Yamamoto Dendrobiums. 1.22.18

 I've had these Yamamoto dendrobiums for many years.  They bloom every winter.

 I also have some plants that I bought a year ago. They grew very well, had a few blooms during the year,  but none yet now.   I may have overfed them - they are very lush.  Eventually I think they will bloom after all.

These were bought, I think, at Trader Joe's some time around 2010, possibly earlier.

Cymbidium Orchids. 1.22.18

 These Cymbidiums have done amazingly well this winter.  The yellow one started blooming in November.

These are all no-name varieties, bought over the years at the grocery store.  I kept them outside in the vegetable garden all summer, on the edge of a raised bed in full sun.  These are not really organic - I used regular plant growth Miracle Grow, 1/4 strength, when watering them about once weekly.  The rest of the time they got well water.

In October or November, I moved them inside.  I started watering again when flower buds appeared, using 1/4 strength Miracle Grow Bloom Food.

Starting Seeds with LED Plant Lights. 1.14.18

Here is the LED light set-up that i bought through Amazon. I bought the 30 Watt unit, which I am guessing has more lumens compared to the 3 12-Watt fluorescent lights that I was using previously. LED has more light in the best wavelengths and wastes less of the Wattage on heat, so should be OK or better. The onion seeds have germinated so they will be an early test of the lights. The instructions state the lights should be 18 to 24 inches above seedlings or 12 to 18 inches above vegetables. This is between those heights. For onion seedlings I will time for 10 hours of light.

 

Planting a New Red Flesh Apple Tree, Redlove® Era®. 1.12.19

 Today I planted a new bare root apple tree.  This variety is Redlove® Era®, a red-flesh apple developed in Europe by crossbreeding conventional apples with red-flesh crab apples.  The result is reported to be a disease-resistant apple with reddish leaves, pink flowers, and the apples have red flesh to the core.  The flesh does have white patterns mixed with the red.  The apples are described as having a berry-like flavor mixed with apple flavor.

This is a nice experiment.  We'll see how it does.  This tree came from One Green World, which has a selection of red flesh apples. 

In my orchard, I already have Airlie Red Flesh, which has a pink flesh color with green skin when ripe, a very tasty apple.  I tried growing a graft of Redfield, which is described as a very tart red-flesh apple, but the graft lacked vigor and I cut it off.

I was impressed with the large, healthy root mass on this small tree.  I was able to spread the roots out with no losses or pruning.   Based on past experiences, I immediately protected the new tree with a vole / rodent hardware cloth sleeve.  The tree is also in a protected, fenced in area to inhibit deer browsing.

Starting The First Seeds. 1.10.18

 Today is officially the first day of this year's garden season.  The reason - I began the first seed starting.

Onion seeds can be started very early.  I want them to be at least  inches tall before setting out, and I have set out onion plants in March or April.

Peppers grow slowly for me.  I wanted to start the most tropical, slowest growers, now.  So that's the Thai and Tabasco.  I'm curious to see whether those "Low Germ" Thai peppers will germinate.  If not, the backup plab is to buy a packet or plants, if too late for seeds.

This year, I used the little six-packs, and commercial peat and perlite based seed starting medium.

These 6-packs are in plastic bags to retain moisture and warmth.  They are on a seed starting mat with pre-set temperature I think in the low 80s.