Report from Greco-plant auditions-what worked, what didn't

                                                           Growing baby purple artichoke from seed.
                                                                               

Growing artichoke from seed is reported in garden books  as   a problem---Why ? Beats me. Garden  myth!  Not actually even very  good at growing stuff from seed , but this was easy. Seed came from 3 different organic seed houses (Baker’s, http://rareseeds.com/; Territorial  www.territorialseed.com and Island Seed (Goleta,CA). Soaked the seed overnight, planted the first batch in plantable pots inside.

Everything grew-Violet de Provence, Violette di Chioggi, Violetta Precoce , and Purple of  Romagna. Most of them are now about 2  ½ feet tall. Violet de Provence is outgrowing all the others. Not too surprising as his native heath resembles our climate  more than those of  the other varieties. Used soaker hose to keep the ground moist.

Chioggi from seed in ground

Once it warmed up, planted more of the same seeds in the ground, having soaked them overnight (June). These also came up without a problem.

Fennel.

. Never grew fennel before. It turned out to be easy, long bearing, delicious raw or cooked. (http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_fennel/. It comes in 3 kinds: Florentine, Bronze and vulgare. Grow the first 2 to eat and vulgare for the swallowtails. Florentine fennel is the celery like vegetable, Bronze an herb used much like dill, (and also is reported as a host for the Anise Swallowtail).

                                Black swallowtail on bronze fennel

He's not a pretty baby but he won't eat your tomatoes. However, what swallowtails like best is fennel vulgare. That's the one you see blooming all over the hills of the Central Coast.

 Use Florentine  fennel  like celery. Easier to grow than celery in this climate, though celery might be a really good winter/spring  crop here on the Central Coast.

                               Long Island celery- easy for them!

This is normally the time to start winter cole crops from seed.

Broccoli—had good luck with Veronica ( 85 days) which seems to use a little less water than conventional broccoli. However, given the weather cycle, won’t plant cole crop seed until late August which still gives the veg 2 hot months to get started.

 Ideally, plant some now and some later. Later, you can use starts which means you don’t have to be such a dedicated farmer. Best in this garden was Veronica (also known as Romano).

                              
                                   Glamorous Veronica

Qualified success: the roof garden. Only the real desert plants were happy—barrel cactus, agaves, etc. The sedums fried.

The roof garden depended entirely on rain water. The sedums would have to be watered every 2 weeks to survive in this climate. If it’s from the Sonora Desert—it’ll do fine without water, otherwise no.
                                     

Unqualified success: new terraces planted with dwarf citrus using grey water.

Scarlet Runner Beans:
                                         
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Ours came from 6 seeds. We have been harvesting about a 2 lbs. a week from these plants. They get watered once a week unless we have a scorcher (100° or more)


Harvest when they are about the size of a mature French Filet bean.( http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/french_green_beans_with_butter_and_herbs/) Or let them mature a little into lima bean size, then steam them, serve with butter. Or let them dry and give every child you know Magic Beans for Christmas.

                              
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Coming up next: Vermiculture Revisted

A Gray Water Rose, Goldfinches, Seed Sprouting Sucesses

Yves Piaget, measured 6 1/2 " across, nutured entirely on gray water. This is a Romantica rose, bred in Provence, of great substance, divine smell and perfectly suited to the Central Coast. (see Romantica roses. Grow Quest website-has a good selection)

Colette, Johann Strauss and Abbe de Cluny also are flourishing on the laundry water.

American Gold Finch

The gold finches are migrating the Pacific Flyway (Central Coast is on it) from Mexico to Canada and vice versa. Flocks of them come through here, coming and going, eating as much nyger seed as the budget permits--about 2 lbs a week at the peak of their migrations. The one that favors our garden is the Lesser Goldfinch, mostly.



Lesser Gold Finch



The French call this bird Chardonneret mineur which suits him better than Lesser. He's small but charming, with a sweet song. According to the  info on the Net, this bird is a permanent resident ---I have news for them--he isn't. He stuffs himself, his wife and his friends and goes elsewhere to nest. Mexico, most likely. He tells his friends where the nyger seeds are, and they come back every year in increasing numbers. Birds are big food gossips --- they invented Twitter. (OMG)



Stuffing Themselves



Stunned with pleasure to report, the baby Purple artichoke seeds (Violetto di Chioggi, Violetta de Provence, Violetta Precoce ) all have sprouted. Soaked for 24 hours, the seeds spouted in four days. Broccoli seeds(Belstar) didn't even take 4 days. Usually, I have zero luck with seeds, so these sproutings are  more miraculous than usual.