Grafting Some Heritage Apple Varieties. 3.28.22

The Fedco apple scions came in the mail.  I kept them in the fridge until I could graft them.

I grafted "Liberty", a red, disease resistant variety, to make the top tiers for the espalier Redlove(TM) Odysso(TM)  Red flesh apples are a novelty, but I have three varieties and don't need to have the full espalier as a red flesh type. 

The Odysso(TM) has red wood.  That is also true for the others, and for the Bud-9 rootstock too.

I tried making my favorite type of graft, Whip and Tongue, but my knife was too dull and/or the wood too hard, this time.  So I made cleft graft, which is easier but not as "perfect".  Even then, it's a very marginal graft, not a smooth cut and edges don't match nearly as well as I usually do.  Fortunately, apple wood can be quite forgiving.   Wrapping tightly might bring more of the uneven edges together, too.  So maybe it will take.

Then I added "Blue Pearmain", an old New England variety, to the Redlove(TM) Era(TM) espalier.   Here is the Fedco description:  One of New England’s most famous varieties. Mentioned by Henry David Thoreau as a favorite in his wonderful essay “Wild Apples.” Grown throughout much of Maine for well over 200 years. Massive trees still found here and there.

Here is one of the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection images, by Mary Arnold, dated 1912.  Image attribution:  "U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705"

I did manage to make a whip and tongue graft for that one.  Still not perfect but it has to do.  What works best for me as a cutting tool is a single edge razor blade - being very very careful - and I didn't realize I had one from last year in my grafting kit.   In both cases, I tried to wrap tightly, although I did the best I could with what I have.

The third went onto a Geneva-222 rootstock.  That poor thing had a story.  I had grafted onto it two years ago, which took but it was a spare scion that I really didn't want, then regrafted last year with something else.  It seemed to die during the heat spell so I left it sitting by a shed all summer and fall.  Outside the pot.  Then last winter I noticed the wood was still green, so I repotted.  I used that for the variety "Mutsu".

Overall, these are the least promising looking grafts I've done in many years.  It will be a few months before I know if they took.

Finished Planter Box. 3.25.22

I found some deck stain in the garage.  I've been waiting for a nice day to stain the planter box that I built from weathered cedar.  The stain will help it last a few more years than if I left it unstained.

Completed project.

Here's what it looked like before I  leaned up the wood and stained it.

Here is the source fencing that I took apart and cut to build the box.  I used about seven fencing sections like this one.

Absolutely everything for the planter box was sourced from these fencing sections - even the brackets and screws.  The deck stain had been sitting in the garage for at least a decade, and I had been thinking about how do I recycle or dispose of it.  While I could just buy everything new, I take quite a bit of pride in looking at something old and thinking, what can I do to make something good.  

More Seed Starting. Tomatoes and Others. 2.25.22

 These are other seeds I started yesterday.  I waited on sauce tomatoes because I don't see much reason to start them as early, while everyone should want the earliest slicing tomatoes :-).

There were some old "Ranger" sauce tomato seeds.  It's an excellent variety that I grew 3 or 4 years ago, productive, tasty, big, disease free.  However the seed and shipping were too expensive so I changed to Roma III which are also excellent but bot quite as big.  I'm growing out the last of the Ranger seeds so they are not wasted.  I also discovered I have a pack of "Supremo" so I will test that with one plant.  The bulk of the sauce tomatoes will be Roma III, very productive, good, meaty, good size, disease free sauce tomatoes.  I'll grow a few Roma VF that I saved seeds for last year, to see how they do in identical conditions as the others.  Last year's Roma VF were off the irrigation grid and shaded by taller tomatoes, so didn't get a good test.

There are also various other plant varieties in this round of seed starting.  I'm curious about how the Salpiglossis turn out.  Those seeds are like dust.  There are conflicting reports on whether they require light.

The condiment bottle is a great way to water seeds.  I think it works better than a sprayer.

Planting Stratified Wild Rose and Pyrocanthus Seeds. 3.25.22

These are rose seeds I collected by the roadside in December.  I cleaned the rose hips, washed the seeds, placed in wet newspaper and placed that into a zipper plastic bag, then refrigerated until now.  Today, I planted them 1/4 inch deep in seed starting medium, and put them on a warming mat.

The seeds have white tips.  I wondered if that is the start of a root emerging, but I think the seed coats just have a white tip.

I did the same with Pyrocanthus seeds that I collected this winter and treated the same way, except on wet paper towel.

I planted the Pyrocanthus seeds 1/4 inch deep in seed starting medium, and placed them on the seed warming mat, too.

I read that newspaper is better for stratifying seeds because it's less likely to become moldy, compared to paper towel.  Here they seem about the same.

The Mystery of Bad Potting Soil. 3.25.22

 These are the peppers that I up-potted in that Miracle-Gro potting soil.  They are the third or fourth group of seedling that I planted in that soil.

Everything that I subsequently planted different brand (I forget the brand) of potting soil is looking quite good.  It's definitely the pitting soil.  I won't claim that the brand is bad, but this batch is definitely toxic for some reason.

I might try re-potting the survivors in a different soil and see if they recover.

Meanwhile, the Jalapeños and Serranos that I had mistreated with Neem oil previously, seem to be sending out new growth.

Some roots are emerging from the bottom holes.  That's also an encouraging sign.

Planting Sweetpea Seedlings. 3.25.22

 These are the sweetpea seedlings I planted yesterday.  They were sort of unintended.  I hadn't seen the ones that I planted directly emerge, so I started these just in case.  Since then, the others did emerge.  I planted these against some deer fencing in a location where they should get Western sunshine, although there will be some shade.  I can compare how they do, with others that will not be shaded.

I had read that they don't like being started in containers because the tap root might break in transplanting. So I planted these before there was much tap root at all.

Seedling Notes. 3.25.22

 This morning I puttered with seedlings.

This tomato was too tall for it's cell pack, somI up-potted it into a tall 4" pot.  This one is "Ukranian Purple".  I think that's the same as "Russian Purple", interchange names, but from the history I read "Ukrainian Purple" seems more accurate.

The other tomato seedlings are looking good.  I may have started them a little too early but, no problem.

It's interesting that Reisentraube is smaller than the others.  I thought it would be a vigorous grower, like Sungold.  As it is, it's more compact than the dwarf types.  In the front of the bottom pack is a pack of thyme seedlings.  They are growing faster than the ones I set outside a couple of weeks ago, which proves I jumped the gun on that one.

Cleaning Up / Rejuvenating Chive Clumps. New Weeding Tool. 3.24.22

I finished cleaning up the chives and garlic chives.  Growing them in containers helps a lot, but once grasses get in there, it's a job for sure.  

Here is the tool I bought.  I want to call it "Klingon Toothpick" but Star Trek might not like that.  I'll just call it "That weeding tool".

This was the best tool I've ever used for close-in weeding of tough weeds.  It's difficult getting close to the chive plants without harming them.  This helped a lot.

After clean-up, I put in about 1/4 cup of organic vegetable fertilizer, filled in the missing soil, and topped with a fine compost-topsoil mix that I hope will be free of weed seeds.

The garlic chives are about 20 years old.  They have been through multiple transplanting and dividing.  I let them bloom last year, which stresses them.  The plants I grew last year from seeds are growing better than these.  A rejuvenation usually get them going again.

The regular chives are from I clump I started ten years ago. I've divided and rejuvenated them a few times.  They usually like that, it's kind of a chive spa treatment.  Next time, they'll will need a good dividing again. 

I did other chores-

Planted two six-packs of sweetpea seedlings I started a few weeks ago.

Planted the remaining half dozen Echinacea, a half dozen Rudbeckias, a few Coreopsis in the wildflower garden.

Planted a row onions that I had started in Jan,  "New York Early".

Moved a daylily clump so I could plant that climbing rose there.

Transplanting A Cutting-Grown Climbing Rose. 3.24.22

 I started this rose from a cutting last year.  It was very easy.  I just pushed the dormant stick into the soil in a vegetable raised bed, as a row marker.

I think I pushed them in too deep.  The roots emerged from the bottom, and grew downward from there.  I dug one out last fall and didn't get enough roots, and it died.

This time I tried to dig as deeply as possible, without disturbing the neighboring garlic plant.

I think I got enough roots.  Also, it's barely Spring yet, so it shouldn't get too much sun yet, until it settles in.  I did give it about 1/3 cup of organic vegetable fertilizer.

It was frosted in the last freeze.  New growth has started.  I pruned about one foot from the floppy growth.  Fingers crossed.  I'll be watching for new growth.

Garden Puttering. 3.23.22

 Today I didn't do much.  It was raining and I'm feeling the full effects of a COVID vaccine booster.  However, I did do the following:

(1)  Re-cover the sides of the recovered cedar planter box, with clear plastic.   I want them to not-be rained on for  few weeks so they will be dry, when I stain and water proof the wood.  Especially the inside - that way I can start setting up the filling for plants.  I can stain the outside later if needed.

(2) Planted some Crocosmia "Lucifer" corms in the deer park / hell strip border.  I bought five via mail order.  This fall I should dig up some of the big clumps growing elsewhere, and divide them.  It would mean a lot more plants, for free, and it would be way too expensive otherwise to buy that many new ones.

(3) Moved a Sisyrichium striatum clump from the edge of the fenced garden, to the deer park border.  I like them but they are messy looking.  Better to grow out of the main view.  I prepped the old location for planting some colorful, modern bare root Echinacea plants that came yesterday.

(4)  Planted a short row of carrots and another of radishes.

(5) Scattered slug bait around the emerging sweetpea seedlings, and also around most of the snowpea and snappea plants.  Slugs like those.  Also around the Rudbeckia, Echinacea, and Coreopsis seedlings and rhubarb divisions.

(6) Mostly I walked around, looking at swelling tree buds, plants emerging from the ground, and taking in fragrance from hyacinths.

Sage and Forsythia Cuttings. 3.23.22

I saw a page on the internet that showed starting sage plants, in water, from cuttings.  So I took some sage cuttings.  Also I took another batch of forsythia cuttings to start in water too, like I did last year.  

Cuttings -

I cleaned up the bottom stem portions of the sage cuttings.  Then they all went into jars of water in an East facing window.

They say that it's best to start cuttings in potting soil and use rooting hormone.   These are what gardeners of the previous generations referred to as "slips".  Not everything can be started that way, but some can.    That is part of grandparent and great grandparent and further back garden lore.  Last year when I started forsythias, the water method actually worked better, with more success, faster, bigger plants, and less trouble, compared to using seed starting medium.  If it doesn't work, well, the cost was free and it wasn't that much effort.

Starting Rosemary From Cuttings. 3.21.22

 A few weeks ago, I collected some rosemary sprigs and made them into cuttings.  I scored the lower couple of inches of stem, dipped into dip-and-gro, and packaged in moist seed starting medium.  I tied the bags so there was a tie around the mis point of the stem, with the tops still in open end of bag.

The past few days, I noticed roots.

I took them out of the bag.  Four cuttings had grown roots.  Four did not survive.

So I potted the four good ones in some of that new potting mix.  It's sort of a leap of faith but there isn't another choice right now.

I cut the top inch, so they will branch out.  I hope in a few weeks, these will establish well enough to move outside.   These will either be extras in the herb border, or replace any non-survivors among those I transplanted and cleaned up.

Rosemary has an amazing scent.  According to wikipedia, rosemary leaves are 0.05% to 0.5% camphor, and essential oil from rosemary is 10% to 20% camphor.  The other essential oils include "rosmarinic acid, camphor, caffeic acid, ursolic acid, betulinic acid, carnosic acid, and carnosol."  Whatever those are.  Deer don't seem to touch it.

 

Test of Potting Soil / Up-Potting Some Carnations. 3.21.22

Here are the little pepper plants that I up-potted into that Miracle-Gro branded potting soil about two weeks ago. They haven't grown at all and are starting to die off. This never happened to me before this round of starting plants. I used new, unused container and had sterilized my tools, so I feel certain the issue is the potting soil. Disappointing, after caring for these plants from planting seeds until now.

I bought a different brand, labeled "organic", via Amazon. Kind of pricy but I am not ready to go to the stores quite yet. As a test, I up-potted the next six-pack of carnations into some of the new potting mix. Since the past bunch of carnations all died within one or two weeks after up-potting into the MG mix, that seems like a good test for this one. I'm using fresh, never before used containers this time and everything else hase been cleaned and sterilized. Seedlings on the same rack but not up-potted are growing fine. I hope they take off and grow in their new medium and don't just sit there and gradually die.

What I noticed about the MG potting soul was that it has a LOT of fairly sizable chunks of fibrous plant material, like chopped straw or shredded tree chips. Maybe that contains fusarium or verticellium or other pathological fungus. Under the guise of "compost", there could be yard waste or other compost like is made locally at the recycling center, or animal manures. All of that could contain plant disease or herbicide residues. There is no transparency so we really don't know. I'm not trying to dis the MG products. I've used their products manyntimes before and likely will again. But if the replanted carnations grow, then the only think I have left is that the MG potting mix was really bad somehow. The new "Organic" mix also contains similar fibrous stuff. It must be a trend.

Statice Status. Seedlings. 3.21.22

 Statice seedlings are growing their first sets of true leaves.  So far, so good.

Depending on how fast the seedlings grow, I might skip the up-potting stage and plant them directly outside in May.  Also, I might put half in the deer park and half in the new big planter box.   Then I can test for deer resistance and have some on reserve if Bambi takes to eating Statice salad LOL.

Transplanting Itoh Peonies and Camassia Clumps. 3.20.22

It may not be the best timing, but it's what I have. These needed either moving, or just forget about them. This Itoh peony is about three years old. Huge root mass now. I tried not to break many roots, but a few did break. I cut them so the cut would be smooth.

I gave these a bit of granular organic vegetable fertilizer when I replanted them. 

The camassias looked like this one. In a few, I accidentally shoveled through a bulb or two.

After planting, the peony looks like this.

My helper helped a lot.

Peach Blossoms. 3.18.22

The genetic dwarf peaches are blooming profusely. I think this one is "Garden Gold".

The other genetic dwarf (eldorado) is much smaller but is also blooming. The full size but (I hope) peach leaf curl resistant tree, Nainamo, is blooming for the first time. I'm hopeful for some nice peaches this summer.

Things I Planted So Far In The Fence Border. 3.18.22

This area was a challenge. The neighbor used their entire 30 foot easement to put in ten foot wide drive, with the drive going all the way to the internal edge (my side) of the easement. With the fence, that leaves a hell-strip that is too difficult to mow, and which could potentially get overspray if they (illegally) spray chemicals. In the long run, I might add more plastic outside the fence to reach the edge of the gravel drive, so there is nothing left for them to spray. I need a border that won't be too much work in the long run, is deer resistant, doesn't need watering, hopefully ever, and doesn't need hand mowing. I propagated forsythia to grow a privacy hedge. That will need a few years to fill in and grow tall enough. Plus I need to propagate a dozen more for the rest of the hedge. Here are some of the first ones, that I planted last year. They are nice in bloom, and should fill in to give some privacy in a few years.

I moved tall herbs from an area that Ning is converting from a pollinator meadow to grow chicken food grains. I don't know if they'll survive but some look OK, such as this rosemary bush.

In addion to the rosemary bushes, I moved a half dozen lavender plants and a dozen sage plants. They were scraggly with a lot of dead wood, so I pruned them back, cleaned them up, and replanted them. The lavender alternates in the hedge with the rosemary. I planted the sage in a circle around this pre-existing fig tree, which I already had in this location.

Inside the circle of sage, I scattered poppy seeds. Most were Shirley poppy seeds I saved in 2020, but some were an old (2018) packet of oriental poppy seeds, and some were a new packet of red flowered California poppies. It will be interesting to see if they grow. I have also been moving Spring flowering bulbs and other perennials further into my yard away from the hell-strip - Hyacynthoides (Spanish Bluebells), An Itoh peony, multiple big clumps of Camassia, some Snowdrops, Rhubarb, Horse Radish, Lambs ears. Most of that work is done. Then what will remain is the wildflower perennials I've started, and annual flowers.

Above, are one of the rhubarb divisions, a horse radish division, and a snowdrop that I transplanted in bloom. I'm apprehensive about what the neighbor will do, spray or mow or whatever, on the drive side of the fence (which is still my property but they were mowing there last year). I am trying to avoid a dispute, so I'm doing the best I can to make the best of a bad situation. It should be a very fragrant border, with lots of very bee friendly flowers this summer and beyond.

Fig buds swelling. 3.28.22.

Fig buds are just beginning to swell. Most of the early Spring fig pruning is done now. I hope there are somecgoid figs this year, for fresh eating and sharing. Maybe even canning, now that I'm the canning demon LOL.