Planting a Bare Root European Plum. 3.4.16

This winter I ordered a multigraft European plum, which came today.  So I planted it.

At times I debate the wisdom of ordering trees from mail order nurseries.  There are good things and bad things about this tree and its service.  This was from Raintree nursery.

The good things - it was available.  Multigrafts such as this can be challenging to find locally.  This was billed as "Seneca, Early Laxton, Rosy Gage, Italian, and Stanley" with minus one, wildcard, so sold as a 4-graft.  It's a gamble as to which one is going to be missing.

The tree was very sturdy, and the root system was very good.

The labeled grafts on this tree:  Stanley, Italian, Rosy Gage.  The remaining, large branch, is not labeled so no way to know.  It's difficult to decide, but this tree might have all 5.  I don't need another Stanley, so i will overgraft that with something else.  What I wanted the most were Rosy Gage, Laxton, and Seneca, and I'm only clear on one of those.  Pay your money and take your chances.  I would call this somewhere between good and bad, at least they filled the order correctly.

The bad thing - Below the graft, on the rootstock, the bark is badly damaged, girdling half way around the tree.  It should still grow, and heal the wound, as long as this damage does not become infected.  This kind of damage might be OK for a sale tree, but not for a premium priced tree.  I imagine this is machine damage, although it could be animals.

So I planted.  The wound is above ground.  I need to add a wire guard tomorrow, forgot today in the rain.

Planting Greens. 3.2.17

Today I planted some more seeds for greens.  These went into large containers on the deck.   Mesclun, Swiss Chard, and Spinach.

I've discovered that I have a lot of replicate seeds packets, same variety or same general type but different years.  Some are pretty old.  To use them up, I'm combining seeds from older and newer varieties, then planting.  I always need to thin anyway.  If the older seeds don't germinate, then less to thin.  If they do, then it's the same as if I used all new seeds, but using up the old packets in the process.  No sense keeping the old packets if I don't use them up.  Smarter, would be to always check my collection before buying any more.  This year I did, so most of the seeds that I'm planting are from the box of seeds from the past decade.

Planting Daylily Seedlings. 3.1.17

Daylily Seedlings at about 3 months.  3.1.17

Today I planted outside, some of the daylily seedlings that I have been growing under lights.  I hybridized the plants last summer, transferring pollen from some flowers that I liked, to others that I liked, of different colors or shape.  When the seed pods matured in the fall, I collected the black seeds, stratified on moist paper towel in zipper bags, in refridgerator,  rinsed off mold or mildew and germinated on moist paper towels in my home office.  When they germinated, I transferred them to seed starting medium, about 8 seedlings per 4-inch plastic flower pot.  This is easier than the cell-packs, less messy, and the seeds don't wind round and round.  I grew these under lights, but soon will need the lights for tomatoes and peppers.  So I planted them in a raised bed with rabbit protection fencing.  Soil temp is about 50F. 

Since the sun is still low in the sky, and it's raining all week, I didn't harden them off.  If it was more sunny or hot, I would gradually harden them off first.

The plan is to grow these in a vegetable bed until they bloom, probably next year.  Most of the daylilies that I started last year were eaten by rabbits, so I started over.  There are a few in containers that might be bloom size this year.

Planting Potatoes and Onions. 3.1.17

First Potatoes Planted.  3.1.17

 The first batch of potato starts looked like they are sprouted enough to plant, so here they are.  I'm growing them in the ground the conventional way, and will hill up soil around the plants as they grow.  It's a bit wet outside.  Soil temp is 50F.

I also planted the first of my home-started onion seedlings.  The most sturdy were Ailsa Craig.  Germination was not great,  but there will be enough to see how they do.

The onion sets that I bought were in a plastic package.  I was unable

Ailsa Craig Onion Seedlings.  3.1.17

 to see inside the package until I opened it.  Many were already sprouted.  I prefer that they not be so far along before planting, but here they are.

Store-bought Onion Sets.  3.1.17

So the first of the onions are planted.   Meanwhile, the mesculn and arugula have germinated in their raised beds, the Chinese chives are growing nicely after I divided and replanted them, and ditto for the batch of Egyptian Walking Onions that I divided and replanted for early scallions. The garden is moving along nicely.

Early Growth of Divided Egyptian Walking Onions.  3.1.17

Early Growth of Chinese Chives.  3.1.17

Arugula Seedlings.  3.1.17

Thai Pepper Plants from Grocery Store Peppers. 2.25.17

These are some peppers that I bought at the Asian grocery store.  Just for fun, I broke a couple to obtain seeds, and sprouted them on moist paper towel in a ziplock bag.  Now I'm transferring them to seed starting soil to see what happens.