A Seed Saver's Garden

We have Tokyo onions as a regular.

They are growing in a very shady location this year. That may not be so good and they are really growing slowly. Purchased onion sets should make up for some of the lag.

I will be able to report on how much shade the Tokyo can take – no afternoon sun.. One thing, there isn't a great deal of need for the giant size they usually accomplish but, we will see.
 
heirloomgal said:
What a day!

One of my least favorite garden jobs (and also most favorite at the same time, from an end game point of view) is getting rid of turf to increase garden space. It is the most challenging, unpleasant work and the fact that my yard is full of clay doesn't help. ...
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just be glad it isn't full of quack grass, but yes, i'm in a similar situation and it's hard to keep areas clear once i've got them done. it takes a few dedicated years to get the quack grass out and if any is next door it is always wanting to come back in. a very deep and well sealed edge is critical and i don't have that in some places and pay for it each year in having to dig the stuff all out again.
 
This is interesting about the Tokyo onion, never heard of it. But when I googled it the Latin name is Allium fistulosum which I planted this year. I've sort of pieced together (I think) that Tokyo White is a cultivar of of that species, but not the same as Welsh Onion which are also Allium fistulosum. I believe that is what I've planted, someone's longtime family grown Welsh Onions.

Is there a detectable difference between the two, Tokyo and Welsh? Funny too, I find the Welsh onions considerable spicier than the walking onions, so far into the season anyway.
 
flowerbug said:
just be glad it isn't full of quack grass, but yes, i'm in a similar situation and it's hard to keep areas clear once i've got them done. it takes a few dedicated years to get the quack grass out and if any is next door it is always wanting to come back in. a very deep and well sealed edge is critical and i don't have that in some places and pay for it each year in having to dig the stuff all out again.
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Oh there is indeed quack in there, but its mixed in with the 'true lawn grass' and a smattering of other weeds. It isn't much of a problem in that context, its when it runs up against the side of something that it seems to go nuts.

I've given up hope for a perfect swathe of weedless lawn, because I don't want to use the chemicals to achieve it. Or water it. And realistically, in the peak of summer heat all my neighbour's lawns which are professionally cared for by companies go brown and dormant, being only one type of grass. Those of us with a mix in the lawn actually stay green, the weeds, clover etc. all seem to handle the heat so much better. So long as I keep it short it's passable. I will probably try to organically fertilize it somehow this summer.
 
It was a thrilling day! My body is feelin' it, but it was one of those days when so much got done. DD & I managed to expand our newly dug piece of front yard bed by double, which was what I hoped for but wasn't sure we'd do as the first part was so hard going. I'm pretty excited about having that new space! Bush beans will work marvelously there. The whole edible landscape feels like a nearly blank canvas waiting to be painted!

DH has been wanting to get rid of some growing boxes I've had (and used) for many years, and they've finally rotted enough that we pulled them apart and disposed of them. He was happy, lol. I took all that soil and added it to various areas in the front yard, particularly the new bed. The soil will be in good shape for beans and all that soil I added today has Rhizobium phaseoli in it naturally as I used that soil for growing beans several times.

I'm actually feeling so excited to start planting I can't quite concentrate enough to strategize a plan of what/where!! I did get the corn transplants put in though!! And luck was on my side because it's going to rain tonight!

:lol:
 
heirloomgal said:
I've given up hope for a perfect swathe of weedless lawn, because I don't want to use the chemicals to achieve it. Or water it. And realistically, in the peak of summer heat all my neighbour's lawns which are professionally cared for by companies go brown and dormant, being only one type of grass. Those of us with a mix in the lawn actually stay green, the weeds, clover etc. all seem to handle the heat so much better. So long as I keep it short it's passable. I will probably try to organically fertilize it somehow this summer.
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we've done a few weed sprays in the lawn many years ago but that wasn't really worth it and i don't personally care to have it weed free, instead i'd be much happier if the grasses were mostly gone and it was completely replaced by yarrows (the ferny kind), clovers, alfalfas, trefoils, thymes, mints, etc. as i'm allergic to grass pollen i wouldn't miss having less of it around plus all those grass plants invading the surrounding gardens.

there are several different grasses here that are pains in the butt, but only one of them was planted here on purpose and that one is some kind of very durable bunching grass that is almost like a clump of wire. i haven't identified it yet but it is very hard to eradicate and in dry compacted clay it's very tough to even pull out of the ground. repeated mowing doesn't do much either.

i've not fertilized or watered any of the lawn areas on purpose. if it goes dormant i'm happy to not have to mow it as often.

unfortunately though some of the ground cover plants i'd like to take over are ones that Mom reacts to (yarrows and mints) so i can't exclusively plant those and leave them alone, but i do consider them nicer plants than grasses for me as i don't react badly to them myself. in the case of the ferny yarrows they are nice to walk on when kept mowed and they do stay greener longer through the dry spells (the non-ferny kind that has silvery blue leaves and yellow flowers smells like doggie doodoo to me - we had some but i took it out).
 
I had a near mystical experience at a greenhouse today. I hadn't planned on even going, but I was doing errands in the area and thought, what the heck, I'm here.

I'll preface by saying, in all the years I've browsed the greenhouses I can count on one hand how many times I've seen non-herbaceous peonies. Super uncommon, probably because they want so much money for them ($75) and herbaceous peonies are similar and cost so much less. I've gotten rid of the one tree peony that was given to us 20 years ago because it got damaged and, really, I wasn't crazy about it. The bloom time was really short, and while the flowers were utterly massive and quite pretty, there weren't many of them.

The post I made earlier, dreaming about 'Bartzella' golden peonies, (which are a hybrid of an herbaceous and a tree type), well, I was looking online and saw that they start at $75 + shipping, so it would cost over $100 total. I'd like a Bartzella, but I don't know if I want one that much. From shipped roots it takes 3-5 years to bloom too, apparently. I don't think I would get one given all that.
But the garden centre today actually had one! An actual Itoh 'Bartzella' golden yellow peony!:celebrateAnd it was only $60, which is probably half it would cost to purchase online. It was also very nicely developed, so I probably won't have to wait so long to see flowers! I couldn't belive my luck.

A little bit about them -

Bartzella became famous because of its:
  • large semi-double to double yellow flowers,
  • strong fragrance,
  • vigorous growth,
  • unusually heavy bloom production.
Bartzella helped make Itoh peonies widely popular because it combined:
  • the huge flowers of tree peonies,
  • the die-back winter habit of herbaceous peonies,
  • strong stems that rarely flop,
  • long bloom periods,
  • exceptional cold hardiness.
  • It also produces many side buds, extending flowering longer than many traditional peonies.
A couple arrangements with them; coincidentally the middle picture I believe includes peonie from the Coral series (which I also got this year!) Now. Where to put the Bartzella.

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