The Quincunx And The Olitory

I added quincunx and olitory to my lexicon. Read on and you will too.

2015 gardening began this weekend. I packed up and labeled my contributions for the Washington Gardener Magazine annual Seed Exchange. This one held in Virginia is scheduled on the first weekend in February. The day's program began at the registration table to pick up my goody bag of seeds and promotions. Then on to peruse the table full of garden catalogs, old magazines, and more promotions. Then down the ramp to the main attraction: the seeds.

I brought some packets of my famous bombast rose poppy seeds [posted 2013.06.02], and some purple oriental poppy seeds (papaver somniferum). They were deposited into the basket at the registration table to be cataloged and checked for non-native invasiveness. It seems that for this year, fewer gardeners brought seeds for exchange, and relied instead on the hundreds of expired commercial seed packets from previous years.

I arrived early, so like a hired agent at a private Southeby's auction, I slithered through the tables of the seed packets, taking notes of prized spoils, and ranked them for possible acquisition later.

First, the speakers presented their talks to the crowd of about 50 gardeners. The more interesting to me was Pat Brodowski, vegetable gardener at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. Pat talked about the gardener, his horticultural exploits, and his history. Did you know that Jefferson experimented to a point of trying 230 vegetable varieties, including 13 tomatoes, 48 beans, 38 herbs, and 7 pumpkins?

He employed a classic planting pattern for spacing crops that was more efficient that a rectangular grid. A quincunx pattern is made of alternately arranged rows, depending on the spacing of the crop, and was a pattern used in classic early gardens. Today you find it widely used for fruit orchard layouts.

In his writings, Thomas Jefferson also mentioned his garden olitory. This referred to his terraced vegetable garden, although the term today is more widely reserved for a kitchen garden for cullinary use. Pat also talked about Jefferson's and early America's connections to European horticulture, especially Italian; climates, the difficulties in translating horticultural terms from writings of the 1700s; and the seed exchange with native peoples around Fort Mandan from whom Lewis and Clark brought seeds to Jefferson.

Pat brought a boatload of seeds from Monticello for us to scarf up. I picked up some nigella, early Jersey Wakefield cabbage, gaillardia, veronica, and scabiosa from our third president's garden. Oh, and for my entrance fee and poppy seeds I also went home with seeds for:

National Pickling Cucumber Oriole Zinnia Purple Calabash Tomato Tip Top Mahogany Nasturtium Royal Burgundy Bean Spacemaster Cucumber Waltham 20 Broccoli French Breakfast Radish Oriental Giant Japanese Spinach

Monarda Lambada White Icicle Radish Green Envy Zinnia Big Jim Chili Pepper Autumn Beauty Sunflower Datura Metal (white) Rocky Mountain Blue Penstemon Blue Lake Beans Pennisetum Orientale

Russian Tarragon Siam Queen Thai Basil Black Beauty Squash Red Oriental Poppy Black Pearl Pepper Yellow Pear Tomato Mary Lou Heard Sweet Pea Danvers Half long Carrot

With the Garden Stamp I won as a door prize, I think I am now set to start my own public botanical garden.

Seed Exchange Bounty

A week ago I attended the Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Exchange at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria. This was my second year, and it was an overcast, dreary, shower-filled day, just like last year. I learned a few tricks from my previous experience that made this year more rewarding. I also briefly spoke to fellow blogger the Indoor Garden(er), recognizing him from his blog photo (and his name tag.)

Last year, I loaded up about 100 seeds of the Castor Bean [posted 2009.9.3], and the same of my Lime Green Nicotiana [posted 2007.7.17]. I did not see the fine print on the registration that requested seed packets with digestible quantities. So, someone picked up a boatload of seeds.

This year, I took my Castor Bean seeds and divided them up into about 15 seeds per packet. I even labeled the packets with the botanical name, growing conditions, height, starting information. I did the same for my four packs of pink peony poppies [posted 2008.5.28] and one packet of orange calendula. All were happy donations straight from my garden.

Upon arrival, my seeds were taken to be checked for non-native invasiveness, and a goodie bag was returned that contained several seed packets, magazine, catalogs, and information. They make great grocery bags. Next, all the seeds are classified (annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs, tropicals) and arranged on several tables to peruse before the program starts. This year, I began lurking around the tables like others, making a list of what I wanted, and where those items were on the different tables.

The program started with two excellent one-hour presentations by the arranged speakers. The first dealt with tomatoes - a lot of history, some growing info, and the speaker's favorites. The second spoke about seed starting - pitfalls of timing and scheduling. After a short snack break, the seed exchange began.

The first round allowed people who had attended a prior seed exchange to select one packet of seeds from the tables. The remaining attendees then did the same. The second round first allowed people who had brought seeds to exchange to select one packet. The third round first allowed the travel-weary to select one packet who were attending from outside the county.

The coveted San Marzano tomato seeds rocketed to the top of my list. The first speaker identified it as the best-tasting Italian sauce tomato. There was one packet, and I got it! YES! My second selection was Rudbeckia 'Irish Eyes', with only two packets displayed. Got one. The third was Cilantro, since it was the last packet left. Other wants on my list had several packets laying on the tables, so I knew some would be available at the last call mad dash.

After everyone had three seed packets, the floodgates were opened and running of the bulls commenced. Anyone was allowed to take any seeds. One observation regarding my donation of seeds was that one packet of the peony poppy seeds mysteriously vanished prior to the first call for selection. The others were gone quickly.

Seeds Picked Up
    Some of these were not selected, but came in the goodie bag -
    a good quality green grocery bag.
Asclepias tuberose
Clematis glaucophylla
Rudbeckia hirsta (Irish Eyes)
Southern Onion (Texas Grano 502)
Cilantro
Papaver somniferum (Laurens Grape - heroin)
Tomato (San Marzanao)
Radish (Cherry belle)
Nicotiana (Sensation mixed)
Tomato (Pink oxheart)
Tomato (Italian Red Cherry)
Aquilegia vulgaris (Mix)
Ocimum basilicum (Toscano basil)
Ocimum basilicum (Salad leaf basil)
Tomato (Chico III)
Digitalis (mix)
Marigold (Naughty Marietta - french)
Cucumber (Wisconsin pickling)
Beans (Bush - Contender)
Tomato (Fourth of July)
Apium graveolens (Cutting Celery)
Hungarian pepper (????)
Zinnia (Pulcino mix)
Belamcanda chinensis (Blackberry lily)
(photos taken from across the web)

Growing Pot

What type of growing pot do we use to start seedlings indoors? Some vessels may be more appropriate than others. In past years, I scoured the basement to find something to use as starter pots, and usually ended up with something less than ideal. Consider the possibilities and my experience.

Clay Pots
I use few of these because they tend to dry out. This is a concern since I leave the house during the day for work, and cannot leave seedlings in clay pots outdoors to harden off before planting. They will always require watering around mid- day. However, clay pots are reusable. Peppers were planted in these, but are not yet sprouted.

Peat Pots
I have tried these a few times in the past, and never liked them. They sound like a great idea, but they can be on the expensive side and not work as they were intended. They dry out fast, too, needing constant watering. One year tomatoes were started in them and planted directly into the ground. The tomatoes were very slow growing, compared to those transplanted into bare earth. The peat pots did not disintegrate well into the soil as was expected. The roots seemed constricted and had trouble growing through the solid peat.

Plastic Yogurt Cups
With holes punched in the bottom, these wide-top cups are used every year and, work great. They are a perfect size, and we get some additional use from the plastic before it makes its way to the recycle bin. Since no one thinks of saving them throughout the winter, you end up eating a lot of yogurt just to get the cups in spring. Peppers were recently planted in these cups.

Plastic Seedling Flats
The 4 or 6 compartment black plastic cell inserts made for seedlings work well. However, the big box stores along with the gardening centers here only sell the prepackaged bundle consisting of cell inserts, clear plastic cover, and plastic flat watering tray. I only want and need the cell inserts, but unfortunately we are forced to purchase everything in the bundle. The cell inserts can be purchased online for pennies, but shipping costs kill the deal. Check out Home Harvest: 8 cells inserts cost $7.92; shipping costs $7.75.

Egg Carton
These were tried one year and found to be too small. Soil also kept moving around from cell to cell. Seedlings were difficult to extract without damaging them.

Paper Cups
Paper Dixie cups are my favorite. Tall shapes can be found to allow for root growth. They are paper and biodegradable. They can easily be broken apart without plant damage at transplanting time. They are cheap. The wax coating prevents drying out. Labeling with marker is difficult on the wax coating, though. Broccoli is sprouting in these in only five days.

Milk Carton
My mom would cut off tops of milk cartons and had good luck starting seeds in the bottoms. Again, as with yogurt cups, one needs to save them.

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: White forsythia   • Seedlings progress: broccoli

Seedy Beauty

During this time of year, there is not much to document as plants reach their last gasp of the season. Although deadheading spent flowers before seeds set in is a common practice, sometimes a brave gardener (or lazy gardener) may keep the seeds intact for various reasons. For example, coneflower seeds are kept around for the goldfinches, even though cutting them off can encourage more blooms.

Old canna blooms are cut off the stalks during the summer. Leaving them to produce seed pods at this time of year does not discourage new flower buds. The colder weather tends to do that.

Spent liatris stalks are kept around because I want something in that location. If the stalks were cut back, there would only be an empty hole in that part of the garden. The resulting seed stalks look interesting, and since they bloom only once during the year from a root cluster, cutting them back does not result in more blooms or branching stems.

Sometimes, seeds can be as beautiful and interesting as the flowers.

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: canna, basil, dwarf zinnia, lime nicotiana   • Harvested: 10 peppers & 2 tomatoes before frost,