Posts

Posted on

Learning about the best parsnip planting times

My parsnips (“Harris model”) said on the package I could do either spring or fall planting. While researching whether this was true for Oklahoma, I came across a useful post on an Oklahoma gardening forum (expand the featured answer by “macmex” who is located north and east of us, in Talehquah in northeastern Oklahoma) It sounds like you CAN plant them in fall, but as a biennial, they may flower (“bolt”) in the spring before the roots are big enough to be useful. So, we’ll see what happens with my fall-planted ones, but I have just put out a row of them today and I will put out another row each week until the third week of February and see what happens to those.

I also read everywhere about parsnip seeds that they do not keep well. Mine are going on two years old now so I put a lot out to make up for potentially poor germination rates.

Posted on

Rooting Salvia greggii from cuttings in late winter

One of my front yard Salvia greggii got dug up or knocked over by something last year so I took a few cuttings on Jan. 9. As of Jan. 21 I saw some new growth. Today you can see which ones appear to be surviving. I did multiple because I am not always successful, even though I only need one.

The various jugs and containers are to keep Supervisor Gram out of my plants. You can see which of the cuttings are bright green and growing.
Posted on

Trimming the onion shoots for root growth

I read recently (but can’t for the life of me remember which book) that when sprouting onion seeds, you should trim them to promote more root growth. I did this to half of my sprouts. This will make sure it doesn’t kill them first. If these turn out okay I’ll do the other half.

Supervisor Briar is not concerned about onion haircuts. I put them back in the plant window after their trim.
Posted on

Roots shooting up??

This is in the right spot to be one of three bare root Canadian anemone plants I got from Prairie Moon Nursery last fall. Fingers crossed! I’m trying to fill in the bare ground in the backyard to keep out invasives like the non native species of wild geranium that is everywhere in our yard.
Posted on

Sedums for terrible rocky pile of old roots

These are not native or edible, but they sure will be useful to keep other plants out and shade the soil for my nearby strawberries and mealy blue sage. I planted some out near the curb last fall and today finally planted some rooted stems in a nook by our porch. There was a big sweetgum tree there lifting the foundation that we had to remove. This has left a weird combination of rotting roots, and probably several past owners’ worth of decorative pebbles AND wood mulch. A real great growing environment as you might guess.

That long silver thing is my stainless steel coated hose. This is necessary because the dog is so obsessed with the water hose that she punctured several heavy duty rubber ones while attempting to get them to be fun again. Thank you to Judy for these beautiful sedums!
Posted on

Fruit plants in the ground!

I planted the peach tree and currant bush in the front and back yards, respectively.

Briar supervised. We have no fence in the front yard but she likes to hang out and watch. The peach tree is hard to see but has the lighter colored bamboo stake next to it. I believe this dwarf tree is a genetic dwarf, not grafted onto a dwarf rootstock, so while I looked for soil line on the tree for planting I didn’t have to watch for keeping the graft above the soil.
Another underwhelming stick picture! The Crandall black currant is a native North American currant. Both this and the peach I made sure to water deeply per instructions. I put this currant on the northeastern corner of my “currant patch” (three others planted last year) just because it’s where there was room.
Posted on

Peach and currant planting

Well it’s my day off so it’s time to plant yesterday’s new arrivals. I secured them out of the way from box- and stick- interested supervisors Gram and Briar.

Peach and currant bare roots showing packaging
Ison’s vineyard packaged these with a nice bamboo support stake for the peach, some sort of water retaining goo/slush, and tied them together gently with a thick baling twine. I will save the baling twine to tie the peach to its stake.
This nursery’s instructions didn’t specify a pre-planting soak for the roots, but Stark Bros does and I’ve seen it in several books now. So, these new friends are getting a drink while I walk the dog (most important) and then dig holes (possibly more relevant to their interests).
Posted on

Onion success in a dish

I haven’t had much success getting onion seeds to sprout the last few years. This time I tried making sure there was constant moisture by putting the seeds in a sealed dish with a clear lid (lid not shown). Now that the seedlings are taller I have removed the lid.

The best seedlings I’ve ever gotten for onions!

For those readers in Norman, the takeout dish is from Magic Noodle on Classen. Highly recommend. I get the spicy xian noodles.