Update for past week

OK, no good excuse for the radio silence this past week, other than I've felt more like doing things than blogging about them.  I intended to catch up yesterday, but got hit like a ton of bricks with a lower digestive tract bug of some sort.  It knocks me flat around lunch time - hit fast and hard, so I was not inclined to go too far from the bathroom.  Funny thing was, yesterday I woke up feeling normal, with a bit of energy and planting plans ... go figure.

Today I am still staying close to the house, but so far so good.  I moved the newly hatched chicks out to the brooder tub, as right now we have no broody hens and Pollux has his wings full with last month's horde of Wyandotte chicks.  This month, Azar's group had a horribly low fertility rate, and then only two of the four who developed made it out of the shell.  Spikey's group fared much better, with nine of the no-so-little cheepers out and popping around.  Only one didn't hatch.

Spikey's chicks definitely have his wide and flat back ... a couple I observed ended up on their backs when they flopped out of the shell for the first time.  It took them a bit of effort to flip over on their feet.

On the plant side of things, I did manage to get the cheater-starts of Swiss chard in the ground, and have plenty more that I started from seed ready to move.  I also have a few spinach starts, some broccoli starts, and of course peppers and tomatoes to transplant into larger pots.

The one really impressive volunteer mustard green continues to impress - I am going to do my best to get every seed from it once it bolts.  The original parent plant was a Florida broadleaf variety, if memory serves, but I will be calling this strain Putnam broadleaf if I can keep it going.  It is strong and healthy, and keeps putting up new leaves (to the bunnies' great delight).  While we have no idea how it tastes, the rabbits certainly approve of it.

Oh, of the old seeds from 2013 that I planted a couple weeks ago, I have some white radishes sprouting.  I was a bit surprised to see that the other morning.

Pics later - I am still trying to get caught up after yesterday's gastric fireworks.

Sprout rates and damping off

While still waiting for the rain to finally get here, I decided to get a few pics of sprouts and make notes on germination sprout rates.  First up, the happy wild success: the turnip seeds I planted earlier this week have sprouted overnight.  Hooray for me - the bunnies and birds will be quite pleased, as turnip greens are their favorite treat.

new turnip sprouts

Next up, the peppers tray (planted almost a month ago) which has good and bad.  The good news is hubby will have a good amount of jalapeno pepper plants, and I should have a decent amount of pasilla bajo peppers.  The bad news is the sweet peppers didn't do as well.  So far, one Cubanelle pepper plant and four "Tangerine Dream" sweet pepper plants.  No bell peppers sprouted, and no Marconi Red Italian sweet peppers, which I had high hopes for as a substitute for the Carmen sweet peppers I enjoyed so much in 2013.

Pepper plant sprouts

The Swiss chard tray planted two weeks ago is also a bit mixed, but I am seeing some late sprouting seedlings, so it may turn out better than it looked yesterday.  It now looks like all but the Lucullus variety sprouted decently, with the canary yellow being the most vigorous.

Swiss chard sprouts

Broccoli and spinach ... it's a half-and-half situation.  The broccoli popped up immediately, especially the Calabrese variety ... and is suffering the same fate as the tomato seedlings listed below.  The Waltham and de Cicco varieties are slower to sprout, but they may end up being the better plants.Spinach was very hit-or-miss, with no sprouts from the Satin, Bloomsdale Long-Standing, or Round Leaf varieties.  The Giant Noble variety sprouted, so I do have some baby spinach sprouts, and the Tendergreen mustard spinach (looks a lot more like a mustard than a spinach!) is also up.

broccoli, spinach, and mustard spinch sprouts

Now, about those tomato seeds I planted the middle of last month .... They came up alright, although when I first took the clear plastic cover off there were only two Old Germans sprouted.  That is the reason why I will likely have more Old German variety than Mortgage Lifter.  I didn't know what was going on until someone posted about a similar problem with his rhubarb sprouts, and the answers were all, "That is damping off."  No solution given, because apparently most people just replant when they get damping off instead of attempting to save the seedlings.  Uhhh ... y'all will notice the empty seed packets in the tray.  I don't have more, and have not yet located more of either variety.  It seems this year's heirloom variety will be Brandywine/Pink Brandywine.  No sign of Mortgage Lifter or Old German in any of the stores yet, and I've even checked the East Palatka Ace Hardware.  (*Bleep!*)  So, I am letting the tray dry out a bit (hopefully only enough to kill the fungus responsible but not the seedlings) and will just see if any of the Mortgage Lifter plants survive.

tomato sprouts with damping off

The other two trays are pretty much are busts, although the Seven Top turnip (greens mainly) seeds did sprout, they are also  too "leggy" and look damped off as well.   Nothing has sprouted so far in the salad tray.  I'll try it again in a week or so, with different varieties.  On all the seeds that did not have even a single sprout, I will scatter those into the compost heaps, and any volunteers will just be a pleasant surprise.

Battening down

Alright, it's cold again.  Y'all up there need to quit letting those cold front wander down this far south, because we are really not equipped to handle it.  Hibiscus and lemon grass are back in the greenhouse, after being out yesterday for some warm rain.  Beds are covered again, although even with being covered the basil died anyway.  I still have a nice bell pepper on each of the two plants, so that bed gets the old comforter.  We gathered up all the eggs we could find outside, since it is forecast to get down to 28-30F and possible hard freeze (more than 4 hours below freezing).  Just not enough old blankets to cover the citrus trees, so here's hoping they do alright.  The Persian lime is dead down to its root stock, Lynn told me, so at some point will dig up the root stock unless I find someone who can graft.

I have sprouts now!  Both varieties of tomato - with a much better sprout rate in the Mortgage Lifter than the Old German.  Some of the Top Seven turnips are up, and last time I peeked into the pepper tray I saw jalapeno and pasilla sprouts.  That tray has a good bit of condensation in it.  Yesterday I planted two more trays: broccoli and spinach in one, and the other dedicated to Swiss chard.

chard tray, six varieties

broccoli and spinach tray

Now, about those hibiscus: one bloomed yesterday, and the other budded enough we could see the color, so I have one red and one yellow red-leafed hibiscus.

hibiscus and lemongrass out for some rain

red hibiscus flower

yellow hibiscus bud

Planting again and great auction results

According to my "planting by the signs" resources, today is another good day to condemn ... er, plant more seeds, so I put in 18 seeds for Pak Choi, 18 seeds for "Top Seven" turnip greens, and 36 seeds for Anaheim peppers, which if successfully grow make great seasoning for hubby's chili and go well with pasilla peppers to make enchilada sauce.  This tray is marked with a packet of yellow mustard on the left, and placed on top of the back refrigerator.

Pak choi cabbage, top seven turnip greens, and anaheim peppers

Now, for the results of last evening's livestock auction, where I took in Silkie Boy and six laying hens: Beetle, Blackie, Greyscale, Funky, Little Girl, and one of the Pretties whose comb leader goes straight back instead of curving to follow the skull line.  Apparently, this is THE time of year to sell layers!  Holy cow ... ok, no cows went through the auction but a bunch of potbelly pigs went so cheap I was sorely tempted.  Blackie, Beetle, and Greyscale went for $19 each.  Funky and Little Girl went for $21 each ... and the Pretty went for $23.  Silkie Boy only brought $5, but the girls more than made up for him.  Greyscale even laid an egg before the auction started.  I think I have now broke even on the auction idea, overall.

I did not bring home any new critters, but I did snag two dozen duck eggs to try out ... lovely huge yolks that fry up nice and dippy.  Hubby likes, plus if Muscovy ducks really do taste like grass fed beef, I see a duck pond and ugly ducks in our future.

I also brought home some new plants: two lemongrass and two Japanese Maple hibiscus, which are edible as well as cool looking.  They can also be used for tea, and is the exotic flavoring on our favorite meade, Viking Blood.  I think if there is a plant I could love, it may just be hibiscus.  Pics when it warms back up, as the new plants are in the greenhouse up against the south wall of the house.  Someone has let one of y'all's cold fronts wander too far south today!  It was ten degrees warmer before the sun came up.

Pepper seeds planted

Here's a link to the video as well.

Hubby grabbed his digicam instead of hunting down a notebook and pen, so here are some planting notes:

• Home Farmer "Classic hot" jalapeno peppers for hubby's scrambled eggs.  I still cannot eat jalapenos at all.
• Ferry-Morse "Latin Flavors" pasilla bajo peppers ... fully ripened and dried, these make the BEST barbecue sauces.  They rock in enchilada sauce as well.
• Ferry-Morse Cubanelle sweet peppers.  Note on back says great for frying, which I interpret as fajita peppers.  I'll be experimenting on the pick green versus ripened to red difference.
• American Seed Marconi Red Italian sweet pepper.  I'll need to see how it stacks up to the Carmen sweet pepper from the other year, which I have not been able to find in seed or start since 2013 spring.  I may still  have some seeds from then, but last year when I tried planting some I failed.
• Burpee Tangerine Dream sweet pepper.  Short blurb on back says great fresh or pickled, so I think it may be comparable to banana peppers.
• Ferry-Morse Grand Bell pepper, mixed colors.  Everyone needs some bell peppers, especially now we have the recipe for sweet-and-sour from the 1968 Betty Crocker book.

I had a very pleasant birthday yesterday, and hubby took me up to Leo's for lunch, then we pillaged Wal-Mart to score seed starting trays and some more seeds, plus peeked in on TSC (needed a new bag of bunny chow) and Home Depot but neither has the spring gardening section set up yet.

Chicks are now hatching in rapid succession in the incubator, starting at zero-dark-thirty this morning.

Parsnips and Scarlet Nantes carrot seeds planted

Planting note: parsnips (Ferry-Morse Hollow Crown variety) and carrots (Burpee scarlet nantes variety) planted in the garden boxes where I transplanted the broccoli, red cabbage, bell peppers, parsley, purple and spicy globe basil, and Italian oregano starts the other week.  One of the bell pepper plants has opened a blossom, and the other has a couple ready to open soon.  The two success stories in the one box are Greek oregano and the green onions.  If neither of those two seeds sprout in two weeks, I'll plant some more.  Eventually, something ought to grow other than rope grass and sand spurs.

Transplants 26 March

I picked up some starts yesterday at the little Ace Hardware in town before hitting the grocery store, and that errand pretty much wiped me out and made my back scream.  At least we have half and half for our coffee.  This morning, after looking at weather radar I went outside to put all the starts into the ground.

• Tomatoes: one each of Pink Brandywine (the larger of the two) and Heinz's Super Roma (heirloom type, not the hybrid one ... the flat were specifically marked each way).
• Peppers, of the sweet variety: one orange bell, planted next to the purple bell, and one giant Marconi, an Italian sweet pepper that I am hoping will be similar to the Carmen peppers from the year before last, as the peppers didn't sprout for us.
• Red onion, and a big bunch of them!  I took a little less than half next door to Maria, and she thought that was a lot until I mentioned "Estan menos de media de los cebollos."  Hubby will have a few fresh ones, and the rest will end up in the dehydrator then ground for onion powder and dried minced onion for the spice cabinet.
• A six pack of assorted coleus!  Must have my pretties, and coleus are my favorite of all time, going back to the first grade when I received a small one with my seed order through school.  I even won a blue ribbon in the school's plant fair.  Last year, I had oodles of volunteer coleus ... but then the neighbor's pet deer ate all the flowers off them last summer, and they didn't recover enough to make another round of seeds.

So now I am sweating in the high humidity before the rain starts, but have more plants in the dirt.

Transplanted raspberries, more seeds started

I started off this morning okay ... hubby volunteered to dig the holes for the two new raspberry canes we bought yesterday, so all I had to do was grab up a small bucket of compost and my gloves.  Mysore raspberries have thorns ... not that the dog is in any way discouraged from fertilizing the raspberries in the least.  No problem.  Just lean over, work the plastic container off them, massage the roots so it knows it can once again expand in its own shape, hold it ground level while putting some compost around, then firm up the loose soil.

two new mysore raspberry canes

No problem, and it gave me something to do while waiting for the clothes washer to finish up the final rinse and final spin.  Then I went to hang up the laundry ... and my back let me know I either moved wrong or did too much already.  Insert vulgar profanity learned in factories and the army here.

I took the half-(*donkey*)ed pain pills VA gives me nowadays and laid down for a few hours.  I had also sorted out the seed packets over coffee earlier, and had a handful to start in with the tomatoes and peppers in the little greenhouses.  (Note to self: need pic of little greenhouses.)  So I knitted and rested up then went back out to rearrange cockerels for tomorrow and plant some seeds: Carmen sweet peppers I had saved seeds from in fall 2013, pasilla bajo peppers, garlic chives, and catnip.  Almost all were in packets marked 2013 or 2014, except the pasilla peppers.  I know I bought some previously ... I just can't seem to find them right now.

Instead of using potting soil, I used our compost.  They really do look almost identical - the potting soil has little white and green bead-looking thingies in it, but that is the only difference.

I think I'll add three more raspberry canes to the patch, then see if that is enough or not.

Pictures of dirt

Now this is a thing of true beauty: our two years in the making compost heap.  Hubby decided to start breaking in to it today, and called my attention to the lovely shade of deep rich brown, almost black, and the wonderful smell of fertile soil instead of the various stages of decomposition.

digging in to the compost heap

spreading rich compost on the garden boxes

You can really see the contrast in the half-filled garden box!  That box was filled from the compost heap last year, but what we have today is superior.

Today's outside adventures started when I decided I would prune back the raspberry cane, the grapevines, and the still-small fruit trees.  Then, hubby offered to help me plant seeds for the little greenhouses: tomatoes and peppers. That sent me on a hunt for the jalapeno seeds from last year and from the store while hubby filled the little Jiffy-pot cells with potting soil (before we broke into the compost heap, or we might have used that instead).

What we've accomplished so far today:

• pruned the orchard, berry patch, and vineyard (hey, it sounds good ... I'll get more planted soon!)
• planted Anaheim and jalapeno peppers, along with two unknown pepper varieties.  I forgot to write down what they were, just know they are some kind of pepper
• planted Brandywine and San Marzanzo (sp?) tomatoes, along with some Mortgage Lifter seeds I had saved in 2013
• started topping off the garden boxes with the compost

And that's only outside stuff.

16 Mar planting notes

A bit of planting before the rain hits sometime tonight.
Transplanted: mustard greens, one Golden Jubilee tomato, "twin" red bell and yellow bell peppers.

Seed planting: more Burpee "Snowbird" snow peas in the snow pea bed where some previous did not sprout, plus some of last year's Burpee "Kitchen King" garden beans in between the rows of snow peas, and also in blank spots between the fernleaf dill, marigolds, and various yet-unidentified peppers and tomatoes.  American Seed "Alaska" green pea planted in the box where the Green Arrow variety did not sprout.

Must do posts on the compost ...!  Or maybe hubby will post up on it, as he spent the week getting up close and personal with the main compost pile.

Also posts on the fruit trees, and the chickens.

Hornworms

I can't call them just tomato hornworms after the ghastly devastation overnight.  After supper last evening, I was admiring my ripening and soon-to-ripen peppers: cubanelles, gypsies, anaheims, and carmens.  I had lost one cubanelle pepper to an unknown varmint that took a big bite out of the middle of it before it had completely turned orange.

This morning, I woke to carnage.  I am now down to one gypsy sweet pepper, no cubanelles, no anaheims, and lost a good half-dozen carmens in addition to a handful of my beloved datils ... and the culprits were hornworms.  Big, fat, juicy hornworms ... yes, the chickens have had a great morning as I found hornworm after hornworm and put them through the chicken wire.

For the record, hornworms are even more difficult to spot on pepper plants than they are on tomato plants.  It took me four or five times hunting to find the one on the datil pepper plants.

Right now, I feel discouraged, as if I am simply growing hornworm bait in my garden boxes.

Don't even get me started on the battle to keep the lawn tamed.