Starting Alpine Strawberry Seeds. 30 Apr 24.

 Alpine strawberries are tiny, but so packed with flavor that they are worth the effort.  Or so I read.

I ordered some alpine strawberry seeds, and they came yesterday.  They are small, so need to be planted near the soil surface.

The instructions state they need 60F to 70F, and bright light, to germinate,  I'll keep them on the seed starting mat at night, and in the sunroom during the day.

It might be too late to start them, for a crop this year.  Assuming they grow.  But then they might be ready for next year.

Overwintered Mirabilis (Four O'Clock) Roots Growing. 30 Apr 24.

 Earlier, I was cleaning out a container that was stored in the garage.  Last year it contained annual flowers.  I forgot that among those, were Mirabilis.  Removing the soil, I found two nice roots.  

I cleaned up the roots and planted them in containers to see if the would grow.  Leaves have begun to emerge.

While cleaning the pots  I pulled off what I thought was a weed.  Now I think it was the Mirabilis growing long and thin due to almost no light.  I didn't know if the roots would have new growing points, but I giess they did.

Slugs get into the plants that are in the ground outside now.  I'll let these grow for a month or so, then plant outside.

Here is the photo of the roots.

Earlier post here.  The roots needed about three to four weeks to start growing.

Yellow Jacket Queens Trapped. 28 Apr 24.

 These look larger than yellow jacket scouts.  Plus, the queens might be the only ones flying around in late April (maybe).

If so, that means probably fewer nests and fewer yellow jackets to deal with in the orchard.

I do need to set up more traps.

Grafting Project Update: Feral Black Cherry. 28 Apr 24.

 For several years of dog walks, I watched after road mowing crews mowed off the side of a large feral black cherry growing in the county roadway easement.  When I could access the cherries, they were delicious and different from the usual sweet cherry, black and with a "black cherry flavor".  

I salvaged some sticks and grafted to a sour cherry (I think North Star?') that wasn't mature yet,  headinf there. I thin that was two, but maybe three, years ago.

Here are those black cherry branches now.

They are much more vigorous compared to the sour cherry tree.  The big tufts of flowers, are the feral black cherry.  The more sparse flowers are the sweet cherry.

I think I can prune back the black cherry about 1/2 after they bear.  There are some sour cherry wild seedlings in the duck yard - maybe I can graft onto those, and try to preserve the original sour cherry.

Up-Potting Tomato Seedlings. 27 Apr 24.

 I repotted more than half of the tomato seedlings.