Plant Talk

Plant Now for Fall Food

It seems like summer just got here, but it's already time to plant fall crops. To harvest before first frost, mid-August (yes, a little late already!) is the ideal time to plant chard, kale, broccoli, spinach, lettuces and arugula....more advice on this in an upcoming Plant Life column in Pacific Northwest magazine.

I spent an afternoon with Colin McCrate of Seattle Urban Farm Company on the roof of Bastille restaurant in Ballard last week, talking winter crops. Up on the roof, surrounded by buzzing bees (they have four beehives up there), ripening tomatoes and raised beds stuffed with herbs and greens, on a day that reached 85 degrees, we talked winter crops. More of Colin's expert advice to follow in the Seattle Times column, but for now, rip out pea vines or whatever else is mildewed or languishing, and get your fall crops into the ground while the soil is still warm....check out/download Log House Plant's  handy and freshly updated fall and winter planting chart.

Ruby chard and broccoli in the beautiful, productive garden of my Langley neighbor Linda Morris...

 

Veg Flutter

In a heat-challenged summer like this, vegetable gardeners need all the help they can get. Do you suppose there's any chance that prayer flags imprinted with vegetables ("created to celebrate art and nature") might  kick start my languishing pumpkins?

It's a big deal when a new shop opens in a tiny town like Langley, especially when it's filled with outdoor gear- Wander on Whidbey is kind of a mini-REI. Yet somehow I managed to find garden gear amongst the fleece and freeze-dried food.

The shop carries earth flags by Alaskan artist Abbey Wentworth featuring birds, plants, and an entire string of vegetables. Inspired by Tibetan prayer flags, these colorful, fabric squares are durable, but Wentworth warns "Life is inherently ephemeral, as is the nature of most things we create while we are on earth...." But that's okay, because as the flags deteriorate in the elements, the wind lifts the flags/ messages upward towards Tibetan deities. Do you think they can help my tomatoes ripen?

Wentworth advises that it's optimal to hang new flags on a sunny, blustery morning, but we haven't seen one of those for awhile...so I strung my veg flags up along a hedge of clumping bamboo (Fargesia robusta). at the back of the garden. There's honeysuckle climbing the bamboo, and in front is a book-reading gargoyle planted with black mondo grass.

The vigorous old orange dahlia is 'Forncett Furnace'

 

Grafted Tomatoes

Have you noticed robust tomatoes fairly bursting out of their plastic nursery pots?  Log House Plants in Cottage Grove, Oregon is sending their first crop of grafted tomatoes to market...while grafted produce is common in Europe and Asia, Log House is introducing the technique to U.S. gardeners this spring.

What's this mean, exactly, besides a lump on the lower part of the plant's stem? In a graft, the upper part (scion) of one kind of plant is attached to the rootstock of another kind of plant; many grapes and fruit trees are grafted because it's such an efficient method of making exact copies of any given variety. The goal is to improve vigor, yield, disease-resistance and cold hardiness...With tomatoes, Log House has chosen rootstock with established vigor and disease resistance and scions with proven fruit flavor and quality.  Grafted tomatoes produce over a longer period of time; it's a useful technique for heirloom varieties that struggle with disease resistance. Now you can get the heirloom taste and look growing on stronger, healthier rootstock.

Some plants are double-grafted, like the red pear and yellow pear tomatoes growing on the same plant. The price for these techno wonders? Their price (in pots much larger than what you see left) is close to double that of tomatoes grown from seed....but especially in this rainy, cold year, the lure of tomatoes producing over an extra-long season may be well worth it. Let alone how you can save space by growing two kinds of tomatoes on a single rootstock. 

Read more about grafted vegetables at Log House Plant's impressive online library...

Tomato Time

Finally, it's time to plant tomatoes. So many of you have asked me in the past couple of weeks if it's still too early.....so I checked in with tomato expert Wally Prestbo, a.k.a. Mr. Tomato.

Wally advises it all depends on the soil temperature, which should be above 50 degrees, and preferably over 55 degrees. "I will be planting tomatoes at the Bellevue Demonstration Garden and my house this week," Wally emailed..." My rule of thumb is to plant about the middle of May". (For an excellent discussion of last frost dates, along with some tomato suggestions, see the latest edition of Loghouse Plants Garden News).

And what kind to plant? Here are Wally's words of wisdom: "The number one seller and winner of all taste tests is “Sungold”.  Then it depends on what type most people prefer.  For cherry tomatoes it would be Sweet Million and Cabernet.  Roma would be Viva Italia.  Early varieties would be Stupice, Oregon Spring and Glacier.  A salad favorite is Juliet.  A slicer would be Burpee’s Burger and Big Beef.  A favorite of mine is Sweet Tangerine.  Container favorites are Tumbler, Patio Princess, Silver Fir Tree and Glacier."

Being a challenged tomato grower, I couldn't let Wally go without begging a few tips:  "My tips are the obvious," Wally writes "Put tomatoes in raised beds or containers in the sunniest location available.  The soil should drain well and test at PH of 6-6.5.  When I plant I use a cup of balanced organic vegetable fertilizer (10-10-10) in and around the hole or trench.  I only plant about 6-7” deep unless the plant is tall (one foot+) and then I dig a trench 6” deep and lay the plant on its side and gently bend the top up slightly and stake it.  Then I cover all of the stem and root ball.  Water thoroughly 2-3 times per week (at the roots) keeping leaves dry."

And here's an invitation from Wally for you: "If any of your readers have a chance to visit the Bellevue Demonstration Garden they can see all the different varieties as well as all the ways in which they’re grown.  I will have 28 varieties there.  I probably won’t cage/trellis or mulch the plants until the 1st week of June."

And he ends with a word or realism: "The real key to successful tomatoes will be our weather.  Last summer was the best growing year since I’ve been at the Demo Garden (14 years)."

Happy Planting, and may the sun bless us with a good tomato summer...

          
 

Two Vegetables in One....or Brussels What???

Flower Sprouts 'Petit Posy' are a newly invented vegetable that's an enticing cross of two nutritional powerhouses. Bred in England from Brussels sprouts and all colors of curly kale, 'Petit Posy' was unveiled only a couple of months ago in the organic produce department of Waitrose, the United Kingdom's big natural foods retailer, where it's been a hit with shoppers in the U.K.

And now you can grow this brand new vegetable in your own garden, where it's sure to be a talking point. The question.....is 'Petit Posy' a leafy green or a sprout? The flavor and nutritional content is similar to that of spring greens, yet the plant has the same unusual growing pattern as Brussels sprouts, standing up in the garden through the winter. Frilly-edged  'buttons' or ‘rosettes’ grow on long stalks, looking surprisingly girly for a tough, hardy vegetable. The leaves are appealingly purple, green and bi-colored, making these tasty little vegetables appealingly ornamental in the garden and on the table. It's easy to pick the loose little rosettes off the stalks, then steam, microwave, roast or toss them into stir fries for nutritious greens (a good source of Vitamins A,C,K and folate) through the winter.

So I guess you'd have to say 'Petit Posy' offers the best attributes of both parents - the curly edges, nutrition and varied colors of kale, the unusual growing pattern and bud-like shape of Brussels sprouts. I haven't yet had a description of the taste besides "delicious"....

Oregon wholesaler Log House Plants is the only commercial grower in the United States producing starts of 'Petit Posy' for home gardeners;  Alice Doyle of Log House recently emailed me "Can you tell how excited I am about these new vegetables? This is truly a revolutionary ornamental edible! And the breeder has more varieties up their 'Flower Sprout' sleeves."

So stay tuned. In the meantime, plant 'Petit Posy' in spring and early summer for October through February harvests; Log House Plants will begin shipping starts to nurseries on May 1st.

Harvested in a colander, 'Petit Posy' Flower Sprouts look like miniature kale; growing in the garden they bring to mind tiny Brussels sprouts tarted up for a party.

 

Diggin' It

A "To Do" list is a gardener's constant companion, particularly in early spring when chores are as numerous as slugs on a hosta. It's always fun, and sometimes inspiring, to hear what other gardeners are up to.. so please chime in with what's top of your list these days.

Here's what I'm working on this weekend:

 I'm finally planting the bulbs I bought from B&D Lilies at the F&G Show which were sprouting in their bags and desperate to get in the ground. I popped the double Oriental 'Lodewijk' (left) into pots on the deck to be seen and smelled close up; the half dozen Asiatic, June-blooming 'Kentucky' (below) went in along a new little evergreen hedge where I hope their melon color will shine.

 

I seeded a bunch of Dianna's purple poppy (P. somniferum 'Paeoniflorum') along the sides of my gravel driveway where the plan is it'll be happy enough in the sun and drought to re-seed itself. Yes, this is the opium poppy that put Dorothy and friends to sleep in "The Wizard of Oz',  a dark, ruffled beauty with gray-green foliage. I also tossed out seed given to me by friends for a giant pod poppy that is supposed to be great in flower arrangements....

More time consuming is pruning back my lavender hedges by nearly 2/3 to keep them from splaying and becoming woody. The bonus to this job is the intense, summer-redolent scent of the foliage as you clip it. I'm also pruning hydrangeas, cutting out about a third of the old canes on the mop heads (H. macrophylla), while cutting back the entire 'Annabelle' plant, since it blooms on new wood and tends to get leggy.

Most fun is planting baby lettuce starts,  sweet peas, purple-podded peas, 'Cascadia' snow peas, and herbs like lemon verbena, Greek oregano, cilantro and mint, safely secured in a pot to keep it from taking over the garden. 

All the promise of spring in a dozen sweet peas just starting to climb their cage, and plenty of colored little lettuces, arugula and spinach. The lettuce will be ready to start snipping in just a few weeks, and the sweet peas, with a little encouragement from the weather, should bloom by mid-June.

 

Dreamin' Seeds....and the Huff Po

If you have a moment, check out my first-ever story for the Huffington Post - I'll be blogging regularly for them, always different posts than you'll find here...

These last few warm days are catnip for gardeners - sunshine and temperatures in the high 50's make it hard to recall we still have two months of winter, and no doubt deep freezes, to come...

So, no, it's not time to work the soil - but you can take solace in seed catalogs. This is the time to dream, not to dig...

If you start seeds indoors, or even if like me you buy starts (thank you, Loghouse Plants) or plunk seeds right into the ground come spring, it's time to start making your list, checking it dozens of times, and sending in your orders  - like for these scarlet runner beans climbing the fence in my Whidbey garden last August.

But wait - there are far more exciting choices....how about these new Ping Tung Long eggplants (could they really be so electric blue??) from Nichols Garden Nursery, which are pretty in the garden, mild-tasting and ideal for curries and stir-fries?

You could easily get lost in Territorial Seed Company's new catalog, featuring 210 tantalizing new items, including these showy Goldmarie beans and tasty lime crisp cucumbers.....

 

Harvest Time

This morning as I was walking up our alley in Langley, I was thinking about "Restoration Harvest", a piece Tim Egan wrote this week on his New York Times blog about the beauty of the Eastern Washington apple harvest. Of course, this was Tim Egan, so there's plenty in there about food safety, irrigation, etc., but mostly it's an ode to apples...

It begins “The apples look like Christmas ornaments, wearing a blush of dew at first light” and ends with the conviction that the harvest satisfies a need that has never been bred out of as people.

So just as I’m contemplating this comforting thought, I come upon my neighbor’s final pear harvest and his wheelbarrow full of pumpkins and squashes. So beautiful on a sunny October morning – harvest visuals courtesy of Linda Morris and Dan Babbit’s fruitful garden. 

When to Plant, When to Harvest

So what really works for fall vegetable gardens in our climate?  I sought advice from Alice Doyle of wholesaler Log House Plants in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Log House produces an amazing assortment of lovely, healthy vegetable starts for fall planting.

Alice advises that all the things most important for spring planting are even more so now - find the sunniest spot you can, dig in compost, make sure the drainage is good. One consideration unique to this time of year - stay away from planting in frost pockets.

She suggests thinking of fall and winter vegetables in three categories:

• Those that can be harvested in the fall, like arugula, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. The trick is to get them established before September 15 so they have time to mature before frost. You still have time if you start with healthy transplants, the largest you can find, to give them a head-start as the weather cools.
• Vegetables that you can harvest continually (almost) through the winter, which includes spinach, parsley, Swiss chard and cabbages.
• Those that can be planted in autumn to harvest in springtime, like onions (plant now) and beets (not until late November). Alice tells me I've missed a raging controversy over the possibility of peas belonging in this category.  Perhaps if you plant peas now, you'll get a jump on the harvest and have fresh peas as early as March - depending on how cold the winter turns out to be. Last year? No fall planted peas in March.

For the most detailed planting chart you can imagine, including times to sow, transplant, harvest and freeze out temperatures for a wide variety of vegetables and leafy greens, print out Log House Plants "Fall and Winter Gardening Guide."

While you're on the Log House web page, be sure and sign up for their free electronic newsletter, which is almost as fun and enlightening as a conversation with Alice...

.All these vegetables are in nurseries now, produced by Log House Plants....and ready to go in the ground.

'Oliver' Brussel Sprouts to be transplanted into the garden now and harvested December through February.

A mix of cool-season lettuces, including 'Arctic King' and 'Winter Density'

'Blue Wind' Broccoli, plant by mid-September to be harvested through November

Beans on a Pole

I recently visited an astounding feat of a vegetable garden. This over-two-acre French potager is overflowing with flowers, vegetables and fruit, laid out in a complicated, historical elliptical design. More to come on this truly gorgeous and abundantly productive garden in Pacific Northwest magazine, but in the meantime, I'm comforted by how easy vegetable gardening can be every time I harvest beans in my garden.

I did plant several rows of bush beans, but over in a corner in a half-barrel planter, I wanted some height and had a few scarlet runner bean seeds left over. So I stuck a few in around the base of a tall pole, and have been harvesting beans for more than a month. So, while we might aspire to multi-acre French potagers, it's possible to grow enough vegetables for dinner on a much smaller scale...