Germinating Old Pink Banana Squash Seeds. 5.10.2021

 I thought these were all dead.  I soaked the last of the 2019 batch of Pink Banana Squash seeds for a few hours, then wrapped them in wet paper towel and placed the package into a plastic covered bowl.  This is four days later.

So they are germinating.  The rule of thumb is that viable seeds sink and dead ones float, but all of these floated.  Next test is transfer them to potting soil and see if they grow.

So far, none of the Pink Banana Squash seeds that I started out in potting soil this year have germinated.  Maybe they still have a chance.  All I want or need is two hills of vines.

Planting Squash Plants with Black Plastic Mulch. 5.9.2021

 I want to save squash seeds this year.  I plan to cover the flowers with mesh sacks but also want to isolate the plants, while giving the vines room to roam.  I have never used black plastic mulch before.  Black plastic mulch supposedly kills weeds, reduces water requirement, warms soil, and increases yield.

This area was not accessible to mowing, so a few months ago I put down black plastic to kill the grass and weeds.  I decided to leave it there, and plant some of the squash seedlings there.

In this area, I planted Illinois Squash, a Cucurbita mixta variety, and Fordham Zucchini, a Cucurbita pepo variety.  The Zucchini is a bushy type.  It should not be difficult to select a few blossoms to isolate for saving seeds. 

The grass and weeds were almost entirely eradicated already.  The soil was moist under the plastic sheets, which have been in place for several months.

There are more squash seedlings to plant elsewhere.  Most of those locations are also already under plastic.  I hope this method is successful.  It does indeed feel like less work, better weed management, and better water management, already.  Not very attractive, but that's OK.

Some Irises. 5.9.2021

 The iris bed was too much to keep weeded, and I didn't get to mulch it last winter.  So it's pretty weedy.  The interesting thing is, this is the first year they didn't have leaf spot and bacterial rot diseases.  My theory is that they need ground cover, either mulch or weeds, to prevent soil spores from splashing onto the leaves and starting an epidemic.  The down side of the weediness, other than appearance, is there seem to be fewer flowers this year.

I love bearded irises so will continue to work on my growing method.  I feel certain that will mean a bark chip mulch.  Last fall I moved some to the vegetable and fruit garden.  Those are mulched and also have no leaf spot or bacterial rot diseases, and also few flowers.

Tomato, Cucumber and Squash Seedlings. 5.9.2021

 About 3/4 of the seedlings are in the ground now.  This is it for planting seeds in containers for the year.

I wanted Pink Banana Squash but none have germinated.  I bit the bullet and ordered a packet on line.  Postage was significant for one packet, but this is the last chance to try to germinate some of this variety for the year.  I found them on the Victory Seeds website, which is a company that I'm coming to like.  They sent the seeds out the next day and I got them two days later.  We'll see if they germinate.

Some of the squash and cucumber seedlings.  Also some Chinese Chives.  These pickle seeds are form ones that I saved last winter, great germination but who knows what the cucumbers will be like, because I didn't isolate the plants or flowers and I don't know if they were hybrids.  Squash seedlings quickly outgrow these little containers.  I planted the Gete Okosomin and one of the Yellow Zucchinis in the garden yesterday.  Others to follow, and giving away a couple of zucchini plants.

I've planted most of the basil but there are still a few to go.  Same with peppers.

A few of the remaining "Extreme Bush" tomatoes.  I'll give away a plant and find a location for the rest.

The Soyu Chinese Cucumber packet was from 2016.  I planted about 6 seeds.  So far, one has germinated.  That's good enough but a few more would be better, so I planted another container.   I'm glad I saved the old seed packets.  This summer I can let one go overripe for seed saving.  [Edit - that photo was yesterday.  This morning I saw that two more seedlings have emerged.]

The rest of the cucumber seedlings.  I planted more than I want, because I didn't know which ones would grow.  Varieties are Alibi hybrid, a Bush type that doesn't designate if hybrid, another Bush type that is F1.  I think I'll plant all of the hybrids together, and try to isolate at least one of the Bush type for saving seeds.  Maybe the ones that I grew form saved seeds this year, and the other Bush type that does not state Hybrid.  These should be ready to plant in the garden in two weeks.

Planting Early Sweet Corn Seeds. 5.9.2021

 It's still early.  I usually start planting sweet corn about May 15th.  Even then the first crop doesn't always do that well.  Two weeks later usually works better.  Since I plant every two weeks until mid July, however, this time has some potential for an early crop.  This year seems warmer, earlier, than most years have been.  Plus, the soil temp is 20C which translates to 68F.  The minimum soil temp for sweetcorn is 65F so in theory, we're good.

This soil thermometer has a Fahrenheit reading but it's inaccessible on the back of the thermometer.  So I have to convert from Celsius.

These are the early types I'm trying this year.  I tried Early Sunglow a number of years ago and didn't like it.  It wasn't productive. However, this is a different location and maybe I'm better at it now.  Trinity is a type I liked a lot in the past, but couldn't find seeds for a while.  Seeds'n'Such seems to have some older varieties that I couldn't find elsewhere, so I bought them while looking at seed websites last winter.

Quince Aromatnaya in Bloom. 5.9.2019

 These look a lot like dogwoods, except five petals instead of four.  Of the grafted types, only Aromatnaya is thriving.  I should take a good look at the others and decide if they should be removed.

Squash and Cucumber Seedlings. 5.5.2011

 About 2/3 of the squashes have germinated.  All of the pots of zucchinis, yellow summer squash, red Kuri squash have one to three seedlings now.  The only ones that don't are Pink Banana squash and one of the Galeux d'Eysines pumpkin.  I sat them out in the sun today, it was 80F.  

I read it can take a few weeks for some squash seeds to germinate.  I have sentimental attachment to Pink Banana, as well as it's a productive and delicious squash.  It won't kill me if there is none this year, but I would like if there were some.  There are still two options - either germinate other seeds from the 2018 packet, or grow the seeds that I saved even though I don't know if the pollen parent was Pink Banana.  It could have been Kabucha, Red Kuri, or Galeux.  So I started a pot of the saved seeds, plus soaked the old 2018 seeds in water and now those are all in a moist paper towel in a plastic wrap covered bowl.  Time will tell.  

The first to germinate were the Illinois Squash, which is a very good squash too.  There are a bunch of Red Kuri seedlings.  That was a favorite this winter, so bravo!  

If these seeds that I saved from Pink Banana are hybrids, that will be interesting.  I's still rather they be the real thing.

On to cucumbers, it's only been a couple of days but the first to germinate is, the saved seeds from last year!  That's interesting.  Again, I don't know if they were from a hybrid or open pollinated variety.  I'll grow them out and see. 

All of this uncertainty.  2020 was just plain awful.  Anyone who got out alive and reasonable well, did OK I guess.

The other cukes still have a chance to germinate too.  There will be choices  and, if 2021 is better, some pickles.

Here are the little "unknown bush pickle" seedlings.  Barely breaking the surface, but clearly alive.

Grafting Results So Far. 5.4.2021

 These are a few of the grafts that I did in March.  I wondered if the unseasonable warmth last week would be an issue.  Maybe for a few.  Most seem OK so far.  They are at that stage where, the scions are obviously alive and getting some nutrition, but growth isn't yet sturdy enough to say, yes they took and are home free.  Close, getting there, but not quite yet.

Chestnut Graft, Primato I think.

Another Chestnut, Bisalta III

 

 

Apples that I grafted to make the top Espalier tiers.

 

 The Otterson looks like it tried to bloom.  I've had that happen with other grafts, then the vegetative growth began.  Otherwise, it could be a dead end.

There are also grafts on some of the larger apple trees, a wild / domestic black cherry, and apples on smaller rootstocks.  All look about the same.

Vegetable Garden. 5.4.21

 The vegetable garden is coming together nicely.  I did a lot of work over the past few months, building the new raised beds, removing the old ones, filling the soil, changing the in-ground beds around.  Now, most of that is done.  There is always something, but now I can relax a little more.

The second raised bed.  Everything is taking off now.

This winter I was excited to find Lemon Boy tomato seeds after years of looking.  The I planted the plant out early with the water cone for protection, and the leaves burned.  It's making a come back, yay.  That's also good news because I wondered if they were planted out too early.  It looks like they are just fine.

Mostly the third raised bed.  It's quite a mix.  The radishes are ready to eat.  That will happen with the lettuce and spinach, too, before the peppers need the space.

These are the hybrid Roma tomatoes.  They will need a sort of trellis before they flop over.

So far Extreme Bush tomato is looking nice in its container.

These thornless red raspberries are descended from some that grew under the fence into my yard from a neighbor, which I moved from the Vancouver place last year.  There were some good raspberries then.  This looks like a much better year.

 

Most of the vegetable garden.  There are more tomatoes than I will grow next year.  This is my tomato test garden year.

Quilt Updates. 5.4.21

 These are the two quilts that I am working on.

First, the disappearing nine patch.  All of the nine patches are sewn and pressed.  I also cut the first 1/3 into quarters.

This is one of the nine patches, cut into quarters.

These can be turned in any direction, or mixed with squares from other nine patches before sewing into the quilting blocks.  This is one way.

Combining four of those, it looks like this.

I'm not crazy about how those come together.  I think a less overpowering and more playful look happens if they are mixed together, so this is an example using those same four patches.

I like that a lot more.  It is still open for other colors to be mixed in.  I need a quiet time when I can arrange them on a larger surface - the floor - and no doggie romping around.  That will have to be in an early morning.  Then I can photograph the result so I know which patches to sew together, how.

Then there is the brick sidewalk quilt.  I arranged a few rows of the "bricks" to see how I like them.

I like how this comes together.  I'll use the photo to sew together the rows.  The bolder pattern may need a little more arranging.  I'm not sure that anyone would recognize this as being made from men's shirts.  Some quilters like to emphasize the repurposed aspect, by including pockets or buttons in their quilts.  For this quilt, I just want to concentrate on the fabrics and patterns.

I may need to make it a row narrower, so that I can make it a couple of rows longer.  I need to re-count the bricks.