Northwest Vegetable Gardening

[Eden]

Our garden is full of promise, but a long way from first culitavation still.

The pea vines are about 8 inches tall today and there are these little grass like sprouts where I think we planted the salsify, and there are a couple little fuzzy dots about 1/4" tall that should eventually be carrots. and of course there are buds ALL OVER the thornless blackberry bush (we need a better word, bush sounds so...small and contained for a plant that is trying to eat the side of my house )

Sadly the heirloom Italian beans we planted to not seem to be coming up, but I haven't given up hope entirely....

Thanks for the reminder re the Tilth sale, I forgot to write it on the calendar.

[Kouign Aman]

thornless blackberry bush (we need a better word, bush sounds so...small and contained for a plant that is trying to eat the side of my house  )

blackberry bramble work?

[Eden]

thornless blackberry bush (we need a better word, bush sounds so...small and contained for a plant that is trying to eat the side of my house  )

blackberry bramble work?

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I beleive that "bramble" includes the implication of thorns - I think I shall call it a "thornless blackberry jungle"

just went outside & the baby chard is now visibly chard-like albeit very tiny. I also see buds on the wild blueberry bush out front. This is going to be a lovely summer!

[beccaboo]

Sadly the heirloom Italian beans we planted to not seem to be coming up, but I haven't given up hope entirely....

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I think it's too early and cold to plant beans--I usually wait till the first of June, and then they all come up.

The squirrels ate my whole garden last year, some I'm not going to too much trouble this time. I got one winter squash (pink banana), one apricot, one quince, no plums, and very few tomatoes! They didn't seem to notice the cucumbers, though.

[Dave Weinstein]

We have a tiny yard, and so gave up on any hope of actually growing vegetables. We do have two everbearing strawberries in hanging pots that were great last year, and already have strawberries on them for this year, and a fair number of herbs.

The sage and thyme never went away, nor did the rosemary (although we still don't have enough of the latter for me to feel as free as I'd like in using it). The tarragon, oregano, and mint are back (the latter with the expected vengeance), and I just added a potted Bay Laurel. Once the weather gets a bit warmer, it will be time for the basil to go in for the year.

And sometime this week I need to put the lotus vines into the rock walls...

--Dave

Edited May 2, 2006 by Dave Weinstein (log)

[stevea]

I keep a garden journal about what I plant, where I plant it, and when I plant it. And, concerning green beans, I never seem to listen to myself. Every year I plant them around the first of May, and every year they don't come up. So about three weeks later I plant them all again and they do come up. Maybe this year I'll have a little patience.

I've got spinach that wintered over and started producing again. Of the new seeds, the arugula is up and we've had salad for two nights now. Other salad greens are up too, and we're eating radishes, although they seem to be small.

I planted some broccoli for the first time (supposedly a smaller or more compact variety) and there are a couple of leaves on each seedling. I've also got bok choi (or maybe it's joy choi) and chard barely peeking through. And the potatoes are for the most part up and leafing.

I can't wait to get tomatoes. And I'm eager to get basil, thyme, and parsley plants in too. Last year I got a holy basil plant, which was SUPER productive and great in thai dishes. However, it died off in the winter. This year I hope to have another and plant it in a pot and take it in in the fall. It's supposed to be a perennial, I think.

[Dave Weinstein]

ILast year I got a holy basil plant, which was SUPER productive and great in thai dishes.

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Where did you get the Holy Basil plant?

--Dave

[kiliki]

We have a tiny yard, and so gave up on any hope of actually growing vegetables.

As long as you get decent sun, don't let this stop you! For years I had good success with veggies in container gardens, and I've got a lot crammed into my two raised beds on our small city lot right now.

And, concerning green beans, I never seem to listen to myself. Every year I plant them around the first of May, and every year they don't come up.

I tried sprouting my bean seeds to give them a head start, but I must have done it wrong because I got 3 sprouted seeds and a whole bunch of rotten ones. I did plant the 3 good ones-and unsprouted bean seeds-on Sunday. After reading your post, I think I'll get another packet as backup.

Edited May 3, 2006 by kiliki (log)

[Dave Weinstein]

We have a tiny yard, and so gave up on any hope of actually growing vegetables.

As long as you get decent sun, don't let this stop you! For years I had good success with veggies in container gardens, and I've got a lot crammed into my two raised beds on our small city lot right now.

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We have limited areas with decent sun. Since we have ready access to farm fresh vegetables (in fact, the first market of the year is this afternoon), I'm less worried about fresh vegetables than I am about fresh herbs. Cooking with fresh herbs is too much of a joy to give up any of my limited space.

[lalala]

Remember the Master gardener sale is tomorrow and sunday at the Center for Urban Horticulture and has quite the tomato tent.

Ditto for the Tilth Edible Plant sale at the good sheperd center.

I know Langley Gardens, Growing Things, Billys and Rent's Due will have lots of stuff at the U District Market tomorrow.

We are going to put our tomatoes in the ground tomorrow (in wall of waters) and my guess is they'll do just fine.

As for beans, I would get them in the ground in the next week. I will plant some poles and some french filet beans, but I like pole beans because they produce all season, where bush beans are basically a short picking season.

Mmm. Beans.

Herbs? I may have some chive, thyme and oregano that I might be happy to divide.

lalala

[stevea]

ILast year I got a holy basil plant, which was SUPER productive and great in thai dishes.

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Where did you get the Holy Basil plant?

--Dave

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I got it at Portland Nursery. I haven't checked this year yet to see if they have more.

[Eden]

Remember the Master gardener sale is tomorrow and sunday at the Center for Urban Horticulture and has quite the tomato tent.

Ditto for the Tilth Edible Plant sale at the good sheperd center.

Just a heads up for anyone who may come across this thread in future years & want to go to the Seattle Tilth sale: Go saturday, preferably in the morning. the lines will be horrendous, but you will have the full array of plants. By sunday afternoon there's almost no variety left. You still have a super long line to wait in though...

[kiliki]

I was too daunted by the line to buy anything. I'd only planned to get a couple tomatoes this early, and I ended up getting them at the U District farmer's market instead.

[dandelion]

Although if you go late Sunday afternoon, you'll find that everything is 20% off! I scored 3 weird types of heirloom tomatoes and some purple basil, and I didn't have to wait in line at all.

[tighe]

Remember the Master gardener sale is tomorrow and sunday at the Center for Urban Horticulture and has quite the tomato tent.

Ditto for the Tilth Edible Plant sale at the good sheperd center.

Just a heads up for anyone who may come across this thread in future years & want to go to the Seattle Tilth sale: Go saturday, preferably in the morning. the lines will be horrendous, but you will have the full array of plants. By sunday afternoon there's almost no variety left. You still have a super long line to wait in though...

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I went Sat morning and the line was heinous, but to their credit, it moved pretty quickly. Given how long it was, I fully expected to wait an hour or more, but it was probably no more than 20 minutes. Bought a bunch of cool stuff.

Any expert opinions on whether or not its too early to put tomatoes in the ground?

[Eden]

Well my gardener already put one in for me, so it can't be TOO too early, but another greenthumb we were talking to says to wait at least another week.

[girl chow]

Any expert opinions on whether or not its too early to put tomatoes in the ground?

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I'm in Pierce County and have a raised bed (about 12 inches), so my experience might be different from yours, but my starts are thriving in my garden bed. I put my tomato starts (manitoba, black russian and yellow pear) in the ground over the weekend and they are already growing and looking pretty dang awesome. I also already planted basil, thyme and rosemary starts and they're looking quite perky.

You could always call the Master Gardener hotline in King County and get their expert opinion for your neighborhood in Burien They are the masters, after all.

[tighe]

You could always call the Master Gardener hotline in King County and get their expert opinion for your neighborhood in Burien They are the masters, after all.

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Burien, as if.... FYI, we are likely going to be incorporated by the great city of Seattle, so we can start being snotty about "southenders" too...

[lalala]

My tomatoes are on the porch until Saturday, then its in the ground surrounded of course, by wall-o-waters.

Basil gets covered by remay. I will direct seed in next weekend and cover with remay. I have pretty good luck.

lalala

[pupcart]

Tighe - If you can afford to do so, experiment. If you can't wait any longer, or you feel your plants might be getting rootbound, plant one or two warm weather garden plants (tomatoes, squash, beans, peppers. eggplant), but keep most of your tomatoes and other warm weather plants in pots indoors at night, and then put them outside in the sunshine during the day, and wait to plant them until after this weekend. Other than risking the plant getting so big it becomes rootbound in the pot, there is no pressing reason to plant early, the warm weather plants will "catch up" if you wait to plant them in a week or two. Don't wait to plant spinach, peas, onions, potatoes, beets, carrots or leeks - it is past time to plant them if you want an early harvest or succession plantings.

After a few years of being in your current home in Burien, you will learn what your neighborhood and personal garden conditions can tolerate. Whether or not it is warm enough to put your tomatoes out depends on how warm your particular neighborhood is (is it sea level, higher elevation, near a large body of water, etc), whether or not your garden beds are raised or in ground, whether or not your garden is protected from wind exposure, and how much sun exposure you routinely get to warm up the soil. The safest rule of thumb is to wait until after Mother's Day....but it is so dang warm in the city of Seattle that I think you are safe in the sunny southern climate of Beautiful Burien. For years I lived in Olympia, and this week the nights there are still hovering near 30 degrees. WAY too cold to plant summer stuff there!

We live in what could be considered the south end of Seward Park or, equally apt, the north edge of Rainier Beach, and it never ceases to amaze me how warm the soil is in our backyard all year around. We have several well composted, raised garden beds, and my first succession planting of sugar snap peas are almost 3 feet tall and already blossoming, the basil is thriving, the kale, spinach and lettuce from the winter garden are about over, the potatoes are happy, and the parsley is a shrub size. I planted the first succession of pole beans tonight after work. I planted the Sungold, Early Cascade, Sweet Million and Purple Cherokee tomatoes yesterday, but I will wait to plant the Green Zebra, Brandywine and Striped German until after Mama's Day. Every year I wager bets on which will be the first tomato plant to produce, but most years an early producer called Fourth of July wins - and I am not planting that tomato this year, so all bets are back on the table.

I am also waiting to plant summer squash and cukes until I find the trellising Italian pale green zuke I like the most....if anyone out there has seen starts of Tromboncino squash - let me know! I think I have a source..but...it would be good to know of a fallback.

In maniacal gardening I trust....

[lalala]

I am also waiting to plant summer squash and cukes until I find the trellising Italian pale green zuke I like the most....if anyone out there has seen starts of Tromboncino squash - let me know! I think I have a source..but...it would be good to know of a fallback. 

In maniacal gardening I trust....

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Have you tried Langley? Leda should be at the U District and West Seattle Markets.

lalala

[stevea]

Well, I couldn't wait any longer. I put in my tomatoes, basil and parsley today here in Portland. I have raised beds, and this is about the time I put them in every year.

Last year I went (almost) totally heirloom. But the one non-heirloom I planted (an early girl) was much more productive and in a not very scientific taste test scored in the top three by everybody who tasted. And I had one heirloom (a German Johnson) that grew huge but didn't produce a single fruit.

I don't have much room, but this year I want more production, so I planted:

1 Early Girl -I

1 Early Cascade -I

1 Celebrity -D

1 Pik Red -D

1 First Lady II -I

1 Burpee Big Boy -I

1 Sweet Million cherry tomato -D (I think)

I planted Genovese, Sweet, and Thai basil. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a holy basil plant yet. But I hope to try the Portland Farmer's Market Saturday.

BTW, the one heirloom I planted last year that was very productive and extremely tasty was a Purple Calabash. It's a very different looking fruit -- greenish red to purple on the inside -- and very pleated. But it's tasty, more acid than some, and it kept setting fruit up until the frost.

[pupcart]

ILast year I got a holy basil plant, which was SUPER productive and great in thai dishes.

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Where did you get the Holy Basil plant?

--Dave

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I got it at Portland Nursery. I haven't checked this year yet to see if they have more.

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If you run into difficulty finding a Holy Basil plant, I bought extra starts today, just contact me at eldinlet@yahoo.com. And a shout of thanks to lalalala for the squash tips!

[lalala]

Its going to warm all week. I would highly recommend starting some stuff from seed if you can and remember they need water. I should have freaking dahlias by memorial day!

I put two rouge vif d'etamps in the ground yesterday and some cukes. I am about to go and smoosh the sawflies off my gooseberries which are full of berries already.

Fool anyone?

lalala

[little ms foodie]

does anyone know where I can find a Kafir lime tree here in seattle? I'd love to have one on my sunny balcony for the summer.