Propagating Forsythia by Ground Layering. 10.5.2021

This Spring, I did an experiment to propagate forsythia. My plan was to start a forsythia hedge. I estimated I would need about 12 bushes for a nice hedge. I rooted some cuttings in water (worked very well, and very easy to do). I started some using rooting hormone in seed starting medium (it worked, but slower, more trouble, more delicate cuttings and the plants are much smaller so far). I also bent three stems of the original bush low, digging a hole for each. I bent them so about a foot of the stem was in the hole, with the top sticking out. I filled the hole with soil. I think I watered them two or three times during the summer. Yesterday I dug up two of those starts, cutting their connection to the original bush.

These were excellent starts. Vigorous, with hefty root systems. It's rainy season, Fall now, so they will be off to a great start. I have one more layered start, one more water started cutting, and a few very small seed starting medium cuttings remaining to plant the row. I have planted nine so far. They will be a nice hedge, beautiful flowers in Springs to come and increasingly effective as a privacy hedge in a year or two or three. When I priced potted forsythia bushes lasrpt Spring, the smallest of these were $11 and the largest were $30. By being a little patient and doing it myself from cuttingscate cuttings or layering, this is a roughly $150 hedge, for no cost at all.

The First of the Columnar Apple, Tasty Red™. 10.5.2021

This columnar tree is in my accessible "Senior Citizen" (me) fenced garden. The top died, I think due to anthracnose, but lower branches survived. This "tree", currently about fout feet tall, bore it's first two apples which I picked this week. These are marketed as deep red.

These apples have a nice juicy crisp texture, nice sweetness and apple flavor. I think it is a good addition for the accessible garden. I'm happy with this apple.

Redlove™ Calypso™ Apple. 10.5.2021

Most of the Redlove™ Calypso™ apples were destroyed by sunburn during the hellacious heat spell in June. This one apple was a bit more shaded, and got through unscathed. I saw that it fell off, and kept it.

This apple is quite colirful when sliced. It seems a bit more crisp and juicy compared to Redlove™ Era™, and and the flavor seems a bit more tangy. The branches seem more ready this fall to bloom in the Spring. The bottom twontiers of this tree are Calypso™. Then I grafted Otterson, supposedly the deepest red flesh of all apples, to the top. No way to know what those will be like for a year or two, I imagine.

Rufus. 1 Oct 21.

I got my flu shot, double strength for being old. Knocked me out of commission for a day. It's worth it. Rufus kept me company.

Harvest, Clancy Potatoes Grown From True Potato Seeds. 10.1.2021

Here is harvest from a few of the Clancy potato plants that I grew from "true potato seeds." I still have a row plus a couple of plants to go.

Most are too small to bother with. I may use them to make potato salad. Maybe if I plant a few, they might be bigger the second year? Flavor is good, just a good home grown potato, which is good. They fry nice in air fryer. These are a lot more work than using potato chunks (seed potatoes) for starts, for much less crop. I think I'll go back to the traditional way next year. Most likely, my favorite Kennebecs, maybe some russets and some Yukon Gold.