Prep for Tomato and Kitchen Garden. 4.23.19

Tomato and Kitchen Garden.  4.24.19

Yesterday, I installed fencing for the new tomato and kitchen garden.  It will open on the ends and sides, I just need to buy some latch hooks and install them, and some minor adjustments.  In the near end of the photo, there will be sauce tomatoes and slicing tomatoes, and at the far end, beans and other deer - attracting plants.  In the rotation, last year most of this was sweet corn.  At the far end were some potatoes that had overwintered.  The year before, this was squashes.

I'm not as able as I once was.  I didn't intend for as much grass to grow in this area after the corn was done, but it did.  Over the past month, I've turned it over.  I think it should be settled and clean enough, with a little more cultivating,  for tomatoes when I set them out in mid May.

More Apple Bloom Times. 4.24.19

Liberty Apple on M27 Rootstock.  4.24.19

Most of the apples are blooming now.  I think we are in early to mid blooming season.  Since these are all in bloom, there should be good pollination this year.  I'm not seeing many bees.  Maybe small pollinators can help, within the multigraft trees.

I have Jonagold on M27, a dwarf tree, and on a multigraft.  Last year, the Jonagold on M27 bore very heavily, and this year there are no flowers.  The Jonagold on the multigraft is blooming for the first time, so I should get some fruit on that one.

Golden Sentinel, which I like, is not blooming.  Nor surprising, I pruned it significantly when I moved it to this location on 10.6.18.  There was major root loss and major loss of tree.  I'm surprised it survived.  There is also significant deer damage to the trunk, from the prior location.  Still, this tree is a trooper, is growing, and maybe next year will be up to bearing again.

This is the first significant bloom for Winecrisp, and the first bloom for Milo Gibson, King David (not pictured).

I think there should be a good apple crop this year, with some interesting heritage varieties, new varieties, novel ones and mainstream.

Airlie Redflesh Blossom.  4.24.19

Northpole, 2nd leaf after moving.  4.24.19

Winecrisp Apple Blossom.  4.24.19

Jonagold Apple Blossom.  4.24.19

Baldwin Apple Blossom.  4.24.19

Not Blooming.  

Golden Sentinel, 

1st leaf after moving.  4.24.19

Sutton Beauty.  4.24.19

Baldwin Apple Blossom.  4.24.19

Milo Gibson Apple Blossom.  4.24.19

Jonagold Apple Blossom.  4.24.19

Montmorency Cherry and Nadia Cherry Plum Blossom. 4.23.19

Montmorency Pie Cherry.  4.23.19

Most of the sweet cherries are done blooming - Ranier, Sweetheart, and Vandalay.

Nadia Cherry X Plum hybrid MIGHT have some fruits.  I'm not sure.  It looks like most suffered some frost damage, vs. did not pollinize.  I need to be patient.

Of the other Asian type plums, it's hard to say.  I think there was some frost damage, but the embryonic plums may still emerge.

Nadia with possible tiny fruits.  4.23.19

Nadia with frost damage.  9.23.19

Close Up of Nadia With Possible Fruit.  4.23.19

Carnivorous Plant Updates. 4.23.19

Nepenthes sanginea.  4.23.19

These are some of the carnivorous plants now. The first are the tropicals, which are in my sunroom. I only have Nepenthes, which is a large genus with many types. This Nepenthes sanguinea just opened one of its new pitches. Very rewarding. It has a nice coloration, red tones on green, inside and out.

Nepenthes sanginea.  4.23.19

Emerging Pitchers and Flower Bud on Sarracenia "Extreme Green".  4.23.19

The hardy, American carnivorous plants are just starting to come out of dormancy, with some new leaves (pitchers) starting to grow on some, although most are still in deep dormancy.  Two have flower buds, growing before or with the pitches.  One is Sarracenia X "Extreme Green", and the other is Sarracenia Tarnok. 

Emerging Flower Stalk on Sarraenia "Tarnok".  4..23.19

Emerging Traps on Venus Flytrap.  4.23.19

The Venus Flytrap is also emerging from dormancy, with some new traps.  I wonder if I should repot it (and some of the Sarracenias) soon.

Apple Blossoms and Pollination Times. 4.23.19

Apple Blossoms.  Dolgo Crabapple and GoldRush.  4.23.19

 Apples have a wide range of blossom times.  Earlies can't pollinate or be pollinated by lates, because their flowers are not open at the same time.  So it's interesting to see which ones bloom, when.  There may be some regional differences for each variety, so tables of blossom times may not reflect that cultivar's performance in a given area.

Now is the time that the early bloomers are in full blossom here in my BattleGround, WA backyard orchard.

Gravenstein*
Dolgo Crabapple
GoldRush
Rubinette
Airlie Red Flesh


I don't remember all of the varieties that I have but here are some in bud:

Apple Blossoms.  Gravenstein.  4.23.19

Granite Beauty*
Porter*
Jonagold
Jonared
Johnathan
Keepsake*
Priscilla
King David*
Opalescent*
Winecrisp®*
Scarlet Sentinel
NorthPole
Liberty
Akane*
Baldwin*
Honeycrisp.
Milo Gibson*
Chehalis

*Indicates this is the first year of blossom for those grafts.

Apple Blossoms.  Airlie Red Flesh.  4.23.19

 While I'm listing, here are grafts that have not bloomed yet.  Most are too new.

More Honeycrisp grafts.
Sweet 16
Hawkeye

Here are the grafts that I did this year, so of course no bloom for a year or two or three or four.

Prima
William's Pride
Pristine (I recall this is early, these are salvaged from previous branch of Pristine that broke off)
More Honeycrisp
Bob's Red Crab
HeyJack Crab

And here are my new trees that might bloom in a year or two or three or four:

Apple Blossoms.  Queen Cox.  4.23.19

Urban Apple® Tasty Red®
Urban Apple® Golden Treat®
Redlove Era®

That's a lot of cultivars.  Some of the trees have as many as 8 so it's not as many trees as one might think.  Still, I get to try many types of apple from my own yard.  They taste better than store bought, have a wide range of ripening times (July to November), and I get to taste varieties that are not found in stores or are historic, some fating back for centuries.