Empty Space

There's the "right plant, right place" mantra of gardening. We've all been guilty of breaking this rule; getting carried away with the "gotta have it" specimen that has us drooling in the nursery. Before we know it, the back seat is packed with plants and we're headed home.

The pair of trees I had in my garden, Ginkgo biloba and Trachycarpus fortunei, were a part of my "nice plant, wrong place" syndrome. Both were planted a couple feet next to each other (not my doing!). The ginkgo was also too close to our fence. It would never have enough room to grow to its potential.

One of the great things about being a gardener, is you've got friends who garden and are on the look out for something cool and can always use another plant to add to their collection. I found a good home for the ginkgo--one of my coworkers snagged it. Since the tree was about 15' tall, in its new place there was instant landscape satisfaction.

The trachycarpus on the other hand was a little hard to find a home for at first. Then it dawned on me that my friend, Riz, would be the best person to take it. The size of the tree was a bit of an issue. It reached six feet to the crown and was another 5 feet of fronds. I invited Riz over to take a look and he was impressed. I felt like a match maker! After arranging the logistics, Riz successfully transplanted the palm to his nursery at Landwave Gardens in Shoreline. You can see the process here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=er_dSVVnkq4. I'm thrilled that this fine specimen found such a great home!

So now what to do with all that space? I found a 4-way combo Asian pear at City People's in Madison Valley in February. Eldon has been asking and asking and asking for an Asian pear tree ever since we planted the apples for espalier. He actually wants an orchard, but settled on one tree since our garden is small. The 4-way combo was a way to guarantee pollination since I'm not sure if any neighbors close enough have Asian pears.



I have lots of breathing room for this tree, but I also now have a huge blank slate. What to plant? This may be prime space for my 'Rouge d'Alger' cardoon. I'm tempted to plant artichokes, but rumor has it that I'd be lucky to get a single choke. At least with cardoon, you can eat the stems of the leaves and the flowers are pretty to look at.

I will keep you posted on what I decide to plant. I'm hoping for as many edibles as possible. And stay tuned for pictures!

Seeds are in!!!

I wasted no time this year ordering seed, and have received my long-awaited back orders. FINALLY!

Every year around this time, I am anxious to start sowing seeds, getting the garden prepped for spring. I've been super impatient this year with the warm winter we've been having--thank you, El Nino!.

So far I have sown two--only two!--of my crops this year: Cardoon Rouge d'Alger and dwarf orange Allegro poppies.

The Rouge d'Alger cardoon supposedly has red-tinged petioles. I check my starts every day to see if they're starting to show signs of blush. So far, right at the soil level, some plants have a little hint of red.

I'm a HUGE fan of dino kale, or lacinato kale. It has great texture and great flavor, and is takes on an interesting shape in the garden. I've also heard it described as palm tree kale since the plants look like little palms has you harvest the leaves from the bottom. Well, Fedco Seeds came out with a Rainbow Lacinato kale when they crossed dino kale with Redbor. I'm not sure if it will be as colorful as Bright Lights Swiss chard, but one can hope!

Two eggplant varieties I'm looking forward to are 'Galine' and 'Applegreen' both from Fedco as well. I was sold on 'Galine' since it was described as dependable and not fussy. It's also supposed to mature in about 70 days. The 'Applegreen' is supposed to produce tiny little green eggplants. Also supposed to mature in 70 days. I'm a little concerned that the seed packet tells me to wait until June to transplant. June just seems so far away!

I'm going to give it a shot with melons this year with Charetais and Sakata's Sweet. Our local radio gardening show says not to bother with melons as they take too long to ripen. I love a challenge. With a little help from indoor starts and some black ground cloth, I like to think have enough heat to have at least a couple fruits. I love Charetais--so crisp and sweet. One of our Columbia City Farmers' Market vendors has carried this gem. Hopefully, I won't have to buy any this year since I'll be enjoying the ones I produced in my garden.

Another crop I'm super excited about is the Beer Friend soybean from Fedco. I like this purely for the fact that edamame and beer go hand in hand. I've never grown soybeans before so it should be fun to see how this one does.

The weather is getting warmer, light drizzles of rain here and there, lots of blooms on the trees all around town. It's beginning to look a lot like spring around here!

Scarlet Runner Beans

My success in the garden this year amounts to watering while calming a fussy baby. I did manage to harvest a handful of tomatoes, and I am still enjoying handfuls of Bright Lights Swiss chard.

One crop I tried this year was Scarlet Runner beans. Once again, I was suckered in by the picture on the seed packet. Who ever creates the watercolor drawings for Renee's Seeds, their marketing is working on me! And yes, I'm one of those who buys wine solely on the pretty label!

The red-orange flowers featured on the seed packet would pop out against the purples and blues of the lavender and borage in my garden. I planted a few in my bright Mediterranean blue planter box as well, hoping the vines would cascade over the edge. Beyond admiring the flower color, I had no idea what to do with them.

Well, the vines didn't cascade over the boxes and didn't have much of a chance after 100+ degrees here at the end of July. But, I did plant a few next to my grape and they dutifully climbed the trellis and produced flowers and amazingly furry pods. Great! I have a crop, but now what? I'm sure these are not for eating straight from the vine; the hairs are quite coarse.


I didn't get around to investigating the beans inside the pods until today. The dried pods revealed black beans with bright pink specks. Unreal! The greener pods have reddish pink beans. So, which ones should I cook up? I went to Google for my answer.

This was the best thread I could find from the Edible Landscape Forum on Garden Web. It looks like I can eat these beans at any time in different ways. I'm glad I had a few pods dry to secure seed for next year. Some eat the entire thing raw when less than 5" long, others wait until they are 7-8" long and steam or stir fry the whole thing. The dried beans can also be cooked like butter beans, but one person says the grey color they turn into isn't appetizing.

Enjoy the photo of these beautiful beans! I'll let you know if I get the courage to eat them.

Espalier Update

I have only one previous post on the espaliered apples in my front yard. This is the third season and there are now two tiers along the fence.

It takes some work and patience, but it is rewarding to see that my vision will be realized. I remember the agony and apprehension I felt before I made those first cuts.
Now I get to agonize over the look of the branch structure and the fruit.

I should clarify that the 'Nittany' varieties have two tiers, but the 'Honeycrisp' has only one. The whip I received had unusual branching and needed a new leader. I took the old leader and tied it to the wire frame. The old leader will now be along the first tier. The branch from there will be the new leader.

I have also been removing water sprouts. These must be removed since they won't produce fruit and suck the energy away from the main branches. This is also a good task for me to do while I carry Oliver in the Moby.

Now for the fruit. I really wanted to leave the five apples we had on our southernmost 'Nittany.' But, it's best for future fruit set to glean a few during the third season. If you have fruit set before then, all of the fruit should be removed. It was hard to do, and even harder to break it to Eldon that his precious apples were sacrificed. I left two behind; one of which got knocked off by a squirrel. One still remains on the tree. I hope we are able to harvest it when the time is right.

Gardening with Baby

Although they add a nice touch to the dining table, I've managed to avoid the rose bug. I can't explain it; they just don't do it for me. Yet, I haven't removed them from my garden.

Since my son, Oliver, was born, I've been taking care of my roses more. By care, I mean deadheading. It's been challenging to find the time to crawl on the ground myself and weed around the veggies.

Oliver hates being inside the house, as do most Seattlites during the summer. And this summer has been especially nice! He is most happy in the Moby wrap which straps him to my chest leaving my hands free to clip and snip. Since I can't bend over or stoop while he's in the wrap (he could fall out!) I prune pretty much anything within arm's reach.

Oliver and I pruning Hot Cocoa.

I'll update this post in the future with a recipe for rose petal ice cream. Meanwhile, if Oliver starts fussing, you can find us in the garden sprucing up the roses.

Hello, Rhubarb!

Granted the rhubarb emerged last month, but life has been busy with the arrival of my new son, Oliver. I'm just now getting around to reporting the latest happenings in the garden.

February was deceivingly warm--the weather that makes us Seattlites think winter is over and it's time to plant our tomatoes. I took the opportunity instead to move the rhubarb to a more ideal spot: more sun and better access to the hose. It's also next to my red flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum 'King Edward' creating a nice compliment with it's intensely hot pink flowers to the rhubarb's red stems.

A part of me dreads moving dormant plants. If it was a bulb, it wouldn't matter. But trying to move something with no stems, nothing on top, with just a mess of roots still makes me doubt the plant's survival even after doing it so many times. I'm always relieved see sprouting--a sign of life.



I was glad to see the rhubarb survived, but it was also flowering. Now what? Do I let it flower, and if I do, will it die or taste bad? I consulted a friend who has had good success with rhubarb, and transplanted hers last year. I was curious if her plant did the same thing, but hers never flowered. A quick internet search lead me to the Rhubarb Compendium. Not to despair. All I needed to do was cut the flower stalk down to the ground. I had a feeling that was it.



I was hoping for a crop this year, but I'll wait for next year. It's still slow growing. The advice my friend gave me was that rhubarb needs a year to adjust after being transplanted. In the meantime, I'll take advantage of the huge stalks at the Columbia City Farmers' Market!

Kitazawa has arrived!

Whoa! That was quick. I placed my order on Saturday and I had seeds in my mailbox Monday evening. I'm going to start those Poha berries tomorrow.

Now, I have to wait for Baker Creek. I'll be patient.

I realized that after I ordered my seeds, I forgot to order sorrel. Seeds of Change unfortunately has this on back order. So does Baker Creek. Am I too late for this? Why the shortage?

Luckily, with the Internet, I can quickly search Territorial, Kitchen Garden Seeds, and Renee's Garden. I also looked up City People's number to check their availability and hopefully avoid shipping.

No luck with City People's, but I did ask about their Asian pear and persimmon varieties while I had them on the phone--multitasking! They are out of Asian pears at the moment, but they do have 'Nakita's Gift' persimmon. Check it out at The Nursery at TyTy. The fruits are huge!

Okay, so back to the seeds. Who will be the winner? Territorial has French sorrel which I didn't know even existed. It's supposed to be low in acid, but high in flavor. The for 1/4 gram of seed, it will be $2.05, but the shipping will cost $7.95!

Renee's Garden does not carry sorrel so my last hope was with Kitchen Garden Seeds. The seed costs $2.95 per packet and it's $4 for shipping. I couldn't bring myself to order the seed at a total of almost $7. I might as well try and find a start instead at my local nursery.

I decided to call City People's again and ask about starts. The gal I spoke to said they have a full flat of French sorrel in 4" pots at $2.99 each. Tah-dah! Even though I find it satisfying to start my veggies from seeds, for the price I was going to pay for one seed packet, I could by two plants. Since they can be relatively decent in size, I don't need a whole lot of them. And, it's saving me some work in the end.

Why the intense search for sorrel? The magazine, edibleSeattle (part of the Edible Communities), had a great sorrel pesto recipe in their first publication last spring. I discovered sorrel soon after at my local farmer's market in Columbia City. The bright, lemony flavor of this herb is just what us Seattlites need after a long winter. The pesto was great on just about everything: pasta, sandwiches, crackers, potatoes. And, it's a perennial so hopefully it will last through next winter. It's such an easy recipe, I would just substitute out the basil for sorrel in your favorite pesto and see how it comes out. Bon apetit!