peaches and blackberries

More fruit from the backyard... I counted 12 peaches on the peach tree. They are still quite hard but certainly have potential.


And the blackberries have started to ripen. Their long prickly vines pour over the bushes at the back of the yard. The deliciously tart berries decorated my nectarine poppy seed birthday cake!

first loquat jam

There's a big fruit tree next to my raised bed that bears clusters of small pale orange fruit. The squirrels and birds pay a lot of attention to the fruit as it ripens on the tree, whereas I have always assumed that the fruit was inedible. But this weekend my neighbor informed me that the tree is in fact a loquat tree and loquats are edible. Loquats are native to southeastern China but began growing in California in the 1870s. The name "loquat" comes from an ancient Cantonese word meaning "reed orange."

Loquats can be made into jellies and jams. So I decided to harvest the loquats and follow this jam recipe:

1. Wash the loquats and remove the seeds (seeds contain cyanide)
2. Blend/chop into a pulp (I added lemon juice from a backyard lemon.)
   
3. Barely cover with water and cook until red.
4. Stirr in 3/4 cups of sugar for everyone 1 cup of loquat pulp.
   
5. Continue to cook and stir until thick.

My harvest yielded 8 small jars of loquat jam. Delicious!

brassica rapa: modeling growth

Thanks to pure serendipity, one of my projects at school focuses on how kids learn about evolution through scientific modeling and observation. Students grow plants in their classrooms, measure the plant growth and build models (e.g. graphs etc.) to analyze their data. To simulate the experience of students (since our team is far from the classrooms where the project is based) we decided to grow the same plants as the students and measure the growth ourselves.

In the video game age, kids have short attention spans. So some botanists at the University of Wisconsin bred a quick-growing plant for use with kids. They aptly named the plant: Wisconsin Fast Plants (species: brassica rapa). We ordered a kit that comes with soil, seeds, fertilizer and a host of other materials to get you on your way (including a plastic "light box" that shines fluorescent light on the plants 24/7.) Here is our set of Fast Plants after about 3 days:


Yesterday, when we measured the plants (Day 28), some of the tallest plants had grown to almost 30 centimeters. They don't grow straight up, making it hard to measure. But they do have pretty little yellow flowers. We pierced a dead bee (they came with the kit) with a skewer and simulated pollination, rubbing the bee up against different yellow flowers. Pollen sticks to the bee's hairy body and the bee inadvertently spreads the pollen to different flowers while looking for nectar. This fertilization allows the plant to produce seeds.


Of course kids also like observing caterpillars and butterflies, so we ordered some Cabbage White butterfly eggs (species: pieris rapae). Concerned that the eggs would hatch into ravenous caterpillars that would destroy our baby fast plants, I put the eggs in a jar with some cabbage. A few of the eggs hatched and the baby caterpillars ate a lot of cabbage...and they also produced a lot of frass (caterpillar waste.) Frass gets moldy after a while (yuck!) so today I cleaned out the jar and added fresh local cabbage from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture.) I managed to salvage a little bit of non-moldy frass to use as fertilizer for the plants. As I cleaned out the jar, I was saddened to find only one healthy caterpillar remaining! We'll take good care of him, and as soon as he pupates, we'll move him into the light box with the brassica rapas.

wanted: watering advice

Over a week has passed since I planted my raised bed. The plants seem to be doing well, still no sprouts from the seeds however. I'm confident that the plants are receiving enough sun and I'm still giving my new soil the benefit of the doubt. That means that water is my primary concern. Obviously plants need water. But why?

Curious about the chemistry of water's role in photosynthesis, I dusted off my college biology textbook and refreshed my memory. Photosynthesis is the process of converting solar energy into chemical energy that can be used by plants. The primary byproduct of photosynthesis are carbohydrates (chains of carbon) such as glucose or fructose.

These carbohydrates store energy for the plant. To make a carbohydrate, the plant needs high energy electrons to connect the carbon atoms together. Where do these electrons come from? When a photon (a packet of light energy) hits the pigment molecule in the leaf, the photon causes one of the pigment's electrons to become a high energy electron. This high energy electron is then used by the plant to create carbon chains. But what about the water? Since the pigment is a donor of electrons, those electrons need to be replenished. Water supplies new low energy electrons to the pigment once the water molecule itself has been split by a photon (photolysis):

Oxygen is a byproduct of photolysis and it is released by the plant into the atmosphere. The hydrogen atoms are also used by the plant to create the carbohydrate sugars.

In addition to the role water plays as an electron replenisher in photosynthesis, water is also important as a solvent to transport minerals and carbohydrates throughout the plant. Water also helps cool the plant as it evaporates through openings (called stomata) in the plant leaves.

So clearly, I need to make sure I give my plants the water they need. But how much? How often? And what time of day?

I posted these questions on the vegetable garden forum (GardenWeb) and received the following responses:

• "One thing that I do know is that some say it is better to water in the evening (probably after 6pm for you), so you avoid any issues with the water burning onto the plants."

• "Don't believe any of that nonsense about water droplets in the sun burning the plants in the sun. It's much worse to have your plants wet all night long. Your plants prefer their leaves to be dry as much as possible. I'll water any time at all if I avoid getting the leaves wet, which is better still. Whenever practical, water the roots, not the leaves. Some would say early morning is best cuz it's cool enough that the water will soak in nicely before evaporating, and they have a point. I kinda like watering just before dusk, soil only, so the roots have all night long to leisurely soak up what they need. And evaporation is minimized."

• "I like to water in the morning so the plants can take up the water and not droop in the heat of the day. Always water at the soil level, never on the leaves."

• "Watering deeply in the morning is preferred here. If you overhead water, each drop can act as a prism and burn a leaf. Also, you want the roots to get the moisture, not the leaves."

• "Watering in the morning is much better, and only at the stems/roots. BTW, you have a very nice city to live in - I visited in April, and drove to the university football stadium for a photo opportunity - If I wouldn't have known which street it was on , i'd never have found it! OMG, it's hidden behind trees and foliage.Anyway - very nice place to visit."

• "Once plants are established, think in terms of water conservation and plant vigor. If you water too much, your plants will not develop the vigor they need to be extremely productive, among other things. And conservation means deep root watering during the coolest times of the day to prevent evaporation. Early morning is considered the optimum time to make the most of your water with a mind towards conservation."

Based on the somewhat conflicting advice I received, I decided to try watering in the mornings, before the sun reached my bed. I also took the spray nozzle off of the hose and put the end of the hose at the base of each plant for a few minutes to avoid watering the leaves. This allows the water to actually seep into the soil, instead of running down the hardened surface of the bed. Hopefully this method will yield healthy, well-watered plants! Many thanks to water for supplying those low-energy electrons!

raising the bed

With summer around the corner, it was time to attempt a garden once again. This time, I would be more methodical, carefully cultivating the ideal environment to grow vegetables. This time, when I selected a plot, I needed to pick the SUNNIEST part of my backyard (I neglected to think about sun on my first try.) I spent a few weeks observing the sun at different times during the day. Which parts of the backyard were sunny in the early morning? Mid-day? Afternoon?

I noticed that my previous plot only received a handful of hours of early morning sun. But across the way, to the right as I exited the kitchen, was a spot that got sun all afternoon. The sun cleared the right fence just before noon and blanketed the entire spot before setting behind the trees around 6pm. Six full hours of sun. While this is still technically considered "partial sun" (between 3-6 hours), this was the sunniest spot in the backyard. Only one problem: the spot was home to a huge flowering bush. After some gentle diplomacy with the neighbors, I was granted the go-ahead and uprooted the bush. A sunny, dirt plot remained.


The dirt was hard and rocky. Only the best soil would suffice for my new garden so I decided to build a raised bed. The raised bed method offers a way to ensure rich soil for the plants in a controlled environment. I enlisted my friend's help because he knows how to build things. First, we measured the area. It was a trapezoid shape.


Then we scoured the East Bay, looking for the right type of wood for the bed. We considered buying copper-treated pine from Home Depot, but when the salesperson said that even he wouldn't eat veggies from a garden using that chemical-treated wood, we opted for redwood instead. Redwood has a nice look and it withstands the weather better than other woods. We went to Economy Lumber in Oakland to find the right size. We bought 1"x12" pieces, each 10 feet long. This size makes a bed that is 10" deep. With the help of some power tools, we made the trapazoid-shaped walls with long 3'1/2" screws. Then I lined the bottom and sides with a thin plastic lining. I made sure to cut big holes in the bottom for drainage.





We calculated that we would need 40 cubic feet of soil to fill the bed. At American Soil in Richmond, they sell bulk soil by the cubic yard (27 cubic feet.) Luckily, my friend's truck could hold one cubic yard (just barely.) I bought a yard and a half of multi-purpose soil which contains wood fines, WonderGrow organic compost, chicken manure, rice hulls, clean lava, minus lava and loamy sand. We had to make two trips to American soil and unloaded the soil by bucket to the backyard. We hauled over 60 back-breaking buckets!!! The soil was hot and stinky (probably due to the chicken manure...) We hosed down the soil periodically as we filled the bed.



How lovely! My new raised bed filled with luscious soil.


A few days later I went to my beloved Berkeley Horticultural Nursery and bought the following starts: rosemary, Berggarten sage, Italian flat-leafed parsley, Italian oregano, German Winter thyme, purplette onions, "Wings of Night" lavender and 5 types of tomatoes (Sweet Million, Early Girl, Flamme, Green Zebra and Japanese Black Trifele.) I planted yellow & orange Sunshine carrot seeds, Bright Lights Swiss chard seeds and Detroit Dark Red beet seeds. I also planted the basil that wasn't too happy by itself in the kitchen and some good ol' Colonel Kentucky mint (solo in a pot of course.)




Many, many thanks to my friend who made this raised bed possible. We spent two days on the project, about 5 hours per day. Without his know-how, truck, tools and selfless generosity, I would have been bedless. Now these new plants have every chance possible for success. They are immersed in fresh, nutrient-rich soil and bask in 6 hours of afternoon sun in a raised bed. I've made their bed and now they can lie it while growing me some yummy veggies!