This and That

First off, hello to my follower(s) in China. No idea who you are, but welcome. Shannon, is that you?

Second, last year I screwed up my shoulders and now have arthritis . . . I am 34 years old by the way so I hope none of you were praying to be more like me. This has severely hampered my martial arts studies. My advice to everyone is never train in martial arts and do intense workouts at home on the side unless you get advice beforehand and take sufficient time off from both. I'm not sure if I will ever be able to resume training in Ninpo (can combat martial arts be considered safe?), but that is my goal for this summer and physical therapy seems to be working.

In the mean time I will be rebranding this blog, focusing more on my garden. Do you like legumes? Good, because that will be the most frequent topic I discuss.

Winter in this area was colder than usual, as summed up by my February electric bill, and I had concerns about plant survival inside and outside my house, but I needn't have worried. This was the best year ever for Christmas cactus blooms; sorry, no photos. The alliums overwintering in my garden have been demonstrating conclusive proof of survival; the leeks, garlic, yellow potato onions, etc. have all made it and are resuming growth. I'll plant the remaining leek seed and potato onion bulbs soon. Not sure if the Babington Leek made it or not so keep your fingers crossed. The sage and lavender are also coming back; not bad for three-year old plants.

Last week I sewed seed for various Chinese cabbages, leaf mustard, lettuce, New Zealand Spinach, leeks, and one or two other things. Here's hoping this spring is not as cold and wet as 2014, otherwise known as the year of the basement floods. I anticipate germination in my seed bed some time this week and will transplant them into the main garden a week or two after that.

On trial this year:

Sorghum. I don't think I have the right equipment to get molasses from the sorghum canes, but the seed are reputedly good to eat. On trial: White African, and Honey Drip. Both are heirloom varieties.

Corn. Hopefully some of my 1 pound of ancient Bloody Butcher corn will grow. Last year's grow-out yielded about half a pound of new seed from several hundred seeds planted, a dismal return, so this will be the last attempt with the old seed. Also on trial: Country Gentleman and Johnnie Dewlen Blue Dent Corn. Avoiding cross pollination will be a priority.

Beans - I am generally growing varieties from two genera: Phaseolus and Vigna. Phaseolus is the common green bean, and the lima, and dry beans, and the tepary bean . . . you get the gist. Vigna contains Cowpeas/Southern Peas/Field Peas/Black Eyed Peas . . . you get the gist . . . and Yardlong beans. I'll do a post dedicated to Vigna later.

Bush Beans (Phaseolus). Woods Mountain Crazy Bean (an heirloom I just acquired and am very excited about), Pencil Pod, Bountiful, Black Valentine, Blue Lake and Royal Burgundy will all hopefully get room in 2015.

Pole Beans (Phaseolus). Headrick Greasy Cutshort (an Appalachian heirloom), Striped Hull Cutshort (also an heirloom), Ratlesnake, Purple Pod, Kentucky Wonder (technically also an heirloom), Romano (not the original heirloom kind).

Limas/Butterbeans (Phaseolus). King of the Garden, Violet's Multicolored, Speckled Mix (the seed company noted that his was a pole variety and not the bush variety they thought they had ordered). Why the limas you ask . . .
Because I have never grown them before despite being raised in a home with a huge vegetable garden.
Because I like to eat limas and they are often expensive or hard to get in the store.
Also, they will add to my mix of legumes and hopefully increase the "distance" between my plantings.

Runner Bean (another Phaseolus species). I finally broke down and acquired seed for Insuk's Wang Kong. It is supposed to be a runner bean that handily tolerates weather in the American south so it is worth trying.

Cowpeas (Vigna). I do not have room to grow out all of my accessions from this past catalog season. So many catalogues! So little garden room. :( When I have them growing I'll talk more about this southern staple. Think Black-eyed peas, then realize that this barely scratches the surface. Varieties on trial: Black Crowder, Blue Goose, Ozark Razorback, Queen Anne, Red Ripper, Tohono O'odham. I grew Pinkeye Purple Hull and Brown Crowder last year with good results; though I found Brown Crowder's flavor to be a bit earthy.

Longbeans (Vigna). In 1974 my parents were married and a Chinese friend, Jim Su, gave them seeds for a green-podded, red/brown striped seeded Yardlong bean. I have always loved it and have grown it on Firethorn Court since the seeds were entrusted to me in 2009. I traded it to a Gardenweb member and he trialed it, liked it, and later listed it with Seed Savers Exchange as Chinese Long Green. Alas, I wanted to call it Jim Su. Anyway, no idea what it's real name is if it ever had one. Getting Chinese Red Noodle to grow for me took a few years and a steep learning curve where I almost lost the variety. I now have a bumper crop of seed in storage. Others I hope to grow: Galante, Sierra Madre, Liana, and one nameless Thai variety I bought on eBay that I plan to call "Uncle Chan" after the seller if it grows well in Virginia.

*A note on beans, peas, cowpeas, longbeans, basically any legume, they are more likely to cross if you grow two or more varieties of one species in close proximity. Usually the flowers stay closed and the plants self-pollinate, but bees do visit them and can make a mess if you aren't careful. This is one reason there are so many pole bean varieties available. I plan to raise alternating rows of beans, cowpeas, limas, longbeans, etc. in order to let the bees wipe their feet and prevent unintended hybrids. This year my focus is on production and maintaining pure seed lines. Should be a challenge.

I have plans for lots of other things to cram in my 1/4 acre yard. Hopefully I can squeeze more room out of my limited space without cutting the cable, power, or phone lines.

Oh yes, the Hablitzia seeds are cold stratifying in my fridge right now. I'll deal with the Good King Henry seed later.

That's all for now.