Phenology. What's Blooming. 3.28.19

Crimson Pointe Plum.  3.29.19

Flavor Supreme Pluot.  3.29.19

Among the fruit trees, almost anything with Asian plum in it's DNA is blooming.  Ornamental plums are at peak.  Flavor Supreme Pluot (young tree), graft of "pluot" seedling, Hollywood Plum, Methley Plum (just starting), Nadia Cherry x plum hybrid (will it bear fruit for the first time this year?).  Shiro plum is not in bloom yet.

Pussy willows are actually past their prime, but very nice.

Among peaches, Frost, Kreibich nectarine, Seedling from Oregon Curl Free, and Charlotte are blooming.  Salish Summer is not blooming yet.  That's a good thing, less unlikely to be hit by a late frost.

Hollywood Plum.  3.29.19

Seedling Peach.  3.28.19

Seedling Peach.  3.29.19

Pussy Willow.  3.29.19

Pussy Willow.  3.28.19

Seedling Plum.  3.28.19

Note: I don't want to continue calling the peach tree, grown from a seed from Oregon Curl Free, "Son of Oregon Curl Free". So, for the time being at least, I'll call it "Cowlitz Peach", to honor its provenance and the Cowlitz River and people of this area. Ditto for the lovely flowered, variegated leafed plum, grown from a seed taken from deep burgundy "pluots" bought at a local farmers' market. I am thinking about calling it "Martian Spring", for the colorful, somewhat blood-colored leaves.  The plums, if any happen, remain to be seen.

Swelling Flower Buds. Hollywood Plum and "Son of Oregon Curl Free" Peach. 2.16.19

Flower Buds, Hollywood Plum Tree. 2.16.19

These are in the chicken and duck yard.  The Hollywood Plum tree was grown from cuttings taken about 5 years ago, I think.  The tree is covered with swelling buds now.

The peach tree was grown from a peach pit, from an Oregon Curl Free peach tree.  That tree died of canker.  This tree is also 4 or 5 years old.  Last year were the first flowers, no fruits.  It could be a dud, but I hope not.  No evidence at all for any leaf curl.   No canker yet, either.  This tree grew fast. If it bears nice fruits, I want to give it a name that honors those who were here before, possibly a word in the Cowlitz language.

These blooms could be killed by a late freeze.   However, they seem to produce, every year.   Wait and see.

Flower Buds, Peach Tree Grown From Oregon Curl Free.  2.16.19

Plums in bloom. 3.14.18

Hollywood Plum.  3.14.18

Hollywood Plum (pink flower) and Shiro Plum (white flower) in full bloom. Unless there's a late frost, it looks like there will be a bumper crop of the world's best plums this year. Hollywood is deep purple, inside and out. Shiro is yellow, super juicy, and super sweet. 

From what I've read, neither of these cultivars require a pollination partner.  Since I have them planted near each other, I can't say whether that is true.  Both are on the North side of the house, not in full sun, and are still incredibly productive and trouble free.

Sweet Corn, Fruit Harvest, and Prior Okra Experience. 7.27.16

Hollywood and Green Gage Plums, and Figs.  7.27.16

 Mos of todays meals were from the kitchen garden.  Pretty awesome to me.  Lots of fruit.  The first batch of Trinity se+ sweet corn is fully ripe.   Compared to store corn, more tender, sweeter, but smaller ears.  First harvest was almost to the day, the same as last year.  The difference is last year I started in containers, then planted out in the kitchen garden.  This year I seeded directly into the ground.    The seeds were planted about 4.15.16 which gives a bit more than 100 days from seed to harvest.  That compares to 70 days on the seed label, but who's counting?

The difference is that climate here is cooler and nights are cooler, compared to sweet corn country. 

Most of the corn plants have 2 ears this year, which is nice.

Lunch.  Summer Squash for Salad, Sweet Corn, and Lattarula Figs.  7.27.16

 I looked back on growing okra in 2014.  I grew it in containers.  Production was minimal and, looking at the pictures, the plants were rather scrawny.  I don't know how this year will turn out, but I was excited to see the first flower today, on a one-foot-tall okra plant.  Not sure, but I think this Spring was warmer, but this summer is cooler and wetter, compared to 2015.  Starting to make up for it.  Today was 90F on my car thermometer, which is a good okra-growing temperature.

Containerized Okra. 9.20.14. 

Fruit. 7.15.16

Some nice fruit now.  I look forward to these all year. Lots more figs enlarging on the tree - Lattarula.  This is the last of the yellow plums -Shiro.  There will only be a few of the red plums - Hollywood.  More than I expected.  

Planting a Home-Grown Hollywood Plum Tree. 10.14.15

Hollywood Plum Cuttings at One Year.  Late 2014

Hollywood Plum Tree at 2 years.  12.14.15

Today I added a Hollywood Plum tree to my little orchard.  It's too good not to use.  I took cuttings early 2014, replanted the resultant little trees late 2014, and now have some nice trees.

The tree was minimally root bound.  I teased the out and trimmed the longest ones.

All new trees get the mulch, hardware cloth to repel voles, and fencing to repel deer.

Roots on Hollywood Plum Tree.  12.14.15

Planted, Hardware Cloth  Sleeve, Deer Fence, and Mulch.  12.14.15

Puttering in Orchard. 10.28.15

Hollywood Plum Development, 2 years from cutting.  10.27.15

Ember Plum, Hollywood Rootstock.  10.27.15

Vandalay Cherry Flower Buds.  10.27.15

 I traded Ember Plum for Hollywood.  Ember is now in ground, Hollywood in container.  The TLC treated Ember is much larger and more sturdy.  Nice look at the roots for both. 

I still intend to grow a Hollywood Plum tree but can use this one for rootstock, and a larger one in-ground.

Three-year-old sweet cherry trees have promising flower buds.  Next Spring we should get a taste.  They got very little water this year and grew much larger anyway.  Sweet cherries are well adapted to this climate.

Vandalay Cherry Flower Buds.  10.27.15

Kitchen Garden. 8.8.15

Bean Bed, 2 Weeks after Sowing.  8.8.15

 It looks like about 1/2 of the beans germinated.  If they reach maturity before frost, that's plenty.  The big thing I want from the Chinese pole beans is enough seeds for next year.  With 15 plants, if there are only 2 beans each, 4 seeds per bean, I'll have 120 seeds.  If those germinate, it's more than enough.  The big question is time.

There are about 15 Romas growing.  I filled in with soaked bean seeds, in between.  Regardless, if they bear, they are enough for one or 2 meals, for the 2 of us.  Zero cost, since the seeds were old packets.

I'm letting the 1st bean patch go to seed.   There is nothing to that other than watering the plants so they don't dry out and die too soon.

From the Kitchen Garden.  8.8.15

Elusive Pullets.  8.8.15

 Lots of squash, zucchinis and summer squash.  I'm less enthusiastic about the zucchinis than the other summer squash.  They grow too big, too fast.  The historic  varieties are less like something steroid-induced.

The new pullets have been here a month.  They are starting to look like hens now.  I forget the age.  They hang around together.  Rooster is very protective.  Won't let me near the pullets.  When I feed them, he calls them to the food, then stands back while they eat.  Which is his role.  If they make baby chickens, they will be some kind of off-breed, which is fine.

Elusive Pullet.  8.8.15

Protective Rooster.  8.8.15

Fresh Fruit. 7.30.15

King Figs.  7.28.15

Petite Negri Figs.  7.28.15

Hollywood Plums, Oregon Curl Free Peaches, figs, Pristine Apples.  7.30.15

Ember Plum on Hollywood Rootstock.  5.19.15

 The grafts are growing like crazy.  A couple of container apples on salvaged rootstock are not growing, but everything else is really growing.

Most of the bud grafts from last summer have about the same amount of growth as whip / tongue grafts from this late winter.

Hanska Plum, Top Grafted Onto Unknown Plum.  5.19.15

I've started removing some of the wrappings.  It doesn't seem to be girdling anything yet.  From the couple that I removed, doing so does not appear to have caused harm.

LaCrescent Plum Top-grafted Onto Unknown Plum.  5.19.15

Hollywood Plum Grafted Onto Toka.  Bud graft from 2014.  5.19.15

Fedco Apple Grafts.  5.19.15

Grafting Progress Report. 4.25.15

Ember whip/tongue @ 6 weeks.   4.25.15

Columnar apple multigraft.  8 weeks.  4.25.15

Sketch for columnar apple multigraft.

Redfield apple whip/tongue.  6 weeks.  4.25.15

 This is my little tree nursery as of today.  It's been chilly and raining, so growth is slower.  I expect it to take of with warmer sunny days next week.

Ember on Hollywood - nice growth.

2nd multigraft on columnar apple - nice growth.  The sketch shows the general idea.  These are columnar, so I am grafting one on top of the other.  Reason is for novelty and pollination.  In-ground is on old rootstock sucker that persisted from a Yellow Delicious semidwarf that I cut down 2 years ago for never bearing.  In-container is from the same, moved into container last winter, very few roots.  Doing OK and I assume rooting well, in container.

Redfield from Fedco at 6 weeks.  The rootstock seemed to be doing poorly, with result that the graft was doing poorly, but now looking better.

Deck wall tree nursery.  Some are cuttings or seedlings in 3rd or 4th year, I forget.  I moved them back into containers for TLC.  I get better young tree growth in containers with extra warmth, nutrients, and attention on the deck.

Deck Tree nursery.  4.25.15

Columnar apple multigraft, container.  4.25.15

This is a terminal whip/tongue yellow columnar apple graft,  onto potted columnar red apple graft.  The bare-rooted specimen is how it looked Nov 2014 when I removed it from the tree roots that had produced the sucker that I grafted it on to.  Apples can regenerate roots from minimal source, quite well.  I hoped that as long as there were root primordia, this would grow.  I don't think the top would be doing so well if it has not generated adequate roots by now, much more than it had in November.  This one is also meant to be like the sketch. 

Bare rooted columnar apple graft Nov 2014

Plum Grafts. Progress Report for T-buds and Whip and Tongue Grafts. 4.18.15

The plum whip and tongue grafts that I did last month are looking good.   Buds are swelling for most of the grafts.

Of the Fedco grafts, Ember on Hollywood rootstock is almost leafing out.  Ember top-worked onto unknown plum, buds are swelling nicely.  Both Hanska top-worked onto unknown plum are greening and swelling.  One LaCrescent is doing so, the other one does not look dehydrated, so still has a chance.

Ember whip/tongue onto 1-year Hollywood rootstock.  4 weeks.  4.19.15

Of bud grafts from last summer, they were worth the wait.  Most are growing nicely.  Hollywood top-worked onto  several other trees, is growing.  One of the Prunus cerasifera buds bloomed and set fruit.   The other is growing leaves and stem.  I think I'll leave the fruit there, curious to see how they turn out.  I want only one branch of P. cerasifera, so if the fruiting bud-graft does not grow further, that's fine.  Shiro top-worked onto various trees is also growing on all, with some vigor.

I read several references recommending bud grafting for plums.  Clearly  bud grafting works for plums, but it looks like whip and tongue can also be successful.  There is still some growing to be done before I know for certain.  The advantage of whip and tongue is that budstock can be obtained as I did, in late winter/early Spring, and it does not take the long wait to see if they take.  That is also true in some cases for June budding, such as the Shiro and P. cerasifera buds that grew several foot after I June grafted them last year.

So far this looks like this year has great potential for plums and for grafting plums.

Hollywood Plum bud graft, approx 10 months.  4.18.15

Prunus cerasifera bud graft at 10 months.  4.18.15

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P. cerasifera plum T-budded onto unknown stock.  8 months..  4.19.15

La Crescent Plum whip/tongue top worked onto unknown plum  4 weeks.  4.19.15

Hanska whip/tongue onto unknown plum.  4 weeks.  4.19.15

Shiro T-bud onto unknown plum.  8 months.  4.19.15