Planting Early Sweet Corn Seeds. 5.9.2021

 It's still early.  I usually start planting sweet corn about May 15th.  Even then the first crop doesn't always do that well.  Two weeks later usually works better.  Since I plant every two weeks until mid July, however, this time has some potential for an early crop.  This year seems warmer, earlier, than most years have been.  Plus, the soil temp is 20C which translates to 68F.  The minimum soil temp for sweetcorn is 65F so in theory, we're good.

This soil thermometer has a Fahrenheit reading but it's inaccessible on the back of the thermometer.  So I have to convert from Celsius.

These are the early types I'm trying this year.  I tried Early Sunglow a number of years ago and didn't like it.  It wasn't productive. However, this is a different location and maybe I'm better at it now.  Trinity is a type I liked a lot in the past, but couldn't find seeds for a while.  Seeds'n'Such seems to have some older varieties that I couldn't find elsewhere, so I bought them while looking at seed websites last winter.

Quince Aromatnaya in Bloom. 5.9.2019

 These look a lot like dogwoods, except five petals instead of four.  Of the grafted types, only Aromatnaya is thriving.  I should take a good look at the others and decide if they should be removed.

Squash and Cucumber Seedlings. 5.5.2011

 About 2/3 of the squashes have germinated.  All of the pots of zucchinis, yellow summer squash, red Kuri squash have one to three seedlings now.  The only ones that don't are Pink Banana squash and one of the Galeux d'Eysines pumpkin.  I sat them out in the sun today, it was 80F.  

I read it can take a few weeks for some squash seeds to germinate.  I have sentimental attachment to Pink Banana, as well as it's a productive and delicious squash.  It won't kill me if there is none this year, but I would like if there were some.  There are still two options - either germinate other seeds from the 2018 packet, or grow the seeds that I saved even though I don't know if the pollen parent was Pink Banana.  It could have been Kabucha, Red Kuri, or Galeux.  So I started a pot of the saved seeds, plus soaked the old 2018 seeds in water and now those are all in a moist paper towel in a plastic wrap covered bowl.  Time will tell.  

The first to germinate were the Illinois Squash, which is a very good squash too.  There are a bunch of Red Kuri seedlings.  That was a favorite this winter, so bravo!  

If these seeds that I saved from Pink Banana are hybrids, that will be interesting.  I's still rather they be the real thing.

On to cucumbers, it's only been a couple of days but the first to germinate is, the saved seeds from last year!  That's interesting.  Again, I don't know if they were from a hybrid or open pollinated variety.  I'll grow them out and see. 

All of this uncertainty.  2020 was just plain awful.  Anyone who got out alive and reasonable well, did OK I guess.

The other cukes still have a chance to germinate too.  There will be choices  and, if 2021 is better, some pickles.

Here are the little "unknown bush pickle" seedlings.  Barely breaking the surface, but clearly alive.

Grafting Results So Far. 5.4.2021

 These are a few of the grafts that I did in March.  I wondered if the unseasonable warmth last week would be an issue.  Maybe for a few.  Most seem OK so far.  They are at that stage where, the scions are obviously alive and getting some nutrition, but growth isn't yet sturdy enough to say, yes they took and are home free.  Close, getting there, but not quite yet.

Chestnut Graft, Primato I think.

Another Chestnut, Bisalta III

 

 

Apples that I grafted to make the top Espalier tiers.

 

 The Otterson looks like it tried to bloom.  I've had that happen with other grafts, then the vegetative growth began.  Otherwise, it could be a dead end.

There are also grafts on some of the larger apple trees, a wild / domestic black cherry, and apples on smaller rootstocks.  All look about the same.

Vegetable Garden. 5.4.21

 The vegetable garden is coming together nicely.  I did a lot of work over the past few months, building the new raised beds, removing the old ones, filling the soil, changing the in-ground beds around.  Now, most of that is done.  There is always something, but now I can relax a little more.

The second raised bed.  Everything is taking off now.

This winter I was excited to find Lemon Boy tomato seeds after years of looking.  The I planted the plant out early with the water cone for protection, and the leaves burned.  It's making a come back, yay.  That's also good news because I wondered if they were planted out too early.  It looks like they are just fine.

Mostly the third raised bed.  It's quite a mix.  The radishes are ready to eat.  That will happen with the lettuce and spinach, too, before the peppers need the space.

These are the hybrid Roma tomatoes.  They will need a sort of trellis before they flop over.

So far Extreme Bush tomato is looking nice in its container.

These thornless red raspberries are descended from some that grew under the fence into my yard from a neighbor, which I moved from the Vancouver place last year.  There were some good raspberries then.  This looks like a much better year.

 

Most of the vegetable garden.  There are more tomatoes than I will grow next year.  This is my tomato test garden year.