Omorka's Lair

Achievement unlocked: Muscadine grapevines planted in their very own large pots in the backyard. If they survive but do not thrive, I will look into putting something closer to a planter back there. The wild mustang grapes are eagerly climbing over the back fence again already, so I have pretty good evidence the back yard is grape-growing territory.

Also put a pair of tomato plants in the patio planter, next to the volunteer; purchased new basil, replacement thyme, and a sage plant and potted them on the porch; dome some minor soil remediation on the potted kumquat tree.

Still need to do: bribe someone else to dig two 3' holes for me and plant the grapefruit and blood orange trees in the front yard, mulch all the fruit trees.

My reward for getting the muscadines done is banana pudding. Of course, I had to make the banana pudding, but as desserts go that's an easy one.

Two largely unrelated things that both involve food plants:

First - I bought a spearmint plant for the porch on a whim, seeing as I like a single spearmint leaf in my iced tea when I can get it. (I realize that at the point where one has put sugar, lemon, and a mint leaf in one's iced tea, it's no longer "tea" in any sense that a proper tea snob is bound to respect. I don't care all that much, though - Southerners are weird that way, and in at least this respect I take after my father's mother's family and their habits. I'm drinking an iced jasmine green with blackberry leaf and blackberry flavoring at the moment, with sugar and lemon, and it's awesome. Shut up.) Then I realized that I still have a lot of seeds from the last time I tried to do herbs from seed, and a lot of empty pots from when the crazy winter killed off all my plants (not that they'd have survived the following drought anyway, but I didn't replace any of them last spring). It's a little late for seeding in Houston, but eh, I figured I'd see if any of them were still any good. I planted a couple of different types of basil, two different types of tomato (I had a third, but it's not a container type), one pepper, one cucumber, parsley, mugwort, and bergamot mint. I also cleared a lot of the junk off of the porch so they'd get more light, and tossed a few cosmos seeds I'd gotten as a bonus into the hedge bed.

Today I dumped the two remaining partial bags of potting soil into the existing hedge bed, where there are a dead shrub and another one that's mostly dead - sending up a couple of shoots from the main trunk, but the branches are dry and leafless. I planted the makeshift raised bed with morning glories and moonflowers, figuring they'd use the dead hedge as a trellis and look better than the dead bush. I then had some morning glory seeds left over, so I found a couple of places along the back fence (which was partially knocked over in Ike and never really fixed, so it has gaps in it now) where there were remnants of potting soil from some of my previous experiments and planted them back there.

I don't normally do flowers. We'll see if these are at all successful.

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Second - I bought a pair of round yellow fruit labeled "Meyer lemons" about a month ago. They were mislabeled, I think - they were clearly a cross between a Meyer lemon and something else, probably a blood orange from the internal color. When I tried the first one, it was sweet. It had some lemon flavor, but mostly it was just a generic tart citrus fruit.

I found the other one tonight and decided to use it before it went bad, so I squeezed it and drank the juice. It was fabulous! "Fresh squeezed lemonade" is a fairly good description. If they ever market this stuff, I might actually buy it.

Apparently American Wild Plums do not grow in Texas.

:-(

Carolina Sweetshrub, on the other hand, isn't native to here but will grow if transplanted.

Man, I need a yard. No, I need a real garden. I need a fig tree and a blueberry bush and blackberry brambles growing along the back fence. I need tomato vines overthrowing their cages and basil and garlic curling between them. I need collards in rows, and crookneck squash and pumpkins in sprawling mounds.

And I need a Sweetshrub to make potpourri with.

It occured to me today that my back garden (as opposed to the herbs) is almost all New World plants. I have green beans and wax beans - both Central/North American; squash, pumpkins and zucchini, ditto; and tomatoes - Central American. In the front, I have another tomato plant, a potato (South American), and the herbs, which are mostly European (basil, rosemary, lemon balm, two sages) and Middle Eastern (two types of mint, parsley). Only the Mexican Mint Marigold is New World. The sunflowers, if they'd escaped the birds, would have been New World, too; same for the peppers and tomatillos that didn't make it. (Hmm. I have two extra pots from when I thought I was going to have an overplus of basil. Maybe I should try again with the peppers outdoors?)

All of this is just a wee bit odd, because I think of myself as an Old World vegetable partisan. I'm a big fan, in particular, of the cruciferous vegetables, the various members of the Brassica family. The simple mustard has given us so very much. There are leaf crops - cabbages, including red and green, heading, savoy, and napa varieties; collards; kales; bok choy and pak choy; its odd budding variety, Brussels sprouts; and numerous leafing mustards. There are the flowering crops, broccoli and cabbage. There are stem and root crops - kohlrabi, turnips, and rutabaga. And there are seed crops - seed mustard and rapeseed (now more euphemistically known as canola). But, alas, most of them want a cooler climate and a sandier soil than we have here; collards will grow as a winter crop, but most varieties of the brassicas aren't meant for Zone 9.

Thinking about it, though - the brassicas had to be that diverse, didn't they? I mean, we have them, the various Allium crops - onions, garlic, leeks, and shallots - and a few peas and beans - favas, the various sweet peas, cowpeas, chickpeas, and lentils - some root crops like the carrot and parsnip, and all the lettuces. What else did the European chef have at hand before the Great Columbian Exchange? Asparagus; it's related to the leeks. Celery, probably - the name's from Latin, I think. Cucumbers are Old World - they're really melons - but I don't think they were grown in most of Europe until the invention of the greenhouse (thus "cucumber frames"). Eggplants are from Asia. Okra is African. Ah, spinach! That's from the Middle East, right? And sorrel, which has fallen sadly out of favor. Beets, too, and chard. So there were lots of leafy greens - salads were easy enough - but a great deal of our "ingredient" vegetables were missing.

While there are great embarrassments in our colonial past, I do tend to think that the culinary gains made on both sides of the Atlantic in the Columbian Exchange were not one of them. It's a bit of a shame that we haven't adopted more of the tropical crops, but we're far the richer for the vegetables we do have.

The green beans are bearing! Actually, some of the pods are big enough that I actually should have picked them on Thursday. The hatful (I should get a harvesting basket) is about enough for the Spouse and myself, so I probably planted the right amount.

The Patio tomato is starting to bear - it has about five little hard green tomatoes on it. Neither the Early Girl nor the cherry tomato has any sign of blossoms, much less fruit. I am debating whether I need to get fertilizer stakes for them or not.

Of the three zucchini seeds that I planted next to the fig tree in the back, just straight in the ground instead of in a container, one has come up and is putting out leaves. The squash have come up in their container, but don't seem to be spreading out much yet (one has put out a single blossom, way too early!). Of all the sunflowers, only one seems to have survived the onslaught of birds and other critters, and it's still a long way from blooming.

The mysterious mold got everything that I tried to plant inside - I think they weren't getting enough light, and got too lanky and susceptible. I planted some of the basils outside, along the edges of the pots with the two tomatoes that aren't bearing already - we'll see if companion planting does either of them any good. I also went ahead and planted a few pumpkin seeds in the same planters as the beans; they take long enough to germinate and spread that they ought to be ready to start vining out about the time the beans peter out.

All the pot herbs are doing okay. The Mexican tarragon is annoyed because it's getting too much water, although the rosemary doesn't seem to mind. The mints are both going stark crazy, putting out runners all over the place - the spearmint, into its own container; the peppermint, everywhere else. I might try to take cuttings off the peppermint, if anyone wants any. The last bout of rain took out the tomatillos, unfortunately - I put them outside too early, I suspect, but I didn't want them to fall prey to the mold indoors! No-win situation there, I think. :-(

I need to pick up (a) a mosquito ring to drop in the abandoned trash can in the back, and (b) some cheap beer and an aluminum pie pan for the slugs. The mosquitos back there mob me every time I check the beans, and the slugs are eating the lower leaves on the beans and squash - so far they don't seem to have made it into the tomato plants yet, thank goodness.

I finally managed to get out and trellis the beans today, which was a bit tricky now that they'd already started climbing on each other. Next year I need to make sure I have my twine before planting. But no harm done, and now they have something to climb up correctly. The squash are coming up okay. The tomatoes all look fine, although they're not leafing out as much as I'd like except for the Patio tomato, which is reaching for the sky from the zenith to the horizon (I'm now thinking I should have gotten two of them). I probably ought to fertilize them soon. I'm not seeing any sign of the sunflowers or the zucchini yet; I think one of the zukes might have been accidentally clipped by the yard guys.

Indoors, the pumpkins have come up - five of them, anyway. The sixth is either slow or a dud. The peppers are doing fine, but the basil all seem to have fallen prey to some sort of fungus. I think I'm going to fall back to plan B and plant a few basil seeds around the edges of the tomato containers directly outside. They're good companion plants, and the containers are big enough they shouldn't compete too much for nutrients.

The Mexican Mint marigold is getting more water than it's entirely happy with. The actual mints, on the other hand, are absolutely going to town. The two sages seem to be happy enough, the rosemary is growing slowly but it's growing, and the lemon balm is doing okay considering that something is chewing on its lower leaves (I suspect slugs). The parsleys are still settling in; the flatleaf is doing better than the curly. The experiment with the chives is not going so well, but some of them are growing.

Other than the basils, I think I'm largely out of the planting phase of this experiment with a container garden. I might need to get two more square planters for the pumpkins when I transplant them, but that'll be it. Now it's just a matter of keeping everything alive and seeing if any of it bears fruit. From planting-time to blossom-time; from Ostara to Beltane, the Wheel turns.

Okay, I think I have everything either in the ground or in indoor or outdoor planters now.

Some of the basil have succumbed to wilt - I can't tell if it's mold, or if those were just weak plants. None of them have put out their first pair of real leaves yet, and I'm not sure whether they need more water or less. (It's actually probably more that they need more sunlight than they're getting. I might try moving the tray outdoors during the day.)

The pumpkins have been planted in my last six peat pots. I'm going to transplant two of those, but the other four - once they've come up - will be giftable or barterable. I'll keep everyone updated on their progress, of course.

This afternoon, I went around and planted the sunflower seeds directly in the ground around the fenceline. We'll have to see how many of those survive the birds and squirrels; hopefully a few of them will come up. I also planted two of the zukes, one on the other side of the fig tree from the summer squash and one near the recycling bins; we'll see how those do (the one near the fig tree should be okay if the slugs don't eat it first).

Speaking of slugs, I need to get some diatomaceous earth to protect the tomatoes and the beans with. One of the neighbors left a half-eaten peach on the lawn, and it was crawling with slugs when I found it. I left it in their trash can; if we're lucky, they won't manage to find their way out - there should be plenty in there for them to eat until Tuesday, and then if they get dumped they're not my problem anymore.

The sprouted potato I planted has sent up a few spindly shoots. I don't know whether to expect it to survive or not; I put it in the ground more or less as a lark. I guess I'll discover in the fall whether it actually has a chance of setting tubers; I suspect it won't, that the ground here is too clay-rich and too warm. But I didn't expect it to survive this long anyway.

Now, all I really have to do is trellis the beans with the twine (the Spouse found some in the automotive department at Bullseye, of all places) and thin the squash when they come up. And then wait and see if I get any sort of a harvest at all. It might yet be the case that I don't - no guarantees in this business. And even if I do, it might just be herbs. But I'm hoping for beans, squash, and tomatoes at the least. Peppers, zucchini, potatoes, and/or sunflower seeds would be welcome extras.

The Spouse is on the phone negotiating dinner plans with the gang at the moment (just after 6:30 pm), so rather than starting the next GURPS Jorune post, which is what this was originally going to be, I'm going to talk about the gardening instead.

Finally got the beans in today. I'd saved some eggshells from the recent baking so I could cover the holes at the bottom with a few big pieces - keeps the dirt from leaking out, since those don't have drainage trays. Somehow, I managed to cut myself while breaking one of them up. I hadn't thought they were strong enough to cut skin (or maybe I'm just unusually tender?) Now I need to get some twine to trellis the beans up to the fence, and clip the various dead vines that are hanging on there already. If I'd been thinking, I'd've ordered morning glories and moonflowers for the rest of the fence.

Or maybe not. My squash seeds have still not shown up. :-( SoC says they've shipped, but they were backordered originally - maybe there was some other delay? As soon as they do arrive, I'm going to need one more rectangular planter and another bag of potting soil, which I guess I should pick up when I get the twine. And I'll probably need one more bag of potting soil for the two strawberry pots - the peat pods with the chives will be ready to transplant to those in a week, maybe less. (And the parsleys are raring to go, too.) Then, once the chives are planted, I can start the peat pods for the pumpkins.

I need to figure out where I'm going to plant the sunflowers, other than along the back fence where the beans and squash aren't going to go. I think a few of them in the front would not be amiss, but between the dog upstairs and the elephant ears, I don't know if anything else will grow there. I suppose it won't hurt to try. Maybe I should start them off in peat pods, too, and transplant them.

Meanwhile, the basils are coming up in the transplanter-thingy already. :-) I was a little worried that there wouldn't be enough room, but they're popping right up. The peppers haven't yet, but eh, I'm not nearly as concerned about them. I am realizing, though, that even if I transplant a few basil plants to each of the tomato pots and have two of each type in pots on their own, I'm going to have extras. *sigh* Overenthusiasm on my part, I suppose.

The tomato that's intended for containers and is *not* the cherry tomato is trying to bloom already. I'm debating whether I should pinch those off or not - it's not like it's going to manage to set fruit this early. I doubt there are any pollinators around for them. And I'd like to encourage it to keep getting taller. (Both of the other two have gotten significantly taller since transplanting them.) But I don't want to discourage it from blooming at all. Ah, well. At least it's enthusiastic, too.

Potted:

7 herbs -

Lemon Balm

Mexican Mint Marigold

Peppermint

Pineapple Sage

Rosemary

Sage

Spearmint (a new short-leaved variety; I actually would have preferred the long-leaved)

2 tomato plants -

Cherry Red, a cherry tomato meant for container growing

Early Girl, not a container variety but one I have fond memories of

I still have a third tomato plant, another container type but one that produces salad-sized tomatoes, that I need to get a bigger pot for, and a flat-leaved parsley, which is going to go in one of the strawberry pots with the garlic chives as soon as those come up. I still need to get a curly-leaved parsley for the other strawberry pot. The basils (one green and one purple) are on their way; SoC says the order's shipped, so now it's just a matter of waiting for it to arrive.

Now, I have to drill the appropriate holes in the bean pots and get some twine for the beans to climb until they get to the fence. I'm thinking of getting a third pot of that type to start the squash in, so I don't have to wait for the beans to reach maturity before I plant them. (The pumpkins will get an indoor start and then be transplanted into the bean pots when they're giving out.)

There is a space next to the fig tree in the back that I think I could fit one berry bush into. One berry bush isn't going to do much good, though; they need two plants to pollinate. I return once again to the idea of guerilla gardening in the empty lot beyond the fence behind the duplex - planting one blueberry bush there and another next to the fig tree, for example. Or blackberry, although I think we've passed their flowering date by now.