Preparing Next Year's Tomato Bed. Marigold Treatment. 10.29.22

 This raised bed had the following succession.  Last year, onions.  This year, garlic, then bush beans.  I planted a row of French Marigolds at the end, which grew vigorously.

Marigolds contain a substance that is toxic to some harmful herbivorous soil creatures.  So, I thpughtbit might be useful to treat the soil with a marigold "green manure".

First, I cut off all of the beans and weeds.

I removed those.  I thought about mixing them with the soil, but it seemed like more effort than I could handle.  So the bean tops and weeds went to the compost heap.  Then I roughly chopped the marigold plants, and spread them over the soil.

Then I used the shovel to turn over the soil, mixing in the marigold choppings.

This bed was the only one not to get a treatment of biochar last winter.  Supposedly, biochar will help keep the soil healthy and  nutritious.  So I spread the remaining biochar onto the soil.

I also found a bag of chicken bone / woodstove ashes, in the garden shed.  So I spread those too.

Then I used the hand tiller to roughly mix it all together.

Now it's ready for the rain, and settling in, and the next couple of weeks of coffee grounds.  Then I'll cover with a layer of leaves, and it can rest until May.

Apple Graft Results. 10.27.22

 These are grafts I did in March or April.  

Mutsu on Geneva 222 rootstock.  I had left the rootstock dry out last year, and it still survived.  Whatever I had grafted on it did not.  So this Spring, I repotted it, cut off the top, and grafted it with Mutsu scion.  The graft union is kind of ugly, both because I didn't use a fresh razor blade to make the cuts, and because the scion and rootstock sizes were very mismatched.  Doesn't matter.  In a few years, it will be difficult to locate the graft union, as the trunk enlarges and they meld together.  I might replant this one into a container bed this winter.

 

Freedom Apple, on Redlove Odysso espalier. Odysso might be a dud. Still no ripe apples to taste. I decided to make the top two tiers into Freedom, a disease resistant old variety. Again, ugly graft and this was a cleft graft because I couldn't get a good whip and tongue.  Plus a size mismatch, again.  Didn't matter.    It healed great, and growth was phenomenal.

This will need some winter work, to make the tiers horizontal.  That is not a big deal.

Finally, Blue Pearmain on Redlove  Era.  Same graft issues, took great and the graft union healed completely over. I think this one actually was a whip and tongue, which makes a cleaner and faster healing graft union.

I guess I need to make some decisions about the Redlove trees.  I may overgraft some of the lower tiers with something more productive.

Covering Peach Tree To Prevent Peach Leaf Curl Disease. 10.27.22

 I finally got the genetic dwarf peach trees covered. 

I don't know if I did it on time.  Covering to prevent rain from getting into the buds, prevents peach leaf curl disease.  I has already rained a few inches.  However, one year I dug up a peach tree and pitted it this late, and kept it sheltered.  It did fine.  I also wrapped the branches in garbage bags one year in Novembet.  I think that worked too.  I'm not sure.

Overwintering Hot Pepper Plants. Method #2.

 I don't know if this will work.  These didn't ripen all of their peppers, so I wanted to move them into the sunroom to finish ripening.  It's similar to the other method, but less pruning.

This is a nice Thai pepper plant.  I dug it up and hosed off the roots.  No pruning, this time,

Then I potted it in good potting soil and watered it in.

Then I let it drain.  Previously, I gave the same treatment to some Tabasco pepper plants, a Serrano pepper plant, and another Thai pepper plant.  Here the are in the Sunroom.

Now I'll treat them like houseplants.  I don't know if they will survive, or not.  The Tabasco and Serrano were already sad looking.  I don't think their soil was good.

Overwintering Hot Pepper Plants. 10.27.22

 Hor pepper plants can be overwintered.  Last year, I overwintered a Jalmundo (jumbo Jalapeño) plant.  To  do that, dig up the plant.  This one is a Cayenne pepper that has been harvested.

Now hose off all of the soil.  That removes insects and other harmful creatures.

Now prune the roots and top to a more compact shape.  The top pruning can be pretty radical.  I pruned to about 1/2" above nice looking nodes.  Each node can produce several branches when it starts growing again.

Now plant the pruned hot pepper plant in a clean container with good quality potting soil.   Water it in.  Let it drain.  Now store in bright,  cool, frost-free room.

Here it is with two friends, a Jalapeño and a Banana pepper plant.  Also a dendrobium orchid.

These will be allowed to dry out, with only slight moistening until late winter.  Now they are in the garage.  I will move them to a cool room, before it's too cold.