Six on Saturday

Joining the Propagator (https://www.thepropagatorblog@wordpress.com) and other gardeners around the world for another Six on Saturday.

1. Honeysuckle buds.  I assume there’s nothing remarkable about honeysuckle budding this time of year, but the magnitude of my delight would suggest otherwise.  Was it the first fluttering of spring?  The survival of anything in the face of the countless fires and floods and blights that plague us?  I was surprised, yes, and relieved.  The first stirrings of life in what could be so easily mistaken for dead wood never fail to feel miraculous.

2. Dragonfruit.  Bought a couple of rooted cuttings online, which arrived in due course, larger and more mature than I could have hoped.  They are duly planted and leaning against the fireplace.  I hope the warmth will induce them to put forth more expansive root systems.  When “all danger of frost has passed,” I will likely move them outside to clambor (one hopes) a little monstrously over the porch.

3. Hardy kiwis.  If the dragonfruit were “larger and more mature” than hoped, the hardy kiwis were less so.  However, arrive they did, and they are nestled in their small ceramic pots, being kept indoors and out of direct light and somewhat moist and generally coddled until they impress me as ready to pedal down the street on their own and without training wheels.  These I am thinking of growing up trellises in front of the West-facing bedroom where they will be protected from the harshest sun and frost (though being hardy, the latter might not bother them).

4. Mini greenhouse.  All stuffed with plants for spring and getting close to running out of room.  Yes, thank you for asking, there is need for a larger greenhouse.

5. Raised bed for root vegetables.  Located in partial shade, as my research suggests that the Andean root vegetables I have brought into my life are adversely affected by excessive heat.

6. Recent arrivals.  Mostly perennial vegetables, which I am trying for the first time, including Egyptian walking onions, oca, sunchokes, Chinese artichokes, tuberous nasturtium, tree collards.  These purchases motivated by the realization that my lack of enthusiasm for growing annual vegetables derives from a deeper seated distaste for annuals (at least those that don’t reliably self-seed) generally.

A final note of appreciation for Fred (http://www.fredgardener2@wordpress.com), who gave me some much needed help with pruning my fig tree.