A Raincoat for Rufus

Sometimes I make things, sew or refinish furniture.  Rufus is so dark and wooly, I worry about walking him especially in evening and during rain.  Plus he doesn't like getting his fur wet.  Dog raincoats at Petco were very expensive.  Plus, none of their doggie raincoats seemed to fit his body.  A human raincoat at Bimart only cost about 1/10 as much last fall, so I bought one to use the fabric.  Never got around to it, but during quarantine, there is more spare time.  Here is the result.  He doesn't mind it.

More Vegetable Seeds. 6.2.2020

I planted some more vegetable seeds.  Something seems to be eating a lot of my planted bean seeds.  Several rows vanished completely.  Something also eats some of the plants after they germinate.  I'll try again, Landreth and Roma varieties.  I also planted some more dill and cilantro, which seem to be slow germinating, and the third batch of sweetcorn, this time Ambrosia hybrid.

The garden is very lush.  As usual, I was over-enthusiastic and planted too much.  Photos may follow in a day or two.

Irises. 6.2.2020

With a week of rain, the irises are looking a little sad.  However, there are some bright spots.   I think I'll get rid of most of the rebloomers (four of them) from the main iris bed.  They seem to be much more disease susceptible in the rainy season when they should be at their best.  I'll also move the short ones, Bumblebee delight and Honorable vs Sans Souci, to the border by the vegetable garden.   That will make room for six or seven  rescue irises, so I can close down those beds.   I think the super modern, lavish frilly most colorful irises are the most disease prone and disappointing.   The older ones seem tougher and perform better for me.

Gay Parasol.  6.2.2020

Edith Wolford.  6.2.2020

Red Knight.  6.2.2020

Absolute Treasure.  6.2.2020

Not an iris!  A peony.  6.2.2020

Bumblebee Delight.  6.2.2020

Honorabile or Sans Souci.  6.2.2020

Unidentified rescue iris.   A keeper!  6.2.2020

A group of rescue irises.  I think I'll keep all of them, but move to the main iris bed.  6.2.2020

Some Ugly Irises. 5.23.2020

I need to do some thinning out of the bearded iris plants.  That's hard to do, they are my favorite flower.  However, some are ugly, and some do poorly.  This season will be when I make some decisions.

The iris garden is getting weedy and the rains and chills have not been kind.

The cultivar "Cheetah Cheese was more oranges and yellows in the photos from the nursery.  This one is mauve-ugly with white.  It's uglier in person than in this photo.  It will go into the trash  The cultivar "Blatant" is sold as a rebloomer.  In the internet photos, the flowers practically glow.  In my garden, they look like the skin of someone with a really bad blood vessel disease.  This one also did not bloom last year, and one of the two plants that I had developed rot.  This one looks like that might happen too.  I think some are over-hybridized and more susceptible to disease compared to some of the oldies.  Blatant will also go.  They probably shouldn't go into compost if they are possibly infected with something.

Bearded Iris "Cheetah Cheese".  5.23.2020

Bearded Iris "Blatant"  5.23.2020

Planting Bush Bean Seeds. 5.23.2020

Of the beans that I planted in the past week to 2 weeks, only the Dragon's Tongue bush beans have germinated.  I need to double check that name, it might be Fire Tongue or something.  These look healthy so far.

I also planted Limas, Yellow Wax, Romas, and Landreth Stringless, all a day or a few days after the Dragon's tongue.  Only a couple of Landreth Stringless have germinated.  Those YellowWax and Romas were older seeds.  Maybe they won't grow.  It might be their age, or not giving them enough time, or the cool weather.

Tonight I'm soaking some fresh, new seeds of Landreth and Roma.  I can plant them tomorrow.

Dragon's Tongue bush beans.  5.23.2020

Tomatoes and Protective Covers. 5.23.2020

With predicted cool temperatures and ongoing rains, I got out the wall-o-water units that i bought last year, and protected three tomato plants.  I also got, via amazon, a flimsy polyethylene painting tarp, and covered some of the sauce tomato plants, first placing fencing tunnels over the plants so the plastic would not touch them. Most of the nights were in the 40s and 50s, and the days in 50s and 60s.

Almost two weeks later, I removed the protections.

For the plants that were not protected,  they look fine.  The leaves are nice and green, and they grew a bit.
The plants that were protected by plastic on fencing tunnels grew the fastest.  They are sturdy and green and quite a bit bigger.
The plants that were covered with the wall-o-water, were not as healthy looking.  They did increase some in size, but are more lanky and droopy.  I imagine they will come out of it, but the wall-o-water did not do as well as the plastic layer on fencing tunnels, and probably not as good as unprotected plants.

I think the water cones might be better used for colder weather than we had.  Maybe they heated up too much.

Top Left and top middle:  Bodeaceous.  Bottom Left and bottom Middle:  Better boy.  Right:  Supersweet 100 and Sungold.  Only  The left most were covered with Wall-o-water for 2 weeks.

Mostly Ranger tomato plants, protected by plastic tunnels, or no tunnel.  Plus Early Girl protected by wall-o-water.  5.23.2020

Early Girl Bush Tomato, protected by wall o water for 2 weeks.  5.23.2020

Planting Sweet Corn. Germinating Sweet Corn. 5.23.2020

Most years, my rule of thumb is to plant sweetcorn starting on May 15.  This year I started about a week sooner - check prior post for actual date.  That batch was Bilicious, an SE type.  I always grow SE sweet corn.

Then it was chilly and rainy for the past approx two weeks.  Most days in 50s and 60s, nights in 40s and 50s.  I wondered if the seeds would germinate, but most of them did. These were 1/2 new seeds, and 1/2 one-year-old seeds.  I think the majority of them germinated.

I cover with 1 inch square plastic mesh, so birds don't eat the seeds.  Then I switch to low fencing tunnels, so rabbits and deer don't eat the tender young plants.  When they grow out of the fencing tunnels, they usually don't get eaten.

Today I planted "Ruby Queen", from Burpee.  These are red kernel sweet corn.  I imagine the flavor is about the same as the yellow, but since there is a difference between yellow and white, who knows?  Ruby Queen is also SE.

Germinating Sweet Corn Plants.  5.23.2020

Honeybee on Collard and Poppy Flowers. 5.15.2020

Honeybee on Oriental Poppy Flower.  5.15.2020

Honeybee on Collard Green Flowers.  5.15.2020

Iris Garden Today. 5.15.2020

Sunny Disposition.  5.15.2020

Bearded Iris Garden.  5.15.2020

Victoria Falls.  5.15.2020

Apple protectors for birds and bugs. 5.15.2020

While thinning apples, I noticed some had been partially eaten by birds. I also read on a gardening website about people anxiously awaiting their Redlove apples, only to have them eaten by birds who apparently mistook them for cherries.

This year will be the first chance to taste my Redlove Calypso and Redlove Era apples, with only 2 or three of each per tree.  I'd rather be the one to taste them, not some stupid birds.

Last year I bought some organza gift bags, to see if individually bagging apples on the trees would prevent some insect damage.   Some people claim that doesn't prevent bird damage.  So, I sewed holographic scare tape to a couple of organza bags, and cut flaps so when the birds are looking at the bags and thinking "that stupid guy thinks those bags will keep us out", they will be distracted by the flashing moving lights.  Last year, the scare tape helped a lot with blueberries and cherries.

Organza bag / scare tape on a Redlove Era tiny apple.  5.15.2020