Given the gloomy weather, I want Rufus in a more visible color than his natural shadow-black, on our daily walks. We don't have sidewalks. I wear bright yellow, so he should too. I started this jacket last year then set it aside. The main thing it needed was a belt and belt loops, to keep it from sliding off his back. Here he is wearing the improved jacket.
There is a role for summer and for winter pruning of apples. Summer pruning is more dwarfing, but can expose apples to sunburn. Growth on winter pruned apples can be too vigorous. There is more time in the winter, and without leaves the form shows up better.
This is Liberty apple on the minidwarfing M27 rootstock. The tree is 20 years old. I moved it from the Vancouver place about 5 years ago. It never did well there, but in Battle Ground got a new lease on life. I don't want branches that are too high to reach with a ladder, but also don't want them so low it's hard to keep the soil clean around the tree and hard to get to the apples. So, I've been progressively removing the lowest branches, and bending the top growth to a horizontal shape, sort of a 3-dimensional Espalier. I bend those, tie them down for a year or two, then shorten branches that grown one them, in the summer by a Lorette-type approach. So far it's working OK.
This is the Jonagold. It's also on M27 but much more vigorous than the Liberty. Probably because it is triploid. I'm trying to use the same approach, bending the upper branches to a horizontal position, then prune for spurs in the summer.
I'm not sure about the rootstock on the Winecrisp apple. It seems to be a dwarf or mid size tree, maybe semidwarfing rootstock. Again, a similar approach. I've added some grafts as well, Sweet-16, Fameuse, and Mile Gibson. So far. the Sweet-16 and Fameuse seem promising. I'm not sure about the Milo and may change that over to something else. Anyway, I'm aiming for the same idea, horizontal top branches. Not pictured.
This was the first tree I grafted. The base tree is Sutton Beauty, on M26 Rootstock. I think. I've added Baldwin, Liberty, Airlie Red Flesh, and Prima. I'm not impressed with Baldwin and might remove it. Same for the Airlie Red Flesh, which is good but can be scabby. No harm in keeping them another year. This tree remains quite dwarf. It needs a little more tying down.
These columnar trees are North Pole on M27. I'm keeping them to single cordon, with spurs about a foot long or less. They do need support.
This was an old comforter I bought at Good Will two years ago for Rufus. It cost $6. Most of the dog beds are not really washable and become lumpy and dirty fairly fast, and are quite expensive. In the past, I used old comforters and folded then for bulk, to make a soft dog bed. Those can be washed but can be too big for the washer/dryer. This one was king size, so I never used it. No way would it fit in our washer. I didn't notice that when I bought it.
Today I got it out and cut it into quarters, then hemmed the edges. That made four pillowy minicomforters that can be folded in half or thirds and stacked for the little "prince and the pea.". Plus, they are a nice washable / dryable size for Mr. Muddy Paws. I think these will last longer than a bought purpose-made dog bed, and he likes them.
Reuse, repurpose, upcycle, whatever. Plus cheap.
The raised beds are done. They are all filled with soil mix. The last one got about 2/3 soil from where the neighbor built a road on his easement on my property. It's good soil, unimproved and fallow. That got mixed with some raised bed soil from an old bed that has been improved with lots of compost over the years. I added some wood ashes and crushed eggshell to the mix.
The middle bed also settled, so got a wheelbarrow of that same soil on top of the prior mix. I added it on top of the maple leaf mulch, which I want to compost itself. Both beds will get a leaf mulch for the rest of the winter. I hope the earthworms will like that and do their thing.
The first bed was planted with garlic after I filled it in Sept or Oct. These are the big, "Music" garlic, and also some others. One row had germinated shortly after, but the most did not. Now they are poking through the soil. Winter wont hurt them. Currently they are getting all of the coffee grounds, which in my case is quite a bit. I used to collect coffee grounds from Starbucks, which sometimes they were nice about and sometimes they were put off by that. With the pandemic, I haven't been to a Starbucks in a year. So these are all from my own coffee pot. They also got quite a bit of compost mixed into the upper soil layers, which I figure they will like.
I also salvaged some garlic plants from an old raised bed, planting them in the new one. I don't know how they will do. But if they grow, that's good. If they don't, nothing lost.
I think these taller raised beds will benefit my gardening a lot. They don't take nearly the amount of leaning and crouching and back-straining. They were still a lot of work to fill. That is an investment into a gardening future. Having three beds, one gets garlic, one gets peppers and pickle cukes, and one gets scallions and leaf crops, or bush beans. That makes a good rotation, one year on / two years off for each crop.
So far, I like this style of raised bed better than any other that I've tried. They are less heavy work to put together. Boards take less garden real estate than cement blocks, although there are advantages to those.
This is a Pink Banana Squash. There were a couple of good ones this year. This one needed roasting, so it doesn't get a chance to spoil. This one was about 5 pounds.
I tried roasting it at about 375 for an hour. Then I heard a loud noise from the oven. The squash slices were in Pyrex casserole pans. I've used them many times. This time, one exploded. Glass shards embedded in roasted squash all over the oven. I had to take it apart to remove the glass and clean it. Of course the squash was also ruined, with glass shards in the roasted squash flesh.
Fortunately I have one remaining Pink Banana Squash to roast. This time I will use earthenware oven pans.
