Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in gardening, rhubarb wine on Jun 18th, 2007
A Small Harvest
I pulled in just under 9 oz (250 g) of rhubarb today, which is about the same as this time last year (9 oz on 6/2206). My running total of just under 19 oz (525 g) is significantly behind last year’s 30 oz (850 g). Since I was hoping/expecting a bigger harvest this […]
Posted in bonsai orchard, cherry wine, gardening on Jun 14th, 2007
Surefire is one of four cherry trees growing in my bonsai orchard, and the only one that will produce fruit, if just a handful, this year. It’s a tart cherry with red skin, flesh, and juice; I can’t wait to make red cherry wine and liqueur from it.
I bought the tree this year, so I […]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 31st, 2007
I transplanted more Gold Nugget tomatoes last night, six more to what I’m calling the “east block.” That’s to distinguish them from the four in the “north block” that I transplanted on the 29th. I did it the same way: deep planting hole, pinched out the lower leaves, added a ground up antacid tablet and […]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 30th, 2007
I’ve been reading up on blossom end rot, and it turns out that there may be something to the old (I would have called it a “wive’s tale”) practice of putting some powdered antacid in the planting hole of each tomato. The rot is caused by a calcium deficiency in the fruit, and the calcium […]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 29th, 2007
Today’s the Day! Ok, I know I said that yesterday was also the day, but that was for racking the mead. Today’s the day for transplanting tomatoes. I’ve been anticipating and delaying for quite a while, but there’s some hot days (upper 70s Fahrenheit - about 25 or 26 Celsius) and warm nights (50F - […]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 25th, 2007
When I wrote about cluster thinning to improve wine grapes, it got me thinking about tomatoes. Could the same technique improve the quality of tomatoes (and wine made from them)? I always have a problem with blossom end rot on my Romas, and I think that may be clue.
This rot occurs because the plant can’t […]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 24th, 2007
I used to write software for a living, and one thorny issue never far form anyone’s mind was the release date. This was the result of changes, unexpected problems, negotiation, compromise, tests of will, overtime, threats of violence, and - ok maybe not threats of violence. Not explicit ones anyway. The point is that the […]
Posted in gardening on May 20th, 2007
An important part in rejuvenating the rhubarb patch and preparing the tomato vineyard, is to fertilize them. Steve Solomon is my favorite gardening author, and this organic fertilizer recipe is from his Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Natural Gardening:
4 parts (by volume) seed meal (I use cottonseed meal)
1 part kelp […]
Posted in gardening, rhubarb wine on May 18th, 2007
It’s easy to grow. It’s hardy. You don’t have to do much for it. Well, that’s all true of rhubarb, unless you want to harvest a good crop. My first harvest of the year was pretty good, and better than last year. That made me feel pretty good about how the rhubarb patch was doing, […]
Posted in gardening, tomato wine on May 17th, 2007
I’ve been looking at the 10-day forecast for clues on when to transplant my tomatoes. I wrote about the balancing act between trying to get them in the ground as soon as possible, so they can start spreading their roots in the soil right away, and keeping them from cold overnight lows that will hold […]