Some Early Fruits and Vegetables. 7.14.19

Here are some zucchinis and supper squashes that I harvested today.  They are doing the usual highly vigorous zucchini thing.  Also some salad cucumbers, and a couple of banana peppers.

Today I also harvested my first fig, a Carni fig, and harvested a few more Methley plums.  Those are the first plums of the year.  There are a few Illinois Everbearing mulberries waiting to pick.

KItchen Garden and Home Orchard. 7.24.17

Red Norland and Yukon Gold Potatoes.  7.24.17

 Lots of productivity in the Kitchen garden, and starting to get fruit from the home orchard.

I had not watered the Methley plum tree, so the plums are smaller, sweeter, and more flavorful.  Almost like moist candy.  This tree is about 6 years old.  When we bought the Battleground place, I moved it from the old yard, at about 1 year old at the time.  This is the first year with more than a couple of fruits.

Methley Plums.  7.24.17

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry.  7.24.17

Illinois Everbearing Mulberries.  7.24.17

Red German Garlic.  7.24.17

The potato crop is about half dug now.  The Yukon Gold is great for hash browns, every day for breakfast.  The Red Norland makes the best potato salad.  The Russets are not at harvesting stage yet, which is good.  Too many to dig all at once.

I thought birds would get all of the mulberries this year, but yesterday the tree was loaded.  We picked a big bowl of them.

I did not nurture the garlic as well this year.  Less water and less fertilizer.  The bulbs of most of the plants are smaller, but the Red German turned out nice.

Summer squashes coming on line now.   Some great fritters!

Zucchinis and Summer Squashes.  7.24.17

Methley Plums. 6.28.16

Methley Plum.  6.28.16

I thought this year there would be no plums.  There are not massive numbers, but there are enough for some bursts of orchard flavor.  This is Methley.  I think it's 1/2 Prunus cerasifera, so similar to Hollywood.  The same tree has a graft of Shiro, starting to color up, and a graft of Hollywood, no plums on that this year.

Walking around. Kitchen Garden, Progress Report.. 6.26.16

Jerusalem Artichoke.  6.26.16

Bulb Onions.  6.26.16

 Jerusalem artichokes are growing the best in 3 years.  I have no idea why.  The first year, they barely grew, then were eaten by deer.  The second year, I did not see any growth.  This year there are 2 gigantic plants.  I did not plant them, so they were either dormant for a year, or I missed them last year.

2nd Scion Take, Chocolate Persimmon.  6.26.16

 The bulb onions are bulbing up nicely.  I have never grown them before.  These are a yellow variety, bought and planted the sets late winter.

The second graft of the Chocolate Persimmon looks like it took.  I don't expect much growth this year.   Maybe next year both grafts will take off and grow.

Collard Greens.  6.26.16

Deer Fencing.  6.26.16

 I think the limiting factor on Collard Greens, is slugs.  Since I put down slug bait, some are growing like crazy, others more slowly.  This is my first try for Collard Greens.

I've been worried that deer will take after the Carini fig and others in the row, that are looking so good.  They ate leaves of a fig tree about 6 feet away.  I finally added a strip of fencing.  This is a fairly protected spot.  The cost of deer fencing can be exhorbitant.  One of the most expensive parts of gardening.  This time, I bought plastic fencing.  Price is about 1/2 the metal fencing, it won't scratch me like 1,000 thorns, like chicken wire, and I think it should deter the deer.  They are not aggressive, just persistant to consume anything they can easily reach.

Methley plums are almost ripe.  We ate a few today.

Methley Plums.  6.26.16

Chinese Beans.  6.26.16

 The resurrected Chinese Beans look pretty good in general.  I hope they continue to grow.

The White Potato Onions, that I started last fall from sets from Territorial Seeds, are blooming.  Apparently, that is a rare event and should be treasured.  In Utah, Kelly Winterton has been trying to resurrect (another ressurection) the variety by taking opportunity of potato onion rare bloom events to collect true seeds.  There are several reasons-
Vegetative propagation of a variety over the decades - possily centuries - may weaken the strain due to somatic mutations ande viruses.  Apparently, growing from seeds can restore the genetic potential and eliminate some, if not all, viruses that do not cross the seed barrier.   The seed-grown onions may be much larger and more vigorous, than the division-grown onions.  Seed grown potato onions have potential to develop new varieties.    Since mine are blooming, I will see if they set seeds and if so, that will be a fun project.  At the very least, I hope I get nice big potato onions from the seedlings. 

Winterton speculates that potato onions are a natural hybrid from centuries ago, which have been maintaned ever since, by vegetatice propagation.  If so, he considers seedlings from this variety to be F2 generation, with a lot of diversity and unpredictablity.  It is also possible, they could be pollinated by other onions around the yard.  I have garlic chives in bloom - don't know of those can cross with potato onions.  I removed all flowers from other onions.

Nikita's Gift Persimmon is looking great!  Fruit are swelling nicely.  I did some thinning but not too aggressive, because there are so many leaves and so few fruits.  Still, it's possible there will be a dozen, maybe more, persimmons this year.  If the persimmon gods smile upon us.  This variety is vigorous, stout growth, very healthy appearing.  Saijo has a few potential fruits as well. 

The first wave of Sweet Corn, Trinity, is as high as my eyeballs.  The secone wave, Bilicious, is waist high.  The 3rd wave, also Trinity, is almost knee high.  Subsequent waves are smaller but growing.  The last ones, seeds planted last week, Bodaceous, have not emerged from the soil yet.

I tried to be creative with a tomato cage, made from bamboo and jute string.  I don't know if that will deter the damn deer.  The pictured tomato plant is a grafted Supersweet 1000.

Flowers on White Potato Onions.  6.26.16

Swelling fuit on Nikita's Gift Persimmons.  6.26.16

First Three Waves of Sweet Corn.  #1 = Trinity, #2=Bilicious, #3=Trinity.

Tomato Cage, maded from bamboo and jute string.  6.26.16

Daylily Seedlings. Fruit Tree Bloom Times. Puttering. 4.3.15

Daylily Seedlings Leaving Dormancy.  4.2.16

First Apple Flowers.  Golden Sentinel.  4.3.16

Daylily Seedlings.  During the late winter, I thought the daylily seedlings were dying of some disease or infestation.  The leaves had become pale and turned brown.  I do think there were some spider mites.  I placed them all outside and left them to the weather. 

It turns out they were going dormant.  If there were spider mites, I guess they are gone now.  The top growth is vigorous and sturdy.  The roods are also thick and sturdy for such small seedlings.

This leaves me with some choices.  There are too many plants to grow them all in borders.  I chose about 2 dozen from different crosses, and planted in a bed between orchard trees.

They will still have to survive marauding rabbits and deer.  Nature, random chance, and their final appearances, will determine which ones I ultimately keep and move to more prominent borders.  It may be another year or two before I know. In the ground, they will require minimal care and not take up room on the deck.

Apple Blossoms.  By a clear lead, the first of my apples to bloom are Golden Sentinel and North Pole.  Both are descendants of McIntosh, with other parentage as well.  In the Vancouver yard, which is ahead, Liberty is also blooming.


Pear Blossoms.  Based on this years results, in this yard, all of my varieties of Asian and European pear overlap their bloom times.  It doesn't look like the bloom time tables matter much, because there is significant overlap between the earliest - Maxie, and the latest - Rescue.   Most of my varieties are Asian pears, but there are a few Euro or Euro grafts.  Orcas pear is not yet at blooming age.

Puttering.  I'm still digging the first of 4 new large garden beds that are intended for sunflowers, flint corn, or sorghum grain for chicken feed.  All of those can be planted in May or possibly June, so one row at a time, I may get there.  With 2 acres, there is still room for more, but I don't want it to cross the line between enjoyable work / exercise, and unpleasant chore.

I think there is a lot of fruit set on Methley - first time, other than maybe 3 plums last year.  Probably just age, although it did have pollinizing variety branches bloom, within the tree from T-bud grafts of Shiro and Hollywood that I added in 2014.  Sweet Treat may also have fruit set, which is pretty impressive considering this is only second leaf.  Still tiny and may still fall off, but I look every day and many are still on the tree.  Toka may have lost its fruit.  The next few weeks will say.  Chill and frost, bloom too early.  Although Sweet Treat was earlier.  NoID Asian Plum is also covered with potential fruits.  Again, this tree is a multiple multigraft now, which may weigh into the reason for better bearing.  Or just coming of age.

Now going out to dig a couple more rows.

First Ripe Plums. 7.2First methley P.15

Mystery Plums.  7.2.15

First Methley Plum.  7.2.15

First Methley Plum.  7.2.15

Today was the first plum tasting for me at the Battleground place.  The "Mystery" plum was a small tree that, initially, was half eaten and repeatedly eaten by deer.  I applied varios deer deterrents, with mixed success.   The tree survived the rest of 2012, and grew taller 2013 and 2014.  I added grafts of other varieties last year and this year. for pollination and because for all I knew, the plums would not be good.

They are good.  They have a great flavor with the spiciness of red-flesh plums.  They are not large.  I don't water or fertilize this tree, which might result in smaller plums but also more flavorful.

Coincidentally, the Methley bore its first and only plum of the year.  This is its first plum ever.  The tree grew rapidly this year.  Based on this one plum, Methley is similar size, internal and external color and bloom, as Mystery plum.  Maybe a little more blue.  The inside might be a little more red.  The flavor might be a bit richer, sweeter, more spicey.  For all I know, it's the same plum, but this one Methley plum seemed more delicious.

Regardless, these were delicious plums.  I ate them all within 10 minutes of this photo.

Fall in the Orchard. 11.8.14

North Side of Orchard.  11.8.14

Wild Plum Seedling.  2 years old.  11.7.14

Buddleia Windbreak West of Orchard.  11.8.14

Fig Row, South of House.  11.8.14

 Some views of mini orchard spread around the yard.  This is end of the 3rd summer here at Battleground, so many of the trees have had 2 full years to acclimate and grow.

Pawpaws were planted the first summer.  Never having grown them, and read about difficult to get started and slow to grow, I'm pleased they have done this well.  The smallest is Rebecca's Gold, about one foot tall.  NC-1 is the largest, about 4 foot tall.  Sunflower, about 3 foot tall.  I'm also pleased about the persimmons.  Nikita's Gift was so tiny I wondered if it would grow.  Now, sturdy and looking promising for future years, although  only about 4 foot tall.  Saijo is about 8 foot.  I did give  them - and the paw paws, organic nitrogen this Spring.

Peaches - Oregon Curl Free about 9 foot tall.  Charlotte about 8 foot tall.  Indian Free about 3 foot tall.  Q-1-8 in it's first year, grew rapidly, 5 foot tall.  The only one of the 3 older trees to have bad leaf curl was Charlotte.  That was also the only one to have peaches - only 2 - this is only the 2nd year old for these.

 Wild Plums, the largest seedling is about 8 foot tall.  This is 3rd year from seed, the first being in container.   There are 3, only one in a prime location for sun and with protection.  Deer eat up to about 4 feet, but the top looks very good.

Other plums, Stanley didn't bear but is very large now, mature looking tree.  Has spurs with promise for flowers.  Satsuma died.  Replaced with cutting-grown Hollywood, 1 foot tall 1st year from cutting.  Toka was best tasting, 3 plums. 7 foot tall.  Methley, no plums, growth now 5 foot tall.  NOIDs already on property, the smallest / deer mangled fully recovered and above the usual deer browsing height; the largest had only about 4 plums.  Now both with multiple bud grafts of other varieties. 

Cherries, lots of deer browsing.  Very discouraging.  The sweet cherries and tart cherries need better protection.  Sweet cherries did establish well, now about 5 foot tall.  Central leads are good, branches browsed to within the narrow cages I installed on these.   Montmorency did very well when I got the deer fence in, 8 foot tall and lush.   I can buy more fencing if I use the truck to commute this week.  North Star and Almaden Duke unprotected browsed nearly to death, we'll see what happens next year.  Both have some bud grafts that are looking tenuous, we'll see.

Apples, this is first year for most.  Wondering if minidwarfs are a good idea.  The dwarfs - JonaRed - shipped from Starks, excellent growth, and multi-graft disease resistant, Rubinette, Pristine, and Queen Cox, shipped from Raintree, almost as good.  The columnar apples, planted at about 18 inches tall their first year, now about 3 foot tall, Golden Sentinel had one apple - very good, Scarlet Sentinel had none.  They are in cages.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry and NOID Forsythia. 11.8.14

Figs, South of house, recovered from frost kill.  Sal's was not frost killed, now 4 foot.  Tiger, Carini, Smith all grew multi-trunks to 2 or 3 foot.  Petite Aubique, 18 inches, but sturdy.  I'm in process of installing gnaw-screens as leaves fall.  When colder, plan to add inverted trash can protectors for the young ones, and chicken wire or bird net to deter deer and rabbits, for Sal's.  Plan next year- replace the NOID with Lattarula from container, in Spring.  Maybe add one more to row, Dominick.   If any die back again maybe replace with Dominic instead of adding one more.

Buddleia hedge grew to 8 foot tall, for those in 2nd year - Blueberry and Peach Cobbler varieties.  They weren't all that attractive, but the windbreak will be useful.  That side is source of wind.  Honeycomb, in 2st year, grew about the same as the others did last year.  Anticipate pruning all back, so they can grow bushier and not over-tall.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry, not in the 5 X 5 grid but nearby.   Now 8 foot tall.  Had some nice mulberries this year.  No dear browsing.  Most branches probably too tall.  It may be hard to install bird netting next year due to height, but I should try. 

Puttering. Pollenizing. Phenology. 3.23.14

Didn't do much.  Mostly did homework.

Noted one of the bearded irises has a rot disease.  Didn't want to look too close at the others.  Pacific NW rainy chilly weather.

Planted a 2nd batch of Four O'clocks seeds.  The first batch has not germinated yet. I don't know how fast they are.  First batch is at the battleground house.  Coming home tonight, I forgot and left them outside.  I don't know what the chilly nights will do.  The first batch was from a Baker Creek packet.  The batch I planted today was from a Burpee packet.  Soaked for several hours, with a few changes of water.  Soaking softens hard seed coat and for some plants removes natural germination inhibitors from the seed.  Placed the containers on a seed starting heating mat.

Pollinated using paintbrush, plums, peaches, apricots.

Bloom order so far.

1.  Prunus cerasifera "Crimson spire".  About 2 weeks, now dropping petals.
2.  Hybrid plum "Methley".  About 2 weeks, now dropping petals.
3.  Peach "Oregon Curl-Free".  About one week.
4.  Peach "Charlotte".  About one week.
3.  Hybrid plum "Satsuma".  A few days.
4.  Unknown Asian plum variety.  Started yesterday.
5.  Apricot trees, grown from seeds.  Started yesterday.

At the Vancouver place, Shiro and Hollywood plums, genetic dwarf peaches, and peach-plum hybrid Trilite are in full bloom.  Vancouver is a little warmer, maybe a week ahead of Battleground.

Toka plum is on the verge of blooming.  The new peach tree, Q-1-8, is yet to show signs of life.  The peach, Indian Free, may have one or two flowers.  I think the others must have been freeze killed.  There are leaves sprouting so I know it's alive.

The sweet cherry and Duke cherry buds are much bigger, compared to the tart cherry buds.
The gage plum buds are rounding up.  The Stanley plum buds don't look like flower buds, but neither did those of the unknown Asian plum.

These bloom times correspond to what is blooming now:  Jetfire daffodil, Dutch Master daffodil, dandelions' first flowers, Anemone blanda, some unknown narcissus varieties.

Other phenology, the lilac buds are size of mouse paws, like tiny clusters of grapes.  The earliest of the pear flower bud clusters are apparent, but probably a few weeks from opening.  Sourwood buds are barely visible.  Linden buds are swelling.

from this, I'm thinking Crimson spire and Methley can pollinate each other and maybe Satsuma.  The unknown plum and Toka can likely pollinate each other.  There is some overlap between those and Satsuma.  I don't know if plums, peaches, apricots can help one another when it comes to pollenizing - there are some artificial hybrids, but that may be very rare.  Maybe.

Raintree gives Shiro blooming before Hollywood, but in my yard Hollywood was a few days ahead of Shiro.  It does give Methley as the first, also my experience.  They don't mention prunus cerasifera, which is sold as an ornamental.  It's not just the climate.  Rootstock may also be a factor.  They also list Hollywood as self fertile, and Shiro as partially self fertile.

In one old research paper, mixed pollen from diverse prunus species was more effective at producing pollination than that from a pure pollenizer, even if the chromosome number was different.  Here is the table from their paper:

Pollen mixture	Number of hybrids of type:			Total
	Sand cherry x myr. plum	Sand cherry x blackthorn	Sand cherry x dom. plum
Myrobalan plum + blackthorn	71	8	-	79
Myrobalan plum + dom. plum	37	-	1	38
Blackthorn + dom. plum	-	2	0	2
Myrobalan plum + blackthorn + dom. plum	2	63	1	66

Home Orchard. Progress Report. 2.16.14

Newly moved Karmijn de Sonneville Apple

 As far as I know, this is the last of the movable trees from the Vancouver yard  This is Karmijn de Sonneville apple on M27 rootstock.  From the top, it looks like there might be a large root mass.  Digging it, the rootstock is small, one shovel deep if that.  M27 keeps the tree very small, 5 or 6 foot, and is easy to topple over.  So it always needs a stake for support.   I planted close to the Honeycrisp, also on M27.

I doubt this tree will miss a beat.  Digging, it seemed to have no root damage at all.  I lost one or two buds at most.

It needs a fence.  I can make one in 20 minutes and install today.

Peaches and plums have swelling buds.  It's too early but nothing I can do about it.

First pink, buds of Oregon Curl Free PEach

First Pink.  Buds of Toka Plum

 Charlotte peach.  The same for Q18 and Indian Free.  The fuzzy buds have been visible, with a touch of pink, for a month.  The weather is unpredictable.  If I had more energy and time, I might construct covers for the trees to reduce freeze risk.  But I don't.  So time will tell.

Same for the plums. Toka and Methley are showing a lot of pink.  Less for Satsuma.  None for the European plums.

First Pink. Buds of Methley Plum

Midwinter Gardening. Moving a Plum Tree. 1.7.14

Methley  Plum.  Digging it up.

 This is a 4 year old Methley plum.  I bought it bare root via Raintree Nursery approx Feb 2010.   I think.  I pruned it short, anticipating Backyard Orchard Culture method with low branching, bush-like.  Last year I moved it to a different location in the yard.  I pruned back  little to encourage more low bushiness.  I had it next to Shiro plum and near Hollywood plum, to pollinate those.  They bore fine last year even though Methley did not bloom.  There is not much room in this location.  So I moved it to the Battleground home orchard, where there is more room and where, possibly, it will pollenize a mature unknown Japanese plum, Toka and Satsuma.  And vice versa.

I thought it would be difficult to dig.  It was easy.  The move last year resulted in compact root system, not wide ranging.  There was almost no root damage.  The roots were about one shovel blade deep.

This was my usual method.  Slice vertically in circle around tree.  Scoop out a moat around tree, digging outside that sliced circle.  Then slice under tree with shovel.  No prying until I've fully sliced under the tree.  It's easy this way, and not traumatic to the tree.

Transferred to a tarp.

As much as possible I handle via the root ball, not the trunk.  It helps to have a tarp to slide the root ball onto.  In this case, the tarp is a big dog food bag made from woven plastic.  Slick, durable, easy to use.   Perfect size for this project.

Those dog food bags have many uses in the garden.  I never throw them away.

Then pick up using the tarp, not pulling on the trunk.  Use wheelbarrow to move it to the truck.  Then transfer into truck bed.

It's an overcast, wet day.  Ground was soft.  Not raining hard.  Perfect for moving a tree.

Drove it to Battleground.  On left is Helleborus.

Now it's in the truck at Battleground.  I also dug up a Hellebore that was in a hidden location, and moved it to Battleground.  I didn't plant it.  Too tired after planting the tree.















Almost in place.  Hole is dug.  I had a small jujube tree in this location.  It's now moved to the bee garden near the other jujube.  Those have been disappointing so far.  Not much growth, still tiny.  This is a good spot, close to the other plum trees.  Before planting, I mixed a cup of lime with the back fill soil.  I also added mycorrhizal inoculant.  I don't think I will buy more of that.  Probably not needed.  But I have some left over so might as well use it.

Covered with bird netting to deter deer.

Planted.  Watered in with 2 buckets of water, to settle the soil.   May not be needed.  Started to rain.

I don't have fencing to protect from deer, so I covered with bird netting.  I sunk the posts into place a few weeks ago, anticipating this move.

Forgot to wrap the trunk to protect from chewing rodents.  Other plum tree is not chewed, so it should be OK for the next day.  I hope.