Travels with George and Marta – Page 48 – Journeys in the Botanical World

Vegetable Garden 2009 #6

Posted on July 19, 2009 by MartaOctober 14, 2014

The tomatoes are fattening up and some are getting lighter but we still do not have our first ripe tomato. We went out of town last week and they got a little stressed while we were gone. It has been warm – in the 80’s with lows in the 50’s. It is still early for NW but with this great warm weather, you would think, no?

We are starting phase two in the garden. The lettuce started to bolt so we pulled it out. Most of the peas are done although the pole sugar snap peas are still producing. The second batch got really tall – almost 8 ft. I’ll give them another week and then we’ll take them down also. I harvested the sugar grey that had gone to pod and froze them. It may have been too late for sweet peas but I’ll see. I could maybe use them in soup.

We just seeded a fall crop of Sugar Sprint Peas. We should be able to get a crop done before the frost. Last year as an experiment, we put planted a few in late September and about 6 weeks later they were just putting on pods. We get our first frost mid-October or later so hopefully, we’ll get peas by mid-September. We are also seeding some lettuce. The Nevada did the best so we’ll start some indoors and put it out in a week or so.

The green beans are coming on. I’ve gotten 4 meals already from the Maxibels and lots more. I may try freezing a batch also. The Helga Romano beans are on so we’ll switch over to those soon. The Blue Lake poles are just starting to bloom so they will be a bit more.

I can’t keep up with the squash. I removed the big ones. Our cukes are doing great so we’ll have lots of cool sliced cukes and I may make a soup. Our carrots are doing well – we’ll leave those for late fall.

Now, if the tomatoes would only ripen. I have mozzarella waiting.

Toms in Greenhouse	Toms in driveway
8ft Peas!	Preparing for next crop
Preparing for next crops	Squash
Maxibel Haricot Vert	Today’s harvest

PhotoHunt: Rock

Posted on July 18, 2009 by MartaDecember 26, 2014

Mt Whitney – highest mountain in continental US

This week’s photohunt theme is rocks. I knew I would not have any difficulty with this theme except the difficulty choosing a photo. We love to hike and there are always rocks when hiking. But what hike to highlight?

Our climb up Mt. Whitney won out. Mt. Whitney is the highest peak in the continental US. Mt. McKinley is higher but it is in Alaska. The mountain is located in eastern California about 6 hour drive north of Los Angeles. It was 14,496 ft when we climbed it but it has been remeasured and is now officially 14,505 ft or 4,421 m. That is a lot of rock!

We climbed it in 2004 to celebrate my 50th birthday. You have to plan ahead to both train and get a permit for the climb. We entered a lottery in January and got a day pass to do the climb in late July. We decided to do it in one day so I wouldn’t have to carry a heavy pack.

But it is a challenge to do in one day. It is 22 miles roundtrip with an elevation gain of 6,131ft. We started hiking at 3am – made it to the summit shortly after noon and arrived back around 7pm. I think going down was harder than going up. The trail was mostly rock and a killer. But what an accomplishment.

More pictures:

Along the trail to the summit of Mt. Whitney

Small tarn along the summit trail to Mt. Whitney

The Needles and Mt. Whitney above Trail Camp near 12,000Ft

The Cables above Trail Camp on Mt. Whitney Trail

Nothing but rock at the top

Happy hikers at the summit of Mt. Whitney

Railroad history along Iron Goat Trail

Posted on July 10, 2009 by MartaJuly 10, 2009

Like most of the west, the railroad has played a large part in the settling of Washington. The two main access points to the Puget Sound area are across Snoqualmie/Stampede Pass and Stevens Pass. Rail came earlier to Stampede Pass area. Northern Pacific Railway choose Tacoma as a terminus and the rail line opened over Stampede in 1888.

The Great Northern Railway went farther north and cross the Cascades at Stevens Pass to the terminus of Everett and Seattle in 1893. In February/March 1910, two trains were delayed by snow and avalanches for several days. The trains made it to Wellington where they waited for the tracks to be cleared. On March 1, 1910, thunder triggered an avalanche which swept the trains off their tracks and down 150 feet. The accident killed 96 people and is one of the worst rail disasters in the history of the US.

To protect the trains, a series of show sheds were built over the 9 miles of steep tracks at the pass between 1913-1915. A new tunnel was build in 1929 and the old steep grade and tunnels were made obsolete. Today, the tracks have been turned into the Iron Goat Trail. Do you remember the train with the Mountain Goat as its emblem. That was the Great Northern mascot from which the trail gets its name.

Today Highway 2 parallels the train tracks to the top of Stevens Pass. Just a few miles from the pass, is the Iron Goat Trail Interpretive Center. It includes several informative panels on the history of the railroad and a bright red caboose. Today the trail is the result of the hard work of the Volunteers for Outdoor Washington.

A new crossover trail between the Interpretive Center at Scenic and the upper grade opened two years ago. It is a short 1 mile trail which gains 700 ft over 25 switchbacks. The group did a great job on the trail.

Monday we decided to check out the trail. We decided to hike up the crossover trail to the main grade, then to Windy Point and continue east towards Wellington. It took about 1 1/2 hours to drive from our house to the Interpretive Center. The clouds had closed in and lowered by time we reached the trail head. It was wet and misty.

We took our time climbing – enjoying the woodland flowers which were in bloom. We reached the main grade and went to explore the tunnel. I was amazed at the size and darkness of the tunnel. It was also amazing to see that much concrete in the forest.

We headed for Windy Point. It took us along a narrow edge on the side of the tunnel and a short way through the forest. Unfortunately the clouds and mists prevented us seeing the vista. We could hear the traffic below on Highway 2. We continued along through the forest. For a while we hiked along side one of the snow shelters. Railroad spikes littered the forest floor. We came along one of the rail mileage posts. The forest was dark and rather spooky. I had heard that someone had seen a large bear on the trail the previous week and we could see bark that had been torn from trees – a sure sign of a bear in the neighborhood. It was getting colder so we decided to turn back. We stopped at the Windy Pass overview which was still clouded over and ate lunch.

We headed back down – fast and smooth. We arrived back at the parking lot in no time. We took a bit of time to read the history and explore before heading back to civilization.

There is much more to explore. We would like to return and explore from one of the other two trail heads. For more information – see the Iron Goat Trail website.

Red Caboose at the Interpretive Center trailhead

Stairs along the Crossover Trail

Steeper switchbacks near the top of the Crossover trail

Snowshed wall near one of the tunnels

Old Rail Tunnel

View from just inside the tunnel

Built in 1914

Trail continues along side of the tunnel snowshed

Hard to believe there is a tunnel behind that hillside

1713 railroad miles from St. Paul Minn.

Edmonds 4th of July Parade

Posted on July 4, 2009 by MartaJuly 4, 2009

Everybody loves a parade. It has been years since I’ve been to a parade. The last parade was the Fremont Solstice Parade which is totally different. G had to work this year so I decided to check out the local 4th of July parade in Edmonds.

The crowds had already started to gather around 11:30am. I joined in and followed several families down to where the parade was starting at 6th and Main. People were lined up with their chairs along the route. Today was pretty hot and most of places were in the sun. I walked a block or so and found a place under a large tree in the shade. Perfect.

It wasn’t too crowded at all. Everyone right at the sidewalk edge had low chairs. I was talking with another woman and she said this was the 9th parade and it is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses.

It had a little bit of everything – but mostly decorated cars and marching groups. It only lasted an hour but it was fun and different thing to do.

Happy 4th everyone!

Decorated vehicles and marching groups

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PhotoHunt: Pink

Posted on July 4, 2009 by MartaJuly 4, 2009

Salvia involucrata ‘El Cielo’ with a hummingbird

This week’s Photohunt theme is pink. We grow Salvias, one of the largest plant genus in the world. Salvia genus includes the culinary herb, sage. But there are many different varieties from desert to tropical. It also occurs in many different colors from white to dark purple. Here are some of the variety of pink Salvia flowers.

Salvia involucrata “El Cielo”

Salvia ‘Trinidad Pink’

Salvia greggii “Savanah Burgundy”

Salvia “Wild Watermelon”

Salvia spathacea

Salvia spathacea found in the wild in the mountains near Santa Barbara, CA

Vegetable Garden 2009 #5

Posted on July 3, 2009 by MartaOctober 14, 2014

Wow! what a difference in just three weeks! My last update was on June 14th. We had just had seen our first tomatoes – little tiny Oregon Stars. The weather turned a little cool about two weeks ago but soon it warmed up again into the 70’s. This week it is hot. Today we were up to almost 86 degrees – tomorrow more of the same. I’m lovin’ it. And so are the tomatoes.

But first let’s look at how everything else is doing. We’ve harvested about 1/4 – 1/3 of the lettuce. I really like the Nevada. The Red Sails and Merlot are fine but I’m certain that I do not like the Mascara oak leaf. It just doesn’t do anything for me. Also both the Merlot and Mascara have little spines on the stems. Just like little slivers – I cut off the rib/stems. I’m a very fussy greens eater.

We got about 1 more serving off the Sugar Sprints. They produce well but we just don’t plant enough. The pole Sugar Snaps are still producing although one has been yellowing and is almost past. The Grey Sugar Peas are so-so for me. They produce a lot but they are not real great in taste. You can also use them as a shelling pea and I noticed that they seem go to seed fast. You have to get them really young for snow peas. Another gardener didn’t like them either – but I found the history interesting. I can see why they were favored a century ago since they could be rather versatile since you can eat them at several stages. I probably won’t grow them again.

The bush beans – a haricot vert variety is just blooming and just starting to put on pods. Soon. The pole green beans still have a ways to go.

The squash are coming along great. Cavili is doing great. It is parthenocarpic (self-pollinating) summer squash – lighter than a zucchini. We harvested a small one and it had good flavor. Another one is starting to turn into a short stubby baseball bat – got to get it off soon. The yellow zucchini – Butterstick is also starting to produce. What is so weird is the first few butterstick squashes have ended up looking similar to the Cavili even though they start out yellow. One is even half yellow half light green. I’m wondering if it is getting pollinated by the Cavili. The cukes are also starting to fruit.

The determinate tomatoes are going gangbusters. The Oregon Star is fruiting like crazy and so is Siletz. The indeterminate are still coming along – just one fruit on Momotaro and not a lot on the cherry tomato -yet. The other determinates – Stupice and Taxi – are fruiting but a little less. If this hot weather continues – homegrown tomatoes soon.

Cavili Squash	Butterstick – Check out the two colored one
Toms in the greenhouse	Toms & Cukes


Driveway tomatoes	Oregon Star
Grey Sugar Peas	Siletz

Iron Peak – Teanaway Country

Posted on June 30, 2009 by MartaDecember 27, 2014

I heard that the trails in the Teanaway basin were open. The warm weather has opened the eastern slopes of the cascades earlier than last year even with our heavy snow fall. We decided to go to Iron Peak, one of our favorite trails in the area. We hiked this last Tuesday – June 23rd.

We have been hiking this region since the early ’80s. I have a photo on my desk that was taken on our first trip to Iron Peak way back in early July 1986. I think we’ve been up this trail 4 or 5 times. The trail is not that hard since the wide switchbacks spread out the elevation gain. It was fine for me even being out of shape.

The drive takes about 2 1/2 – 3 hours from north Seattle. The last 13 miles are on dirt road. The road used to be pretty bad but it was regraded and improved about 5 years ago. But time is starting to takes its toll – man were the potholes killers this time – especially in the bright sunlight.

We got to the trail head around 11am. The parking area at the side of the road was empty. It was Tuesday and few people were to be seen. In fact we never saw another hiker on the trail the whole day.

The trail starts along side of El Dorado Creek. It was running fast and full but it was a lovely sound. The forest is Douglas fir and pine with very little undergrowth. But what makes this area special is the serpentine soil – a unique soil poor in minerals. It creates a botanical wonderland with species of wildflowers that have adapted to the soil. About half way up, we came across a large blow down. Fortunately, it was easy to pick our way through the broken trees.

On the upper slopes we saw lovely anemones, glacier lilies, shooting stars, and snow douglasia. Off in the distance we could see Rainier and close by the rocky sides of the peaks in the Esmeralda Basin.

We reached the saddle by 2pm. Yep – it is taking me about 1 hour to climb 1 mile. The rest of the way to the summit still had snow patches and we were content to explore the saddle. We sat on the rocks, ate our sandwich and watched the lovely view down the opposite side to Beverly basin where we hiked last year. The wind picked up and the high overcast cooled us off. We headed back down to the car and back to Seattle by 7pm.

View towards Esmeralda Basin

View towards Beverly Basin from Saddle

View of Beverly Basin from Iron Peak Saddle

Anemone drummondii

Erythronium grandiflorum

Douglasia nivalis

PhotoHunt: Flag

Posted on June 27, 2009 by MartaNovember 2, 2014

Malaysian Flags decorating building in Kuching

It is Saturday – That means it is time to hunt photos again. This week’s theme is Flag. Boy did I have a hard hard time with this theme. I almost did not post. I was looking for another picture of a US flag on one of the Washington State Ferries but I could not find it. This morning I finally remembered this picture that I took in Kuching in Malaysia. I loved the colors of the building and the flags were a nice contrast to the pastel colors.

Have a great weekend and check out more hunters at Tnchick

Garden Tour

Posted on June 22, 2009 by MartaOctober 14, 2014

I was inspired by WCS video garden tour. He did a tour of his vegetable garden that was fun to watch. My small Canon SD800 has a video mode so I made the following video of the garden in front of my house. You might recognize a few of the flowers from my recent posts. It was a lot of fun to make.

Lake 22

Posted on June 22, 2009 by MartaJune 22, 2009

Twenty Two Creek

Last Monday, the weather had cooled off but it was still warm. No rain was forecast so we decided to take advantage of the weather to go hiking. We decided to go to Lake 22 which is north of Seattle along the Mountain Loop Highway.

Mt. Pilchuck is the dominating peak in the area. For many years, it was an easy to get to ski area with two chairs and a couple of rope tows. It eventually lost its permit and the area closed.

There are several lakes located in small cirques below the rocky slopes including Lake 22. It is an easy 1 hour drive from Seattle. The trail to the lake is 5.4 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1350ft.The proximity to Seattle and the easy trail makes it very popular even during the week.

The Forest Service has recently build a new set of bathrooms at the trail head in addition doing work and laying gravel in the parking area. The trail starts starts climbing slowly above the Mt. Loop Highway to the crossing with Twenty Two Creek. It starts to climb more switching back to waterfall views of the creek. It was running fast – an indicator that we were going to run into snow. There were wonderful small woodland plants like Cornus canadensis lining the trail.

After climbing for a while, the trail opens and crosses a large talus slope bring lots of interesting plants in the open area. The trail makes a couple of large switch backs up the slope before reentering the forest near the creek. This become more boggy. It was filled with Skunk Cabbage – Lysichiton americanus. Can you guess that it is related to the stinky Arum in my garden? Yes! It is one of the few arums that are native to the US. There is also a species that grows in bogs in the east. The weather was cool so we did not notice any odor.

We were just about 1/4 mile from the lake when we ran into snow. The moist air had cooled considerably and we arrived at a foggy snowy lake. On clear days, the rocky slopes of Mt Pilchuck tower in the background. Maybe another day.