size up now that they are receiving more water.

My garlic has done terrific since it was planted last Fall. With the hot weather, I think I am going to harvest the "Chesnook Red" plants this week. They are already half brown and fading fast.

The large "Russian Red" plants are still 2/3 green so I will wait another week or so until I dig them up to cure.

I pulled out the lettuce a few days ago and amended the raised bed in which it was planted. Then I set in two "Bush Delicata" plants. I didn't cover them with remay and I am paying the price. It looks like the finches have eaten out the growing tip on one of them already. Sigh. Now I need to decide what to do in its place.

My two little "Butternut" squash have finally settled in and are putting out some nice, green new leaves. This week's forecast calls for temperatures in the 80's, so that should be a little kinder to them as they get established.

My two "Howden" pumpkins are really taking off. One has already toppled over and is starting to crawl and the other isn't far behind.

The three "Snow Crown" cauliflower plants appear to be surviving this heat wave. All three have white crowns of various sizes.

I am a cauliflower rookie, so I need to read up on them a bit more and see when I should harvest the crown. While they aren't perfect, I am pretty pleased with my first attempt at growing this finicky vegetable.

Both of my pepper plants appear to be on the way to a great growing year. They certainly should be loving the  hot weather. Pictured above is my "Gypsy" Sweet Pepper.

I now have two nice size "Gypsy" Peppers maturing on the plant.

I am growing a "Padron" pepper plant for the first time. It too is doing really well and is covered with blooms and nice, new branching foliage.

This is the very first "Padron" pepper on the plant. It just started to grow a few days ago. Hopefully it is the first of many.

The mixed variety Morning Glory plants have almost reached the top of their tower and are starting to put on a really pretty display each morning. Once again, even with thinning, I have a good mix of pink and purple blooms.

I put the second tier of the towers on my last three tomato plants this past week. I did it in the nix of time. As you can see, two of them are already half way up the second tower.

The original three plants that I put in the garden have almost reached the top of the second tier and it's only early July! And my "Heavenly Blue" Morning Glory, planted in between the tomatoes, has reached the top of its support and is now scrambling over the tomato cages. So far, it hasn't yet bloomed.

A truss of "Mountain Magic".

The  young "Matthew" tomatoes definitely have a plum shape.

The "Esterina" is starting to set fruit.

"Galina" has always been a reliable producer for me and my co-workers love it.

Here are two green "Matina". All of my tomato plants have now set fruit except for my "Mexico" plant.

After I removed my empty Potato grow bag this past weekend, I planted two of the "Hale's Best Jumbo" Muskmelon that I started from seed. They look pretty small right now, but its still early Summer and the weather has been very melon friendly this year.

My three "Blacktail Mountain" watermelon plants are really starting to take off. All three plants developed their first runner this week, so their growth should really explode. I am trying to be vigilant and fertilize them every other day.

I certainly have just about every size of beet possible in my two rows of  "Golden" beets that I planted. You would never know that they were all started from seed at the same time. I do have some fairly large ones now, so I need to harvest a few this next week and give them a try.

The "Gold Coin" cipollini onions continue to look good. Since this is a new-to-me variety, I am not quite sure how they should be progressing. But since they don't grow up into a huge globe onion, I think they are right on track. Also growing under the remay tent, in the kitchen garden annex, is a row of "Cabernet" red onions. They aren't too happy with their cramped growing conditions and are still pretty small at this point in the season.