Growing Oak Trees from Acorns. Oak Seedlings. 5.11.2020

Last fall / winter I collected acorns while out walking Rufus, or when at the clinic at Salmon creek.  Those were majestic white oak trees, and some handsome red oaks.  I stratified the acorns by planting in large flower pots, multiple acorns per flower pot.  I covered them with chicken wire and a weight, to keep squirrels out.

Here are two of the containers now.  I don't know what I'll do with all of the oak trees.  I think I should keep at least three of the white oak and two of the red.  They can fill in spots in my orchard, where fruit trees have died.  Most fruit trees live a decade or two at most, so these oaks will be there long after the fruit trees are gone.  And long after I am gone.  They are all looking nice.

From what I read, white oaks grow one to two feet per year, and red oaks about twice as fast.  I'll never live long enough to see these become massive trees.  They are planted for a future generation.  As deciduous trees, I think they should be less susceptible to the fires that have begun to sweep areas of the Pacific Northwest.  Oaks develop deep roots, so are drought tolerant.  They sequester lots of carbon.

Grafting Update. 5.11.2020

Most of the apple trees that I grafted this winter are here, on north side of a raised bed.  5.11.2020

 This year I wanted to create a mini-orchard of apple trees, grafted onto miniaturizing rootstocks.  The resultant apples will be normal size and flavor, just on miniature trees.  I can manage those trees without a ladder.  In general, when full size they will be 5 to 7 feet tall. Some apple cultivars are quite vigorous.  For those, I grafted onto the very dwarfing "Bud-9" rootstock.  For apple cultivars with a little less vigor, I used "Geneva 222" rootstock, which is still quite dwarfing but not as much so as Bud-9.

These trees will be in containers until this winter.  I can give them more TLC this way, and move them into shade if the summer is too hot.

I also did some more iffy experiments, grafting pear onto related species that might result in miniaturization.  I don't have experience with that, although you can find it on some websites.  I grafted pear onto aronia, serviceberry, and Chinese and Black hawthornes.  Also onto Winter Banana, which is an apple variety that supposedly is compatible with pear, so I grafted the Winter Banana onto either Bid-9 or onto an established apple tree, Winecrisp.  So far, it looks like the pear on Winter Banana on Winecrisp is taking, but maybe not too enthusiastic.  Ditto for the pear on Winter Banana on Bud-9, even less enthusiasm, and Pear on Chinese Haw.  The others don't appear to have taken.

To keep some Winter Banana, I grafted that onto a Jonagold Tree.  I thought the description sounded interesting.  I also grafted Winter Banana onto some Bud-9.  By the way, Bud-9 is short for "Budagovsky 9" which is a cold hardy Russian origin rootstock.  Winter Banana is an apple, not a banana, but somewhere along the line, someone thought it was yellow like a banana, or something.

This is a whip & tongue graft of "Winter Banana" apple onto a Jonagold tree.  5.11.2020

This is a graft onto a Winecrisp apple tree.  I grafted a "Winter Banana" interstock, with a pear scion.  5.11.2020

I also grafted all three of the chestnut cultivars onto the tree that I bought a few years ago, that was a seedling of Marissard.  Buying the Marissard seedling was a mistake.  Seedlings are unpredictable, may never bear, and if this tree is like its parent, might be pollen sterile.  Also seedling chestnut trees can take 10 years to bear, while grafted cultivars might bear in two or three years.   But it's too big to give up on, and who knows?  Maybe it will have decent chestnuts some day.

I decided to graft onto this tree, scion from my other three young, grafted cultivars.  Two of those trees have already produced first and even second year chestnuts, and the third has made male flowers with pollen.  The challenge is, I read that chestnut grafts often don't take on other chestnut rootstocks.  I used scion that I collected from Marivale, Marigoule, and Precose Magoule.  I had to climb on a ladder to graft these.  It looks to me like all took.  There can be delayed incompatibility, but so far, so good.  They are even producing male flowers.  The photos below show three of the grafts.  These were all whip & tongue grafts, wrapped / bandaged with 3/4" strips cut from zipper lock freezer bags and the exposed scion wrapped less tightly, with parafilm.

In the long run, it might be best to order some scion of other types to graft on other branches, and remove most of the top from this tree, other than the grafts.  We'll see what it does this year.

Chestnut Graft.  5.11.2020

Chestnut Graft.  5.11.2020

Chestnut Graft.  5.11.2020

Succulent Planter. 5.11.2020

This planter is made from 2 rows of re-used cinder-type tree ring edgers, one row stacked upside down and the other right side up.  This year I planted Sempervivum and carious sedum cuttings and divisions, for a completely free, dry tolerant planter.  This won't need much, if any watering and will look nice all year.  For sedum cuttings, I just pull off or cut pieces from plants that need thinning or trimming, 3 to 6 inches long.  I use a stick to make a hole, stick the stem into the hole, firm it, and water.  That's all they need.

Bearded Irises. 5.11.2020

Bearded iris "Iris pallida dalmatica"  5.11.2020

 Here are some irises in bloom today.  This is the best they've ever done for me.  Many are recovered from a few years ago when I gave up and deposited the rhizomes in the woodlot, only to find they did well in that situation so I recovered them and replanted.

I think the biggest problem is I'm reluctant to mulch them.  Everything I read says "don't mulch irises" but in reality, I think they do better that way, less fungal and bacterial disease.  Maybe this year I'll do that.

The watermark is my prior blog.  I'll change Picasa so it correctly shows this blog, in the future.

On the left, "Hemstitched" (I think).  Unknown on the right.

Modern bearded iris from Schreiners, "Red Dirt Road".  5.11.2020

The yellow iris is "Sunny Disposition".  I've grown this one for 20 years.

Various historic iris.  5.11.2020

Historic iris "Alcazar".  5.11.2020

"Left on the curb, free!" iris rhizome.  Possibly "Blue Shimmer".  5.11.2020

Iris "Play to Win".  5.11.2020

Iris "Sunny Disposition".  5.11.2020

Iris "Spiced Custard".  5.11.2020

Kitchen Garden Update. 5.11.2020

 Here are some photos of my current kitchen garden (potager).  About half is newly worked soil, formerly sod, which I treated during the winter with a cover of black plastic to kill the grass, then added dolomite lime, some compost, and eggshells.  That is not the tomato / eggplant / peppers / squashes / bean area.

The greens and snowpeas are in what was tomatoes last year.  There is mesclun from old seed packets, swiss chard and radishes, collard greens and turnips.  There were all 3 to 8 year old seeds.  The snowpeas were 6 to 8 year old seeds.

I now have a seven foot chain link fence, to keep rabbits and deer out.  I don't know if that will work.

 I set out the fresh eating tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants yesterday.  Also bush cucumbers in a raised bed, for pickles.

This strawberry pot is doing better than I expected.  Last month, I transplanted these strawberries from a raised bed, where they appeared to be dying off.  At least not thriving.  I wanted the space for cucumbers this year.  In the strawberry pots, they need better attention to watering. but I have them in fresh potting soil with some added osmocote.  They perked up almost immediately and started blooming..

 This bed is fresh-eating tomatoes, slicers and cherry tomatoes.  Down the center I planted radish seeds, which should not take up much room and will be done before the tomato plants reach much size.  Along one edge, I also planted a row of Roma II bush beans.

 This view shows the sauce tomatoes.  I gave all of the tomates some osmocote when I planted them, about 1 1/2 tablespoon per hole.

 These squashes may not have enough room.  Space is at a premium.  I may be able to direct the vines of the long vining types, into spare locations as other crops such as potatoes are done in midsummer.

Same comment as for squashes above.  This batch is in ground that was sod last year.

The soil temp is 74F at 10 am.  I've had readings as high as 80F and in early am, as low as 65F.  I think this is high enough for the squashes, tomatoes, peppers, to be planted.  Not sure about sweetcorn and bean seeds, but doing a trail of them now.  May 15th is my usual target date for that.  I also wonder about the eggplants, which need warm conditions.

These are the first three rows of sweetcorn.  They are outside the fenced area.  I have the seed rows covered with screening to keep birds from eating the seeds.

These are the bush cucumbers I planted the seeds a few weeks ago inside.  Now they are in the former strawberry bed, along with some dolomite lime and compost treatment.  I also have a row of dill seeds planted, now germinated, in there, and some cilantro from seeds saved several years ago.

 These are the grafted fruit trees, and oak seedlings.  The fruit trees appear to be taking nicely.  These are on the north side of the raised bed, to shade the pots a little.  I stratified the oak seedlings by planting acorns into these containers last fall.  There are white oak, from a magnificent tree in my neighborhood, and some other white oak from a location in Salmon Creek, and some red oak.  I'm not sure where I will plant them when they are bigger.