Pruning

This is actually from New year's Weekend. I pruned the back yard roses down to about 18 inches, and thinned out old dead-looking and scraggly canes. I pruned the North Pole Apple, removing the top, which was too difficult to reach to remove apples. It's now about 8 feet tall. Side branches were pruned back to spurs, to maintain the columnar shape. I stuck some prunings into the ground to see if they will grow by the 'lazy man's cuttings' technique, along witih some ginkgo prunings, Korean lilac, and forsythia. It's not a high yield method but has worked for forsythia, fig, grape, and honeysuckle in the past.

Yellow oncidium orchid

This oncidium is a reliable, easy plant. I forget about it because it requires so little effort. It was left under a tree last summer with minimal maintenance. Here it is in bloom now. It usually blooms midwinter. Probably Oncidium flexuosum based on this weblink. A garlic clove fell into the plant during the summer, now providing some grassy leaves.

Pruning

With heavy work schedule, necessary travel, stress, exposures to multiple ill people, it's no surprise that i finally came down with a nasty bug. Five days & I still feel very crummy. I did take about an hour outside yesterday and today, pruning backyard roses and all of the miniature cherry trees.

There is disagreement on when to prune roses or how much. I would have waited, but needed at least a little sunshine. All varieties were pruned to about 4 to 8 large canes, each about 12 to 24 inches tall depending on the vigor of the individual shrubs. Tamara is the most vigorous in the back yard and has the most growth remaining after pruning as well. Some of the newer information suggests just shearing back to the desired height, stating that this results in more flowers. I dont think this is for organic roses, however, so effects of this method on infection control, without pesticide use, are not known. The older information often recommends severe pruning. My approach is somewhere in between, with more growth removed to reduce black spot (removal of sources of infection, removal of branches that clutter and shade the center of the shrub, to allow sunlight to enter), but longer than some of the older recommendations to allow for more flowers.

The cherries are pruned to open "bowl" pattern where possible, with new growth generally pruned back to 2 to 4 buds, the last one outward facing.

I also pruned the "north pole" apple to shorten it a little (could not reach the top apples last year), shorten branches back to spurs, and maintain the columnar appearance.

I cut some apple branches for use as scions later this winter. These went into a plastic bag in the fridge. They came from a tree that overhangs my yard severely, but isnt my tree. The apples are tart and crisp, but the tree bears poorly due to poor maintenance. I will use these scions to rework a miniature Golden Delicious that has not borne edible fruit in 4 years and I doubt ever will without the reworking.

Several prunings were stuck into a shady border to see if they can be grown as cuttings by this "benign neglect" method: some small forsythia sticks, ginkgo prunings, korean lilac prunings, and one apple pruning. If they don't take, that's OK - I dont know what I'll do with them if the DO take. The location is shady, has a tall fence o n the north side, and generally stays fairly moist. I think that last year's attempt at ginkgo cuttings ultimately failed when they were blessed with too much sun.

Overwintering

This room has a south-facing window. It is not used so the heat is turned off. The temperature is usually in the 50s on cold days. Some of the heat is solar, some due to adjacent hallway. The Clivia miniata (lower right corner) are in their "2 months without water" phase. Here is the Royal Horticultural Society info on clivia culture (most of the other websites use the common name which I read is quite offensive). The banana and gingers are watered a little each week, about 2 cups of water each. Lower left, a citrus from seed and Meyer lemon, also minimal watering. Other plants with the same treatment include the Epiphyllum oxypetalum, Brazilopuntia, Aloe vera, scented geranium, and small Brugmansia.


Overwintering using the "warm sunny" method. In the home office windowsill, also south facing but warmer (usually 60s to 70s depending on the sun) are some additional cacti, a Hippaestrum that finished blooming, some Schlumbergera, and additional succulants.

Another Unknown Soldier

Supervision

Gratuitous cat photo.

More figs were pruned today.

"Vancouver" found variety. As noted before, possibly Brunswick/Magnolia/Dalmation. Pruned to spurs of 1-2 buds of last year's growth. These may actually be spurs of the 2nd part of last years growth, that responded to pinching by branching. In most cases, I removed 6 inches to one foot of growth. I could not help but leave a couple of embryo figs, despite thinking that the breba crop did not amount to much. Live and learn. I'm aiming for a 'bowl' shaped tree with an open center.

Lattarula/White Marseilles etc. this is also pruned to spurs, more or less. The aim here is for a more "fan-like" arrangement since this tree is near the house.

All of the fig trees got a couple of big handfulls of crushed eggshells for calcium, scattered on the ground.

Pruning Grapes

Here is the arbor before pruning. I read that it's necessary to remove 90% of the previous year's growth. These vines are Interlaken, Canadice, and Venus.

After. For the most part, all 3 vines were pruned to spurs. In most cases, to 2 or 3 buds per spur. That meant that more than 90% of last year's growth was removed. I keep debating, am I leaving too much? Am I removing too much? Since this year the vines were amost too crowded, I should not leave more now than I did last year.

Similarly for this Price grape. There were only a few bunches of grapes this year. I don't know if I am using the right method. Plus, the squirrels (furry little Satans with paws) chewed off most of the flower buds along the top, which is where most of ther flower buds were.


After. Most of the remaining vine is pruned to spurs. There is one cane left along the top as well. I couldnt decide which method was better. Maybe I'll pay more attention this time.

Plus, I need to add a chicken-wire top, or something, to thwart the furry little beasties in their develish missions.

More Unknown Soldiers

More unknown soldiers. On the reverse, the caption "Ft. Benj Harrison 9-24-10. Getting ready for inspection. Frank." Postmarked 9/27/1910

This is about actual size as displayed on the blog. Clicking on the photo enlarges it. The preserved detail on these old photos can be impressive.

How many of these men went to their deaths in unknown battles?

Planning and seed orders

Tonight I browsed the "Totally Tomatoes" website and placed orders for the seed varieties that are listed below.

Tomatoes
They didn't do so great in 07. Too cool and rainy. Maybe I didn't give them enough of an early boost with warmth and plant food (fish emulsion). Maybe I'll try the 'wall-o-water' again. It helped in 06, but at one point I thought they were getting steamed, and it was complicated making sure that I had them open on sunny days. Here is a photo, including the 'wall-o-water's, from 4/16/06. Spring really does happen, I just need to remind myself of that sometimes.

Better Boy Hybrid Tomato - 75 days- This has been one of the reliable ones.
Black Krim Tomato - 69 days - Tried Black from Tula and Cherokee Black in 2007, good tasting, not so productive.
Lemon Boy Hybrid Tomato - 72 days - My all time favorite, have to keep trying.
Ponderosa Red Tomato - 80 days - Childhood favorite. Who am I kidding? I doubt that this will perform in the Pacific Northwest. Still, all it takes is one tomato.
Super Sweet 100 Hybrid Tomato - 65 days - Ning's favorite and the best growing cherry in this yard.

Peppers
This year I'll try some peppers again. They don't usually produce until late summer or fall. Maybe try the 'wall-o-water' method.
Bulgarian Carrot Chile Pepper - 65-68 days - Never tried before.
Cayenne Long Red Slim Pepper - 75 days - This does 'ok' in my yard, 2 years running. But only a few peppers resulted.
Hot Portugal Pepper - Early ripening at 65 days. Worth a try.

Squash
Sunny Delight Hybrid Squash - Some variety to keep things 'fresh'

I did check out some other web sites, but none had the "Lemon Boy" tomato seeds. I suppose that I could have tried 1- or 2-year-old seeds, but didn't want to take the chance on these favorites.

I may also dig out old seeds and see if I can grow some varieties that I grew before. Viability-wise, they should be OK. I suspect that I can locate some old seeds from past years, and would like to try again.