Progress Report. Rain. No Puttering. Grafting Illustrations. 3.26.14

It's been very rainy.  Constant rain for a week.  I'm concerned the plums and peaches may not pollinate.

When I use a small paintbrush on anthers there is no visible pollen.  Washed off.  Just water.

Today about 50F.  Inside poly tunnel raised bed, 55F.  Not enough sun to warm it up.  Portugal Red Pepper I moved a week ago looks OK, maybe some new growth.  Chinese chives a foot tall.

At about 3 weeks, only one Four O'clock from the first, room temp non-soaked batch has germinated.  At about 1 week, one Four O'clock from the second, soaked, seed-warmer batch germinated.  So now, so far, I have 2 plants.  Better than none.  It looks like another is beginning to push up seed growing medium.   Will keep them on the seed warmer a few weeks.   No conclusions.  Not a randomized, controlled, statistically analyzed trial.  I think the soaking and warming is probably beneficial.

On Grafting, so far the grafts look OK.  Slowly swelling buds on all.  None have shriveled.  With the cool wet weather, they might look OK if they have not taken.  Found some illustrations from Gutenberg.org which are available to everyone to download.

Whip and Tongue Graft Illustration.  Dr. John A Warder.  1867.  American Pomology.  Apples. 

Side Graft Illustration.  Dr. John A Warder.  1867. American Pomology.  Apples. 

Whip and Tongue Graft Illustration.  H. Harold Hume.  1906.  The Pecan and Its Culture.  

Cleft Graft Illustration.  H. Harold Hume.  1906.  The Pecan and Its Culture. 

Kitchen Garden Progress Report. Potatoes. Vegetables. 3.7.14

Potato Well.  Pontiac Red

Potato Well.  White Superior

Today the  temperature was in the mid 50s.  It's still early  to plant potatoes.  I planted some in the "Wells" that I built from tree surround rings.  The wells are dark brick-like material.  They should absorb heat from the sun.  That will warm the soil further.

If a frost is predicted, I can cover the wells to protect the potato plants.

Planted in soil:compost 50:50 mix.

Scallions are growing rapidly.

I planted some additional spinach seeds.

I planted some snow peas in small flower pots.

That's about all.

Tail end of blizzard. 2.09.14

Raised Bed Garden in Snow

Row Cover did not hold up in snow.

 We were able to get to Battleground today.  Some road challenges but overall OK.

Raised bed garden is blanked in snow.

The repaired low tunnel collapsed again.  I used row cover, thinking that would allow drainage.  I did not account for snow.  So I will need a different plan.

The red twig dogwoods are bright against the snow.

The plum buds look OK.  It's not the snow that concerns me with those, but the harder freeze last week.

Osier Dogwood

Plum buds

More snow! Blizzard Saturday. 2.08.14

Ning walking dogs

Front view

He doesn't like snow on his paws.

Snow! 2.06.14

Front View 2/6/13

First big snow of the winter.  It's been snowing all day.  We could not make it to Battleground today to check on things.  I think it will be ok.

Yesterday felt bitter cold, but was only into 20s.  I am not so rugged any more.

Another cold day 9°F

When I awakened today the weather channel listed 9°F.
After today it should warm up a little.
Will need to check on pipes at Battleground place tomorrow and see if still frozen.

Even colder. 8° F predicted.

I wonder if any of the fig trees will survive?  And what else will be effected?  I read this is colder than the record in 1972.

About to have the coldest day in years.

According to the forecast, today's low will be 15 and tomorrow's low will be 12 

I would be concerned about the fig trees I nurtured through this year, but I'm too tired.  Whatever happens, happens.

I should be more concerned about faucets. 

The only other plants that I'm concerned about are the Buddleias, that I nurtured through their first year.  I read they can freeze down in the midwest, but then grow from the roots. 

Other plants could be affected.  May not know until Spring.

We'll see.

from weather.com http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/98663

December

Sun   1 OBSERVED Hi  57°F Lo  48°F Precip (in) 1.80in.	Mon   2 OBSERVED Hi  52°F Lo  33°F Precip (in) 0.02in.	Tue   3 OBSERVED Hi  43°F Lo  25°F Precip (in) 0.01in.	Wed   4 OBSERVED Hi  39°F Lo  20°F Precip (in) 0in.	Thu   5 OBSERVED Hi  33°F Lo  16°F Precip (in) 0in.	Fri   Today Hi  31°F Lo  15°F Precip 50 %	Sat   7 Hi  29°F Lo  12°F Precip 0 %
8 Hi  33°F Lo  19°F Precip 0 %	9 Hi  38°F Lo  27°F Precip 10 %	10 Hi  41°F Lo  31°F Precip 20 %	11 Hi  43°F Lo  35°F Precip 100 %	12 Hi  45°F Lo  38°F Precip 50 %	13 Hi  45°F Lo  35°F Precip 60 %	14 Hi  43°F Lo  35°F Precip 60 %
15 Hi  43°F Lo  36°F Precip 60 %	16 AVERAGES Hi  45°F Lo  32°F RECORDS Hi  57°F Lo  10°F	17 AVERAGES Hi  45°F Lo  32°F RECORDS Hi  59°F Lo  6°F	18 AVERAGES Hi  45°F Lo  32°F RECORDS Hi  60°F Lo  0°F	19 AVERAGES Hi  45°F Lo  32°F RECORDS Hi  60°F Lo  3°F	20 AVERAGES Hi  45°F Lo  32°F RECORDS Hi  61°F Lo  11°F	21 AVERAGES Hi  45°F Lo  32°F RECORDS Hi  61°F Lo  3°F

freezing temperature.

After making a big deal about the mild temperatures, it dropped to 32F last night. We'll see what effect that had.

Temperature Jan and Feb 2009

Keeping track of temperature so that NEXT YEAR when I'm wondering "was it this cold/warm last year?" I can look back and see what it was like. Excel makes for easy to read graphs, here are the highs and lows for Jan and Feb.

Climate Data December 2008

Click on graph for much easier reading.



This month had record cold and snow. My workplace was on 'inclement weather' mode for 3.5 days - the first time in decades. Snow here was about 18 inches deep, at its greatest. The coldest day was a record as well. Total precip (as rain, I gues, since snow would give a much higher #) was 3.4 inches.

More Snow! What is this - Buffalo? Snowing again today!

Worst blizzards that we have seen in this area, since 1960s. Well, I arrived here in the 80s so it's the worst that I have ever seen here. Workplace was in emergency mode last friday, and again mon through wed. I took the bus to work mon and tues, more hassle than I let people know, but I was not able to get the car out of the drive.

Front yard - The palm leaves are fully folded from snow. Which is better - leave it on (as insulation) or knock it off (to protect leaves from breakage). Nature decided for me - this happened while I was at work.

I've never seen it this deep in my yard before.

Ning is ambitious today, shoveliong the driveway.

It's snowing now as I type this! Back yard.

Better view of palm with snow covered leaves. We'll see how it looks this Spring!

Bamboo was flat to the ground, now springing back up again.

Climate Data Nov 2008

Recent weather left me wondering about weather the fruit trees, especially the figs, have survived the same extremes in the past. It's time to save climate data for future comparisons. Here are the #s for November 2008. Click on the graph for better detail.

Precipitation: 5.36 inches, rain, ranging from 0 inches to 0.84 inches per day.
High for the month: 64 degrees, Nov 7.
Low for the month: 32 degrees, Nov 24.

Cold weather, indoor flowers, weatherizing, bulbs

Schlumbergera are blooming profusely. Most are from previous years, but the red/white mix and the pink are new this year. By growing several varieties (all store bought or cuttings, unnamed), bloom span has been almost 2 months (see Oct 25th photo). When they are at peak, I take them to work. Then they fall over in the car, which isn't good for the flower quality. I'll need to come up with a better way. They bring brightness indoors when outdoors is gloomy. Given my huge volume of homework this winter, this is one of the few bright spots.

Predicted temperatures have been is all over the place. This week may there may be a low down to 13 - each time that I looked it is different. Today is 32 and snowed, minimal. Due to concern about predicted lows, I sprayed the fig trees with "Wilt-Stop" which is derived from pine resin - probably the same as Wilt-Pruf. Not sure if it will help - but it helped me feel better. Since it was cloudy and there were occasional drizzles, I don't know if the process will work even if it would have during ideal spray conditions. This stuff is expensive. The concentrates give more for the buck, so it's what I bought. Made me think, maybe I should spray some in the summer too - this is supposed to reduce transpiration and reduce need for watering. May help with certain insects or black spot, not clear to me, and I understand that there are no cure-alls, just good gardening practices. The stuff has a nice 'piney' scent

While at the nursery getting wilt-stop, I saw some half-price narcissus, small varieties. Too late by most gardning standards, but I bought the 3 straggly packages and planted them in flower boxes. If they don't grow, it's OK. If they do, it will be nice to think that I 'saved' them.

Snow

According to the news, yesterday was the latest that is has EVER snowed here in the Portland area.

All day, snow, sleet, heavy rain

It's difficult to photograph snow. It moves.

Weather Summary Dec 2007

One of my plans with this blog was to keep track of weather conditions. I became over-ambitious with collecting data and graphs, leading to giving up. It would still be nice to have a record so here is a more modest start. Source is weatherchannel.com

Dec 2007

High for the month: 62
Low for the month: 26
Days with low below 32 degrees: 6
Days with precipitation: 24
Total accumulated precipitation: 14 inches

Weather Statistics February 2007

There were 23 days with at least a few drops of precipitation.

Total precipitation for the month was 7.7 inches.

Two days had less than 0.05 inches.

High temperature was 60 F

Low temperature was 20 F

There were 2 days with snow, but no ground coverage of snow on either day.

January 2007 Weather Statistics

I don't know how it happened - this graph suddenly appeared in my Picassa files - after trying for about an hour to put it there and failing!

Total precip = 4.5 inches
High = 53 degrees
Low = 17 degrees.

There were 14 days with low below freezing.
There were no days with high below freezing.