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torquillSo it rained yesterday.
You have no idea how much of a relief that was to me. The people I spoke to immediately qualified it with "well, it was barely anything" and "it's not enough to make a difference"... I know that. What makes me breathe a little easier is that the thrice-bedamned high pressure system is breaking up. I had worried that it would persist into late March and we'd REALLY be screwed. Now we're probably still looking at a dry year, but we can handle that, at least in the north. It's the "no rain at all" "worst drought year since 1850" thing that had me worried.
Besides, I walked outside this morning into the smell of wet walnut leaves. Everything is all right now. :)
I have a few weeks now to finish making the raised beds; I have three mostly full already (they just need topping off as they settle) and I'm hoping to get a fourth done. Anything I build after that is surplus. I've been filling them with a mixture of partially composted horse bedding (the good stuff from near the bottom of the eight-foot pile), a little additional horse manure, alfalfa pellets, and spent brewer's yeast. The yeast is fun to work with: pour off the liquid at the top and you're left with something like cornstarch slime. I break it into chunks and scatter it around the bed, where it then melts, and water it in. It's lending enough available nitrogen to kickstart the bedding, and the whole mess has been cooking along nicely for over a week. I fluff it and water it thoroughly every few days, and I'm hoping it'll be done by March. Of course, it has a smell only a gardener could love -- skunked beer and horse manure -- but mercifully, it only smells when disturbed.
I sowed my first set of seeds today: the tomatoes, a few flowers, and a perennial pepper. I've already potted up the sweet potatoes to make slips. Given the state of the planting beds, I've forgone the heating-mat stage and just nestled them down in the compost. (Hopefully the sweet potatoes haven't cooked; they got a bit hot for a day or so.) If that keeps them warm enough at night, with the addition of a little frost cloth, I may also forgo the whole grow-light seedling setup as well, and raise them outdoors. No hardening off, woo!
My tomato seed collection requires periodic grow-outs to keep the seed fresh, and I'm at the point where I need to recruit official help. I'm going to open it to the Master Gardener membership, if the head of the organization agrees, and enlist other MGs to help with growouts. As it is, I have 24 varieties passing (or past) the 10-year mark this year, and I'm only able to do seven here this year.
So the varieties I pulled out, for growouts and my own purposes, are:
Baylor Paste - a dense, trouble-free plum tomato with large yields. This is my first time with it.
Black Krim - my black this year (sorry, Vorlon). It's one of my usuals, and an excellent beefsteak.
Dr. Carolyn Pink - the "pink" (it's effectively red) version of one of the best cherries I've grown. And I'm not just saying that because I know Dr. Carolyn personally.
Dr. Lyle - one of the large pink beefsteaks, reputedly tasty and high-yielding. A first timer.
Dr. Wyche - we got a variegation mutation of this large orange beefsteak last year, and while I'm pretty sure it won't persist, I'd like to see. Besides, it's a good variety.
Livingston's Dwarf Stone - my dwarf this year, a first timer. Livingston was a pioneer in American tomatoes, and Dwarf Stone is well-regarded. It's a small red slicer.
Polish - an institution. There are three "Polish" varieties: this one, Ellis strain, and Polish C. All of them are vigorous, prolific, and tasty pink beefsteaks. A first timer.
Large Yellow - I have no idea what it actually is, only what Bob Raabe called it. He had lost the name years ago, but kept growing it because it's good. I want to see whether it matches any of the yellow beefsteaks I know.
Marglobe - an early small round red determinate. Taste is everything with these guys; we'll see how it measures up to Woman's Name Starting With A, my usual ESRRD.
One Ball - I bought this from SSE because of the name, then haven't had the chance to grow it. Yellow and round, go figure.
Yellow Oxheart - I have trouble with heart varieties here, but I'll try anyway. A first timer; it sounds big and meaty.
Plus some Bush Italian Roma forhopeforyou, who needs a compact paste type.
I have orange and heliotrope cosmos, some red-and-yellow milkweed, and a Manzanillo pepper to round out the first sowing. I can't get any info on the pepper, but I was told it was perennial, likes part shade, and is moderately hot. We'll see what I get.
Currently, the Black-Seeded Simpson is trying to take over the lettuce bed... we need to eat more salad. And collards, to keep them in their place. I expect broccoli any time now.
You have no idea how much of a relief that was to me. The people I spoke to immediately qualified it with "well, it was barely anything" and "it's not enough to make a difference"... I know that. What makes me breathe a little easier is that the thrice-bedamned high pressure system is breaking up. I had worried that it would persist into late March and we'd REALLY be screwed. Now we're probably still looking at a dry year, but we can handle that, at least in the north. It's the "no rain at all" "worst drought year since 1850" thing that had me worried.
Besides, I walked outside this morning into the smell of wet walnut leaves. Everything is all right now. :)
I have a few weeks now to finish making the raised beds; I have three mostly full already (they just need topping off as they settle) and I'm hoping to get a fourth done. Anything I build after that is surplus. I've been filling them with a mixture of partially composted horse bedding (the good stuff from near the bottom of the eight-foot pile), a little additional horse manure, alfalfa pellets, and spent brewer's yeast. The yeast is fun to work with: pour off the liquid at the top and you're left with something like cornstarch slime. I break it into chunks and scatter it around the bed, where it then melts, and water it in. It's lending enough available nitrogen to kickstart the bedding, and the whole mess has been cooking along nicely for over a week. I fluff it and water it thoroughly every few days, and I'm hoping it'll be done by March. Of course, it has a smell only a gardener could love -- skunked beer and horse manure -- but mercifully, it only smells when disturbed.
I sowed my first set of seeds today: the tomatoes, a few flowers, and a perennial pepper. I've already potted up the sweet potatoes to make slips. Given the state of the planting beds, I've forgone the heating-mat stage and just nestled them down in the compost. (Hopefully the sweet potatoes haven't cooked; they got a bit hot for a day or so.) If that keeps them warm enough at night, with the addition of a little frost cloth, I may also forgo the whole grow-light seedling setup as well, and raise them outdoors. No hardening off, woo!
My tomato seed collection requires periodic grow-outs to keep the seed fresh, and I'm at the point where I need to recruit official help. I'm going to open it to the Master Gardener membership, if the head of the organization agrees, and enlist other MGs to help with growouts. As it is, I have 24 varieties passing (or past) the 10-year mark this year, and I'm only able to do seven here this year.
So the varieties I pulled out, for growouts and my own purposes, are:
Baylor Paste - a dense, trouble-free plum tomato with large yields. This is my first time with it.
Black Krim - my black this year (sorry, Vorlon). It's one of my usuals, and an excellent beefsteak.
Dr. Carolyn Pink - the "pink" (it's effectively red) version of one of the best cherries I've grown. And I'm not just saying that because I know Dr. Carolyn personally.
Dr. Lyle - one of the large pink beefsteaks, reputedly tasty and high-yielding. A first timer.
Dr. Wyche - we got a variegation mutation of this large orange beefsteak last year, and while I'm pretty sure it won't persist, I'd like to see. Besides, it's a good variety.
Livingston's Dwarf Stone - my dwarf this year, a first timer. Livingston was a pioneer in American tomatoes, and Dwarf Stone is well-regarded. It's a small red slicer.
Polish - an institution. There are three "Polish" varieties: this one, Ellis strain, and Polish C. All of them are vigorous, prolific, and tasty pink beefsteaks. A first timer.
Large Yellow - I have no idea what it actually is, only what Bob Raabe called it. He had lost the name years ago, but kept growing it because it's good. I want to see whether it matches any of the yellow beefsteaks I know.
Marglobe - an early small round red determinate. Taste is everything with these guys; we'll see how it measures up to Woman's Name Starting With A, my usual ESRRD.
One Ball - I bought this from SSE because of the name, then haven't had the chance to grow it. Yellow and round, go figure.
Yellow Oxheart - I have trouble with heart varieties here, but I'll try anyway. A first timer; it sounds big and meaty.
Plus some Bush Italian Roma for
hopeforyou, who needs a compact paste type.I have orange and heliotrope cosmos, some red-and-yellow milkweed, and a Manzanillo pepper to round out the first sowing. I can't get any info on the pepper, but I was told it was perennial, likes part shade, and is moderately hot. We'll see what I get.
Currently, the Black-Seeded Simpson is trying to take over the lettuce bed... we need to eat more salad. And collards, to keep them in their place. I expect broccoli any time now.
