Mandevilla Vines Awakening. 25 May 24.

 The Mandevilla vines are starting to grow again, despite the rainy chilly weather.

Fig Tree Update. 25 May 24.

Here are the fig trees that I pruned last winter.

Young Hardy Chicago, grown from offshoot three (?) years ago.  Atreano in background.

Brunswick.

Smith.

The large fir tree that was shading them and competing, is gone now.  I think they will have a burst of growth and possibly productivity.  Time will tell.

Miniature Dahlia Plants Waking Up. 25 May 24.

 Here are the miniature dahlia plants now.  The smaller ones are something like three weeks after planting.  I planted the other ones preciously.

If nothing else, this shows that the miniature dahlia tubers can be overwintered in their original containers, dry, with basically no trouble at all. Just kept in unheated garage, dry, in their pitting soil.

Strawberry Update. 25 May 24.

 Here are the container strawberry plants now.  They look healthy to me.

I gave them some general purpose fertilizer to promote growth.   They are in full sun on the deck, away from deer-favored areas.

Schlumbergeras Are In Their Summer Home. New Growth After Pruning. 25 Apr 24,

 I moved the Schlumbergeras to the north side of the house.  Last year they flourished there.  If placed in the sun, they dry out too fast and the pads develop permanent sunburn damage.

I wondered how they would respond to the pruning I gave them.  They are putting out healthy looking new growth now.

I gave them some general purpose house plant fertilizer today - Schultz's.  

Two others need attention, which I think I should do soon.  Pruning and repotting.

Planting Over-Wintered Dahlia Tubers. 25 May 24.

 I finally planted the over-wintered Dahlia tubers.   I had them outside and was watering them, but didn't plant until a few days ago.

It's only recent that they started to show signs of life.  I also needed to free up some tubs, because I want to grow them in containers.

I planted them very shallowly, and will fill in soil as they grow.

I'll post on the mini-dahlias soon.  They are also growing.

David Austin Roses In Containers. Update. 25 May 26.

 Here are the David Austin roses, in containers, on the deck now.

Boscobel.  It does have that spicy myrrh fragrence.  

Darcy Bussell.  I'm not noticing much fragrance yet.  Fragrance can vary a lot by time of day, warmth, etc so I won't give up from this first try.

I forgot to photograph "Bring Me Sunshine".  It's a little behind the other two.  It recovered fully from the initial loss of too-tender, weak growth (warehouse and shipping) that got blasted by the early hot spell.  Will post later.

Here's a mixed bouquet, David Austin roses and others.

Earlier, I posted I thought the red rose was Climbing Mr. Lincoln but in retrospect, it might be Don Juan.  The pink is Scepter'd Isle - strong myrrh fragrance.  The yellow is Vanessa Bell - good spicy tea fragrance.  The purple is Midnight Blue, a shrub rose with small flowers, strong clove fragrance.  The sort of pale apricot color is Tamara (I think), mild fragrance.  The white is John F Kennedy, no fragrance.  The splashy mixed color flower is the climber Tropical Lightening.  Last week I couldn't smell it, but today it's a classic tea rose fragrance.  

Edit:  Here is the "Give Me Sunshine" David Austin Rose plant, between the others.

Rolling Garden Stool. Nearing Completion.

 I assembled the parts for the garden stool.  I used liquid nails adhesive, before using deck screws to give a good, strong bond.  I cut holes to slightly reduce the weight, since this is heavy solid wood or plywood.  Also, the holes provide hand-holds and let light into the inside shelf.

Then I sanded for smooth edges, and to remove splinters, and give a good surface for stain to bond.  Then I applied the first coat of deck stain.

I think it needs an edge, to hold the cushioned sitting pad in place.  Then a second coat of stain, a pull rope, and the casters.  

Tomatoes Are Mulched With Cardboard. 25 May 24.

 Both tomato beds have their cardboard mulch now.  Slicing / dwarf / heirloom - type, and the sauce - type tomato plants.

They are not pretty, You-tube and master gardener - style beds, but the cardboard does a great job keeping them clear of weeds, and preventing soil fungal spores from splashing onto leaves and giving the plants diseases.  It also cool the soil in the summer and helps retain moisture. 

The tomato plants seem to be doing well despite some chilly, rainy weather during the past week.

Bearded Iris Woes. 25 May 26.

 Bearded iris always give me a particular kind of joy.  But only when they thrive.  That's a conundrum for me.  Why do these, usually tough, carefree, plants seemingly never do well in my garden?

The "rules" for growing bearded iris are well known and often repeated - keep the soil clean, no weeds, let the rhizomes bask in the sun.  So this is what I get, year after year.

And this.

These are just the latest attempts.  Usually it's the same, but in the ground instead of containers.  My hope this time was that, in clean potting soil, the leaf diseases would not take over.

Meanwhile, irises I gave up on, in the duck yard - no weeding, and they god a layer of wood chip mulch - look like this.

Beautiful and thriving, and much less leaf disease.

In the narrow garden border, I tried (more or less successfully) to keep some colonies weeded, and mulched with arborist chips.  They look like this.

Not perfect, but way better than the ones I grew "by the rules".   Others, more crowded by other plants, also bloomed and look better.

I don't intend to leave the weeds in there, but it's interesting that these irises are doing as well as they are.  Also, more extreme and mostly not blooming, here are the irises I've yet to rescue from the decommissioned bed - more crowded and definitely at risk of weed takeover, but the leaves don't look bad.

So here's my theory.  I think the bare soil contains fungus disease spores or bacterial disease spores.  When it rains, those splash onto the leaves, where they thrive, infect, and spread.  The disease only happens here with the heavy rains and chill, after initial Spring foliage has grown.  Grasses and clean mulch don't allow the diseases to splash onto leaves.  (I've seen lots of bark mulched irises doing fine in town, too).  These issues might not be the case elsewhere, who am I to say?  But here, neglected irises in grasses and weeds, or with clean mulches, seem to do better.

So now my plan is this.  I'll try to rescue the remaining rhizomes and plant them on a slope, around a recently removed fir tree stump.

They'll get a good layer of clean arborist chip mulch.  I'll keep them  weed free, but I won't do much else.  

We'll see what happens.

Geranium Cutting In Water. 23 May 24.

 My geranium cuttings in potting soil didn't grow.  I think the main issue was, they were weak, unhealthy cuttings to begin with.

I don't "need" any more geranium plants, but that failure annoyed me.  So I cut off a wayward stem from another geranium plant, and placed it into water.  Maybe, 3 weeks ago?  Not certain.

Here it is now.  I need to pot it soon.

Follow Up (25 May 24):  Yesterday I planted this cutting in potting soil.  It's ready for a gentle entry into "full plant-hood". There were two flower bud clusters.  I removed those.  It's not ready yet for blooming.

Tomato Cutting In Water, Update. 23 May 24.

 Here is that tomato cutting today.

I noticed root primordia last night.

Now that roots have started growing, I think progress will be fairly fast.

Can a Slug-Caused Tomato Tragedy Be Saved? 14 May 24.

 This is the Supersweet-100 cherry tomato that I bought yesterday but didn't plant yet.  Overnight, something ate the stem.  I blame a slug.

Tomato plants are famous for growing roots from the stems, easily.  I will try to water-root the top.

I cut it with a single-edge razor for a clean cut.

Then, into water.

I'll keep it in my East - facing window and see what happens.

Meanwhile, here is the gaping wound.

I placed the cut iff "stump" outside with my other plants.  If it was planted above the cotyledon level, maybe it will regrow.  But I doubt that.

Tomato Seedlings Planted. 14 May 24.

Over the past four days, I planted the slicing / eating tomatoes, and the paste / salsa / cooking tomatoes.  I replaced the in- line drip irrigation (for last year's garlic and beans) with rescued individual emitters, one for each plant.  These are almost all dwarf tomato varieties, most from saved seeds.  They should reach about the tops of the supports.  The exception, Reisentraub, is more vigorous but can be trimmed.

The emitters all seem to be working.  This year, I invested in heavy duty wire ring supports to keep them more vertical.  That makes the cardboard mulching a bit more complicated but I will figure it out.

Similar for the sauce / salsa / cooking tomatoes.  Half are "Roma", a not-vigorous bushy determinate.  There are a couple of hybrid paste tomatoes too, last seeds from the packs.  Paisano and Plum Regal.  They are determinate and bushy but more vigorous and sprawling than Roma, so the supports will help keep the tomatoes clean and safe from slugs and sun exposed for sweetness and flavor.  The hybrids are more productive and larger, meaty tomatoes and are less work than Roma, but I also grow Rons because of sentimental reasons, and I can save Roma seeds each year.  So I feel like they  are "mine".

The redcurrent on the left needs to go.  It was accidental a pruned stick, stuck into the ground.  At the back are Egyptian Walking Onions, which will remain there until fall.

I also added an extra Reisentraub to the sauce tomato bed.  My cherry tomato seedlings didn't thrive, so I bought three plants - a dwarf type, similar to my heirloom dwarf tomatoes but is a hybrid cherry, called "Husky Red Cherry".  It should fit in, and I prefer dwarf types.  The other two are "Supersweet  100" which is too vigorous for these raised beds so needs a different location, and "Red Cherry" (!?) which might also need it's own location.