Gardening: (2016– )

[KennethT]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

  

 

My search for rau răm has been a frustrating waste of time. I have ordered it now from three different suppliers advertising it on Taobao. One said it would take five weeks to arrive from a place I can get to in three hours), another said they were out of stock then deleted their listing and the third said they were ony testing to see if there is any demand and may, or may not, have it at some unknown point in the future!

So, I gave up and ordered a plant rather than just the leaves. It arrived today. Half dead and the surviving half dried out and yellowing. It was also seriously potbound. I have re-potted it and will see if it revives, but I'm not hopeful. I might just have to move to Vietnam.

 

 

Overhead shot.

 

 

I've found that rau ram is almost impossible to kill. And it ALWAYS gets rootbound given any kind of time - it grows roots from anywhere where there's humidity.  When my plant was first growing, it started growing roots from the stem that was 1-2 inches out of the "soil" - and not just a couple roots, a veritable root forest. It is more invasive than mint.

 

You could practically hard prune it down to the heavier stems and I think it would most probably still survive.

 

If you're nervous, take a couple of the better looking stems and cut them about 5 inches from the growing tip.  Remove all leaves except for maybe the tip leaves.  Put the stem standing up in a glass of water - water level up to about an inch below the growing tip.  It'll sprout new roots probably within a day.

[liuzhou]

11 hours ago, KennethT said:

I've found that rau ram is almost impossible to kill. And it ALWAYS gets rootbound given any kind of time - it grows roots from anywhere where there's humidity.

 

Yes. The only reason I didn't immediately bin it was that I remembered you saying before that your plant was indestructible.

 

 

[KennethT]

11 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Yes. The only reason I didn't immediately bin it was that I remembered you saying before that your plant was indestructible.

 

 

If the main stems are old and rather woody, it may have more trouble coming back.

 

In any case, I would pick maybe 5 of the best looking sprigs that have growing tips and cut them off and root them separately - just as insurance.  If the main plant fails, you can have a veritable rau ram farm from those 5 sprigs in a month or two.

[liuzhou]

On 10/16/2023 at 8:08 AM, liuzhou said:

I've found that rau ram is almost impossible to kill.

 

Well, I've managed. I didn't neglect it but it is now totally dead. 😧

 

Giving up.

Edited October 23, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Well, I've managed. I didn't neglect it but it is now totally dead. 😧

 

Giving up.

I see that you're giving up, but I'll ask a stupid question anyway - did you try to root a few of the good looking sprigs?

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, KennethT said:

I see that you're giving up, but I'll ask a stupid question anyway - did you try to root a few of the good looking sprigs?

 

Yes. Five of the less sad ones but I think it was too late.

[KennethT]

5 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Yes. Five of the less sad ones but I think it was too late.

I'm sorry to hear that.  I wish I could send some to you.  Hmm.... maybe I can?  Do you know if you can import plants from the USA or if I'd need any special documentation?

[liuzhou]

4 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Do you know if you can import plants from the USA or if I'd need any special documentation?

 

I've no idea, but can find out. Thanks.

 

It does seem crazy to import plants from the USA when I could wake up tomorrow and be in Vietnam for lunch!

[chromedome]

Getting our first properly cold night of the fall tonight, with temperatures dropping down below freezing and a bit of a wind chill as well.

 

There's still a lot going on in the garden, despite the lateness of the season. Today I harvested a couple more ripe bell peppers, lots of salad greens, a handful of tomatoes, my sole surviving pumpkin (Godiva, a cultivar that's grown for its less seeds), a goodly handful of broccolini, and yet more bush beans. I'm almost as shocked about the beans as I am the peppers and tomatoes. I've never had them run this late in the season before, but I'm still getting a few meals' worth (for just the two of us) every week. We'll typically eat portion while they're fresh-picked, and then blanch and freeze the rest.

 

The kale, chard and beet tops of course are still cruising along quite happily as the days grow shorter. I expect to pull the plug on my jalapenos and tomatoes soon (we'll see how they do under their covers tonight) and when I do I'll transfer those row covers to my beds of greens. I already have the baby kale and baby spinach under covers, because while they'll tolerate some cold they certainly don't thrive. I'm hoping, with those covers, to keep them going until the snow arrives in earnest (typically around year-end). We'll see, but I think it's a worthy ambition. In any case, with spring being so erratic and unproductive, I'm inclined to stretch autumn to the max just on principle.

Still going: Several herbs, curly and lacinato kale, chard, spinach, Early Wonder beets (for the tops, but I'll get the beetroots as a bonus), roma tomatoes, Black Krim tomatoes, cocktail tomatoes, Egyptian onions, carrots, bell peppers, jalapenos, and one more bed of potatoes that are finished for the year but still need to be harvested. If the tomatoes look like goners after tonight I'll harvest them tomorrow and do... something with them. Probably finish ripening the half-ripe ones, make a batch of fried green tomatoes (and coat and freeze several more for another day, hat-tip to whoever let us know that this actually works) and probably do a batch of green tomato salsa as well. I like green tomato chow, but we probably won't eat enough of it to justify making a batch.

[TicTac]

Another tip to help with rooting and avoid rotting, dip the cut tips in ground cinnamon, it will aid in numerous ways.

 

 

[Smithy]

On 10/23/2023 at 6:31 PM, chromedome said:

Egyptian onions

 

That's quite a garden to still be going! I'm pretty sure all the Duluth gardens are done for the season.

 

I know "Spanish onions" but "Egyptian onions" is a new designation to me. What are they? (Sorry if you explained this earlier.)

Edited October 25, 2023 by Smithy
Clarified "this" (log)

[gfweb]

First frost today

 

😞

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

That's quite a garden to still be going! I'm pretty sure all the Duluth gardens are done for the season.

 

I know "Spanish onions" but this is a new designation to me. What are they? (Sorry if you explained this earlier.)

You may also know them as "walking" onions. They're a bunching cultivar, but unlike most bunching onions (ie scallions) they have a strong onion flavor. They're called walking onions because they grow long green tops, which late in the season grow a thick crown of bulbils. The greens bend over, the bulbils put down roots in the soil over the winter, and then the next year you get a ring of new onions all bunched together. If you give them a nudge, so the tops all fall in one direction, they'll literally "walk" across your garden in the course of several growing seasons.

 

Alliums in general are considered a useful companion planting for keeping many insect pests at bay, and I use Egyptian onions for that purpose because they're self-replenishing and I never need to buy sets or collect seed. Also, of course, they're good in soups, salads etc.

 

Everything I'd covered seems to have survived last night's hard frost, pending a closer look this afternoon after things have warmed up. I'll probably call time on the beans this week anyway, just because I doubt there are many pollinators left and I've already got 50-odd pounds of them in the freezer. There are still enough immature beans on the plants to be worth waiting for one more "pick," though. I have a few days before the next risk-of-frost night to assess how everything else is looking.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

We haven't had a frost yet so still harvesting chard, mustard greens, bok choy, radishes, and various alliums (chives, garlic chives and red and white bunching onions) and herbs.

I've some sad looking zucchini plants left that are really only good for the blossoms and some late planted Scotia tomatoes that are in a race with the weather.

 

[chromedome]

So here's the day after the snow, in a few photos.

First, what my jalapeno bed looks like from the outside:

 

 

...and inside.

 

There are bell peppers still ripening under, of all things, an old shower curtain that we'd replaced with something prettier:

 

The broccoli and broccolini are still doing fine, though of course brassicas are pretty cold-tolerant:

 

...and the tomatoes are still hanging in there.

 

Today I took enough beans for a meal out of my beds, and that's the end of those for the year. I also picked some broccoli/broccolini, which will go with tonight's dinner (yet TBD).

 

Seed packets: $4.99/ea
Large roll of heavy 6ml "greenhouse quality" poly: $69.97

Picking tomatoes from my east-coast garden in November: Priceless!

(Yes, I'm deliberately waiting until tomorrow to pick any, specifically so I can make that boast. )

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

@chromedome

Constructing hoop frames for beds is one of my projects to get ready for next spring.

The indoor garden is doing well. Two serrano pepper plants (which have yet to produce any flowers), Thai and sweet basil,

cilantro, Italian parsley, transplanted spring onions from outside and some transplanted lettuces (again from outside) as I think yesterday was the last day for harvesting fresh lettuce.

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Senior Sea Kayaker (log)

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

I'm in the process of getting the last of the produce inside and processed. Mixed greens (chard, bok choy, mustard and radish) cleaned, blanched, shocked and ready for the freezer. A few more loads like this still outside. I'll be using these for soups and fillings.

I want to shut down for the season, and plant next season's garlic, over the weekend.

 

 

A lot of lettuces left after picking a large ziplock bag full.

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by Senior Sea Kayaker (log)

[chromedome]

After my previous post I toyed with the idea of letting things go just to see how long I could push the tomatoes, peppers, etc. Then I remembered the sage words of Han Solo:

 

He's pretty much a definitive subject-matter expert on the topic of cockiness, so after a look at the forecast - ulp! - I took his word for it and harvested what there was. The overnight low was around -12C with the wind chill (ie, the "feels like,' which translates to about 10F, and of course the wind is even harder on plants than on humans and animals).

 

Some I'll leave to ripen, others will probably get turned into salsa or something.

 

That's about 4.7 kg (roughly 10 lbs) of tomatoes, just under the 5kg limit of my kitchen scale. I've long since lost track of how many tomatoes I've harvested, but it was something in the range of 50-60 lbs. That won't sound like a whole lot to those of you in balmier climates but out here where it's often a struggle to get any ripe tomatoes before the season is over, that's grounds for jubilation. 

 

The covers from the tomatoes and peppers will get reallocated to my cold-tolerant greens, because while they'll survive in frosty weather they won't grow much either. Being covered seems to have made a big difference in those beds where they've already been deployed, so I'll hope to keep harvesting for another month or so. That's the theory, anyway. We'll see how it pans out in practice.

[billyhill]

Anyone have any experience with Portuguese sea kale (Tronchuda)?

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Contrary to plans I still have produce in the garden and plan on getting the last of it out soon. I did get the garlic planted (70).

I brought in a few lettuce and onion seedlings, potted them, and they took off. I also brought in a tomato plant to see if it thrives.

Windowsill pickings from yesterday for dinner today (cilantro, lettuce and chives).

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

The top planter has some lettuce seedings I took from outdoors around two weeks ago and have really taken off. The lower planter contains the last of the lettuce seedlings taken from outside yesterday and potted. Nice for harvesting enough for a sandwich or small salad every day or two.

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Senior Sea Kayaker (log)

[KennethT]

 

Yes!!!!!!!  One of my turmeric pieces has finally sprouted!!!

[KennethT]

And two of my kencur plants have started to flower! A good day....

 

[chromedome]

I called time on my broccoli and broccolini yesterday, after one more harvest (3 or 4 cups of tender young buds and florets). They've been holding up so far but not really growing much either, and with the overnight low forecast to hit -11C (-20 with the wind chill) it seemed like an appropriate moment. I've reallocated their covers to a couple of beds of hardy greens that were inadequately protected until now, and will hope to coax another few weeks (perhaps a month?) out of those. I also harvested the last of my "watermelon" radishes, which had been overlooked until now.

 

That leaves some carrots still in the ground, as well as a couple of beds of kale, chard and/or beets. The actual beetroot is one of the last things I harvest, once I've given up on getting any more greens.

 

Regrettably I didn't take any photos of the broccoli, though the one just a bit upthread gives you the idea. I will say it was unusually tasty after having a few touches of frost. Late-season cabbages and kale are well-known to be sweeter after some cold, so I guess it's not really surprising.

 

On the whole I haven't had a lot of opportunity over the years to experiment with cold frames or simple row covers, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how much of a difference they make. I haven't usually been able to stretch my growing season this late into the year, so definitely I'll try to do more of this in future.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

The first of many seed catalogues showed up in the mail last week so time to start planning.....

Most of the ones I get are on-line however paper ones are nice to doze off on the couch with.