Stars Quilt, Beginning. 29 Mar 24.

 Im putting together a quilt kit for a repeat of this quilt.  The original pattern and instructions were by Lynne Goldsworthy in a supplement of Today's Quilter Magazine a few years ago.  Mine strayed quite bit from the published instructions, and so will this one will even more.  Lynne called this quilt "Pythagorus Theorem" because of the triangle calculations.

One challenge is that the instructions make use of fat quarters and newly bought fabric.  I am using what I have. Some is new, some is yardage, some scraps, some left over from jelly roll sets.

This instructions called for 72 diamonds, 2 1/2 inches wide.  I added more, so now it's 88 (I think).  Coincidentally, the first quilt book that I bought, years ago, had a diamond template exactly that size.  That made it go quickly.  Also, jelly roll fabric is 2 1/2 inches wide.

Jelly Roll Strip With Diamond Template.  Perfect size!

This pattern calls for 288 half square triangles.  I'm not certain if the exact size is in the instructions.  They are 2 1/2 inches square when trimmed.  I looked several times.   But there is a lot of text, so who knows?   Probably there.   The instruction calls for starting with larger pieces than I have, but I can adapt.

One way I can stream line a bit is to start with two six (6) inch squares.  Lay facing each other, draw lines corner to corner.  Then sew 1/4 inch both sides of each line. Small template is 2.5 inches which is what I want in the end  Here I should have put the line on the seam instead of the line.  These are scrap fabric.  It took me several tries to figure this out.

Then, cut so there are four three-inch squares, then cut on the lines to make eight triangles.

Open up, press seams open, and there are 8 half-square triangles.  They need a slight trimming, but not much.  It's less sewing, cutting, measuring, than individual half square triangles.  I misaligned some but these are scrap anyway.

I have a lot of 2 1/2 inch strips that will become half square triangles too.  Those need individual measuring, cutting, and sewing.

Especially for triangles and stars - which is this entire quilt - a lot happens on the bias.  Which means things can be more stretchy, distort easily, be uneven, and not match up.  Starching stiffens the fabric and stabilizes it.   I use starch concentrate.  It's cheaper and soaks into the fabric thoroughly, giving a nice stiffness.  I use the dilution for medium or medium-heavy.  I soak the fabric in the starch solution, then lay it out and press down to remove excess liquid.  I don't wring or squeeze.

Casserole pans work nicely.  Then I lay it out on towels to dry in a warm place.  It takes about a day.  I steam iron to flatten the fabric.  I'm not pre-washing,  That doesn't work for strips.  They unravel.  Plus, I want the final quilt to shrink a little when finally washed, for a textured, crinkly, sort of antique-y look.

Pruning Fig Trees. 29 March 24.

 I started pruning the fig trees, south of the house.  

These are my main-producing and favorite fig varieties.  I'm cutting about half of the top portions back to 5 or 6 feet.  That is to keep them within reach.  Depending on the variety, those are fall crop (main crop).

The other growth is left in place, or just the growth tip cut.  Those are for summer (breba ) crop.  Again, depending on variety.

Of course, I remove crossing branches, center congestion, branches in the way or dead.

Trimming Trachycarpus Palms. 29 Mar 24.

 These are the two Trachycarpus palms.  I don't like taking off too many leaves.  I removed the bottom leaves to facilitate mowing, using a riding mower.

One winter (roughly 2014 maybe?) a hard freeze killed most of the growing point of the tree on the right.  I thought it was dead, so planted the other.   Sometimes life finds a way.  A new growing point emerged.  Crooked and one-sides at first.  Then it grew back to normal.

All it takes is a little breeze, and the fronds quiver and dance.  Same idea as quaking aspen, but these remind me of egrets dancing.

Cleft Grafting Apple Espalier Trees. 29 Mar 24.

 These are two of the Redlove that I trained as Espaliers.  They have healthy, mature root systems and trunks.  So far in my garden, the apples have deep red flesh as promoted, but are hard, lemon-sour, and inedible.

My space is limited, and I'm not getting any younger.  I decided to replace the Redlove tiers with proven varieties that I love, Jonagold and Akane.

Since these are going onto low tiers, I think they need to be vigorous varieties, which is true for both selections.  With mature rootstocks and vigorous varieties, maybe I'll see fruit in three years.

I'm serious about safety.  I think whip-and-tongue makes a sturdy, beautiful graft.  When well done, there is little or no wood exposure to the elements.  It's always been my go- to method.  My success rate approaches 100%.  But.  There is a lot of cutting and maneuvering, and the cut can give way to injury easily.

So this time, I chose cleft grafting.  All of the scion work can be (was) done on a cutting board, with blade facing down (wearing mandolin gloves).

The tree work can be done with blade facing away from the worker and his hands.  In addition, it's only one cut, and it faces the tree.

Assembling the graft is not quite so elegant.  Apples take grafts easily, and cleft grafting has been used for eons, so I think they will take.

By the way, here is the whip-and-tongue graft, same tree and variety, that I gave a blood sacrifice last year.

Fully healed.  I had never unwrapped it, so the growth was restricted.  Now it is free to grow.  It did heal fine.  In another  year or two, growth will make the graft invisible.

The tree now.  I  cut about 90% of the spur and new growth from the branches. I will let a few apples form, but I want most nutrients to go to those grafts to push growth.  The top tier is Blue Pearmain, which I'm keeping.

The completed work.  The new grafts are circled in yellow.  For the challenged gardener, all of the grafting and a lot of the pruning were done sitting on the gardening bench.  The espalier can be as short as convenient for accessible gardening.

Re-Potting Miniature Rose (Sunmaid Kordana?). 29 Mar 24.

The replacement glazed pots came.  I selected the most well branched, vigorous looking from the yellow miniature roses, and up potted it.

Here's the result.

They are all growing very nicely.   I wanted one that I can bring indoors.  I might plant three pf the others together in a larger pot, and the fifth in the garden.

My theory is that the group makes a nice, sort of living bouquet to sell, with lots of flowers on short plants.  They get intense, wavelength - specific LED designed to keep the internodes short, specially formulated fertilizer and hormones.

At home, they need home growing conditions.  More room, completely different soil, pruning etc.  They might grow a bit taller, with longer internodes.  I'm just theorizing there.  Ad the plant matures, I think it could be bushier (with good pruning too) and more floriferous.

When wind catches those tall containers I planted them in, sometimes they fall over.  This one is heavier and not top heavy

Not root bound at all.

When I potted these a month or so ago, no roots reached the bottom.  I think they're quite healthy looking.

I did searches on all of the rose varieties on the original container. Two were not found. The only yellow one was KORpot055.  A little searching on that came up with Sunmaid Kordana.  I think the images confirm that.  I'm surmising, this is not Sunmaid Floribunda or Sunmaid Grande.

It doesn't matter.  I'm not going to propagate or sell.  It's just nicer to say "Sunmaid Kordana" than "that yellow minuature rose that i bought at Fred Meyer" or "KORpot055"

Blooming Forsythia. 28 Mar 24.

 I grew this Forsythia from a cutting, maybe 12 years ago.  Now it's also the source of many more cuttings which I started to make a privacy hedge.

If you want a forsythia bush, ask a neighbor or friend for cuttings from their's.  It's so easy and rewarding.

Grafting A Sentinental Gingko Tree. 28 Mar 24.

Thirty years ago, I planted some gingko seeds that my Dad had collected.  He died about ten years ago.   One of the trees stands grandly, maybe feet tall, in my old back yard in Vancouver.   It's a male, so no stinky seed pods.  Just majesty.   The other, much smaller, is in my front yard now in Battle Ground.

I wanted to preserve the beautiful tree in Vancouver.  Obviously it's way too big to think about moving.  Maybe ten years ago, I grafted some scion from that tree onto seedlings that I grew, from seeds I collected in Vancouver.   One didn't take, and one did.  The one that took, doesn't grow vertically.  It grows flat horizontally, no matter how often I try to straighten it.

I don't know why it does that.  It's weird.  Could it be that I grafted it upside down?  Would that take?  Would it grow like that?  Or is it some kind of weird bud sport?

Last fall, I  collected some scion from this tree.  There are several suckers growing from under the ground.  The plan was to graft freshly onto some of those suckers.  If one takes, and if it grows vertically, I can cut the others off and let it take over.

I decided to use my favorite graft, a whip and tongue graft.  I used a single edge razor blade for cutting, and a piece of wood as a cutting board.  I don't recommend this, for safety reasons, but it is what I did.

First, here's how it looks when out together.

Here's how the cutting looks, slicing into the wood to make the tongue.  This is before putting it together as above.

Here's how I protect myself.   The glove is a mandolin glove.

While grafting last year, I sliced into my thumb.  That's why I don't recommend this.  Buy a specialized, safe, tool instead.  It's better than a potentially serious i jury, such as a sliced tendon or nerve, or lost finger.  I was not wearing a glove last year when this happened.

Wood resists cutting, then has a "give" point where it rapidly decompensates.  Thats where my injury happened.  It cut a nerve, and took a year to resume about 90% normal sensation on the back of my thumb.

All I can say is that today I was extra extra careful.  I think the mandolin glove helped avoid an injury, and as much as possible I cut towards the cutting board, away from me.

It will be fun if one of the three that I did today grows.  If none take, I'll  cut the tree back to one sucker and let that take over as a straight upright tree.

Hunter's Star / Christmas Quilt Pieces Cut. 27 Mar 24.

 Here are the piles of quilt pieces.  There are 8 fabrics for the 9 inch squares.  They will be cut cirner to corner to make two triangles each.  There should be one trapezoid per triangle.  don't know how many strips.  If I counted correctly, there are 128 trapezoids to go with what will be 128 triangles.  The strips turn into smaller diamonds to make star points.  I'm not certain if I have enough strips.

The trapezois is usually the same fabric as the triangle.  Mine are chosen to be somewhat similar in weight or color saturation, but not identical.

The trapezoids will be sewn to diamonds to make larger trapezoids.  Those are sewn to the triangles to make larger triangles.  Something like this.

Then two are joined to make squares, then four squares with the diamonds in the center to make eight-pointed stars.  

Hunter's Star is a traditional quilt block, I think dating to mid 19th century.  The method I am using was created by Deb Tucker of 180 design, although I have taken so many liberties with the pattern and layout, she might not want to claim me LOL.

Gloomy Rainy Day. 27 March 24.

 Just gloomy, chilly, and rainy.  Mostly low 50s.  There was lightening and thunder, rare for here.

Topping Pepper Plant Seedlings to Encourage Branching. 27 Mar 24.

 Today I cut off the top tuft of leaves from the pepper plants.

After

Before

The top leaf tuft produces hormones that inhibit branching.  When you remove that tuft, then the lower buds leave dormancy and make branches.   Bushy, well branched plants, make for higher productivity.

Some people call it "pinching".  I use a sharp small scissors which I think is less traumatic to the cut tissues.

Planting Onion Seedlings. 25 Mar 24.

 I planted the rest of the Patterson hybrid onion seedlings.

Also planted the first of the Wethersfield onion seedlings.

The process is the same as before.  Dig a shallow trench.  Lay the seedlings in the trench.  Then move soil inwards to cover roots.

Every scoop of soil seems to bring up earthworms.  This soil is becoming more rich each year,

I think I will run out of space in this bed.  It's difficult to judge how many, when planting seeds.  I also planted some in one of the raised planters.

I wanted to get rid of the last batch of saved coffee grounds.  I don't like leaving stuff sitting around.  I sprinkled them generously between rows.  I saw possible evidence of slugs, so I scattered slug bait.  With the rains, I opened the coffee filters to cover the slug bait, then covered with leaves.

I just want to slow down the slug bait washing away.  I expect those filters to decompose in a few months.  I covered them with tree leaves that I still have in a pile.  Then replaced the anti-bird fencing tunnels.

This is all sitting-down work.  The height of the raised bed is a good match to the height of the gardener's stool.  The 2x4 flat laid side tops of the bed are good fir support, too.

Portulaca Seeds Spouting. 27 Mar 24.

 Some of the Portulaca (Rose Moss) seeds are sprouting.  Like others, on a warming mat.

They are difficult to see.  

These are from the packet that did not go through the washer & dryer.  I threw those away.

I didn't try very hard with these.  The seeds are so tiny - like dust.  I sprinkled them then soritzed with water.

This is about a week for these, I think.

Pre-Sprouting Four O'Clock Seeds - It Works! 27 Mar 24

 Here are the left-over Four O'Clock seeds that I soaked, then wrapped in a moist paper towel, wrapped in a plastic bag, for a few days.  They were under an LED lamp during the day, and on a warming mat.

I planted the sprouted ones in 4 inch pots.  So far, it's six out of ten seeds.

Some of the roots were an inch long and clinging to wet paper towel.  I just make it more wet and tear the paper towel to separate seeds.  If some paper towel sticks to the seeds, I plant that too.

I think those were incubating about three days.  Imagibe that.

Sunny Day. More 4:00 Seeds. 26 Mar 24.

 I have to pace myself carefully now.  Such a beautiful day.  Plants will be thriving.

I planted some more Four O'Clock seeds.  These were seeds I saved in 2020.  Will they grow?  I soaked overnight.  These photos are the source plants a few years ago.

I need to inventory and clean up my seeds.  There may be more recent ones with better chance of growing.  I can use moist paper towel method to test germination.

The Four O'Clocks will be a bushy hedge in front of the garden, outside the fence.  The size is perfect and they need minimal care once they start growing.  Herbivores and insects don't bother them.  They bloom beautifully as annuals.  Once established here, they usually become perennials.

Planting Snowpea Seeds. 26 Mar 24.

 I planted 4 4-inch pots of snowpeas.  I don't need a lot.

This year I'm doing something different.  Snow Peas are such a treat, sweet, crunchy, moist, great flavor.  Out of the garden, they are the best.

The seeds germinate easily.  Grow fast.  Then something  voles?  jays?  both?  always gets into the screening and fencing, pulls up almost every plant and eats them all.  Rarely, I'll get one plant.

This year I'm growing them in containers.   I might transfer to garden when they are a good or so tall.  I'll bring them inside at night until I think they are too big for the herbivores.

I planted two 4-inch pots with six seeds of each variety.  I might thin to three each, once they get growing.  The packet says, one plant every two inches in a row.  Translating to container growth, maybe three or four plants?

Planting The Rest Of The Tomato Seeds. 26 Mar 24

 This is just a little later than last year.  I thought I was a little too early in 2023 and they needed planting outside before it was warm enough. Still, it was a fantastic tomato year.

I think this year could be warmer, earlier anyway.  Farm life LOL.

Here are the other varieties that I planted today.

 Varieties

New Big Dwarf  - Pink, basically a dwarf Pink Ponderosa.

Tanunda Red - my most successful red slicer, a gift.

SummerTime Gold - havent tried this one yet.  Dwarf golden.

Puck - very very dwarf, produces quite a few, very very early.

42 Day - this packet had FIVE seeds LOL.  Well, they have to make a living.  I haven't tried this one before.

Paisano - paste type, gift.

Plum Regal - paste, really good last year.  tift.

There's a red cherry type in there Sugar Rush, gift.

Dwarf CC McGee - has done well for me.  Yellow.  I'm growing to compare with the other yellow ones.

Planting Tomato Seeds. 25 Mar 24.

 Today I planted most of the tomato seeds.  There will be a few more tomorrow.

My beds have room for 11 dwarf or bush tomato plants.   This yearI'm not growing much more than that.

The slicers are all open pollinated, dwarf varieties.  They do the best for me.   Some are home saved seeds or old packets.  Some new varieties.

The paste tomatoes are about half heirloom Roma, half new hybrid.  The Roma are better flavor but smaller and less productive.

Varieties, mostly dwarf slicer except Reisentraub.

BrandyFred, Chocolate Champion, Reisentraube, Sleeping Lady, Tanuda Red.

Paste.

Roma VF, old seeds of Plum Regal F1, new seeds of Paisano F1

I will start more for my neighbor too, and a few more for my garden.  I need to choose between two yellow types, not sure which one yet.

The six packs in blue holders are Portulaca.  I left a packet in my pocket, which went into the washer md dryer, so only half as many as planned LOL.

My best performer of slicers is Tanuda Red.  First quality, huge, juicy, red, prolific slicer.  BrandyFred is less productive but so delicious.  Chocolote Champio  is up there too.  Reisentraube is a bit big for cherry tomato but excellent. I have not grown Sleeping Lady before.

They are on seed warming mat.

These are in re-usable seed starters.  After using, I wash them, then run them through dishwasher to sterilize them.  

Four O'Clock Seeds Planted. 25 Mar 24.

 I planted the Four O'Clock seeds (Mirabilis jalapa) today.  They soaked about 24 hours in plain water.  

This year, I'm starting them in re-usable silicone six-packs.  These are big seeds, so I just used potting soil and covered with a layer of seed starting mix. That will be better for evener moisture and makes a dent in use of peat.

The humidity cover is a plastic Amazon bag, repurposed.

They are on seed starting mat.   There were extra seeds.  I wrapped those in moist paper towel, wrapped in a plastic bag, and placed on heating mat too.

Which will work better?

Spring Flowers. 24 Mar 24.

 Some daffodils.  I like this idea of overwintering the containers in the vegetable garden, then moving to the front deck when blooming.

Hyacinths.  Something pushed the bulbs over during the winter.  Brilliant colors!

Some are just beginning to come up.  Maybe they are not OK?

Muscari.  When we had the old deck replaced, these were in a planter there  - 4 inches deep, under an awning so almost no water, and on north side of house.  For years.  I just laid the mats of growth on top of the soil in this rose planter.  And there they are!  Such resilient bulbs.

Leucojum.  These have been divided and moved twice.  The original clump came with the old house, so they are kind of a hand-me-down heirloom.

Helleborus.   These take virtually no effort and bloom like crazy every year.

Starting Some Four O'Clock Seeds. 24 Mar 24.

 I'm pre-soaking some Four O'Clock seeds to plant tonight.

I don't always get good germination with these when I buy the seeds.  Better with home-saved seeds.  I don't know why.  They do have a hard coat, and I pre-soak per directions.

Here are my notes from 2014.  My experience then was, they germinated better on a seed warming mat, on moist paper towel in a zip lock.  I'll try half of them that way and half in seed starter containers.

I'll see if I have some saved from last year and try those too.  My own are not variegated.

Just for fun, a highly vintage image of Four O'Clocks.