Catching up

Well, I need to be more committed to updating this blog. It seems that I spend more time with Facebook these days.

Germination was pretty bad this year. I did get enough to fill every spot, but overall I'd say that the success rate was around 50%. Terrible! But luckily, other than the 1459 Sundstrom, each of the six spots has the plant that I had hoped would be the number one plant. Each site is planted, but each has only one plant at this time. No backups in the patch yet!

The 998 Bowles, 964 Wolf, 779 Warren, 1392 Bresnick, and 1232.5 Bailey are out there. Also, Elise's choice was a toss-up between the 1436 Nesbitt and 1362 Poirier. I put the Nesbitt out because it's easier to say than Poirier... but the Poirier could go out as soon as the HH is complete for that spot.

As for the 1459 Sundstrom, it came up but the seed leaves were mangled. It has a first true leaf, but so far I don't see any second true leaf developing. I will continue to monitor it.

So, about six days ago I started a 1071 Christensen and 583 Young. The Young is finally coming up today but the Christensen never moved. Then, later still I started a whole bunch of 720 and 779 Warrens, hopefully I'll get a few of them to show so I can put some backups out there. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'm thinking I should blame it on the moon.

2 out

My best two, the 998 Bowles and 964 Wolf are now out in the patch. Photos will come eventually.

Two others, the 779 Warren and 1459 Sundstrom are doing well and will probably go out tomorrow. Elise's 1362 Poirier will also probably go out. The last one, not decided yet, but I'm leaning toward the 1071 Christensen if it comes up.

8 up

From the top left corner, the 998 Bowles. Next, going clockwise is the 1459 Sundstrom, just a little bit concerned, one of the seed leaves is connected "by a thread", and neither of them look good. They have that typical section of the leaf that sometimes fails to come to life. Next, the 964 Wolf. Solid. Next 1362 Poirier, really hasn't come above soil yet.

Continuing clockwise, now on the bottom row, the 779 Warren. Next is the 1392 Bresnick. That is followed by a 452 Wolf, and finally 1436 Nesbitt.

Me in my impatience have them out in the sun even though some of them are taking their own sweet time getting their feet set.

Seeds update

Here is an update. Last Thursday I started 12 seeds for 6 plants. The 998 Bowles was the first to come up, followed by the 964 Wolf, 1459 Sundstrom, and one of the 779 seeds. The 1459 has very poor seed leaves. Then the 1362 Poirier came up. I can see movement on the 1392 Bresnick, 425 Wolf, and 1436 Nesbitt.

All of the "first-string" seeds came up. The 1104 Brinkley, 1121 Bobier, and one of the 779 seeds have no movement. Today I started another 1104, 779, and also a 1071 Christensen and a 583 Young.

The season has started...

Started twelve seeds last night. More details coming...

I'm going to try to post my slides on growing the giants.

The daffodil meter

Every year I look to the emergence of daffodils as a meter as to how much "spring" weather we've had. In past years the daffodils are in bloom in mid-March, but this year the official day is April 13th.

Seed selections... backups?

Wow, here we are approaching seed starting season, and I still haven't given much thought to backups. I do have the starting lineup:

1. 779 Warren, backup is another double-planted 779.

2. 964 Wolf, backup not known yet

3. 1459 Sundstrom, backup with an 1121 Bobier.

4. 1392 Bresnick, backup not known yet.

5. 955 Brinkley, backup with a 720 Warren.

6. Elise's seed: Not completely decided yet. She says that she wants heavy, color not important! We could do another 779, but we will have one of those already, so maybe we'll try another.

Don't let anyone say that my membership in the New York grower's society is not for real! My patch is the official western outpost of the New York growers!

I'll need to get my seeds out and find some backups.

Holding pattern...

Normally this might be the week I would put seeds into pots. Say, start seeds on the 15th, or maybe a few days later. Then, 3 or 4 days for them to pop out of the soil, and another 3 or 4 days and they're ready to go out. But it just doesn't seem warm enough out there for this.

Today should be about 60, but then we're predicted to get colder, 35 degrees for a high on Wednesday!

When we get to Friday or Saturday of this week, I'll check the long range forecast. If that looks decent, I might start some seeds then.

Spring is here!

Well, a few days can make a big difference.

For yesterday and today at least, spring has arrived in south-east Idaho. We spent yesterday evening burning brush and cleaning up the garden in preparation for tilling. Hopefully today we will get the garden tilled. I'm at the mercy of my neighbors, as my tractor will need some work this summer. More on that later... I need to decide if I want to sell it to someone who wants to restore it, or if I can rebuild the engine. This decision would be easier to make if I had a shop space to keep it in.

So, today I hope to get a load of sand on my way home. This is a "sharp sand", which is coarse and is actually crushed rock. This should (hopefully) avoid clumping. It's definitely not beach sand. I'm only adding it to one or two plots.

No change

Still getting snow and rain almost every day. Our reservoirs are full. I think we're going to have floods in the region, or at least very high, fast moving rivers. While I'm sitting here, I see that we have a fresh 2 or 3 inches of heavy wet stuff out there since I arrived at work.

I'm beginning to think that this could delay patch prep and the start of the season. Normally, I'd be planting in about three weeks from now. It just seems like an eternity, looking at all the saturated ground and cold temperatures. I have sprinkler lines to run, some sand and compost to bring in, not to mention a tractor that won't budge, and none of this can be done until it dries out. And, the forecast for the next week is much the same.

I sound like a broken record, but I'm absolutely in a holding pattern right now. Nothing can be done.