Sweet Peas 2014

Sweet Peas

The sweet peas were planted late this evening using seeds collected from past vines.  More like night since me and old Ajax were out in the dark making sure the seeds were planted on December 1. I'm never sure what the blooms will be like or if there will even be any blooms.  Those danged doves may eat all the seeds.  There may also be a sweet pea bonanza in the spring.  It's a crap shoot. 

Some think the seeds need to be planted in late summer or early fall.  I've been planting them in December for sometime now with fairly good results.   No matter if the seeds are purchased or collected, it's helpful to soak them before planting. Full sun and well drained soil helps.  The vines will need something for the tendrils to climb.  However, they would probably grow like weeds almost anywhere.

Continual harvesting of the blossoms will help develop more flowers.  Once the weather gets hot, sweet pea season is over.  Let the blossoms go to seed and collect them for the next year.

Who doesn't enjoy a nice bouquet of sweet peas?

Happy Easter

Sweet Pea Mix

 Right on cue, the sweet peas are in bloom for Easter.  The seeds can be planted between October and December here in zone 8-9 in the south central San Joaquin Valley of California. Yesterday, reminded us all that summer is on the way with temperatures knocking on the 90s.  Today's cooler breezes are welcomed before we enter into the dreaded swam pants season.

 

Ladybud on the Warren Pear

Ladybugs are showing up in bigger numbers now.  They didn't really seem to hibernate this winter.  Unusual.  Glad they are showing up because the aphids are showing up as well.  Nature is kinda balanced in the garden for now.

 

If I only had a predator for all the mourning doves.

Garden Update

A quick post for a garden update using pictures (mostly) with few words:

Sweet Peas

Sweet Peas continue to bloom but seed production is increasing.  I've been taking bouquets to work for sometime now.  Sweet Pea bouquets will soon be replaced with Lavender bouquets.


Crookneck Squash

Crookneck Squash is trying produce despite some chewing varmint.  I'll need to make a midnight investigation to determine the culprit.


Black Beauty Zucchini

Zucchini was planted on April 29 along with radishes and parsley. Seeds germinated a couple of days later.  I must now start my search for some unsuspecting neighbor or work associate to flood with gifts of abundant squash.

Thornless Boysenberry

Boysenberries are starting to ripen.  Bird netting has been installed to shoo away pesky birds that mistake the garden as their own personal fly-in diner.  Scare tape works on most birds but hungry birds and those building nests laugh at the fluttering tape.  Perhaps scare tape works like a neon sign to those birds saying, "Let's Eat" or "Vacancy".  There are 3 known Mourning Dove nests directly adjacent to scare tape.  Phooey.

Beets

Sadly, the beets are about finished.  I have no idea what variety I've grown.  Whenever there was a bare spot, I would find a pack of seeds and plant.  There's a complete mix growing; but they are starting to bolt.  Supplies and the local Farmers' Market have dwindled too.  Thankfully, I have a nice big jar of pickled beets in the refrigerator to carry me through until I find a source for the summer.

Carrots

Some spent carrots were removed over Cinco de Mayo weekend and replaced with hills of green beans and marigolds.  There are still carrots producing well in the former "Salad Bed".  Once they have finished, they may be replaced with more onions.  You can never have too many onions.

White Lisbon Onions

White Lisbon and Spanish Utah onions were planted on April 16.  White Lisbons are used as bunching onions and the Spanish Utah will be used for storage.  However, all onion varieties are used as green onions as they are thinned.

Granny Smith Apple

Most all the fruit trees have fruit - plum, peach, apple, apricot, grapefruit, orange, mandarin, lemon.  They are all fertilized regularly and get pruned as needed.  Those growing espalier require more attention than the citrus.

Strawberries

I've lost track of the varieties of strawberries in the garden.   Sweet Pinky was one variety and I can't find the name of the other.  Nonetheless, the strawberries are popping and the birds know it.

Note:  I still cannot post using Live Writer and am relying on Blogger (mostly).

Name That Flower

There are loads of blossoms in the garden...especially since we had a brush with triple digit temperatures last weekend.  Mind you, there was snow on the passes just one week earlier.  This week, has been pleasant with some nice rain.  The flowers have responded... 

Sweet Peas - The wall of vines just keeps on giving.

 Sweet Peas have been attracting bumble bees and that's okay.  Bouquets are clipped regularly.  That must stimulate the vines to continue to produce blossoms.  As the season comes to an end, the stems are shorter. There are some seed pods forming so this won't last much longer.  I keep the seeds for the fall planting.

Nasturtiums

Volunteer Nasturtiums are thriving.  They have been all winter long.  I thought they were summer plants but it seems these are fairly sturdy.  Did you know that nasturtiums are related to cabbage and that the flowers and leaves are edible if no pesticides are used?  I didn't know that. Have you tasted Nasturtiums?

Iceberg Rose

One bare root rose was planted this winter to accent the boysenberries.  It was moved a few times before I settled on  the current location.  As the temperatures have warmed this week, the buds have opened and have a light scent.  As marigold blossoms fade, I scatter those seeds under the rose and berries to help deter aphids and nematodes.  If this grows well this summer, a companion Iceberg Rose will be planted at the opposite end of the boysenberry row.  I'm also looking for a purple tree rose that grows well in zone 8-9.  Any suggestions?

Aloe Vera

 The potted garden Aloe Vera is quite large and needed to be repotted.  I thought that it was getting sunburned and pot bound so it was repotted in a shadier location and seems to be thriving with less sun and water.  The reason for the sunburned looking plant may have been due to over watering.  It was drenched when we repotted this beast.  The gel of this succulent is great to have handy in the garden to soothe scrapes, bites, and burns.  Has anyone ever seperated the pups of Aloe Vera?

Name this flower

Can you name this flower?  If you garden in the Central San Joaquin Valley, your garden may currently have quite a bit of this flower.  Mine did but they're now in the green waste.

Perserverance

Over the past few days, the weather has been marvelously abnormal.  Wind, rain, hail, snow.  Delightful.  It's still sweet pea season around here; so regular harvesting of the blossoms is necessary to try to encourage more blossoms to develop.  I was out collecting a bouquet for a work associate's birthday and thought that one of the stems cut was too old.  It had yellowed from its vibrant purple.  I was just about ready to put it in my pocket for later disposal in the composter when I noticed that the yellow wasn't part of the flower.  It was a yellow bumble bee.  I don't think I've ever seen a yellow one before.  Typically, they are completely black around here.

Yeowee!  This guy was very alive and had been stunned by the quick drop in temperature I guess.  I gingerly placed the stem down amongst the vines.  The guy didn't move for about 3 days until the weather heated up and he moved on.  Glad I didn't heat him up in my pocket.

Bloomin' Fabulous

There's more blooming in the garden besides all the fruit trees.

Volunteer Sweet Peas

The Sweet Peas are germinated from 2011 seeds.  They are pretty much growing wherever the pod exploded so they are scattered around the garden but some were planted intentionally under a trellis.  Once the trellised vines are finished, green beans will use the support.


Nasturtium

The Nasturtiums are growing along with the Sweet Peas under a trellis.  Some are growing under a support where zucchini will soon be planted.

Strawberries - Duh!

Strawberries are blooming well but the berries aren't making it into the kitchen.  They are falling prey to the gardener (me) who cannot resist eating raw peas either.

Marigolds

The Marigolds (French) are doing so-so in the tomato bed.  I believe I'll plant more soon to replace any the feable plants.  They were stung with a recent cold spell.  These plants are in place to team with Basil and Celebrity Tomatoes to discourage nematoads.

I'm looking for companion plants for the boysenberries; but I don't believe there is any recommendations.  Only if aphids are a problem are marigold companions recommended.

Preparing for Spring

Just a little preparation now should bring sweet peas in early spring.  The seeds from the previous crop were saved for this purpose.  The seeds, pods and all, were kept on a shelf in the shed all summer.

Typically, the seeds would soak overnight before planting to soften them up and insure germination.  Since volunteer sweet peas have sprouted in the old sweet pea bed, I’m skipping that step.  Seems like the seeds will sprout easily.  It will be enough work to separate the seeds from the pods.  Next, into the ground followed by a nice soak.Farmer MacGregor was showing off his Eagle Scout knot tying skills this morning by re-stringing the support.  The sweet peas will be growing at the head of the western bed where peas and carrots are growing.  These plants usually don’t require much attention but they will provide loads of fragrant bouquets.  It’s not too late to plant.  Last year, I planted in December and enjoyed flowers in the spring. 

Purple Solution

I’ve determined that photographing purple is usually best in the shade.  There are some exceptions like the sweet peas featured above.  The sun seems to wash out the intensity of the color.  I need to learn a lot more about photography (some day) to conquer the purple dilemma.  Until then, I’ll try to provide a bit of shade.Here’s a package of Giant Violet Queen Zinnia seeds in the shade of the garden shed.  The purple really punches out there doesn’t it?  These were planted in the front yard yesterday.  They were half price down at the Rite Aid.  It’s an easy gamble.See.  The Santa Rosa plums are getting ripe.  Underneath that haze on the skin of the plum is a beautiful reddish-purple, delicious piece of summer taste explosion.  How do I know?  Cuz.  I had one yesterday.  It had dropped.  I picked it up, wiped it off and enjoyed a surprise treat.  Delicious gamble.

Yesterday I picked the winner of the Belmont Stakes – Ruler On Ice.  Love the colors (pink/orange).  I won $2,400!  It was a fantasy gamble.  Dang it.

I Love Global Warming!

Sweet peas continue to bloom in the garden.  Sure.  They’re starting to go to seed but there are still sweet peas blooming in the garden and it’s June 4th!  Once they have petered out, the green beans will be planted.  Shoot.  Green beans probably won’t be ready until Labor Day.

Typically I’m whining about the hellish heat by the time the calendar pages have been torn down to show June.  I’ve been in a long sleeve t-shirt and jeans all day long.  Right now I have some comfy slippers on keeping my cold feet a bit warmer.  What the heck?!  I love it.  Please hear my gratitude.  I hope it’s as loud or even louder than my whining.

Sure.  There are some around here complaining that it’s not hot yet.  I only smile at them and nod hoping not to trigger anything in their obvious mental unbalance.  Rather than me rant about the foolishness of “global warming” or “climate change” or whatever else it’s called now, the bees and I are deliriously happy with things the way they are now and will enjoy buzzing around the garden as long as this weather holds.  It’s good to be content.

Best in Show

Lavender & Sweet Peas

If you follow gardening blogs it seems they are broken down into a few groups:  Edible, Flowers, Homestead.  I think the edible part of gardening I’m getting the hang of.  Homesteading isn’t going to happen.  I have pioneer blood but it enjoys air conditioning along with me.  I’m simply too much of a whiner to be a homesteader.  That leaves the flowers group.  This evening as I cut some flowers to use as bouquets, I determined that I need more flowers in the garden.  So in addition to this being the Year of Corn in the garden, I will now try to incorporate more flowers into the landscape.  I mean try to pack spaces with blooming plants.  Nothing too difficult or fussy will do.  I’m going to stick with varieties that are hardy in the hell hole of summer in the south San Joaquin Valley.  Marigolds, zinnias and the like will be the things I’ll try to grow from seed. 

Now the research begins to determine what to try.  Any suggestions for flowers that do well in zone 8-9 are appreciated.  Thanks

Twilight Garlic

I’m out in the garden well past twilight working and inspecting.  It’s about time to harvest the garlic that was planted back in October 2010.  I’m a lousy record keeper regarding the garden; and blogging is helpful but I didn’t note what date the garlic was planted.  At least, I can’t find record of it.  It was sometime in October.  Now the garlic is starting to dry out.  Today the drip lines were pulled away from the garlic and onions because irrigation will switch to automation in the morning.  Prior to that the garden was watered manually as needed. The temperatures are climbing into the 90s this week so it’s time to rely on the water conservation system to keep the garden and gardener happy.  This will help prevent swamp pants.The variety of garlic is a mystery.  In the fall of 2009, I picked up a package of garlic to experiment with.  It grew.  The harvest was dried (cured) then braided and used from June to December.  There was a small, junky head that remained from the braid so I busted it up and planted it in the fall of 2010 to see if it would grow.  It grew.  The circle continues.  From about 40 cloves of garlic came 40 heads of garlic.  The initial investment of 30 cloves was probably no more than $5.  From that came 30 heads plus 40 more.

How much garlic can you buy in the grocery store for $5?  I don’t know.  I believe I’m getting a pretty good return on my investment AND I know how it was grown.  That’s a pretty good feeling.

 

Garden Note:

The summer garden is moving right along.  Here’s what has been going on:

• Tomato starts have been planted in their summer bed.  The supports need to be strung in preparation for a burst of growth.
• Cosmic Purple Carrot seeds from Heirloom Acres Seeds were planted with some of the tomatoes to see if carrots really do love tomatoes.
• Malali Watermelon seeds from Baker Creek were planted along with some French Breakfast Radish seeds.  Last year, this variety of radish was planted with squash as a beneficial.
• Nastursium seeds were planted in the holes of the cinder blocks that form the raised beds to help attract pollinators.  If the pill bugs let some seedlings grow to maturity, it should look good.
• Strawberries received an application of Garden & Bloom.
• Scale was discovered on the grapefruit tree and the orange tree could be threatened.  Take down was applied.  A 2nd application should take place in 10 days.
• Scare tap was tied to the grape arbor to scare away nesting mourning doves.  One empty nest was removed.  The following day a nest with an egg was discovered.  Scare tape does not scare stupid mourning doves.
• Sweet Peas continue to be harvested.  This area will be reserved for more beans this summer.
• Irrigation drip lines are in place to start a regular schedule to begin May 4.
• Bolting parsley was trimmed back.
• Shoots were removed from the healthiest (eastern most) wisteria.  The canopy was adjusted to encourage growth to spread over the top of the pergola.  Tomato cages were removed from the bases of both vines.  Cages were used to prevent puppy from teething on the trunks.
• Received a couple of cherry tomato seedlings from a co-worker.  These have been transplanted into small pots to harden.  They will be used for grilling.

Hope

  Sweet Pea – Old Spice

The 1st bouquet of sweet peas was harvested this weekend to enjoy in the kitchen while preparing Easter dinner.  These were planted so late, December 12, 2010, that I really didn’t have much hope that anything would come of my meager effort.  The seed packet describes this variety as  a single and bicolor tall heirloom.  A bean support used last summer for beans remained to support the sweet peas.  Once they have faded, beans will be planted for a late season harvest.  The success of the sweet peas is more than I had hoped for.

 

Lavender – Lavendula Angustifolia

On September 23, 2010, seeds of lavender from Burpee were sown with hopes of a quick germination.  After more than a month I gave up hope and forgot (kinda) about another failure in the garden.  This weekend I notices a few signs of success along the corn bed.  There is hope that the garden will have more lavender to enjoy.

Bell Peppers

A visit to the Farmers’ Market this weekend was fruitful.  I returned with three new Bell Peppers – Red Beauty, Red Marconi, and Super Heavyweight.  The Tomato Lady unveiled some of the peppers she has been germinating for here weekend business.  My hands were full of produce bags and a puppy lead; so I let the Tomato Lady’s daughter select three different varieties of bells for me to try.  Oh, she tried to educate me on these varieties; but I was distracted with all the shoppers wanting to pet Ajax.  My hope is that these peppers will be abundant and be used to stuff and grill.

The pea patch was cleaned out this weekend to make way for tomato transplants.  A few carrots and onions will remain until they mature.  In the meantime, the soil will be amended, deep holes dug, and a variety of tomatoes will take up residence until the fall.  I’m using the same method as last summer for plant supports.  Stringing.  The strings will run vertically and I’ll wrap the plants upward around the twine as they grow taller.  This post has an example of what the supports look like when they are full of tomatoes.  Hopes are high that this year’s tomato varieties will flourish.

All in all, this Easter weekend is a pretty good one for hope.

 

Journal Winner:

Helen said...

I think I'm in love with that journal! And my favorite month is October.

 

Helen, shoot me an email with your preferred delivery address and the journal will be on its way.  Congratulation.

Crop Review 2010 – Sweet Peas

  A couple of varieties of sweet peas were planted in the fall of 2009 to enjoy in 2010.  Starry Night and Royal Blue were planted under the espaliered trees with hopes they would climb the fence and fill the garden with blooms.  I thought something kept devouring the seedlings like a worm or something.  Something or someone was devouring the seedlings…Farmer MacGregor.  He thought the seedlings were weeds.  With his vigorous garden tending, there were only about a dozen vines that made it to maturity.  The blooms were sweet and the colors were beautiful.  The vines didn’t climb along the fence line as I hoped.  These varieties may have been more dwarf like than was advertised on the packets.

I’ll use most of the same criteria used for the garden crops with the exception of taste.  Taste will be replaced with scent.

• ease to grow - Fairly easy.  The seeds should be soaked prior to planting in the fall for blossoms the following spring.
• pest & disease resistance – The only pest I experienced really was Farmer MacGregor and his efficient weeding.
• appearance  - The blossom colors were beautiful.  I had hoped the vines would have extended further along the garden fence.  It seems the seedlings appearance is similar to weeds in Farmer MacGregor’s eyes.
• production – This could have been a bumper crop of sweet peas; but I’ll never know because of old MacGregor.  To encourage more blossoms, keep cutting the flowers for your enjoyment indoors.
• scent- The scent was sweet rather than spicy.  I think I prefer spicy and will try a spicy variety soon.

I do like sweet peas but won’t plant them under the espaliered fruit trees in the future.  The ground beneath the trees will be kept clear to ward off any pests – especially borers.  I believe I’ll use a structure similar to the one used for the beans to grow future sweet peas.  In fact, I may try my luck at starting some in December 2010 for blossoms in 2011.  I’m only going to give sweet peas 3 out of 5 blooms and that’s mostly due to my planning.  I’m sure I can attain a higher rating with better planning.

 

   

Bees Do It

There’s more than just produce in the garden.  There’s a variety of flowers that attract the local bees.  It’s good to have them here to help with the pollination of the tomatoes, melons, squash…you get the point. 

Lobelia

Lantana (yellow)

Thyme

Sweet Peas

Lantana (purple)

Lavender

Nasturtium

Strawberries

Grapefruit

Lemon

Note:  The fancy French radishes (Jaune D’Or Ovale) planted on April 28 look like they have sprouted; but it was too dark this evening to take any photos.