A little more on the grafts. And the apple trees are taking hold. 5.10.14

Triple  Variety Apple graft.  5.10.14

New Liberty graft on Honeycrisp. 5.10.14

Liberty Graft on Honeycrisp.  5.10.14

 Puttering around the apple trees in my little orchard.  The trees are all caged now.  Deer have been marauding and destroying everything that meets their fancy.  Fortunately I planned for them with the apples.

The tree cages are a hassle and cost money, but have some advantages.  The triple-variety graft is in a tree cage and I use the cage as a training tool to spread out the branches.  They'll need to be tied that way for a year.

The grafts are growing like gangbusters.  The Liberty graft on the little Honeycrisp tree has nice growth despite having had a bloom.  I removed the grafting wrap to avoid girdling the limb.  When the branch takes off and grows, it should be about equal to the Honeycrisp branch, and one can pollinate the other.

I looked and looked and looked to find patent info on Liberty.  I could not find any, so I think this was a legal graft.  Honeycrisp patent has run out.

The Jonared has good growth.  I need to get more fencing so the little branches don't reach past the circle and get eaten by deer.  The posts are in place.

Close up of whip-and-tongue of Jonagold tree start, made using sucker from rootstock and Jonagold from the scion.

Jonared.  5.10.14

Grafting democratizes gardening.  All you need is the rootstock, which can be a sucker from an existing tree; and the scion, which can be from a neighbor or relative.  The stock can also be a young tree that the gardener wants to add other varieties too.  It isn't hard.  I feel so accomplished, grafting these trees, even though millions of trees are made in nurseries, rapidly, by the same method.

Grafting also allows the gardener to build their own multiple variety tree, using proven local varieties, treasured varieties from the old homestead, and making for a self pollinating, and therefore more productive, tree.  It means you don't need 4 trees to get 4 varieties.

Whip and Tongue Apple Tree Start.  5.10.14

Bearded Irises In Bloom. 5.18.14

Bearded Iris Pallida dalmatica.  5.8.14

Bearded Iris Indian Chief.  5.8.14

Bearded Iris "Her Majesty".  5.8.14

Bearded Iris "Red Zinger".  5.8.14

Front flower bed.  Yellow iris is an old no-ID variety.

Puttering. 5.8.14

Hollywood Plum Cuttings

Sungold Tomato Plants 5.8.14

 Puttering around the yard.

The Hollywood Plum cuttings continue to have small leaves.  None of them has dried off.  The Shiro Plum cuttings' leaves all crispified and died.  I weeded around the living cuttings.  It is raining today.  If they stay alive, that's a bunch of little plum trees.  Hollywood is a very tasty, very richly colored plum.

Planted the 2 Sungold tomato plants today.  They doubled in size in a couple of weeks.  I hope the seedlings progress well too.

The Cincinnati Market radishes are interesting.  They are shaped like carrots, but the flavor is all radish, juicy and peppery.

Cincinnati Market Radish.  5.8.14

 The front yard trees all look pretty good.  I planted these Summer 2012.   This is the first bloom for the Mountain ash.   The Laburnum bloomed last year, but it was cut short by frost.  I don't know if the Greenspire Linden will  bloom.

The Laburnum was leaning with the wind, so it got a stake to straighten it.  That will need to stay in place for a year or two.

All of the trees have had some dilute doses of organic nitrogen in late winter and spring, for a boost.

Front Yard Trees.  5.8.14

Beared Iris Order. Traits to seek. Lessons Learned. 5.7.14

Today I added orders for 3 varieties of bearded iris.  Two are heritage varieties.  Heritage varieties are 30 years old, or older.

Beverly Sills.  1979.  Listed as vigorous.  Pink.  There are not a lot of pink heritage varieties.  The vigor would be welcomed as well.  Bloom time early midseason.

Gingersnap.  1969.  Fragrant, listed as root beer scent.  I bought this last year, but it succumbed to bacterial rot.  I am taking a change to try again due to the fragrance.

June Kraus.  2009.  Not a heritage variety.  Nice ruffled pink.  Listed as late season.

Traits to seek.  Lessons learned.

Currently the irises that were not in the raised beds, did not develop bacterial rot.  Some were in beds that had added compost.  I had over-nurtured the raised beds with dilute plant food last summer.   Ultimately, all of the irises in the raised beds had some bacterial rot.  This hear, I will not over nurture them.  Just remove weeds. remove some of the unwanted varieties and replace with new ones or others I already have.

So -

-Don't water in summer or fall.  Or be very careful.
-Don't fertilize.  Or be very careful.
-Take note of the least affected varieties.  In this case, that's Pallida dalmatica, Pallida vareigata, Germanica, and a few others.

In addition, the earliest bloomers are the most affected by rain.  It's drier here after early may.  Try to aim for late season varieties.

The tiny ones can be nice, but are so short, they are difficult to see and almost impossible to smell.  I will remove some of those to make room for later, taller varieties.

That's the plan.

Despite the bacterial rot, there are more flowers this year than next year.  The worst seems to be over.  Some references state remove all of the affected varieties, but in my case, that's everything in all of the raised beds.  So I will depend on plant hygiene and more appropriate growth conditions, and see if they grow better this time around.

Kitchen Garden. Seed starts. 5.6.14

Today I planted seeds for:

Golden Zucchini.  From Seed Savers Exchange.  New seeds.

Squash Patisson panache, verte et blanc.  From Seed Saver's Exchange.  New seeds.

Sweet Corn, "White Sensation Hybrid"  70 day.  Lilly Miller.  Seeds from 2008.

Squash Waltham Butternut.  From Seed Saver's Exchange.  New seeds.

Beans Roma II.   Ed Hume Seeds.  From 2012.

Cucumber "Bush".  From Seed Saver's Exchange.  New Seeds.

Squash "Scallop Bush Mix.".  Ed Hume Seeds.  From 2009 I think.

Zucchini "Dark Green".  From Victory Seeds.  New seeds.

Some of those old seeds might not grow.  If so, it's best to try, and if they don't grow, throw them away.

Rhubarb Crumble. 5.4.14

Rhubarb Harvest for Crumble.  5.4.14

 I kept saying I was going to make either a rhubarb pie or rhubarb crumble.  Sunday I did.  Came out very good.  Easy, I don't know why I couldn't get myself to make it.

The rhubarb mix:

8 cups 1/2 inch slices of fresh rhubarb
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon

The topping:
1 cup flour
1 up brown sugar
1/2 cup rolled oats.
1/2 cup soft butter.

Preheat over to 375.
Spray 13 x 8 casserole dish with nonstick spray.

Combine rhubarb mix and spread into casserole dish.

Combine topping mix and sprinkle clumps over the rhubarb.

Bake 35 minutes until bubbling and hot in the center.

That's all.  Easy.

Rhubarb crumble.  5.4.14

Heritage Iris Bed. 5.6.14

Heritage irises in bloom.  5.6.14

 More of the heritage irises are blooming.  Iris florentina and Her Majesty continue to bloom and continue to be fragrant.  Indian Chief is blooming and is lightly fragrant.  Iris pallida dalmatica is the tallest and most fragrant so far.

Maybe with warmer drier weather the bacterial rot problem will resolve.  I hope so.  No additional compost or other stimulants.

I thought the Caen Anemones were all eaten by rabbits or deer.  A few are blooming after all.  They survived the big freeze, but the animals are another matter.  Maybe they will continue to survive.

Honeybees and Bee forage. 5.6.14

Honeybee cluster in new top bar hive.  5.4.14

Allium bee forage.  5.16.14

I opened one of the hives on Sunday, to inspect and see if the queen was released.  It was a bit chilly, so the vast majority - if not all - of the bees were in the hive, in a bee ball.  I didn't want to disturb them further, so did not look further.

Here's a problem to avoid.  One of the effects of my illness was weight loss.  My jeans tend to fall off, if I forget a belt.  Which I did forget.  Problem #2. I was commando.  Problem #3.  I was not careful to pull the bee suit down over the jeans.

Honeybees are really good about finding warm places to tunnel in and sting.  That's all I'm going to say.

Lesson learned.

I've been watching for foraging activity.  They have plenty of sugar water.  Alliums are a bee favorite.   Allium globosum is blooming now.  I'll let the onions and shallots bloom too.  Bees love those.

Next project- on a warm afternoon while they are foraging, I will check again for queen and comb construction.

Apple Grafting. Progress Report. 5/6/14

Apple graft, about 2 months.

 Here is another of the apple grafts.  This one is on a dwarf rootstock, that originated as a sucker off another tree.  It was crooked.  I don't think that will hurt anything in the long run.  A little zig zag just above ground level.

Looking at some of the grafting videos, there is risk of girdling if the wrapping isn't removed on time.  It's hard to identify when that is.  For a novice.  This was growing well above the graft, so I removed the wrapping.

The graft wound is well calloused.  It did not come loose.  It looks OK.

I also removed all new growth occurring on the rootstock, below the graft.

The last photo was via cellphone.  If I get a chance and remember, I'll replace it with a camera pic that is better focused.

Unwrapping the graft.  5.6.14

Apple graft.  Healed whip and tongue.  5.6.14 

Fruit Progress Report. 5.3.14

Hollywood Plum fruit set.  5.3.14

Shiro Plum fruit set.  5.3.14

 Fruit set so far.

Hollywood Plum.  Not a lot but better than I expected.  I did not hand pollinate this year.

Shiro Plum.  Much more than Hollywood.  I did not pollinate this one either.

Hardy Chicago fig.  Very few brebas.  Growth is good so far.

Petite negri fig / Petite aubique.  Generous production of brebas.

Hardy Chicago Fig.  5.3.14

Petite negri fig with brebas.  5.3.14

Four O'Clocks / Mirabilis. 5.3.14

Mirabilis seedlings.  5.3.14

The transplanted four o'clocks / Mirabilis jalapa are growing nicely.  The plants in Battleground have hail damage.  Despite torn leaves they look viable.  I planted several in deck containers in Vancouver.  They seem to take off and grow much faster, with more root room.

Some have some sun damage from the high 80s weather but they still look good.  So far, so good.

More seedlings to plant.  The lessons learned so far:

1.  Pre-soak the seeds for 24 hours.  Possibly up to 48 hours.
2.  They germinate much faster on a seed warming pad, and when placed between moist paper towels in a zip lock.  Germination is also almost 100% that way.  It's around 50% when germinated in seed medium on heating tray, and about 10% when germinated at room temp, even with presoaking.
3.  The seed medium should be left an inch or 2 below the container rim.  When they grow, they are floppy.  The extra space allows for more potting soil to be added on top, to help them stand upright.
4.  They don't seem to mind the cooler weather outside when planted.  The soil temp now is about 50 degrees.
5.  They are delicate.  Hail rips a lot of holes in the leaves.
6.  The variety "Marbles" seems to grow faster than the variety "Marvel of Peru".

Now to see if and when they bloom.

Irises. 5.3.14

Iris Beds #2 and #3.  5.3.14

 Now we are past some 80 degree weather.  I am hoping the bearded iris beds have taken their damage and the present iris clusters will recover.  The leaf fans appear firm and new leaves are growing.  I lost a few completely, as far as I can tell:  Gingersnap, Frost and Flame, and Deity.

This seems to be the blue / white  / purple stage.  Given the bacterial rot damage to leaf fans, I'm glad I grew bulbs in the iris beds.  The alliums and camassias look nice, with colors that complement the current iris flowers.

Iris florentina.  5/3/14

Iris "Red Zinger".  5.3.14

 Cherry Garden is tiny and the flowers are not rain durable.  I have 4 clusters.  I think I will narrow them down to 1 cluster.  They were not damaged by bacterial rot.

The Iris florentina is quite elegant and has a beautiful fragrance.

The Iris pallida dalmatica was not at all affected by bacterial rot.  It is quite tall, and also beautiful fragrance.

The Iris pallida variegata was also not at all affected by bacterial rot.  Not blooming yet.  Much smaller than the nonvariegated version.

Red Zinger is striking, but small.  This would be a good selection for elevated setting or elevated container.  Fragrance is amazing.  I am not good at describing fragrances, but it is truly elegant.  Just hard to get to, because the plant is miniature.  Red Zinger was from a dried out rhizome I thought was dead, from sale rack, planted winter 2012/2013.  Last year it did not bloom but spread nicely.  Disease resistance seems fairly good.

Iris germanica looks more true to a wildflower heritage.  The fragrance is pleasant.  Disease resistance seems fairly good.

More to bloom soon.

Iris germanica.  5.3.14

Iris dalmatica.  5.3.14

Okra. 5.3.14

Burgundy and Baby Bubba Okra.  5.3.14

These are the transplants of Burgundy and Baby Bubba Okra, in container on deck.  The BB Okra pod was thumb-size so I picked it and froze, to be joined later by others until I have enough to make some soup.

They got some sunburn in the high 80s temp last week but look OK.  Transplanting was not an issue at all.  They are growing great, blooming, and making pods.

The new starts are in the fluorescent light stand, making their 1st or 2nd sets of true leaves.  Some are at cotyledon stage.

Burgundy grows the fastest of the varieties I am trying this year.

Grapevines. 4.29.14

Himrod Grape

Lynden Blue Grape

The grape vines are in their second spring, just over a year post planting at the Battleground place.  They all survived the hard freeze.  They are all in deer/rabbit cages.

One of these days I'll need to extend the deer protection so they can be grown along the support lines.  This year I expect at least a couple of the varieties to do that.  The others will grow up to the top of their respective poles.

I gave them some home-made nitrogen boost last week.  According to the grape book, they won't bear fruit if there is too much nitrogen.  I expect that will be depleted in a year or two, so not an issue.

The fastest growing vine was Buffalo grape, not pictured.  It appears to have a couple of embryonic flower clusters.

Peach Leaf Curl. 4.29.14

Charlotte Peach

 This is Peach Leaf Curl Disease season in my area.  I have enough resistant peach varieties to make a comparison.

As of now, they all have peach leaf curl.  Charlotte seems to have the least, and looks like it will have a small bowl of peaches this year.  Oregon Curl Free has a bit more, and also looks like it will have some peaches.

Indian Free peach has a moderate amount of curl.  It didn't bloom, except for one flower that fell off.  I think

Charlotte Peach

Oregon Curl Free Peach

 As for the Genetic Dwarf peaches...  anyone who sells them in the Pacific NW is doing their customers a big disservice.  Photos are the varieties Garden Sun, Honeybabe, and Ponderosa.  They may make a comeback.  The peaches will need a lot of thinning.  It's too difficult to cover them to keep out rain, and spraying in the fall is difficult to time.  Rainy season starts before the leaves fall.  So they are going to get leaf curl each year, they look terrible and it has a big effect on peach production.  The only solution I can think of is treat them the way hobbyists treat fig trees.  Grow small, in containers, keeping them pruned small, root prune, and put them in garage or shed for the winter.  Bring them outside when they start to grow.  I might try that, maybe starting my own variety with seedlings.  I have 2 seedlings in the garden beds, so that is a start.  For what it's worth, one was in a covered bed, and has no curl.  The other was exposed, and does have curl.

The seedlings might take a long time to bear.  I don't know.  But, being on genetic dwarf rootstock, they might also stay smaller than if grafted on regular peach rootstock.

Not pictured, the Tri-lite Peach-Plum hybrid has as bad leaf curl as any of the others.  The susceptibility of the peaches dominates the resistance of the plums.  So it's not worth buying that one either.

Indian Free Peach

Garden Sun Dwarf Peach

 I suspect that none of the Zaiger hybrids will be curl resistant.  They are bred in California where the disease is not an issue.

Ponderosa Dwarf Peach

Honey Babe Dwarf Peach

Summary:

Less susceptible to peach leaf curl, but not immune:

Charlotte
Oregon Curl Free
Indian Free

Q-1-8 is in its first year.  There is no curl, but as a bare root tree it was probably stored in a barn, and not exposed to winter rains which are responsible for spreading the fungal spores.

Highly susceptible to peach leaf curl:
Tri-lite Peach-plum
Honey Babe Genetic Dwarf
Garden Sun Genetic Dwarf
Ponderosa Genetic Dwarf.

Potential alternative:
Raise in container, keep small by pruning and root pruning, and move container into shed for winter, similar to fig hobbyists in cold climates.  Or similar to my brugmansias and geraniums that I overwinter.

Thoughts.
Next year, buy one for the container treatment.
This year, try to pot up the two seedling trees so I can get them started, but it may be a long path and who knows if I will live that long.

One additional thought.  Deer seem to stay away from most of the peach trees.  They do take some bites out of Indian Free.

Container Plants. Flowers and Kitchen Garden. 4.29.14

Dianthus in container

Overwintered geraniums.

 Today was warm, into the 80s.  Nights are still in the 40s.  Prediction for tomorrow is 90.  Wow.

Of the container plants, I cleaned up the dianthus that overwintered outside in a sheltered location.  I sheared it to a compact shape.  There was an agapanthus that did not survive the big freeze.

Of the geraniums that I overwintered in the garage, all appear to have survived.  They have been sitting on the deck a couple weeks.  I cleaned them up, just using scissors to remove dead parts.  I did not attempt to make them into compact looking garden department plants.  I'm going for the "these are old geraniums like grandma had" look.

I planted some of the Mirabilis seedlings into another container.  They are a little floppy.  Sunday I planted several at Battleground, and there was a hailstorm that tore holes in some leaves.  Still, they look ok today - 2 days later.

Overwintered geraniums.  After cleanup.

Mirabilis starts in container.

 I've been shuttling peppers and Mirabilis inside/outside.  Now they are outside to stay.  Now I am moving them into more full sun.

Tomato and okra seedlings are still under lights.  Except the 2 Sungold plants I bought.  They are in containers and in the sun.

The two largest, oldest okra plants are now in a larger container, along with a seedling.  There are early pods on the two oldest plants.  Okra here is a total experiment, there is almost nothing saying they can be grown this way and a fair amount of info saying they cannot be grown this way.  All I want is a few pods now and then for soups or fry.  If I'm getting the starts of pods now, then maybe this summer there will be a lot more.  The two larger plants are Burgundy and Baby Bubba Hybrid.  The smaller one is "Dwarf Green Long Pod".  It may be a stretch to have 3 plants in one container.

Starts of tomatoes, Mirabilis, peppers.  First day in full sun.

At Battleground, I uncovered the peppers that were in the poly tunnel.  I replaced the polyethylene sheeting with deer mesh.  They look good, nice and green and ready to grow.

More plant starts in the sun.

Okra plants moved into larger container.

Figs so far this year. 2.29.14

Smith Fig in Container.  Year #2.

The fig situation so far this year.

Smith fig in container was growing so I took it outside.  It spent the winter in the garage.  It's been outside a few weeks.  Looking good.  I think I'll keep it in container.  Long term plan:  Make a moveable container with removable sides, so I can maintain and move the trees when I am less able.

Smith fig in ground.  Looks dead.  That hard freeze did it in.

Champagne and LSU Tiger in ground are growing from the lower part of the trunk.  Champagne and LSU Tiger that were stored in shed are growing nicely, although not as fast as Smith.

Carini in ground looks dead.  I'll leave it in place a while to see if it sprouts from ground.  Same for Atreano.  The new Carini starts and Dominic look good, although the hail storm saturday tore holes in the leaves.  Plan this time is keep one of each in container, plus one of each to plant in ground next Spring so they have a full season to adapt to the local conditions as a more mature plant.  Vancouver Brunswick is growing nicely.  No freeze damage, and it was one of the most exposed.  Battleground is a bit colder than Vancouver, so I would expect more freezez damage to the Battleground fig trees.

At home in Vancouver, Petite negri had almost no frost damage.  Hardy Chicago had a number of dead branches.  Both are growing and have brebas.  Lattarula and King had no frost damage, but they are close to the house, on the south side, so may not have had full brunt of the killer freeze.

So there's a good chance for figs from all of the mature fig trees, and some chance for a few from the younger trees.

Mirabilis jalapa (Four O'Clocks). Progress Report. 4.25.14

Mirabilis among other plants.  4.25.14

 I planted 4 of the Mirabilis plants into front flowerbeds.  I don't know if it's too early.  I have about a dozen plants so if these don't make it, it's OK.

This is continued work on deer-resistant, rabbit-resistant flower bed.  The Hyacinthoides, violets, and daffodils, were not eaten. They bloomed nicely.  There is a nice progression, with the Hyacinthoides blooming now.

My hope is that by having a lot of plants that deer and rabbits don't like, the more susceptible plants, like daylilies, will be left alone.  That might be totally wrong.

I read that Mirabilis are deer and rabbit resistant , so maybe they will be a good summer blooming choice.

Mirabilis among other plants.  4.25.14

The Spring bulb foliage will die off as the Mirabilis grows and fills in, so it won't look empty.  That's the plan.

Peppers. 4.25.14

Peppers in raised bed with poly cover.  4.25.14

I removed the Chinese chives from the pepper bed, and replanted them with another bunch of Chinese chives.  That opened up room for 10 more of my pepper starts.  Most of the ones I planted earler are starting to make good growth.  I gave them a dose of diluted home made nitrogen boost.  Tonight looks like rain and chilly so I re-covered with the poly tunnel.  I think I will remove it for next week.  Expected daytime temps in 60s to 80.

I've been carrying pepper plants outside in the am, back inside in the pm.  Also running out of room under the fluorescent lights.  It helps to have these outside now.