Raspberry Update. 6.12.2021

Today I tied holographic flash tape to the raspberry plants and their fencing. The idea is to confuse birds that might want raspberries. This worked very well last year for the cherries and blue berriees. Some of the tapes are recovered from last year. Those are very flimsy, and were easy to use twist ties to fasten on. The new roll is stiffer. I cut approx 9 inch to 1 foot lengths. punched a hole in one end using a paper punch, and tied on with strips of cloth cut from an old t shirt. The flash tape flaps and twists in the wind. The holographic reflectors catch and concentrate light, which is brilliant. I imagine for the birds it's like shining lasers and disorienting so, so far, they avoid it.

Sweetcorn Update. 6.12.2021

There was a lot of rain for the past couple of days. Before that I set up a lawn sprinkler to water the sweetcorn seedlings. I set out shallow plastric trays to measure, for an inch of artificial rain per watering, or just measure real rain. Today I fertilized and cultivated. The fertilizer was lawn nitrogen fertilizer, a couple of tablespoons per row. It's not organic but I have to compromise right now. This soil does not need mineral mix or organic matter in most organic feeds. Fish emulsion or Milorganite would work as well, but I don't want to buy anything right now. I fertilized the plantings that are a bit over a month old, not the just-germinated rows. 

Back bed (larger plants) is Trinity, planted in early May.  Front is the variety that I planted a week or so ago.

Back section is Early Sunglow, I forget the fron one - Delectable?  Planted late May.

Repotting Pawpaw Seedlings. 6.8.2021

These are seedlings from the only pawpaw crop I've had so far, which was 2018. I stratified them and planted into containers of potting soil, resulting in small trees 2019. Tiny trees, about 4 inches. They need shade and deer protection, and were easily forgotten and deer ate the tops last year anyway. I decided to forget about it and compost them, but just left them there alone. No watering, no TLC, no nothing. Well, they grew again this Spring. So today I repotted into good potting soil and more root room. There was minimal root trauma so I decided not to worry about that and gave them some fertilizer. I moved them to my shrub and tree mininursery where they will get more attention this year. We will see what happens :-) These are all hybrids of Nc-1 as fruit parent, "Sunflower" as pollen parent.

Sometimes I try something just to see what happens. This is one of those cases. However, since Nc-1 and Sunflower both fruited that year. I thought their offspring might have a chance too.

Orchids Cleaned Up, Keikis Planted, and All In Their Summer Home. 6.8.2021

In addition to the very large cymbidium that I just posted about, I divided, cleaned up, and repotted a smaller cymbidium that also overcrowded its container. These went into commercial orchid bark. I also pruned the dendrobium orchids. They had some keikis which I cut off and potted as if they were established plants. They dont require much fussing over. I cut off most of the old leafless canes. I repotted one, and another got pruned but not repotted. I gave them all a good soaking and then a 1/4 strength dose of Miracle Gro for Tomatoes. That is lower nitrogen and higher potassium than regular Miracle Gro, which I guess will help root growth without overdoing top growth too much. Now they are in the orchid summer home, same as the Cymbidiums. Lots of sun and they are next to the water source. If past experience is any indication, they should grow vigorously and be ready to bloom mid winter, when most wanted.

I hope deer dont eat them. I've had them here before with no dining issues.

Dividing and Repotting an Overcrowded Cymbidium. 6.8.2021

 This is a beautiful yellow Cymbidium orchid, that has rebloomed for several winters.  It did not during the most recent winter.  I imagine that was due to overcrowding, but also maybe leaving it sit in the sun with no care during smoky season and other stuff.  This is a very tough plant, can dry out like a cactus and it survives.  I remembered watching a video a long time ago about dividing and repotting cymbidiums, and decided to divide it like the video I watched.  I dont have a link to that.

Here is the plant.  The center has died out  with all of he growth on the fringes like a mediaeval monk's haircut.  

 

I knocked the plant out of its container.

Then I gave it an upside down butch haircut, leaving about 6 inches of roots.

Then I used a pruning saw to cut through the clump, goving approximately equal halves. I pulled out any pseudobulbs that looked dead or that I transected, and shook out what old growth medium I could.

Then I found another similar size container and potted both halves in arborist fir and arborvitae tree grindings. Then I gave them a good soak, then I watered each with 1/4 strength Miracle Gro for Tomatoes.

These went to my orchid summer home, under a large fir tree with mainly eastern and southern exposures. I Will water them and fertilize throuhg the summer. I think they will probably grow, given past experience.

A Grocery Tote Made from Recovered Fabric. 6.4.2021

This is the same pattern that I have used in the past.  The dimensions are barely larger than the brown paper grocery bags, so even if the store requires its own bags, it can be used to hold the grocery bag.  Those tear too often and a tote is more secure.

This was duck fabric, recovered from a couch back, thoroughly cleaned and restored.  Same as a recent cadet cap. I didn't know if the duck fabric was sturdy enough, so made a lining using some rip-stop fabric I had been wanting to use up.

With the lining, no internal seams are visible.  The handles are also one side, duck fabric and the other side, rip stop fabric for extra strength.  

Forsythia cuttings. Update. 6.4.2021

 These are some of the forsythia cuttings I took April 25th, so about 6 weeks ago.  The goal is 10 plants for a forsythia privacy hedge.  I'm pretty sure the parent shrub is Lynwood Gold.  I grew that shrub about 15 years ago from a found cutting, a discarded pruning found on the street.   

There are lots of internet articles that state how easy it is to grow forsythia from cuttings.  It's difficult to locate articles that show actual progress.  Here are mine so far.

About 6 weeks ago, I took prunings of wood from the forsythia bush.  This was just after blooming.  The prunings were a bit thinner than a pencil.  Pencils are the devices that people used to use to jot things down, before there were cellphones.  Similar in size and shape to chopsticks. 

I made an about 1 inch long, vertical incision in the lower couple of inches of the cuttings.  I dipped the cuttings in Dip'n'Grow, 5 seconds.  Six of these went into water.  Nine of the smaller ones went into seed starting medium, which I made into tiny greenhouses using bread bag size plastic bags.

I kept these in a shady east window. I changed the water a few times, when it was starting to look cloudy. I didn't think much was happening, but a few days ago I changed the water again and saw some roots.

Today is mild, so I decided to plant the most vigorously rooting cutting in potting soil. I watered well, and placed the planted cutting in a location that is fully sheltered from the sun.

If this survives for a week or two, I'll think about potting the other three that are showing a little bit of root growth. Meanwhile, they are in fresh water and back in the East window. I don't know if the cuttings in seed starting soil have roots. They wilt if uncovered for two hours. Their growth is kind of puny. There are also three ground-layered starts. No way to know if those have roots - top growth is vigorous but they are still connected to the parent plant. I may be able to obtain one or two divisions from that plant this fall. Somehow, if there are two divisions that make it, three ground layered plants, and five cuttings, that gives me the ten I want. If other cuttings also grow, that's a bonus. So far, the most obvious and quickest rooting result is in water. And that appears to be quite variable.

Kenmore Sewing Machine is Brighter Now. 6.3.2021

 It's a minor thing, but a nice change.  I replaced the old, incandescent light bulb on the Kenmore sewing machine, with new LED bulb.  The LED bulb is an upgrade.  I imagine no one even imagined them when this machine was new.

This is the sewing area, lit via the old incandescent bulb.  Photo taken with I-phone, which is affected by light source. However, the comparison is about right.

Here is is, illuminated via the new LED bulb. Quite a difference.

This will be easier on my old eyes.

Dwarf Tomato Plants. Progress Notes. 6.3.2021

 Here are most of the dwarf tomato plants about one month after planting outside.   The plants in containers seem to he healthier and more vigorous than the ones in the ground.  That may be variety more than location, since they are not the same ones.

 For comparison, one of the open pollinated Romas, which is determinate, is in a similar size range.

Most of the others are 2 to three times taller now.  

I curious about what this volunteer yellow cherry will be like.  It grew next to a dahlia last year and really never got water.  It was only about 4 feet tall but was in such adverse conditions.  The seedling from that looks more vigorous this year.  I imagine this is descended from Sungold. From what I read, descendants of Sungold are not as sweet. Even so, I liked last year's tomatoes, so maybe this year's will be OK.

The Purple Russian has upturned leaf margins, similar to those of Extreme Bush.  However, the leaves themselves are narrrower and not rugose, unlike Extreme Bush.

Sisyrinchium striatum Flowers. 6.2.2021

 These "satin flowers", Sisyrinchium striatum, were difficult to find.  Two years I located sone and p,anted them here.  Establishment was slow, then all of a sudden they settled in with a big burst of growth.  Now they are blooming.  Not the most photogenic flower.  I think they are nicer in person.