Yet Another Forsythia Cutting Rooted. 6.30.2021

Another of the big forsythia cuttings rooted nicely in water. That is #4. Today I potted it in potting soil and placed it in a very protected location without direct sun. It will be there for a week. This makes four nicely rooted, good size healthy looking Forsythia starts.

Here it is, potted. The small one is a potting soil rooted group of Forsythia cuttings. The water rooted one is much bigger and healthier looking, probably a year ahead in size, and was actually less effort.

There is one remaining cutting in water. It has a small root growing now. It should be ready to pot up in a few weeks. Then my window sill will no longer be cluttered with Forsythia cuttings.

First Zucchinis. 6.30.2021

Actually these are the second and third zucchinis. The first was two days ago. This is Burpee hybrid, "Sure Thing" which might be parthenocarpic (not require pollination to produce squashes). I pollinate it anyway. The heat didn't seem to hurt it.

These are very, very delicious sliced into french fries, sprinkled with garlic powder, pepper, and seasoned salt and air fried for 10 min at 375F. Very very good. The heirloom Fordham Zucchini and Golden Summer Squash are about a week behind. I hand pollinated those as well.

My Own Daylily Hybrids. 6.30.2021

I created these daylily hybrids a number of years ago, by pollinating my favorite varieties with other some other favorite varieties. Some had names and some did not. One was an almost brown no-name, richly colored. Some others were Strawberry Shortcake, Chicago Apache, and Lemon Ice (I think). I collected the seeds and grew plants from those. Now most are planted around in my garden. Here are some of the flowers. The heat wave fried the flowers from that day, but today's flowers mostly look very nice.

More Heatwave. 6.29.2021

During the past few days, it got even hotter. Yesterday was not as bad. The max was 115 for 2 days in a row, in the shade. The deck was hotter. I think at least half of the apples are sunburnt, maybe more. Those will not be usable. The first of the blackberries are destroyed. Some of the young growth on apples is dead but I think they will recover. Lots of other damage.

Heatwave. 6.26.2021

Current reading is 103F. I've been diligent about watering, but one can only do so much. So far, most ornamentals and food crops seem to be tolerating the heat. Fortunately, the squashes are mulched, most with black plastic. Roma and some other tomatoes have brown paper mulch. The hose splitter broje, so Inordered a four-way manifold from Amizon, to install when it is cooler tonight. tonatoes, peppers, onions and some others are on drip irrigation. Sweetcorn gets early am sprinkler irrigation.

Rufus sticks his nose out the doggie door, checks the heat, then returns to the house.

Thornless Raspberry Crop and Jam. 6.26.2021

The thornless raspberries that I moved here early 2020, settles in and made a nice crop this year. I don't know the name. They are red, floricane bearing, thornless, good productibity and delicious. I was able to get 5 1/2 cups of mashed raspberries, enough for a full batch of low added sugar pectin jam. There was a 1/4 pint extra, so the recipe was about right.

I love raspberry jam. These berries were not too much work, and were free of diseases. Definitely worth growing and worth making some jam for future months.

Chestnuts are Blooming. 6.26.2021

The chestnut varieties Marivale and Precose Migoule are blooming like crazy. The air is full of their somewhat musty fragrance. The Bisalta #2 graft from this spring is almost blooming. Same for Marigoule. The Marisole grown from seed is not blooming, but it has grafts from Marivale and Precose Migoule with minimal flowers.

So far among my varieties - Marivale = most vigor and productivity. Precose Migoule = second for both, but smaller nuts. Marigoule slower growing, this will be the firse year of nuts. Graft compatibility - On Marisol seedling, Marivale, Precose Migoule, Marigoule, and Primiato all took. I only tried Bisalta #2 on Precose Migoule. That also took. Marivale especially is becoming a large and very handsome tree. The bloom is incredible.

More Alstroemeria. 6.26.2021

These Alstroemeria were arpt the old place. I remember planting pink ones but not red. Ning dug them up and planted into a container. They are tough plants and very pretty.

Deer Repellant. 6.26.2021.

I bought some "liquid fence" which seems to work, but that can become expensive. I think the main idea is to use something stinky, especially sulfur based. Many home recipes for deer repellant make use of eggs and garlic, blended and allowed to ferment. Here is "The enemy". Plus there is a doe and two fawns. That's a lot of garden plants. I feel sorry for the deer, but they can reduce years of garden efforts to nothingness overnight, due to one forgotten gate or one weak spot in the fence. This buck is new to the neighborhood.

I blended 6 eggs, a scoop of home made hot sauce that is too hot for me to handke, and several cloves of garlic. And sone water. That was yesterday. It's not that stinky yet, so I'll give it time.

When it's basically gag worthy, I'll filter out the solids and dilute the liquid to spray susceptable plants and shoots. I can also leave the residue among those plants, mainly squashes now.

Damn Deer. 6.21.2021

Deer have broken into all of the fenced areas where I'm growing squash. Squash has a reputation for not being a deer favorite. However, they have always eTen away at mine. These fences are not tall, but I hoped that the narrow area woukd be a deterrent. I sprayed all of the squash plants with Liquid Fence. I found an old bag of Milorganite lying around, and spread that too. I will need to be vigilant. They eat giant leaves and succulent young growth tips. The aplants can handle losing a few, but once it starts the animals keep eating them. Photos dont show much - you cant photograph what isn't there. I think tomorrow I should see if I still have some net barriers. That may help too.

Alstroemeria. 6.21.2021

These are the Alstroemeria that I bought this year for container growing. If zi remember, I'll add one that I grew from a start of an older clump. These look like they will remain very compact. Nice bloom, too.

Repotting Apple Seedlings. 6.21.2021

I noticed that the Calypso x Golden Sentinel apple seedlings, that I started during the winter, seem to have started a growth spurt. I transplanted them into larger containers. I've never grown apple seeds, so this is new to me. The stems seem stout, with narrow internodes, so maybe they are columnar like Golden Sentinel. I don't know for certain. One had mildew during wet season and they look a bit fuzzy now? So I sprayed them with "Safer" sulfur spray.

Making Sourdough Pizza Dough & Loaf. 6.21.2021

The sourdough starter is still alove. I last frfreshed refreshed it in early May. I made a batch of dough for a pizza in the next few days. That gets aged a bit in the fridge. To the second dough, I added 1/3 cup potato flakes, a tablespoon of sugar, and about a tablespoon of some "heart health" plant based butter substitute.

Tomatoes Are Setting. 6.20.2021

One of the Sugar Rush cherry tomatoes is almost there. Even though it's j

ust one cherry tomato, I think we'll have a ripe tomato by July 4th. That's pretty good in the maritime Pacific NW. Romas, Alpatieva, Extreme Bush, Dwarf Johnson Cherry, and Tanunda Red all have little green tomatoes, dime to quarter size.

Lazy Rufus. 6.20.2021

Tart Cherry Pie Filling. Canned vs. Frozen. Canned Sweet Cherries. 6.20.2021

I made pie fillings using tart cherries (North Star) and also canned another batch of sweet cherries (RNier and a red variety). I'm still learning the details of canning. I will be careful about inspecting them before eating them. The canned cherries are fairly routine. However, I know there is some leakage before they seal, so a bit of juice exits, and a bit of boiling water enters the jars before they seal. The airspace varies a bit. I think they are Ok but will check quality before eating the canbed fruits. I follow the canner instructions closely. The cherries - sweet on the left, tart on the right.

The canned sweet cherries.

As for pie fillings, I made enough for one pie by canning the filling. Those have to be cooked before they are canned (hot fill method). Unfortunately, they lose their form while cooking, so the end result doesn't look a lot like cherries.

Today I made fillings for two cherry pies, and froze them. I think that was a lot less work, and the cherries hold their shape much better. The ingredients are exactly the same as if I make a fresh pie, except I leave out the butter which I add when baking the pie. I noticed the 1/8 tsp salt. No idea why that is there, and I don't do it. I might change to a clear starch next time instead of flour. I think the flour is a family tradition but I'm not certain.

Another Forsythia Cutting Update. 6.20.2021

Today I noticed more roots emerging from a container of forsythia cuttings. I started these directly in potting soil, with little plastic bags covering them to act as humidity / ICU tents. So I set it outside. It's in the 80s today, but it survived. That, and the most recent water-rooted one were a bit droopy after sun heated their black sided containers at the end of the day, so I brought them back indoors and set the remaining two, which were not droopy, back into the shade.

Meanwhile, the fourth (of five) cutting in water has started to grow roots. In the past, I understood that potting medium rooting was superior to water rooting for most cuttings. That may be true, but so far the water rooted forsythia cuttings have done significantly better than the ones in potting medium, and with less effort.

Dwarf Tomato Progress Notes. 6.18.2021

Most of the dwarf tomatoes ar roughly 20 inches tall now. Extreme Bush:

Red Tanunda Dwarf

Alpatieva 905A:

BrandyFred:

Dwarf Champion and Dwarf CC McGee are similar size. Dwarf Johnson Cherry and Clare Valley Pink are only about a foot tall. Alpatieva 905A has the largest tomato set, so far. Extreme Dwarf also has a small tomato. All are blooming profusely.

Rufus Likes his Rawhide Treat. 6.18.2021

Montmorency and NorthStar Pie Cherries Almost Ready. 6.18.2021

It looks like NorthStar might be a little earlier and redder. Both make delicious cherry pies. Montmorency:

NorhStar Cherry:

The scare tale seemd to work very well last year - minimal stealing by the birds. I hope that means the same this year.

Tipping Fig Shoots for Better Production, 6.18.2021

When fig shoots have 4 to 6 leaves, tipping the shoot can stimulate earlier fig producton. It's simple, just be t the tip until it snaps. Removing the growth point stops apical dominance, and baby figs soon appear after the tip is snappeed off. Before:

After:

Today I tipped Brunswick, Adriatic, and Champagne fig trees. I did Celeste a few days ago. Some others are not far enough along yet.