What a bizarre winter- weather, marine tank, and orders for Spring.

Here it is January 1, 2012 and its 42 degrees out at noon.   We got a little snow for Christmas and snow showers all day, so it was pretty.  A few days later we got a lot of rain which washed the snow away.  Friday night into Saturday brought us some freezing rain and sleet making the roads a bit slippery.

One of my hubby's fraternity brothers was planning on coming over to pick up the salt water aquarium stuff i'm giving him.  After my heater malfunctioned last fall and i had to evacuate the tank i just haven't had the desire to rebuild.  So, i'm giving it all away. Tanks, stands, overflow box, return pump, refractometor, skimmers, metal halide light, about 50# of base rock....  Anyway, it will likely be next week before he can pick it up.  Maybe i'll get back into it some day,  but i sort of doubt it.   Though i loved having one, it takes a lot of time and commitment, and unless you are lucky enough to be given lots of good equipment, it can be a real money pit.
I just want to complete this chapter of my hobby life and move on.

Zoanthids, my favorite variety of coral

I don't remember if i recorded it yet,  but late summer i made an order with Raintree Nursery. My order consisted of :

Phoenix Tears Goji berry- 2
Male Seabucktthorn- 1
Female Titan Seabuckthorn- 1
Goldbeere Elderberry- 1
Caerulea Blue Elderberry- 1
Native Beach Plum- 4

My order is slated to be shipped the week of 4-29-2012

I have seeds for most of these plants, but the majority of them need to be stratified for as much as 6 months.  I have tried some of them without success and really kind of wasted those 6 months  of time.  Then it would be as long as 3 years before harvest begins.  Also, most of these seeds don't come with a cultivar name- likely are the wild sort with unpredictable production and quality.  So i decided to bite the bullet and order these named  plants from a seller with a decent reputation.
Not sure what i will do with my seeds... maybe trade them or just give them away.

 I'm building up quite an elderberry collection.  When my order arrives i will have 5 types. Elderberries can be used to make Elderberry Syrup, which is a well loved cold remedy known for a very long time in Europe.
I could also make jelly and wine if the harvests begin to get large.

Gojiberry (also called Wolfberry) As well as being darn tasty, this is another fruit with health benefits. It has quite a history in Chinese medicine.

Seabuckthorn has a long list of beneficial properties.  From immune system support, anti-inflammitory effects to anti cancer possibilities.  There are a lot of sites out there that will proclaim this superberry as a cure-all. Using multi colored 10 point font all caps and will charge you indecent sums for their product...  while not exactly a magic bullet, it does have valuable benefits.
They are said to be a bit of a challenge to harvest since they have large thorns.  Commercially, whole branches are removed to be stripped by machine.  According to what i have read, the berries will hold well on the plant so picking a modest amount at a time over days will be possible.  The berries can be frozen to hold until enough are gathered.  The juice is a vibrant orange and separates into three layers, cream, oil and juice.  The leaves also make a nice tea.  Apparently Junebugs like them so i'll have to be vigilant.

The native beach plums were purchased to replace the ones i got from Oikos.  Those plants did well in pots for almost 3 years, but got dried out late last summer and didn't make it through the winter.   As i am planning to plant these in the side of the front yard box, i need a fruiting plant that can handle road salt. Hopefully they will be a good size when they arrive and put on some good growth before next winter so they can withstand piled snow from the plow.  This winter would have been perfect because there is no snow and no snowbanks to worry about.  The price was decent so i bought 4 in case i have winter casualties due to snowbanks.  The  2 spares will be planted out back for safekeeping.  The native beach plum has no touted health benefits, but has a reputation for making a fine jelly and should be edible right off the tree.

If i have success with these plants, i plan to share cuttings with anyone who asks- as long as i have enough to work with.  Assuming anyone is interested, lol



So, basically i've been spending some time perusing my newly arrived seed catalogs.  I don't plan to do much experimenting this summer.  I'm sticking to the standard veggies.  Tomatoes, beans, squashes etc.  I did get some seeds from Sheryl at Providence Acres.  I bought:
Aunt Molly's Ground Cherries
San Marzano Paste Tomatoes  - i do already have seeds for some from Pinetree, but i thought i'd like to try and compare two varieties and, of course the photos of her tomatoes make them look absolutely delicious.
I also got a bonus packet of Morning Glory seeds,  thanks Cheryl!

I doubt i'll bother starting peppers from seed this year. I have yet to get a usable fruit.  They simply don't seem to have enough time to grow.  I think i will buy seedlings from Garden Spot this year.  If it does not work this year, i'll give up on it.  Peppers are not very cheap around here, so it is worth another shot.


Well, that's all for now.  My toddler is having a tantrum. :)


Happy New Year all!

Planning for next year already

I'm having some disappointments in the garden this year, so while they are fresh in my mind i'm making notes and planning for next year.  I'm already finalizing 2012 in my GrowVeg program.
What i'm changing the most is reducing the number of things i am growing. I'm going very spare (for me):

Winter squash, 2 types
Summer squash
Tomatoes, maybe 5 types
Early potatoes
Maincrop potatoes
Broccoli, 2 or 3 varieties
Kale, 3 types
assorted herbs
Job's Tears (gotta do something fun)
Bush beans
 Onions
and
Cucumbers

I'm jettisoning kohlrabi as i mentioned before (its like having broccoli that needs to be peeled- no fun) and i'm going to give up on cabbage.  I love cabbage, but its still cheap and mine just ends up buggy.  The snails and slugs always bore into them leaving slime and frass.  Then the earwigs come in behind them and throw a party.  I simply cannot bring myself to eat something that earwigs have been dining on and pooping in for 3 months. Disgusting little creatures.

I'm going all out with tomatoes,  giving them one entire row. Same with the bush beans. I'm liking the potatoes this year even though i don't eat them and i planted them late- they are getting a full row.  I forgot all about my kale this year (doh!) So they will get about half a row.  Cucumbers will round out the kale row.

Winter squash will likely be Early Butternut- my favorite type from the grocery.  I have been wanting to grow Delicata for a few years but never bought the seed for some reason.  I intend to try it out next year along with the butternut.

Broccoli will get the better part of a row to itself, the rest of that space will be the usual culinary herbs.

I'll try petunias with the potatoes, nasturtiums with the cukes, basil with the tomatoes and sage with the broccoli and kale... marigolds sprinkled throughout.


I'm hoping my berry plants from Raintree will come in soon,  the money is still in my account so i know they haven't shipped anything yet.  Their website does not seem to state when the fall shipments are begun,  i know it will likely be mid August at the soonest,  but being the impatient person i am.......

So that is the plan for 2012.

Raintree Plant Order

On Thursday of last week, i hinted to my hubby that another $100 in plants would pretty much complete my berry collection and finalize the yardscaping goal.  He said OK willingly and on payday he reminded me to go ahead.

So i submitted my order to Raintree on Friday.  They have unusual plants and a decent reputation.

SKU	Product	Item price	Quantity	Total
D743	Titan Seabuckthorn(fem)-Gal Pot)	$22.50	1	$22.50
C315	Prunus maritima 'Beach Plum' sdlg	$4.50	4	$18.00
H2024	Goji Berry Phoenix Tears-4 Inch Pot	$9.50	2	$19.00
E031	Goldbeere Elderberry-Gal Pot	$16.50	1	$16.50
E015	Caerulea Blue Elderberry	$14.50	1	$14.50
D746	Sea Buckthorn(male)	$19.95	1	$19.95

Subtotal:	$110.45
Shipping cost:	$26.95

Now i'm not sure if they are still shipping, Starks is not, but since i ordered Friday afternoon nobody will get my order until Monday and if there is a problem i will be contacted soon.
I did notice something about plant availability on their website but i didn't see a cutoff date- so i'm guessing that if i don't get some or all my plants this year i can get them next Spring. That will be fine by me as long as all of the varieties are available still.

I had planned to try growing Goji from seed,  but last year's attempt didn't pan out. The seeds sprouted readily enough, but growth was maddeningly slow.  I did find this article How to Grow Goji From Seed and i think the problem was the depth of the growing container- i guess Goji stop growing once their roots hit bottom. The bottom comes fast when the seedlings are growing in a styrofoam mushroom box that is only 3 inches deep.

I have seeds for Seabuckthorn--- but Seabuckthorns come in male and female. I'd have to grow twice as many seeds to be assured at least one male and then it would be 3 years before the plants could be sexed.  If i buy one male i could grow more seeds, knowing i have a fertilizing male already. Not wanting to wait too long, i got a female known for being particularly prolific as well.

My beach plums from Oikos died over winter. I think the buckets got too dry before freezes came. Raintree's beach plums are cheap enough to try out.  They are salt resistant and should do well next to the roadway where their salt resistance (winter road salt) will come in very handy.

I'm getting a good collection of Elderberries now that they are no longer restricted up here, Yay!  I'm hoping Currants will come off the list soon as well.  I have never eaten either...  
Anyway, two more types will give me a collection of 5,  three black, one golden and one powdery blue.

So i can't wait to learn if i can expect things this year or next.