Ludi's Projects 2019

I'm thrilled with how well the corn is doing in the Low Water Garden!  Joseph Lofthouse's Harmony Grain Maize seems especially productive.  I picked three ears this evening; my husband and I will eat one with dinner and I will take the other two to share with my dad in town this weekend.

* edited to add, the corn was very tasty as simple boiled corn-on-the-cob.  Good old-fashioned corn flavor as we remembered from the past.

Here's a West Indian Gherkin, which I need to figure out how to prepare for eating.  Anyone have any suggestions?

I decided instead of putting individual brush donuts around each Bur Oak, I'm making a fluffy brush fence around the entire oak area.  This will make the oaks easier to maintain and easier to plant support plants between them.

Sunflowers and Indian Blanket in the Cemetery:

A young Giant Lichen Orb Weaver Spider snacking on a Katydid:

Duck Potatoes are going mad around the Frog Pond!

It all looks fantastic!  I'm jealous.

Thank you!

The Notre Dame Oaks are coming up!

Tyler Ludens wrote:Wildflowers in the double fence perimeter.

What Texan doesn't love bluebonnet?  Beautiful!

Tyler Ludens wrote:Very productive week so far.  I planted a Persian Mulberry (purchased), two Figs (grown from cuttings), three Moringa (grown from seed)

What's your secret for starting Moringa seeds?  I have some seeds, but so far haven't had any success in sprouting them.

I poured boiling water over them and soaked them overnight.  But I would say I only have minimum success with germination.  I planted a lot (at least a dozen, maybe 2 dozen) of Moringa seeds, but only got 5 survivors, which are doing very well after a slow start.  They don't like it until it gets nice and hot.  Planting early was a failure.  Even if they came up, they weakened and died in the cool Spring.

Tyler Ludens wrote:I poured boiling water over them and soaked them overnight.  But I would say I only have minimum success with germination.  I planted a lot (at least a dozen, maybe 2 dozen) of Moringa seeds, but only got 5 survivors, which are doing very well after a slow start.  They don't like it until it gets nice and hot.  Planting early was a failure.  Even if they came up, they weakened and died in the cool Spring.

Good to know, thanks!  It's already hot here, so maybe I'll have success this time.

Smart move on the brush fence. When i was wrapping trees with remesh, then looked back at all the rings i made, a big fence would have used less materials.

Probably this Fall we'll put a wire fence around the space.  Since this is a major planting project, it will make sense to give it permanent protection.

When's dinner?

Fabulous work and awesome thread. Inspirational!

Thanks!

Harvested the corn.  Some was sprouting in the ear.  The Lofthouse Harmony Grain Maize was the most productive and successful.  The Mountain Pima Cristalina suffered badly from serious gross fungus infestation.

The beautiful stained-glass looking ears are from the Lofthouse seed.

The Dwarf Cavendish Banana is doing the best, with Raja Puri coming in second.

Grande Nain and Brazilian are looking fairly pathetic.  I guess they don't like it here.

Direct-seeded Landrace Tomatoes from Gilbert Fritz are being quite productive but most fruit has been destroyed by sucking insects.  I've started spraying with soapy water, which seems to be helping.

Lots of Tatume squash maturing.

Various Sweet Potatoes are making nice patches.

Tyler Ludens wrote:Direct-seeded Landrace Tomatoes from Gilbert Fritz are being quite productive but most fruit has been destroyed by sucking insects.  I've started spraying with soapy water, which seems to be helping.

You need two ducks! :)

I like to believe ducks are in my future!

Corn and tomatoes do well where I am. We're not near the Salish Sea or the Olympics, so we have warmer and sunnier days than Seattle in the summer, but a two to five degree difference may be negligible.

All I know is that I would KILL to be able to grow some oranges. Oh, Oranges. How I miss you, Oranges and your fragrant blooms.

Bananas? I wish.

I might plant some clumping bamboo as a windbreak and for privacy. I live in a small city of about 16,000 people. I have a decent sized lot for being within city limits, but I hate people being able to see (read: stare) in my back yard. We get windstorms, and a mature apple tree was blown down last winter (it also had shot hole borers so there's that).

I'll probably plant a pear tree eventually. Right now I'm trying to recover financially from all sorts of expensive and weird things that happened in the past 12 months.

This my lot. I'll upload a topo map if anyone wants to do the hard work for me ;) Also missing are the bazillion trees (mostly big leaf maple, doug fir, a not CA redwood, some cedars/not cedars on the riverfront and the northeast side of the lot. Four ginormous horse chestnut trees keep the house cool. The bottom and back part of the lot are bare of trees. I'm letting the dandelions aerate the compacted soil, much to the chagrin of my neighbors. I chop and drop and hope the taproots help. The previous owner had a kickass garden, but the patch was a good six inches lower than the surrounding ground from super tilling. Only FSM knows how much fertilizer, etc. ran off into the river or seeped into the water table.

Sorry for the thread jack, but maybe not so sorry at all... ;)

Tyler Ludens wrote:I like to believe ducks are in my future!

Ducks are the future. Yes, yes they are.

Tyler Ludens wrote:The Lofthouse Harmony Grain Maize was the most productive and successful.  

Harmony is my most genetically diverse variety of corn. It's ancestors come all over North and South America. I'm glad there were some genetics in it that survived your area!

Harvested most of the mature Tatume Squash.  We ate loads of immature ones as summer squash and gave many away as well.  This was one of the most productive squash years.  I'm extremely happy with this variety and probably won't bother with any other kind of summer squash.  

Yay! I love this thread. :D

Harvested the squash from the Low Water Garden and got interesting results.  The Lofthouse Smallest Fruited Moschata Squash were the most productive, but none of the fruit matured; they are all small and wizened.  The Mayo Kama, on the other hand, only produced two fruits but they both appear to be fully mature and of a decent size.

Somebody ate all the Bur Oak seedlings in spite of the brush fence, so I will put up a real fence and replant next year.  Germinating the acorns in damp sand in the fridge worked great.  Next time I will plant twice as many.

Shelled all my corn.  Lovely colors.  I plan to save some for future plantings, and use some to make Hominy (nixtamalized corn).

Also plan to give some away!  https://permies.com/t/40/54072/Regional-seed-swapping-Texans-Oklahomans

It's maybe not the greatest time of year to plant seeds of things, but what the heck.  I planted seeds of PawPaw in the Food Forest, and Jack Beans in the Kitchen Garden.  

"Jack Bean
PJ001
Canavalia ensiformis.  Gorgeous plants!   The large leaves are thick and glossy, and the flowers are showy and very attractive.  Large white beans from huge plump foot-long pods borne on long vines.  

Jack beans originate in Central and South America but the archeological record shows they were part of southwestern diets as long ago as 700 AD.  Extremely rare today.  Young pods, leaves, and immature beans are edible when cooked; mature beans are mildly toxic so require rinsing and cooking in plenty of water. It is not advisable to eat large quantities.  From our Seed Bank Collection.

Origin: low desert
Requires a long growing season of 150 days or more, not suitable for northern climates or high elevations.
Deep rooted, very drought tolerant once established
Frost sensitive, but can be semi-perennial in very warm climates.
Vines are not twining, must be secured to a support in order to climb."

https://www.nativeseeds.org/products/pj001?_pos=1&_sid=66ca5ab07&_ss=r

This "dwarf" Moringa grown from seed this year is about seven feet tall

Canna edulis from seed

A decent harvest of direct-seeded Gilbert Fritz Landrace Tomatoes.

Flowers on a first-year-from-seed Moringa.  These are the most successful kind of tree I have ever planted!

Thanks for posting, Tyler. Much enjoy reading the news...


Cheers,
Rufus

Bees at the birdbath, with Izzie photo-bombing

https://i.imgur.com/2BUw1YM.gifv

Tyler Ludens wrote:Somebody ate all the Bur Oak seedlings in spite of the brush fence, so I will put up a real fence and replant next year.  Germinating the acorns in damp sand in the fridge worked great.  Next time I will plant twice as many.

if anything like my place it was probably rabbits.  They tend to eat anything in their way.  I like how things are progressing your way.