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.

Up-potting Chinese Chives. 6.2.2021

 Chinese chives are not usually in regular grocery stores.  They are the main and essential ingredient in Chinese dumplings, so we grow our own.  Chinese Chives are a grassy looking perennial, and grass often invades them, which is a mess.  So then it's time to grow new ones from seeds.  It takes two growing seasons to be ready to harvest.  Growing in containers raised beds is good, it keeps them a lot cleaner.

These seedlings are ready to transplant into larger containers, so I did.  I grew them from seeds that I saved last summer/fall.   I've been meaning to transplant the  for a few weeks now.

I Planted the Last Batch of Sweet Corn. 6.2.2021

 I planted the last batch of sweetcorn.  From what I read, sweetcorn seeds don't keep long, maybe two years.  I plant the row with every other seed being last year's seeds, fest is this year's, to use up old seeds.  If the old ones grow, they will likely get thinned out.  However, there is often a need to plant extras because they dont all grow, or something eats them.  Hence the closer spacing at sowing time.

Last year I plants the last batch June 15.  I think those were not as productive as those planted June 1, and this year already seems hotter.  It's funny- for years I read that sweetcorn didn't grow here.  But it does, if you choose early or relatively cool-tolerant varieties.  And it's really good.

This batch is "Delectable".  The new seeds were from Johnny's in Maine.  Last year's were from  Territorial Seeds, bit they are too expensive now and their shipping is jaw-dropping expensive.  

I'm happy to have the last of the sweetcorn planted.  That's pretty much the almost final seed planting, except some odds and ends.  That's good because I don't have energy now for any more major soil prep and planting.

Calcium Spray to Prevent Tomato Blossom End Rot. 6.2.2021

 Since the tomatoes are blooming, I want to try calcium supplement to prevent blossom end tot.  That happens mainly with sauce tomatoes.  I really don't know if it helps.  Internet sites are all over the place on that, as is research on google scholar.  It seems like the bottom line is, they just don't know and have not really done the work - spray some and don't spray others, and see what happens, and report on it.   Some sites say, absolutely, use the calcium.  Others say it's useless.  The joke is on me since I didn't think of that until I sprayed them all.

The instructions say, spray in early am or evening, during periods of rapid growth.  Spray to point of run-off.  Apply every 5 to 7 days.  It's just calcium chloride so I don't think it will hurt anything.  For the rest of the sprays, I'll spray all but one of the hybrid Romas and also leave a nonhybrid Roma unsprayed to see if there is a difference.

Alstroemeria. 6.2.3021

 These are looking nice.  They seem to be a dwarf type.  I read that Alstroemeria can be invasive in warm climates.   These are in containers so probably ok there.

Germinating Home Saved Bean Seeds. 5.30.2012

 These are seeds from a bean cultivar that I've been saving for two decades.  Some times I miss a year and have to use an older batch.  I saved this batch in 2019.  These are a pole beN, making very large, meaty wide green beans.  Apparently they are traditional in Northeast China, Jilin Province.  I'm soaking them for a day before planting.  That seems to encourage germination.  I hope they grow.

Squash Update. 5.30.2021

 Most of the squashes are looking pretty good.  There are some leaf irregularities on some.  I wonder if that is slug damage, so put out slug bait.  The plants in one of the Galeux d'Eysines  hills seem to have yellowish, pale leaves.  I don't know why.  Too much rain last week?  The others look OK.

Top to bottom, Galeux, Pink Banana, Red Kuri, Fordham Zucchini. 

Garlic Scapes. 5.30.2021

 Most of the garlic is producing scapes now.  These are the "flower" heads.  I put "flower" in quotes because they don't actually bloom.  Instead, they make clusters of tiny bulbs instead of an actual flower.  I think these rob the bulb of some nutrition, and the cloves will be smaller as a result.  So I cut the scapes almost as soon as they appear.

These are actually quite tasty, stir fried.  I think they would also be good in a soup.  They need thorough cooking for best tenderness, then they are a bit like a bean in texture but with mild garlic flavor.

Drunkards Path Blocks For Quilted Pillow Shams. 5.30.2021

 I decided to use up most of the rest of the shirt scraps, making quilt blocks quilted  pillow shams.   The colors will match the brick pattern quilt, but the look will be different.

So I practiced sewing drunkards path blocks.  I think these are a misnomer when used as circles.  Quarter Moon blocks might be a better name.  But what do I know.

These are handy.  They use up all sorts of small and odd pieces.  This completely uses up some of the shirts.  I added another shade of blue that is not in the  brick pattern quilt, because I wanted the flexibility of another pattern and shade.

These get sewn together so that the quarter moon pie slice is sewn to the piece that holds it, making a square again. Then the squares are sewn together however you like. The hard part isxsewing the curve - it's actually three dimensional that flattens to two dimensionsl, and needs stretching exactly right for the curves tomma to match. I can't say I'm good at it, but I'm learning. Here are four completed squares, which when sewn together will be a circle in a square:

This is something like how I'll arrange them. I'm still moving them around a little:

Some Irises, 5.28.2021

 These are Bumble Delite, Gay Parasol,  Edith Woolford, top to bottom.  I'm very happy with how well they did with the mulch.

Itoh Peony 5.28.2021

 These are amazing.  They are like the peony version of dinner plate dahlias.  The variety is Bartzella.  Third year - I think much more vigorous than "regular" peonies.