Seedlings and Progress Report. 4.12.14

Culinary Ginger Plant 4.12.14

 The ginger is growing rapidly.  Not enough room in the light stand.  Moved to south window.

Fig plants from south window are transitioning to outside.

Seedlings went into ground -
Phacelia, oregano, snowpeas, bunching onions.  The Phacelia was at cotyledon stage so delicate.  I was careful.

Will leave kitchen garden open starting tomorrow but with screening for rabbits and deer.

Two more buddlea starts went into the ground.

Harvested a row of radishes and planted 2 new rows of radish seeds.

Played the bee with Asian pears, Tart and Sweet Cherries.

Montmorency and North Star cherries about in full bloom.  Almaden Duke and the two sweet cherries are almost done.

Seedlings 4.12.14

Fruit Tree Blossom Times. 3.30.14

Asian Plums 3.30.14

Apricot  Blossom 3.30.14

Log for plum blooming times.

Unknown plum, not quite full bloom.
Toka, full bloom.
Satsuma, just past full bloom.
Methley finished blooming.

Among others,
Greengage just beginning to bloom
Stanley, doesn't look like it will bloom.

I pollinated several times using paintbrush.  Today it did not rain.  There were many pollinating insects, especially on the unknown variety of plum.  I didn't see much traffic to Toka or Satsuma.

Among other stone fruits,
The apricot seedlings have just a few blossoms.  I have been trying to pollinate them.  Looking,on a few the base of the pistol has minimal swelling.  That is  also the case with Methley.

Among the cherries, the first flower opened today on Vandalay.  Sweetheart has not started to open.  Those are only one year old.  Almaden Duke is covered with buds, none open yet.  The tart cherries, not near opening yet.  Montmorency and Northstar.

Peaches are done blooming.  Except the one and only blossom on Indian Free.

Toka Plum Full Bloom.  3.30.14

Almaden Duke Cherry 3.30.14

Sweetheart Cherry 3.30.14

Vandalay Cherry 3.30.14

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

Buds: Phenological photos.

Phenology - keeping track of natural progression of plant growth and other events, in an effort to know when to plan agricultural activities. See other entries by clicking on labels. Here are some events in my yard currently, especially flower buds, leaves unfolding, and growth beginning for various plants.

Pear flower bud, almost open.

Lilac flower bud. This is the first to show little purple 'grapes' within the bud.

The smallest daffodils are blooming.

The first violets are blooming.

Backyard tree peony.

Peach blossoms, only a few open but already they look so beautiful.

Chinese chives, about 6 inches tall. I hear them saying, quietly, "make me into dumplings".

Rhubarb leaves continuing to open. This is "Victoria".

Japanese Pieris. Full bloom

Harbingers of Spring. Two New Fruit Trees. Phenology.

The small narcissus are always first. I think that some were lost last year - I remember more. Still, great to see them blooming.

The Aprium is one of the first trees to bloom in my yard - right there with the peaches. I think this stage is called "First Pink"

And here are the early peach buds. The bags at least didnt kill the tree. Now to see what happens with our nemesis, leaf curl.

The first of the 2 newest additions, "Surefire" sour cherry. Arrived Tuesday, kept in a cool place overnight, and planted when I came home from work Wednesday (last night). This might have been the only rain-free window of time for a week, so it worked out perfectly.

The other of the 2 newest additions, the multigraft asian pair. I STILL don't know which of the 4 potential varieties are represented on the 3 grafts. The label states "Varieties from bottom to top: Shinseiki, Yonashi, Hamese, Mishirasu". I studied the grafts and decided that one bud did not take, second from bottom, which would be Yonashi. That would leave the 2 smaller, yellow, sweet varieties, one for early aug and one for late Aug, and the large russeted Mishirasu, a September bearing variety. Any combination would be fine. Probably 3 years to know for sure.

Spring Garden Diary

This is where things are currently.

The new little Desert King is either quite happy in this location, or it just gets to an earlier start compared to the other fig trees. It looks quite happy.

The garlic is knee high. These are on the south side of the house. The garlic in the front yard (north of house but still in sun) is not as large, but is also not from the 'prime' garlic bulbs (Inchelium red)

Grapes are starting to bloom. This is Venus, but other varietes are not far behind.

The recently planted beans have started to show. These were the Romano Bush Beans planted April 26th. About half are showing now. None of the corn or squash planted that day are up. Yesterday I planted some yellow string bush beans, and more romanos, after an overnight soak. Also replantged the corn after an overnight soak. I suspect the issue is soil temperature, but the soaking probably wont hurt anything and might speed germination. Also today I planted old seeds. I mixed together old packets of lettuce, mesclun, basil, spinach, and vegetable chrysanthemum, then planted thickly. These seeds are anywhere from 1 to 5 years old, and most probably wont grow. I didn't want to waste space for individual trials, so they are all planted together. Of note, this WSU publication gives life expectations for common vegetable seeds. They show lettuce, cucumber, and spinach seeds may be viable for 5-6 years; carrots beans and peas for 3-4 years. Maybe they WILL grow, after all. Oregon State say's don't presoak corn or beans at all - that this method damages seeds! Of note, I did presoak beans last year and they sprouted well, so who knows?

Here are some comments about presoaking seeds: This author - goes further and and discusses presprouting (chitting) his seeds. Hmmm... I'll have to try that. This author says DON'T soak bean seeds! Apparently they become more fragile when soaked. This author says DON'T soak them, due to concern for rotting! This author says DO presoak them! This author recommends presoaking certain seeds but doesn't address beans. Well, the consensus appears to be that I shouldn't have soaked them. We'll see if they grow! If no growth in 2 weeks, there is time to try again.

The chickens laid one egg each today. Must be the lengthening days, although I would like to think it is all of the weeds that I have been feeding them!

Tomato planting time

After a trip away for a few days, now some time at home for a brief "staycation". The tomatoes look sturdy:


So I planted them. This year I learned from past mistakes and placed the stakes before planting the tomato plants.


In light of recent entries regarding phenology, "When the flowering dogwood is in peak bloom it is time to plant tomatoes, early corn and peppers. "

So here we are:


Also, the "Tomatoes can be set out when lily-of-the-valley is in full bloom." And it is (sorry, they are too small for this camera to do a good job photographing).

So, I planted most of the tomatoes. About 6 remain, due to my un willingness to throw away some 'duplicates' that I had thinned out at the seed-leaf stage and stuck in soil to see if ehy would grow. They did.

So what other phenological phenomena should I be tracking. Well,

The dicentra is blooming.


The miniature (early) iris have been blooming for one week.


The wisteria catkins reach from the 1st joint of my thumb to the end of my index finger.


The purple rhodie is starting to show color.


The strawberries have begun to bloom.

Phenology

It took a while to find the term. All That I could think of was "when (something) leaves are the size of mouse ears"... then who knows what.

Finally I did this search google search that resulted in some answers. It's when OAK leaves are the size of mouse ears. That's when to hunt for morels, when to plant soybeans, when to fish for crappies, and when the orioles come back. Also, apparently, the dandelions, lilacs and blue violets bloom at the same time, signalling when to hunt for morels.

This got me to the term Phenology, which I discovered I already had an entry on in my blog. Arrrgghhh!

Wikipedia has an article about phenology, and so does About-dot-com. I especially like the wikipedia article bacause it give the Greek spelling: φαινομαι.

Unfortunately, in the entry on morels, I would have a dilemma. My lilacs are not blooming yet. The 'local' blue violets (ones that 'went native' in my yard so were here before I was) started a month ago, although the "Quincy" violets that came from Illinois just started. The dandelions have been blooming for a couple of weeks. Worst of all, I haven's checked on oak leaves, since I don't live near any. But the ginkgo leaves are about the size of, say, a squirrrel's ear.

This site has some information that looks useful. We'll see if I can put it to work. Some examples:

"When peach and plum trees are in full bloom plant hardy crops." Too late for me this year. And that $^#@*& freak frost showed that even the peach and plum dont know what they are talking about, sometimes.

"When you see new growth on green ash, grapes and bur oaks it is safe to plant tender vines, annuals and perennials." That would be now. The grapes are growing. But it's a bit cool at night (in the 40s)

"Plant peppers and eggplant outside when bearded iris is in bloom." The bearded iris are just beginning to swell. I'll need to wait.

"When the daffodils begin to bloom it is time to plant peas. " Too late. I didn't plant peas, and the daffodils are almost done.

"If apple trees bloom in April the crop will be plentiful- if they bloom in May the crop will be poor. " It's April, they are blooming. Stay tuned!


"Plant corn when oak leaves are the size of a squirrels' ear. " I need to find a squirrel to check on this. And I'll need to find an oak tree. Fortunately, there's another way... see the next entry!

"When the blossoms of the apple tree begin to fall, plant your corn seeds. " I'll do that and record what happens.

"Tomatoes can be set out when lily-of-the-valley is in full bloom." They are not quite blooming yet. Maybe this will be the key. Soil temperature is key, and lily-of-the-valley are so short that they must be a good measure of soil temperature, right?

"When the flowering dogwood is in peak bloom it is time to plant tomatoes, early corn and peppers. " That time is "almost here". The dogwood is in early bloom. We'll see if this matches with the lily of the valley thing, above. The tomato seedlings are at growing rapidly, and some are at their second set of leaves.

"When dandelions are blooming plant beets, lettuce, spinach and carrots." That would be now. Maybe I should get some seeds.

Lest anyone think I'm naive, I do realize that trees can't predict the weather (witness the unfortunate aprium, apricots, and peaches). And if they COULD, we've so distorted them with breeding, grafting, moving them from their providence, and cultural practices, that they would not help but be confused. Plus, with climate change and local microclimates, there's even more to consider. Still, sometimes, it's just nice to have someone tell me what to do. That way I dont have to think, and if it's wrong, it's not my fault for bad planning! And if I stick to MY experience, in MY microclimate, and with MY varieties, maybe it will still make sense.



SO.... I have planted Romano beans when the daffodils were done, and the fig brebas are the size of mouse poop, and the apples and tulips and pink cherry and scilla are blooming. The grapes have started to grow, Venus faster than the others.
We'll see if the beans grow and produce! I did sort of base this on the sprouting volunteer bean - the soil wasnt too cold for that one, anyway!

I also divided and replanted some Egyptian Walking Onions - it's probably too late for that, but they were in the way of the beans.

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After this entry, I looked at the thermometer on the grape arbor. It reads 72.5 degrees. I went ahead and planted a few "scallop bush mix" patty pan squash, and some "white sensation" hybrid sweet corn. Not having had success with corn before, this will be interesting. I intend to plant more in 2 weeks. This is a short season variety.

It's hard to think of something that JUST STARTED - it looks like the Japanese Wisteria has flower buds the about 1/2 inch long, the size of, say, grapes.

Erythronium has been in bloom for one week. OH - A white tree peony (south side of house) just started blooming yesterday. Maybe that's the key!

Poodles Love Spring Weather

Other weekend garden tasks -

The 'winter sow' letttuce didn't come up. So I replanted the container with cilantro.

The Chinese Apricot was planted (from Lowes, "Prunus armeniaca "Chinese").

Picked up a back of used coffee grounds from Starbucks.

That's about all.

Interesting web site on gardening by nature's signs: phenology. This will be a topic to develop.