Radical Pruning of a Fig Tree. 3.15.22

 Here is the Hardy Chicago fig tree I grew from a cutting about 15 years ago.   There was a lot of freeze kill this winter.  There was the previous winter too, but I never got around to pruning it off.  I was going to remove the tree, but last summer it was quite productive and these are quite delicious figs.

Such a large fruit tree becomes impossible to manage.  I decided to do a radical pruning this time.   I last did that about five years ago, but this time is radicaler.  😀

Before.

After.

Well, that's a major pruning job.  Now the branches are all easily within reach for doing maintenance chores and for picking figs.  Fig trees have an amazing capacity for regeneration.  I cut one down to a foot tall, just trunk, and it grew back like crazy.  The challenge is, will it produce fruit this year?  Maybe, maybe not.  Hardy Chicago bears on new growth, so it's possible.  There's also a trick, when new growth is 6 leaves of stem, cut off the new shoots' growing tips.  That often results in the tree producing figs at each leaf axil.  

Outdoor Vegetable Seedlings. 3.15.22

 Here are some of the outdoor vegetable seedlings.  The snap peas and snow peas are on the verge of shooting upward. I think germination was about 60%.  That's plenty.  I wonder if birds got the rest, or not viable, or slugs ate them. I don't know.  That's why I sow extra.

Spinach, radishes, and lettuce are sort of biding their time, waiting for warner days.  Carrots are not showing at all.  Neither is cilantro.

These raised beds make it SO much easier to thin the plants, cultivate, and putter.  The poles are willow.  I like having those or bamboo row markers.

Perennial / Wildflower Seedlings. 3.15.22

 Here are wildflower perennials that I started in Jan and set out a few weeks ago.  They are tiny, but doing as well or better than the ones I haven't set out yet.

Top is Echinacea.  Bottom is Coreopsis.

Rudbeckia

Tomorrow, if I'm up to it, I'd like to plant out the rest of the wildflower perennial seedlings.  I think they are less likely to dry out or become root bound if I plant them in their long term locations.

Starting More Seedlings. Puttering Outdoors. 3.13.22

 Here are the seeds I planted in six packs today.  The tomatoes are for my neighbor and friend.

It rained so I didn't do a lot outdoors today.  I did dig up some chunks from an old horseradish clump and re-plant them in the "deer park hell strip" where I've been establishing an herb and wildflower border.  I also moved a somewhat tattered Hellebore plant there.  The soil was very wet and heavy, so I stopped there.

Somewhere I read that farmers have plowed up horseradish to try to get rid of them, and all of the plowed pieces took hold and grew.  So even though my digging sliced of most of the main root, maybe these will be OK.  No photos, it was raining.

Checking On Jalapeño and Serrano Pepper Seedlings. 3.13.22

 I had debated throwing these out and starting over, but decided to give them a chance.  They were growing nicely but got some whitefly, so I sprayed them with Neem oil.  The Neem burned the leaves and tip shoots. They stopped growing.

I usually cut the tip shoot anyway to make them grow low branches.  So I cut those out, and am just giving normal seedling care.  I usually give a very dilute solution of Miracle Gro but wondered if that wasn't helping, so bought some Schultz liquid.  It easier to give as a dilute solution because it's liquid drops in a dropper bottle.  

Looking very very closely, I think these are looking like they might be about  to grow new shoots at the leaf axils.  It might be my imagination, but I think these seedlings look a bit more robust now, too.  So I'll just keep taking care of them and see how they do.

The other thing that is encouraging is they have healthy looking roots emerging through the bottom holes. They shouldn't do that if there is a problem with the potting soil.  I don't recall if I used an older bacth of soil for these.  But I think they are OK.

I have other pepper plants to up-pot soon.  These are the pioneers which will tell me if conditions are right.