Sunday, October 07, 2012

Spider Web

This morning.  The spider is your friend.

Roots, one month later

I planted this little, container-grown pine about one month ago. Already I saw it was a bad choice of location, and moved it.
Lots of little roots, a half inch long. The soil just fell away. I tried to move with a bigger soil clump but it fell off. I don't think the roots were damaged. It's nice to see that they started growing so fast.
Not the same pine as above, but treated in the same way that I treated that one, initially. This is a bush-type pine, mugo pine. I like pine trees a lot. I don't know why. A disadvantage of buying late in the season, is the roots wind around the container. The circle of roots does not allow for spreading into surrounding soil, weakening and potentially killing the tree, some time down the road. When they encircle this much, I make multiple cuts to discourage encircling and allow new root growth in an outward direction, into the new soil.
I pull away roots that are no longer connected to the plant, and gently spread the cut parts to prevent the "pot in soil" effect. I think it will recover and grow just fine.

Saturday, October 06, 2012

Onion and Chive update. Raised bed.

Already, the Chinese chives are filling in with new leaves, stout and firm. The smaller, finer "Illinois rescue" garlic chives are filling in faster than the Chang Chun culinary Chinese chives.  The Egyptian Walking Onions have many new shoots as well - some 3 inches tall.  I think about 2/3 have started growing above the soil.  Fast. Both the bulbs and the topsets are growing fast. There are 2 bunches of cilantro that I planted a week or two ago.  Almost ready to eat.
The Yellow Potato Onions are sending up new shoots.  That's about 2 weeks?  No garlic up yet. I'm not greedy, they will grow in their own time.

Moving a big forsythia bush

This bush was in a bad place.  Dry, north side of the house, shaded on 3 sides.  It was droopy and not enough room.  I grew it from a cutting about 7 years ago.  This bush had branches too tall for me to reach the top, so about 9 feet tall.  But all of the leaves were wilted. They have been repeatedly wilter most of the summer. I don't water it enough.

Doesn't look great, but on planting and watering, the few remaining leaves perked up nicely. My theory is that forsythia is so tough, and cuttings root so easily, and it does have a good root mass. So I think it will have a set back, and of course won't bloom next spring. But I think it will establish and be a nice bush by next summer. Pic to add tomorrow after it has the cool night to soak up water. Added the next am:
The forsythia leaves perked up nicely. I think it will do OK.

Moving a 4 year old cherry tree

Rain is predicted for next Saturday. Nights are in the 40s to 50s, days in 70s to 80s. Leaves are beginning to change color and drop. So I thought it would be OK to move this 4 year old Almaden Duke cherry tree from the yard in Vancouver to the yard in Battleground. It was quite a job.
Before digging.   I watered the tree thoroughly 2 days ago.  It wasn't getting watered much this summer.  There was a handful of cherries this year.  good.
Starting to dig.  As with the ginkgo, vertical slices about 2 feet from the trunk.
Then dig further out, making a moat.  Then slicing under the tree.  Slicing the soil, as deep as possible, not prying upward.
Then, as the tree falls to one side,  easing a tarp under it.  I did not lift, but rather wedged the tarp under the tree.  Then pulled on the tarp to move the tree.  At the truck, I lifted using the tarp.  I covered the tree with another tarp, along with a shrub and another smaller tree, tied it all down, and drove it to battleground.  It wasn't as good as it sounds - wind blew under the tarp, resulting in some dehydration of the tree.
Here's the hole.  I hosed down the tree and kept it covered until ready to put into the hole.  There are two mole tunnels into this hole.
I'm tired of moles digging into the newly planted trees.  I don't know if they actually do harm.  I'm also tired of me not doing something about it.  So here is a lining of chicken wire.  It should rust away in a few years.
Cherry planted.  A bit droopy.  I don't know if that's the wind effect, which didn't affect other trees that I moved, or maybe cherries in leaf just don't move well.  After soaking, it's a little less droopy.  Still, it may lose leaves, and I may not know until next year if it survives. Added the next morning:
The leaves did perk up. Not 100%, but much better. I think it will be OK. * The mole screen did seem to annoy and frustrate the mole. He/she built a new mole hill right at he screen, where the tunnel was blocked. I don't mind the moles. They eat grubs, so they have a beneficial role.I just don't want them to damage the young tree roots. It's also annoying when they pile soil on top of the mulch. When the rains start, I'm guessing they will concentrate on the newly moist soil of the lawn, and stay away from my little fruit trees.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Brief update

No pics today. Today we had 3 figs from the Sal's fig tree that I moved this summer to Battleground. The figs were slightly different from Hardy Chicago. A little "richer" however that is defined. More juicy. Skin was not as dark, but flesh had more red coloration. It's not a fair comparison - different location. I'm glad it survived the move even in the Summer and provided some figs. I planted some plum seeds, Hollywood plum, among the shallot rows. They are labeled. This way they can stratify over the winter. Just for fun. I planted some chinese chive seeds among the plants. That should help fill in the gaps, if they grow. Fall planting has the risk of not growing at all, or growing but the tiny plants not surviving the winter. If so, not much loss. I saved lots of seeds this year. I stuck daffodil bulbs in molehills. I read that moles don't like daffodils. I did that only where the mole(s) dug too close to my little fruit trees. Rain is postponed another week. Maybe it's going to become a desert here? Watered all of the new tree and shrub transplants, and the raised beds.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Figs

Now it's time for more Main Crop figs. Lots of variety now.
The biggest ones are the NoID Vancouver fig. Likely Brunswick. The brown figs are Hardy Chicago. The black figs are Petite negri. They are all wonderful.
The green ones are Lattarula.

Bulbs, Deer ResistantT

These were labeled as deer resistant. A wild tulip. I read that deer like tulips, but maybe not the wild one? More allium. Two varieties of grape hyacinth. If the deer don't get them, will the moles? I planted some around each of the new shade trees.

Transplanted Trees. One Week Later.

THey are not as droopy as I expected. In fact, they seem just fine.
The Stanley Plum. Not a single leaf has fallen. I watered this, and the other trees, today.
Indian Peach. I was sure I killed it. Not droopy, no wilting. So far, so good. I think once it's past the first week, it's less to worry about.
Not a home grown transplant, but it needed to go somewhere. Blake Kiwi. The start of a Kiwi vinyard. More, later.
The ginkgo. No more droopy than it was before. I think it will do OK.

Raised Bed #2. More fall planting

Finished the second raised bed. Similar to the first. Moving soil and mixing in compost, is hard work. Like the first raised bed, much of the topsoil is finely ground mole hills. There are a lot of them. They are easily dug, and need to be shaved off for mowing purposes.
Filled, mixed, smoothed over, ready to plant. Like the first raised bed, I added about 1/4 to 1/3 compost, made at a local recycling center from yard waste. It's black and crumbly. This is the "experimental garden". It contains: 3 rows of German Porcelain Garlic. This is a new variety to me. The sign stated, German Porcelain Garlic has fewer, larger cloves - good, I don't like peeling the tiny middle cloves, and this variety doesn't have them; strong punguent flavor - good. So it's worth a try. 1 row of Safeway Red Shallots. Because that's where I bought them. 2 rows of "rescue Garlic" - NoID from my back yard, small cloves, some are bulbs that did not clove. I want to see if they produce well, once in good soil and treated well. They could be almost any variety - over the years, I've grown grocery store garlic, Inchelium Red, German Red, and NoID garlics. 1 row of Holland Red Shallots. I found them at a local nursery. I read grocery shallots might be treated with a growth inhibitor and not grow. So I'm trying both. 2 rows of Yellow Potato Onions - mainly the small bulbs, a few larger ones. I found them while sorting through garden tools. 1 row of Inchelium Red garlic. Wanted to add a few more. My favorite. 1 row of Ixia for fun and as a test. They may not make it through the winter here. 1 row with one Allium gigantium bulb, multiple Egyptian Walking Onion bulbs - these will split into several scallions, faster than the small sets grow, and divisions from an old clump of garlic chives, to see if they are regenerated in the new setting.
Laid out in rows, ready to plant.
Planted, labeled, covered with a light layer of compost, watered, and ready for fall. Note: Egyptian Walking Onion starts in the first raised bed are about 1 inch tall now. Growing fast. The rescued garlic chives are also generating firm, green, new growth, about 1 inch long. Garlic and Yellow Potato Onions are not yet visible. It's very early. It's been in the 70s anbd 80s, without rain. So I watered them today.