First Seed Starts Of The Year. 1.12.2021

 Today I set up the LED Plant lights on the plant stand, so they will be ready when the seedlings germinate.  I still need to construct a wider shelf.  The first seedlings are onions, which do well started now; peppers and eggplants, which seem to need to longest head start.  I think last year I started peppers in March but it might have been April.  The pepper crop was quite late.  Their raised bed is already set up, which is a nice feeling.

Here is a view of the LED light set up, taken from below.  The light colors do not come at all true in the photo.

The seeds I started today.

Onions - Yellow Sweet Spanish (heirloom), New York Early, and Evergreen White Nebuka scallions.

Shallots from Seeds- Ambition F1.  I have not tried growing shallots from seeds before.

Peppers- Early Jalapeno, Serrano, Jalafuego F1 hybrid, and Arapaho F1.  Tomorrow I may get out some old seeds for others.  There is room on the mats.

Eggplants-Long Purple and (I forget) Black.  These are old seeds.

I like using the little mushroom containers from the grocery store, as holders for seedling sis packs.  They are more sturdy, and hold water.  The size is perfect.  I have them covered with plastic wrap, and they are on seed starting warming mats.

Some of this year's new seeds are from Johnny's Selected Seeds.  They are located in Maine, so my guess is their varieties should be good for Northern gardens.  Also some from "Seeds n Such" which I have not tried before.  They had several that I could not find elsewhere, and their prices were good.

Propagating / Transplanting Oriental Poppy. The Result. 1.10.2020

Back in 2000 or so, I grew brilliant red oriental poppies from seeds.  This was an homage to my grandfather who grew them.  I remember him saying that they don't transplant easily.  That might be a false memory, so long ago.  A few years ago, I tried transplanting the mature oriental poppy plants when they were dormant.  The roots were woody and brittle, and broke off under ground.  I planted them  any way, and they grew and bloomed the next year.

Those original plants grew new tops from the deep roots.  Last summer I dug them again, breaking them off as deeply as I could.  I did that when they were fully dormant, mid summer, dried brown stems.  The roots were about 9 inches long.  I planted them in the perennial border around my garden.  

Checking the garden now, there are healthy looking poppy plants at each site where I planted the transplants.  This method works nicely.  I expect they will bloom next summer.

Rufus' New Rain Jacket. 1.10.2021

 Given the gloomy weather, I want Rufus in a more visible color than his natural shadow-black, on our daily walks.  We don't have sidewalks.  I wear bright yellow, so he should too.  I started this jacket last year then set it aside.  The main thing it needed was a belt and belt loops, to keep it from sliding off his back.  Here he is wearing the improved jacket.

Pruning the Apple Trees. 1/4/2021

 There is a role for summer and for winter pruning of apples.  Summer pruning is more dwarfing, but can expose apples to sunburn.  Growth on winter pruned apples can be too vigorous.  There is more time in the winter, and without leaves the form shows up better.

This is Liberty apple on the minidwarfing M27 rootstock.  The tree is 20 years old.  I moved it from the Vancouver place about 5 years ago.  It never did well there, but in Battle Ground  got a new lease on life.  I don't want branches that are too high to reach with a ladder, but also don't want them so low it's hard to keep the soil clean around the tree and hard to get to the apples.  So, I've been progressively removing the lowest branches, and bending the top growth to a horizontal shape, sort of a 3-dimensional Espalier.  I bend those, tie them down for a year or two, then shorten branches that grown one them, in the summer by a Lorette-type approach.  So far it's working OK.

This is the Jonagold.  It's also on M27 but much more vigorous than the Liberty.  Probably because it is triploid.  I'm trying to use the same approach, bending the upper branches to a horizontal position, then prune for spurs in the summer.

I'm not sure about the rootstock on the Winecrisp apple.  It seems to be a dwarf or mid size tree, maybe semidwarfing rootstock.  Again, a similar approach.  I've added some grafts as well, Sweet-16, Fameuse, and Mile Gibson.  So far. the Sweet-16 and Fameuse seem promising.  I'm not sure about the Milo and may change that over to something else.  Anyway, I'm aiming for the same idea, horizontal top branches.  Not pictured.

This was the first tree I grafted.  The base tree is Sutton Beauty, on M26 Rootstock.  I think.  I've added Baldwin, Liberty, Airlie Red Flesh, and Prima.  I'm not impressed with Baldwin and might remove it.  Same for the Airlie Red Flesh, which is good but can be scabby.  No harm in keeping them another year.  This tree remains quite dwarf.  It needs a little more tying down.

These columnar trees are North Pole on M27.  I'm keeping them to single cordon, with spurs about a foot long or less.  They do need support.

 There are still lots more apple trees that need pruning.

Making a Machine Washable Doggie Bed Out of Old Comforter. 1.4.2021

 This was an old comforter I bought at Good Will two years ago for Rufus.  It cost $6.  Most of the dog beds are not really washable and become lumpy and dirty fairly fast, and are quite expensive.  In the past, I used old comforters and folded then for bulk, to make a soft dog bed.  Those can be washed but can be too big for the washer/dryer.  This one was king size, so I never used it.  No way would it fit in our washer.  I didn't notice that when I bought it.

Today I got it out and cut it into quarters, then hemmed the edges.  That made four pillowy minicomforters that can be folded in half or thirds and stacked for the little "prince and the pea.".  Plus, they are a nice washable / dryable size for Mr. Muddy Paws.  I think these will last longer than a bought purpose-made dog bed, and he likes them.

Reuse, repurpose, upcycle, whatever.  Plus cheap.

Raised Beds are Finished. Garlic is Growing. 1.4.2021

 The raised beds are done.  They are all filled with soil mix.  The last one got about 2/3 soil from where the neighbor built a road on his easement on my property.  It's good soil, unimproved and fallow.  That got mixed with some raised bed soil from an old bed that has been improved with lots of compost over the years.  I added some wood ashes and crushed eggshell to the mix.

The middle bed also settled, so got a wheelbarrow of that same soil on top of the prior mix.  I added it on top of the maple leaf mulch, which I want to compost itself.  Both beds will get a leaf mulch for the rest of the winter.  I hope the earthworms will like that and do their thing.

The first bed was planted with garlic after I filled it in Sept or Oct.  These are the big, "Music" garlic, and also some others.  One row had germinated shortly after, but the most did not.  Now they are poking through the soil.  Winter wont hurt them.  Currently they are getting all of the coffee grounds, which in my case is quite a bit.  I used to collect coffee grounds from Starbucks, which sometimes they were nice about and sometimes they were put off by that.  With the pandemic, I haven't been to a Starbucks in a year.  So these are all from my own coffee pot.  They also got quite a bit of compost mixed into the upper soil layers, which I figure they will like.

I also salvaged some garlic plants from an old raised bed, planting them in the new one.  I don't know how they will do.  But if they grow, that's good.  If they don't, nothing lost.

I think these taller raised beds will benefit my gardening a lot.  They don't take nearly the amount of leaning and crouching and back-straining.  They were still a lot of work to fill.  That is an investment into a gardening future.  Having three beds, one gets garlic, one gets peppers and pickle cukes, and one gets scallions and leaf crops, or bush beans.  That makes a good rotation, one year on / two years off for each crop.

So far, I like this style of raised bed better than any other that I've tried.  They are less heavy work to put together.  Boards take less garden real estate than cement blocks, although there are advantages to those.

Squash. Also Don't Use Pyrex to Roast a Squash. 1.4.2021

 This is a Pink Banana Squash.  There were a couple of good ones this year.  This one needed roasting, so it doesn't get a chance to spoil.  This one was about 5 pounds.

I tried roasting it at about 375 for an hour.  Then I heard a loud noise from the oven.  The squash slices were in Pyrex casserole pans.  I've used them many times.  This time, one exploded.  Glass shards embedded in roasted squash all over the oven.  I had to take it apart to remove the glass and clean it.  Of course the squash was also ruined, with glass shards in the roasted squash flesh.

Fortunately I have one remaining Pink Banana Squash to roast.  This time I will use earthenware oven pans.

Finished a Quilt. 1.4.2021

 This is a lap-size quilt.  Or goes on the wall.  I learned a lot with this one, how to quilt it without creases, how to to this patchwork, how to get the binding right.  Next I will make one for the bed, which is the whole idea.  I just wasn't ready before.  I'm thinking to use shades of blues and neutral colors, or I don't know.

Washing the quilt brings out a nice texture, as the fabrics soften up and there is a little shrinkage.  I think it's a beautiful effect.  In fact, I think it's a far nicer look than before washing.

Clearing Himalayan Blackberries, Again. 1.3.2020

 I've been cleaning up the Himalayan blackberries in the border at the North edge of the property.  This area was impenetrable when we bought the place in 2012.  I cleared a big portion of the blackberries in 2015-2017, planted a row of Leyland Cypress in an attempt to have some privacy, out-compete the brambles, and hold the soil, given a bit of a bank on the North side.  I also planted rhododendrons on the near side of some.  And mostly, grass seed.  Unfortunately, it was not possible for me to keep the rhodies cleared of blackberry.  The cypress grew well but some not fast or thick enough, so there was a growing amount of blackberries to clear again.

Some photos from 2015. These brambles were impenetrable back then, around ten feet tall.  There were some fallen cascara trees mixed with them.

This is 2015, part way through clearing the brambles.  Back then I was using a pruning shears.  Now I'm using a hedge trimmer, which seems to go faster but is also harder work.

 After clearing the first area.  I planted Leyland cypress trees at the northern side, between cleared ground and the falling cascara trees.  That was in winter 2015-2016.

Now, five years later, this batch of cypress have filled in, and there aren't a lot of blackberry brambles in this area.  Almost, but not quite, none.  The caged tree is a ginkgo that is failing to thrive, and probably should be moved out.  Some more of the cascara trees have fallen.  I think they are at their size limit and will continue to fall down.

 

This was the other area, east of the first area.  There were a lot of fallen cascara trees mixed with the brambles.  So those had to be cut off.  After this cleanup, I planted the Leyland cypress trees as in the first group, but they were much smaller trees.  On the near side, I planted the rhodies and some perennials.  That was a mistake - too hard to keep clean.  This week, the rhodies went elsewhere, and I cleaned it up again.  Not nearly as bad as the first time around, but I don't want to have to do it again.  This photo shows the area in 2015.  The entire visible ground area was blackberry thicket.

This is after cleaning the same area up yesterday.  This wasn't nearly as bad as the first time around, but still more than I want to be doing.

Another view after cleanup.  Once I get rid of those piles of blackberry vines, I'll broadcast grass seed in the cleaned up area.  The piles of vines compost fairly fast, and just sort of disappear, but I'll most them to where they are not in the way.  In the future, this area will just be mowed, which will prevent further encroachment.  In addition, the cypress trees are large enough, I think they will mostly out-compete the blackberries in the future.