Lilac Season. 24 Apr 24.

 The lilac hedge is blooming nicely.  There are no two alike.

Most of these were from a batch of tissue culture starts from the Canby garden show, 20 years ago.  A few are starts from a neighbor, or from our old house.

Making a Sturdy Rolling Garden Stool. 24 Apr 24.

 Here's my garden stool project so far.  The ends and top are a 3/4 inch thick wooden plank, 11" wide.  The back and bottom are from a piece of 3/4 " thick plywood.  The supporting parts are cut from 2 x 2's.  All of this was from the wood storage shed.

I based the height on a metal garden stool that is about right but becoming bent and wonky.  I decided I want it about 3 inches taller, to suit my legs.  Since it will be heavier than the old stool, it will be on casters.  I chose 6" casters, which add 7" height.  So, I subtracted that.  That's good, because more weight means heavier stool.

Here are the cut parts just sitting there. View of the front, which will be open to hold tools and stuff.

Back view.   Back is closed, to give rigidity.

I've assembled most of the top, using deck screws.  I think I'll back them back out, and apply liquid nails before re-screwing it together.  That should give more strength and rigidity.

Using 2x2s as shown on the bottom, will give strength for the casters.  I might use a hole saw to cut openings in the ends, to lighten the weight a little.  The back too, if a practice piece of plywood cuts OK.  I ordered a pad for the seat.  It will need a pull handle or rope.  Once the wooden parts are assembled, I will apply a coat of deck stain, same as the raised beds have.

TLC'ed Daylilies Gradually Looking Better. 21 Apr 24.

 These are the Molokai and Bettylen daylilies that had an extended stay in the garage before planting.  I planted them 24 March. They are in full sun now.

I didn't label so don't know which is which.  They have excellent root masses, so today I gave them a general purpose fertilizer, 1/4 strength, to boost leaf production.

Here is how they looked when I planted them a month ago.

And out of the box.

So far, so good.  I wonder if the larger one might bloom this year.

Seedlings. Basil, Cilantro, Morning Glory, Snow Peas. 21 Apr 24.

 The basil seedlings look pretty nice.

The cilantro took a lot longer, but coming up now.  I wondered if the seeds were viable.  The are.

I soaked some morning glory seeds in water.  They got sort of back-burnered and  wound up soaking for three days.  At that point, the seeds had roots.  So I planted them.  Two days later -

The transplanted snow peas are happy I didn't plant them where jays and voles eat them.

Ozark Beauty Strawberry Plants. 21 Apr 24.

 Here are the containers that I planted yesterday and the day before.

There is also a 4th box.  Twenty plants, total.  I think they perked up quite a bit already.  Maybe they'll start growing new leaves soon.  Then I will know we're "in business".

Air Layering To Start Fig Trees. 21 Apr 24.

 I've been working on Wild Fire Risk Mitigation for the house.  This year is predicted to be hotter, dryer, earlier.  That means more wildfires or wildfire potential in my area.  Over the past few years, I've evacuated twice for wildfires, although they did not reach my immediate area.

One aspect of reducing wildfire risk to the house is to have cleared zones of no flammability, or  reduced.  For an area of the foundation, to five feet from the house, all flammable trees and shrubs need to be completely removed.  Mulch should be replaced with stone, lava, or gravel (I have some areas with cement patio or driveway, which is great).  The second zone is 5 to  30 feet from the foundation.  That needs to have only scarce, widely spaced not-very-flammable vegetation, with pruning up to 10 feet above the ground, and short cut grass under 4" tall.  That's the fig tree area.  I don't think it's too bad, but I want to make it better.  My goal is, in the long run, to have only low- mowed grass there.  Remove the trees.

It doesn't have to be this minute.  Today I moved the very- small tissue - cultured Chicago Hardy fig tree, to the other fig grove that is far away from any structures.

The Carini and LSU Tiger have not been productive.  I keep them for sentimental reasons, and "in case" they ever perform better.  I'll let them bear this summer, if they do.   Most likely, they'll get cut down completely.  No need to "hoard" fruit trees that don't produce.

White Sicilian is pretty good.  It is small enough to dig up and move this fall.  Also, it might be outside that 30 foot limit.

That leaves Lattarula, which is highly productive, highly reliable, both breba and main crop, delicious flavor.   I don't think I'm up to moving it.  Too big.  Cuttings can take a long time.  What I hope is that by air layering a larger branch, I can start a much larger new tree than by taking cuttings.

There are multiple videos and websites about air layering figs.  I used this one.   Basically, cut a band around a branch, removing bark and cambium.

Have a pre-prepared quart zipper bag, filled with wet potting soil.  Cut one side of the bag.  Wrap the open part of the bag around the cut, such that the tree cut is completely in contact with and surrounded by potting soil.  Then wrap the bag firmly around the branch.  Tightly tie or wrap it in place.  I used electrical tape.

Now wrap tightly with aluminum foil, to exclude sunlight.  Now it looks like a burrito tree.

I removed all of the starting figs on that branch, so all of the energy can go to growing roots.  I tied it so it wouldn't droop so much.

Now it looks like a burrito tree.

Will it work?  I don't know.  According to various websites and videos, we should get a good mass of roots in six to eight weeks.

I'll do a few more, just in case.  Here I used one-year-old growth.  I'd also like to try an older, bigger branch to see if that gives a better head start.

Reporting Mandevilla Vines. 20 Apr 24.

 I repotted the Mandevilla vines that I described pruning yesterday.  The water just seemed to go through the soil.  I thought new potting soil would be beneficial.

I removed them from their pots and carefully knocked off all of the old soil that I could.  It was interesting to see that the older, pink flowered vine has tubers sort of like dahlia tubers.

Before exposing those tubers, the roots didn't appear to be overly root bound.  However, the soil appeared to be poor quality, and have poor water management properties.

The younger, smaller, red mandevilla didn't have large tubers but there were some smaller ones.

Now both plants have fresh, new potting soil.  The water doesn't just run through now.  They are ready for a new year.

Pruning and Re-Booting Mandevilla Vines. 19 Apr 24.

 I overwintered these Mandevilla vines in the sunroom.  They rarely got water.  They did make some vines.  The one in the blue container pink, is two years old.  The other is red, has overwintered once.

I think the red one will need a new container soon, and the pink one will need re-potting and sone root pruning.  I basically pruned off the past year of growth from the red one, and most of the past two years of growth from the pink one.  There was a lot of dead looking material, bare stems, dead growth tips.  

This image is s few days later.  I think growth has started to take place already.

Sunmaid Cordana (?) Yellow Mini Rose Blooming. 19 Apr 24.

 It turned out pretty nice.

The others from the original container are also budding.  This one also has more growth buds emerging from the base.  I've been giving it the same treatment as the others, watering with Schulz house plant fertilizer per label instructions.  It's outside in full sun throughout the day.  If it looks like nights will be above 45F, I leave them sheltered on the deck outside.

There is a faint tea rose scent, if you smell up very close. It's nice.

This flower is larger than those on the original plant.  The plant is taller, with longer internodes.

Planting More Four O'Clock Seedlings. 19 Apr 24.

 The first few Four O'Clock seedlings did OK, so I planted about half of the rest.

I have them covered until they toughen up,  I scattered some slug bait.  I left a couple of the plants more exposed to see if rabbits or deer would eat them.

Today's soil temp is about 50 F.  Coldest temp, last night was 45 F.  

Planting New Strawberry Plants in Containers. 19 Apr 24

 These are some strawberry plantes I ordered on Amazon.  I tried ordering from a couple of tried and true online nurseries. but now they require all sorts of personal info, which once they have ads to spam, ads, spam calls, spam texts, spam emails.  This is part of the crappification of life.  Yes, I can go to the effort to block every spam, but companies also buy and sell that info.  Plus, if I order from them again, then I have go unblock  which means more effort on my part.  That's too much trouble for 20 strawberry plants.  I also tried ordering from a nursery I have used before, but somehow their order page didn't work.  

Amazon already has my info and doesn't appear to be selling it.  If they did, then it would go to their competitors.  I think they are too smart for that.  Plus their order page always works.

OK, that curmudgeon old man rant out of the way, these  are the Ozark Ever-bearing strawberry plants that I bought.   My phone was charging when I opened the package, so no photo of that.

The bare root plants looked pretty pathetic out of the bag.  I watered them and planted as shown.  I heeled in the  remaining plants in potting soil, and watered, for planting tomorrow.

These are in shade with no direct sunlight for now.  When (if ?)  they start growing, I'll transition them gradually to full sun.  I think they'll grow.  Even in this image they seem to have perked up a bit.

Up-Potting Snow Pea Plants For Container Culture. 19 Apr 24.

 I up-potted the four containers of snow pea plants.

I enjoy eating snow peas very much, either raw in salad or stir fried with noodles or rice.  Almost always, either birds - probably Jays - or animals -probably voles or mice - completely destroy every snow pea plant that I grow in the garden.  Regardless of how extensively I cover them with screening. 

In containers on the deck, that doesn't seem to be a problem.  They are also kind of attractive plants.  The greens are also edible (the Jays and voles can tell you that too).  So I'm trying them as deck plants this year.

In the long run, they'll need larger containers.  These have to do for now.

Up-Potting Pelargoniums (Geraniums). 19 Apr 24.

 I up- potted two established Pelargoniums (Geraniums) and one new one.  I bought the new one on impulse at the grocery store - an ultra-modern interspecific hybrid called "Big Eeze Pink Batik".  The larger floret size and variegated flowers are interesting.  From what I can find, these are hybrids between zonal and ivy type Pelargoniums.    Apparently, that's a modern trend.

I re-used potting soil from other plants' last year for these.  The texture seems good.  There are a couple more Pelargoniums to clean up, and one more to up-pot.

Now that nights are above 45 F, I'm leaving them outside day and night, but sheltered close to the house at night.  Some have new flower buds now.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Dawn Redwood, about seven years later.

 I planted this Dawn Redwood, Metasequoia glyptostroboides, in 2017.  It's starting to leaf out now for spring.

Quite impressive.  Here is the tree when I planted it in 2017.

Considering the root pruning, I'm still amazed it grew.

Freeze Damage To Tasmanian Alpine Eucalyptus (E. subcrenulata ). 18 Apr 24.

 In 2020, I planted a Tasmanian Alpine Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus subcrenulata.    It was marked as cold hardy to this area.   Last winter had some major cold snaps.  If I remember correctly, as low as 19 F.

I haven't taken much time to examine the tree, since the freeze.   It's quite tall now, no way can I look at the top growth.

Low branches definitely had a lot of freeze.  Many are dead.

For comparison, here is new growth in 2021. 

I think the top is OK.  It seems to be maturing from juvenile oval leaves, to mature lance shaped leaves.

It would be fun if the mature growth bloomed this year. As always, time will tell.

Mini Rose Update. A Bud And Some Aphids. 15 Apr 25.

 The first of the yellow mini rose, that I think is SunMaid, has a nice bud.

I check every day for aphids.

It helps to hold the plant on its side, so the aphids don't just fall onto to soil and climb back up.

Last year with the peppers, the only satisfactory solution was to spritz off the aphids, so that's what I'm doing now.  As the season progresses, I think they will go away.

Another observation - some of the plants have new shoots coming from underground.  

So I think they'll become more bushy as the plants mature.

This is a fun project.

Planting The First Dahlia and Four O'Clock Seedlings. 15 Apr 24.

  The seedling cart is pretty full, so I wanted to test to see if I can plant a few seedlings in the garden.  Nights continue to be in the 40s F.  I forgot to measure the soil temp. 

I planted two dwarf dahlia seedlings is a container that has rose cuttings and some onions for seed production.

I planted two four o'clock seedlings in the outside (outside the veggie garden deer fence) border.

My plan is to watch them for a week, then maybe plant more.  If the soil temp is 50 or above, I might sooner.

They have slug bait and bird / deer / rabbit fencing for the usual reasons.

Rehabbing / Restarting a Garlic Chive Colony. 15 Apr 24

 

Yesterday I mostly cleaned out a planter box where I had transferred a patio pot of garlic chives that was waning.  Unfortunately, the load of grass seed in soil was so high, the grass took over.  I was  never able to pick out all of the grass, which took over and killed off most of the chives.

So,I cleaned it out, dug out the top layer, which was all grass, except two bunches of garlic chive.  Then I mixed in a bucket of compost from the bin.  Then worked on cleaning up bunches of garlic chive, two from this planter and the rest from a large container I had in the back yard.

These were from the back yard container.

The bottom photo is what I saved from the planter.  I split the large bunch into two.  

 They might be too close together, but I think OK for a year or so,  After filling in the soil, I covered with about 1/2 inch of the too-fast-drying potting soil that I had already, for mulch.  Then leaves, as shown in the top image.  I gave some dilute low-nitrogen liquid fertilizer.  When they look settled and have some vigor, I can up the nitrogen.