Seeds at 10 days. Germination Testing. 1.11.15

Sweet Banana Pepper Seeds at 10 days, not 5.  1.11.15

Red Portugal Pepper Seeds, 10 days, not 5.  1.11.15

Of the peppers, the Sweet Banana Peppers are germinating the best.  Red Portugal are beginning to grow.  Tabasco, no growth at all.  Age of seeds is on original post.

The Titan sunflower seeds all germinated at 5 days.  The Mammoth sunflower seeds rotted.

Titan Sunflower Seeds, 5 days

Grape Cuttings. 1.10.15

 Today I took some grape cuttings.

These are from 14-year-old grape vines at the old place.   They are too big to move to the new place.

I like the "Price" and "Interlaken"  varieties.  The others are OK, but I like these the best.  I want to grow them with TLC to either bearing size for next year, or close to it.

This starts with the cuttings.  In the past I have just stuck grape prunings into the soil in the garden, and they grew.   However, those are slow and take a few years to reach bearing size.  The first year, only a few inches of growth.

With some TLC, I may get a few feet of growth.

To start - cut prunings.  About 1 foot to 1i8 inches.   Stout strong first-year stems.  If possible, nodes a few inches apart, as many nodes as possible.

At least 2 nodes, better if 3 or 4.  Cut bottom end, flat, about 1 inch from node.  Cut top end, at angle, about 1 inch from top.

I used Dip-and-grow.  I don't know that it's necessary.  I've grown grape cuttings without it. Also, the container is old, maybe several years.  But I used some anyway.

Then LABELED, inserted into potting soil with lowest nodes about 3 or 4 or 5 inches down.   Leaving them outside on the deck, north of house so they don't get sun and overheat.

The late Lon Rombaugh was far, far more experienced than I am.  His method is more detailed, probably more successful and better.  My method is amateur but works for me.  The main difference is he puts more effort into callousing the root end, by warming them.  If I have a chance, I may do that in a couple of months, with fresh cuttings, as a back-up plan.

Seeds: Organizing, testing, and starting. 1.5.16

Testing Sunflower Seeds.  1.5.16

 Today placed some seeds in moist paper towel system to test them.   If they don't grow, I can throw them out.

Sunflowers:
Titan packed for 2014
Mammoth Gray Stripe for 2013

Peppers:
Sweet Banana for  2015
Hot Portugal for 2013

These are no big deal if they don't grow.  If they do, I'll keep the packets for later sowing (Sunflowers) or possible keep the plants growing indoors until Spring (Peppers).

I don't throw away partial packets of seeds.  I also fail to check my stash before buying more.

Stored Garden Seeds.  1.5.16

Testing / Sprouting Pepper Seeds.  1.5.16

 These are now filed somewhat neatly.  Some of the envelopes are redundant.  This Spring, I can start planting many of the saved seeds for either our use or the chickens.

The Daylilies labeled Frans Hals bloomed in Sept.  I collected the seeds late Oct, stratified moist in fridge, then sat them out at room temp.  Now about 1/2 are in seed starting containters.  I am curious about this one because the Fans Hals was off - type, should be bicolor brick / yellow but instead salmon / darker eye with hint of the bicolor.  The yellow should have been dark yellow with brick eye ("Playground") , but were very pale yellow with no eye.  I suspect genetic instability due to tissue culture.  I'm curious about their offspring - will there be reversion to type, mixed in hybridization?  Will they be something completely different?

There are many tables online for how long seeds last.  Mine are in cool, fairly dry basement of daylight basement house, except some were in bedroom.
Based on  the link, the Sunflower seeds should keep 5 to 7 years, and the peppers should keep 2 years.  I have sprouted peppers from seeds kept in the kitchen, after 8 to 10 years.

Sprouting Daylily Seeds, Frans Hals X Unknown Yellow 1.5.16

New Year's Day. Clearing Blackberries. Rain Water Barrel. 1.1.16

For New Year's, cleared more Himalayan Blackberry bramble.  I might be half way through them now.   Those haystack-looking mounds are blackberry brambles that I cut up with pruning shears.  It's not physically hard work at all.  Does require patience, persistence, and falling into a rhythm.  Ultimately I think I will pile all of them into one large, hidden-in-the-woods compost pile.  Blackberry bramble stems are not woody, even the very large, thicker than my thumb and 20 foot tall ones.  The stem is pithy.

When this area is cleared, the back / North end may get some Cyprus as a privacy hedge and to hold soil.  Downhill from that is a ravine.  More within view and  a little south of the Cyprus, I want to plant some diverse types of trees.  The remainder of horticultural remediation for the Himalayan blackberry thicket monoculture, will involve planting grass seed and frequent mowing until blackberries are fully dead and no more self-regeneration from seeds or underground roots or runners.  Then maybe let it go a little more wild with wild flowers.  I may not follow that plan as my thoughts evolve.

Cat was hiding in the brambles.  I hope she finds a good place to hide otherwise.  We need a predator for rabbits and voles and moles and t mice.

I placed the first of the black plastic sod-killing weed-killing sheets.  Rather than tilling or applying weed killer - no damn way - we put down the big plastic sheets for about 4 or 5 months.   All of the plants under the plastic die.  On removing it in Spring, the soil is soft and easily dug.  Far easier than any other method, effective, and no poisons used.  We will create, maybe, 4 or 5 beds, for sunflowers, sorghum / broom corn, amaranth, and Indian corn - all of which are for experiment for  home-grown chicken feed.   Plus they all look interesting and beautiful.  The Indian corn will need to be a big distance from the sweet corn, so neither gets pollen from the other.

I installed a rain water barrel that has been sitting unused after hauling it from the old place.  This one is 57 gallons.  Now that I am comfortable with the installation, I want to install a much larger water harvesting and storage system.  There are reused food-grade plastic containers that hold several times more, for much less.  Will post when I buy one.

2016 is expected to be hotter and more dry than 2015.  We are on a well, but the water, especially in summer, is very mineral rich and full of iron sediment.  The filters clog quickly, and are expensive to replace.  Harvested water will be much less expensive in the long run, avoid run-off, and is plenty pure enough for garden and chickens.

This was a Fiskars unit, bought a few years ago at Home Depot.  There has been no leakage but algae does grow in the barrel  during summer.

Early Xmas. Chips. 12.14.15

Now and then I call an arborist in my neighborhood and ask for him to leave a pile of tree chips in my driveway.  Thank you!  That saves him the hauling/dumping costs, and saves me the cost of the wood chip mulch.

This batch smells really good.  Pine. 

Yesterday my neighbor was hauling a load of tree leaves to be disposed of.  I asked if I could load them into my pickup.  Thank you!  Those are now already spread on the garden bed for next year's corn / squash / sunflowers.  They'll keep the weeds from growing, plus be mixed in a compost in situ.

Based on past experience, this batch of pine chips will take about 6 or 8 pickup loads.  They should be enough to refresh the front garden borders, and most of the orchard.  I want to be as water-wise as possible next year, and avoid the labor for weed management.  This will help significantly.