Home Orchard Society Scion Exchange. 3.10.19

 Today was the Home Orchard Society scion exchange.  Hundreds of varieties, apples more than others but zillions of pears and grapes, as well as a few others.  I brought some scion from my apple trees and another member from my area, gave away some scion to other members, and gave away the extra fig trees that I've been nurturing for the past year.

 I did pick up some scions to graft, nothing major.  A male fuzzy kiwi, some quince, a couple of other things I will document when they are grafted.


Overall very nice.  I'm not looking to add a lot of varieties now, just fine tuning my orchard, improving where I see a chance to make things better.  Still, it's a lot of fun, and I love grafting.

Plus, I bought some Bud-9 Apple rootstock.  Bud-9 is very dwarfing, somewhat fireblight resistant, precocious, and hardy.  I want to create some new columnar apple trees (Northpole) that are easier to maintain ar a small size. I have already grafted and planted those.

Early Grafting. 3.9.19

Quince Grafts.  Smyrna.  3.9.19

Today I did the first grafts of the year.  First, I grafted Smyrna quince onto a multitrunk quince that arose after I accidentally mowed over an Aromatnaya quince tree, 2 years ago.  I can't tell if the regrowth is from above or below the graft (oops) .  I was able to purchase some Smyrna scion (Burnt Ridge), so that is what I went with.

I'm reworking the vigorous Chehalis branch on a multigraft tree.  None of the Chehalis apples have been good, so far - cracked, mottled, bad spits, not much taste on the parts that were not discolored.  Yet, it's the most vigorous branch on the tree.

So, I'm reworking that branch with some other varieties.  The first is Pristine.  I salvaged the scion from a Pristine branch that had graft failure and broke off.

My grafting technique is rusty.  Plus, these are small caliper scions.  We'll see how they do.  These are all whip & tongue.  Apple is usually quite forgiving.  I used 1/2 inch wide strips, cut from freezer zip-lock bags, to firmly tie and splint the grafts.  Last year, that method had 100% success rate for me.  To cover the scion and it's cut end, I used 1/4 inch Parafilm.  I think thinner plastic might have bedn as good, but wanted to try it.

Apple Grafts.  Pristine.  3.9.19

Now it's wait and see.  I have a bunch more grafts to do in weeks to follow.

Shallots and Potatoes. 3:6.19

Grocery Store Shallots.  Planted 3.6.19

Last week I planted more shallots, and some grocery store potatoes that had sprouted in the garage and were no longer usable.  I planted the shallots in the fenced bed, next to the garlics.  I planted the potatoes in an "overflow bed", which last year had annual flowers, the previous year was weeds, and the year before that was corn.  This is my overflow bed, because it's in an easement and could wind up getting paved without notice.  Also, I don't want to plant things in that bed that will need a lot of watering in mid to late summer, due to distance from spigot, so potatoes are a good option.

Sprouted Red Potatoes Planted 

More Multiplier Onions, Planted 3.6.19

One set of shallots came from the produce section at the grocery store.  The others were another bag of multiplier onions, which looked so nice I bought this second bag.

For the following 3 nights, the temp dropped into the low 20s.  We'll see if that killed any of the early plantings.

Signs of Spring On the Way. 3.1.19

The First Dandelions of Spring.  3.1.19

 Today was in  the high 50s.  The soil was crumbly, moist but by no means sodden or muddy.

Bearded Iris Bed.  3.1.19

I made use of the nice weather by planting the first 2 rows of potatoes.  Then I cultivated around all of the irises.  Then I did cleanup of another bed, which is on sn easement.  Since I never know what may happen there, that willbe used for extras.  I found another bad of sprouted potatoes in the garage.  The will go there, among other things,

I think those irises are looking promising, so far.

Planting Potatoes. 3.1.19

Left Over Russet Potatoes, Planted 3.1.19

Today I planted the first batch of potatoes.  These were some Russets that didn't get eaten last summer and sat in tbe garage. I had removed tbe tall sprouts and let them chit in a window for 2 weeks. The other row was Russian Banana potatoes that I chitted for 2weeks, in the same window.

These are planted at tbe unused end of the bearded iris bed.  The plan is to grow and harvest these potatoes, then use that area to give the irises more room. There is room for 2 more rowsof potatoes there.

Russian Banana Potatoes, Planted 3.1.19