Dwarf Tomato Plants. Progress Notes. 5.15.2021

 The dwarf tomato plants are growing nicely.  I noticed a bit of chlorosis in some when planted in the ground, which I also noted in some of the Roma plants too.  Not sure why, and that seems to clear up in new leaves.

I decided to make a list of the dwarf cultivars that I'm testing this year, along with available trait info.

Variety / Info / Days to ripe tomato / Plant height / fruit size

Alpatieva 905A / a Soviet era Russian type from 1950 / 65 days / 18-24" tall / 2 to 5 oz

BrandyFred / Dwarf Tomato Project / 75 days / ? / 10 to 16 oz

CC McGee (light yellow) / late / ? / 4 to 8 oz

Clare Valley Pink / Dwarf Tomato Project / 84 days / ? / small to medium tomato

Dwarf Champion Improved / historic tomato (early 20th century?) / 85 days / ? / 3 to 8 oz

        (Dwarf Champion was developed in 1889 .  I don't know about the "improved".  Size is Dw. Champion)

Dwarf Johnson Cherry / Dwarf Tomato Project / 65 days / ? / cherry tomato

Extreme Bush / historic tomato (Germany, mid 20th century?) / 50 days / 12 to 28 " tall / 3 oz

Tanunda Red / Dwarf Tomato Project / 75 days /?  indeterminate  / 4 to 10 oz

For comparison, here are some "normal", non-dwarf tomatoes.  The Lemon Boy and Early Goliath Hybrid have fully recovered from their "wall'o'water" debacle and are nice and green and growing.  Several tomato plants are blooming.  Several of the dwarf tomato plants also have flower buds.

Many of the Bearded Irises are Blooming Beautifully. 5.14.2021

 It's interesting, how nice they are with no effort on my part.  Most of these are historic varieties and most are hand me downs via the curb side "Free Iris Rhizome" freecycle method.  I've given away many that way too.

I still need to learn how edit better on Ipad or add the names on my lap top computer.

Beverly Sills

Curbside Hand Me Down

Immortality

A modern type but I forget the name.

Another Curb Side Hand Me Down.

This was a Curb Side Hand Me Down, many years ago.  I'm certain the variety is "Accent.

Another Hand Me Down.

Iris dalmatica

A "Found in the dog park illegally dumped" Hand Me Down.  Quite Lovely.

This variety is modern, "Red Dirt Road".

Planting a New "Meteor" Pie Cherry. 5.13.2021

 After the neighbor's gigantic, majestic, aged apple tree fell on some of the trees, I ordered a "Meteor" pie cherry to replace the injured "North Star" pie cherry.  The North Star may still survive, but I had a spot and it takes a while for a tree to gear fruit.

Meteor is described as a genetic dwarf, reaching 10 or 12 feet or so, heavy producer, self pollinating tart cherry.

This was from Burnt Ridge.  I think the have the best quality bare root fruit trees around.  This one was no exception to that.

I am intrigued by the sprouts on the rootstock.  I cut them off.  This rootstock - Mazzard - may be one tat makes a lot if suckers.

Sewing New Cadet Caps. 5.12.2021

 Cadet caps can be ideal for someone who doesn't have a protective pad of hair on top of their head.  Like me.  For some reason, I keep hitting the top of my gead on cabinet doors and tree limbs etc.  That causes injured scalp.   Purchased baseball caps and similar often have no padding for scalp, they have a coarse, rough inside, plus have a button or rivet in the center.  Hitting ones head on that feels like being struck with a ball peen hammer, painful and causes skin tear, bleeding, and scab.

A cadet cap has a one piece fabric top.  No center rivet or button.  By adding a quilted layer to the top, it's protective.  A few months ago, I sewed a few flannel cadet caps, with quilted tops.  Those are protective and comfortable, and warm.  They are also easily washable and can go into the dryer.  Flanell does cone out a bit unkempt after laundering.  With warmer weather, I wanted some different caps.  Something less warm, but durable Nd easy to wash and dry like any other clothing.

I made this one using denim harvested from a pair of thrift store jeans.  The lining is quilting cotton, for lightness and absorption and air exchange.  However, being heavy denim this cap is still quite warm.

This denim was at the outer limit of thickness and stiffness that my sewing machine and skills can handle. I sewed the quilted top to the inside liner before sewing the liner  the outer shell.  I was not able to sew in a sweat band.  The top is a little lumpy.  However, these caps become somewhat form fitting.

I made the bill using the same heavy / semi stiff interfacing as before.  It makes a somewhat flexible bill that I like.  

During the winter I bought some duck fabric on line.  I used that to make a second cap.  This time, no hat band.  The sides of the liner are the same fabric, and the top of the liner is a sandwich of muslin / thin quilt batting / muslin.  The sides also have a thin fusible interfacing for a little stiffness.

I like this cap much better.  It's lighter and cooler.  I don't  care as much for the stitching I added to the top, but maybe that will look better on washing. I have more duck fabric, so might make another without that extra stitching.

Delicata and Pink Banana Squash Seedlings. 5.12.2021

 About a week ago, reading about squashes, I decided to plant some Delicata squash seeds.  Delicata is a pepo species squash, so on saving seeds will need isolation from Zukes which are also pepos.

One seed germinated from the packet.  I dont think they were all that old.   Maybe two or three years?  Anyway, where one seed germinates, there is hope and that can be all it takes.

One of the Pink Banana Squash attempts has finally yielded seedlings.  This is from seeds that I saved from last year's plants.  No way to know until the fruits form, if they are pure PBS.  My home saved seeds were bigger and plumper than those I bought in previous years.  Maybe that's a factor.  If the newest ones or other attempts grow, I'll also plant those seedlings.

PBS is a maxima species squash, so last years squash might have mixed with Kuri, Galeux, or Kabucha which were nearby at the time.   Those genetics will be easy to spot, if that is the case.

This is potentially a good squash year.  I already have seedlings I the ground, growing vigorously.  I didn't expect that for two or three more weeks.

Time to start thinning apples. 5.12.2021

 Some of the apples set fruit very well.  The clusters needs to be thinned so that there is one apple per cluster, and separate by about 4 to 6 inches.  Thinning makes for larger, sweeter, earlier, more flavorful apples, less limb breakage and more likely to bear next year.  It's a good reason to have small size trees or espaliers, since a big tree would be too much and possibly dangerous to work due to the need for ladders.

This is a North Pole cluster, before and after thinning.  I use a kitchen shears.  Today I thinned North Pole, Liberty, Gravenstein, and some of the pear trees.   The earlier the better, so I'll be thinning for a week or two.  I use kitchen shears.

Alstromeria beginning to grow. 5.12.2021

 A few weeks ago I dug up some Alstromeria that had been growing at the old place.  The roots and crowns remind me of daylilies, but they seem much more floppy and delicate.   Despite cate, a lot of damage was done.

Today I noticed they are growing.  They might need a year or two, but this seems like a good start.

Planting Some New Ponca Thornless Blackberries. 5.12.2021

 I bought some "Ponca" blackberries via mail order.  They were shipped from Arkansas.  This variety is described as the next best thing since sliced bread - the sweetest, most flavorful of its type, short internodes so much shorter "trees" than other types, early.   I know, every new introduction is described as incredible, then after a few years one never reads about it again.  This one sounded good and here is little lost by trying it.

The plants do not look happy about their treatment, storage, digging, and shipping.  I hope that at least one survives, maybe two.  Three is possible but it seems like a lot to hope for.

Two plants went into temporary locations.  I want to identify a couple in my Blackberry bed and possibly remove two, opening up locations for Ponca.  The best looking one went into a prime spot in the newer blackberry bed.  I soaked them an hour before planting, gave them good soil with a little Osmokote, mulched with dry leaves, watered well, and shaded the tender pale new growth.

Irises. 5.10.2021

 The bearded irises seem to be quite happy with minimal maintenance.  I'll have to add the names tomorrow using my computer - this old Ipad doesn't allow it.

Iris dalmatica

Iris dalmatica

Iris "Alcazar"

Hand Me Down white bearded iris

Curbside Hand Me Down Bearded Iris.  I'm pretty sure this is "Blue Shimmer".

Sarracenia Flower Buds. 5.10.2021

 This is by far the mpst flower buds these have produced for me,  Their full bloom will be great.

Salad Garden and Pansies. 5.10.2021

 Salad garden has lots of lettuce, spinach, radishes.  Also diverse other stuff, garlic, chives, and developing pepper plants.

And some pansies.  They add a lot of color to the vegetables.  

Planting the last of the Dwarf Tomato Seedlings. 5.10.2021

 I hope that some of these turn out very good.  I planted the last of the Dwarf Tomato seedlings yesterday.  Some are in containers, some in the ground.  Some of the container plants are in potting soil, but some in really big containers are in soil / compost mix or soil / old potting soil mix.

These are the Extreme Bush.  Since they are reported as among the smallest of these dwarf varieties, I planted two in this approx 5 gallon container.

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.