I gave Rufus his Haircut. 7.4.2021

One benefit of the COVID epidemic is that I started doing Rufus's grooming. He always seemed kind of traumatized at the groomers. He's the first dog I ever had who likes a bath - I tell him "Time for your bath" and he goes into the shower. He's not so crazy about his haircut, but no longer squirms except when I trim his face and paws. I don't push it - I groom him to keep him cool and make baths easier, not to win a fashion contest. And he's pretty happy afterwards. Before

During

After. Happy Rufus!

Garden Update. 7.4.2021

Various updates from the Kitchen Garden Most of the squashes are blooming, at least male flowers. Red Kuri squash also has setting fruit. This is a male flower from Pink Banana Squash.

We got the July 4th tomatoes I wanted. Just three cherry tomatoes, but it's symbolic. These are Sugar Rush. To be honest, they are not as good as Supersweet 1000 or Sungold, but still, real cherry tomato flavor for July 4th. Also, a taste of Fallgold raspberries, from plants I planted this Spring. Pretty good to get a taste the first year.

The pickle cukes have taken off and are growing like gangbusters. The best growth is the group from home saved seeds. Too bad I don't know which variety or even if it was open pollinated or hybrid. The male flowers are puny but maybe good enough?

The red currant plant had enough currants to make a jar of jam. The plant produced even though it's in the shade of an apple tree.

First Pillow Sham Main Panel. Men's Shirt Quilt. 7.4.2021

Today I completed the main front panel for the first pillow sham, to match the unfinished quilt made from the same mens shirts. I wanted it to be mostly the same fabric, but a different pattern. Im still a beginner so this is not perfect. Even so, I'm pretty happy with the result. This will need a border and auilting. I need to finish the auilt first to see what I have left over. This panel is made entirely from scraps of thrift shop and estate sale men's shirts, left over from making the main quilt.

Volunteer Poppies. 7.1.2021

These came up near where I grew poppies last year. These are the annual "Shirley Poppies". As far as I know, there is no sich thing as a "Laverne Poppy". They are a nice volunteer. I scattered saved seeds all over, but didn't see any others. I'm happy with these.

First "Main Crop" Harvest. Potatoes, Garlic, Onions. 7.1.2021

The Envol potato tops are dying off, so I dug up two plants. Nice looking potatoes. These are considered "The earliest of the early" by Fedco. The garlic is "Music". I grew that from bulbs saved from the 2020 crop. They are very large and very tasty. There are also some random volunteer garlic plants to dig. The onions are generic "Yellow onions" from sets. Huge bulbs now. They can be eaten, but not ready yet for storage.

Moat of the annual vegetables seem OK after the big heat wave.

A Few Dwarf or Compact Tomato Plants. 7.1.2021

Just a few of them. They do need a stake. They tend to fall over. However, not nearly the work of full height types. Alpatieva 905A

Extreme Bush

Dwarf Tanunda Red

So far, so good. The next big tests will be eating quality and productivity. The Extreme Bush and Alpatieva 905A are competing for which is first.

First Dahlia of the Year. 7.1.2021

Last winter I dug up most of the dahlias. I stored them in a box of peat moss in the garage. I moisten the peat moss two or three times during the winter. They all survived and grew very nicely.

Yet Another Forsythia Cutting Rooted. 6.30.2021

Another of the big forsythia cuttings rooted nicely in water. That is #4. Today I potted it in potting soil and placed it in a very protected location without direct sun. It will be there for a week. This makes four nicely rooted, good size healthy looking Forsythia starts.

Here it is, potted. The small one is a potting soil rooted group of Forsythia cuttings. The water rooted one is much bigger and healthier looking, probably a year ahead in size, and was actually less effort.

There is one remaining cutting in water. It has a small root growing now. It should be ready to pot up in a few weeks. Then my window sill will no longer be cluttered with Forsythia cuttings.

First Zucchinis. 6.30.2021

Actually these are the second and third zucchinis. The first was two days ago. This is Burpee hybrid, "Sure Thing" which might be parthenocarpic (not require pollination to produce squashes). I pollinate it anyway. The heat didn't seem to hurt it.

These are very, very delicious sliced into french fries, sprinkled with garlic powder, pepper, and seasoned salt and air fried for 10 min at 375F. Very very good. The heirloom Fordham Zucchini and Golden Summer Squash are about a week behind. I hand pollinated those as well.

My Own Daylily Hybrids. 6.30.2021

I created these daylily hybrids a number of years ago, by pollinating my favorite varieties with other some other favorite varieties. Some had names and some did not. One was an almost brown no-name, richly colored. Some others were Strawberry Shortcake, Chicago Apache, and Lemon Ice (I think). I collected the seeds and grew plants from those. Now most are planted around in my garden. Here are some of the flowers. The heat wave fried the flowers from that day, but today's flowers mostly look very nice.

More Heatwave. 6.29.2021

During the past few days, it got even hotter. Yesterday was not as bad. The max was 115 for 2 days in a row, in the shade. The deck was hotter. I think at least half of the apples are sunburnt, maybe more. Those will not be usable. The first of the blackberries are destroyed. Some of the young growth on apples is dead but I think they will recover. Lots of other damage.

Heatwave. 6.26.2021

Current reading is 103F. I've been diligent about watering, but one can only do so much. So far, most ornamentals and food crops seem to be tolerating the heat. Fortunately, the squashes are mulched, most with black plastic. Roma and some other tomatoes have brown paper mulch. The hose splitter broje, so Inordered a four-way manifold from Amizon, to install when it is cooler tonight. tonatoes, peppers, onions and some others are on drip irrigation. Sweetcorn gets early am sprinkler irrigation.

Rufus sticks his nose out the doggie door, checks the heat, then returns to the house.

Thornless Raspberry Crop and Jam. 6.26.2021

The thornless raspberries that I moved here early 2020, settles in and made a nice crop this year. I don't know the name. They are red, floricane bearing, thornless, good productibity and delicious. I was able to get 5 1/2 cups of mashed raspberries, enough for a full batch of low added sugar pectin jam. There was a 1/4 pint extra, so the recipe was about right.

I love raspberry jam. These berries were not too much work, and were free of diseases. Definitely worth growing and worth making some jam for future months.

Chestnuts are Blooming. 6.26.2021

The chestnut varieties Marivale and Precose Migoule are blooming like crazy. The air is full of their somewhat musty fragrance. The Bisalta #2 graft from this spring is almost blooming. Same for Marigoule. The Marisole grown from seed is not blooming, but it has grafts from Marivale and Precose Migoule with minimal flowers.

So far among my varieties - Marivale = most vigor and productivity. Precose Migoule = second for both, but smaller nuts. Marigoule slower growing, this will be the firse year of nuts. Graft compatibility - On Marisol seedling, Marivale, Precose Migoule, Marigoule, and Primiato all took. I only tried Bisalta #2 on Precose Migoule. That also took. Marivale especially is becoming a large and very handsome tree. The bloom is incredible.

More Alstroemeria. 6.26.2021

These Alstroemeria were arpt the old place. I remember planting pink ones but not red. Ning dug them up and planted into a container. They are tough plants and very pretty.

Deer Repellant. 6.26.2021.

I bought some "liquid fence" which seems to work, but that can become expensive. I think the main idea is to use something stinky, especially sulfur based. Many home recipes for deer repellant make use of eggs and garlic, blended and allowed to ferment. Here is "The enemy". Plus there is a doe and two fawns. That's a lot of garden plants. I feel sorry for the deer, but they can reduce years of garden efforts to nothingness overnight, due to one forgotten gate or one weak spot in the fence. This buck is new to the neighborhood.

I blended 6 eggs, a scoop of home made hot sauce that is too hot for me to handke, and several cloves of garlic. And sone water. That was yesterday. It's not that stinky yet, so I'll give it time.

When it's basically gag worthy, I'll filter out the solids and dilute the liquid to spray susceptable plants and shoots. I can also leave the residue among those plants, mainly squashes now.

Damn Deer. 6.21.2021

Deer have broken into all of the fenced areas where I'm growing squash. Squash has a reputation for not being a deer favorite. However, they have always eTen away at mine. These fences are not tall, but I hoped that the narrow area woukd be a deterrent. I sprayed all of the squash plants with Liquid Fence. I found an old bag of Milorganite lying around, and spread that too. I will need to be vigilant. They eat giant leaves and succulent young growth tips. The aplants can handle losing a few, but once it starts the animals keep eating them. Photos dont show much - you cant photograph what isn't there. I think tomorrow I should see if I still have some net barriers. That may help too.

Alstroemeria. 6.21.2021

These are the Alstroemeria that I bought this year for container growing. If zi remember, I'll add one that I grew from a start of an older clump. These look like they will remain very compact. Nice bloom, too.

Repotting Apple Seedlings. 6.21.2021

I noticed that the Calypso x Golden Sentinel apple seedlings, that I started during the winter, seem to have started a growth spurt. I transplanted them into larger containers. I've never grown apple seeds, so this is new to me. The stems seem stout, with narrow internodes, so maybe they are columnar like Golden Sentinel. I don't know for certain. One had mildew during wet season and they look a bit fuzzy now? So I sprayed them with "Safer" sulfur spray.

Making Sourdough Pizza Dough & Loaf. 6.21.2021

The sourdough starter is still alove. I last frfreshed refreshed it in early May. I made a batch of dough for a pizza in the next few days. That gets aged a bit in the fridge. To the second dough, I added 1/3 cup potato flakes, a tablespoon of sugar, and about a tablespoon of some "heart health" plant based butter substitute.

Tomatoes Are Setting. 6.20.2021

One of the Sugar Rush cherry tomatoes is almost there. Even though it's j

ust one cherry tomato, I think we'll have a ripe tomato by July 4th. That's pretty good in the maritime Pacific NW. Romas, Alpatieva, Extreme Bush, Dwarf Johnson Cherry, and Tanunda Red all have little green tomatoes, dime to quarter size.

Lazy Rufus. 6.20.2021