Repotting More Bearded Irises and Some Carnations. 12 Sept 23.

 I'm continuing to dig out bearded iris clumps, cleaning them up, and planting the best rhizomes in containers.

There are also some carnations that I grew last year.  They bloomed but never thrived.  I think it was bad potting soil.  Still, they survived the winter, spring, and summer again.  I decided to clean them up and repot.

As they were.

I dug out the four plants.

Cut off dead stems and scraggly stems, and hosed off as much soil as I could.

Planted three into one large container, and one in a smaller container.

I don't know if they will grow and thrive next year.  That's part of the fun.

Tomato Pie. Apple Pie. 9 Sept 2023.

 These are some of the last crop of dwarf tomatoes, "heirloom type" although not all are actually heirloom.  

I also still have a lot of the Gravenstein apples, although they go bad rather quickly.  

So I made pies with both.

I substituted cake flour for about 1/3 of the all purpose flour in the crusts.  It did make them more flaky (mission accomplished!) and they tasted so good!  But for the blind baked cruse (tomato pie), the bottom cracked and the sides flopped in a bit.  The flavor was still wonderful.

This time, I used a Mexican style shredded cheese mis for the tomato pie.  That was excellent.   I also used home made mayonnaise in the cheese mixture.  The topping includes some chopped Jalapeños. 

Some Hybrid Echinacea Bloomed the First year From Seeds. 8 Sept 2023

 These were the Cheyenne Spirit Echinacea that I grew from seeds this Spring.  It doesn't seem to matter much whether or not I stratified the seeds.

So far they all seem to be this red or reddish pink color.  Maybe the later bloomers will be the other colors, yellow or white?

I didn't expect any to bloom the first year, so this is a treat.

Bearded Iris Cleanup. 8 Sept 2023.

 I cleaned up some of the bearded iris rhizomes.  There are only a few remaining in the large bed I tried to grow a few years ago.  I moved most to other locations.  Some of that area was also potatoes last year.  I will downsize, converting that to easily mowed lawn, over the winter.  Meanwhile, I'm looking between thistles and grasses for remaining bearded iris clumps.

This clump lost its label.  If this variety blooms next year, I can figure it out.  With all of the ones I dug up, I hosed off all of the soil that I could.

Then separated rhizomes to pull out grasses and remove burnt-out old rhizomes.

Trimmed, and selected the healthiest appearing ones.

And planted into a container with fresh potting soil.

Here's another container.  These were mostly in worse shape.  Two are new rhizomes that I bought.

Bearded irises should be really easy to grow.  The challenges here are the aggressive thistles and grasses that invade the clumps, which have to be pulled by hand.  Also, in rainy spring weather, they get fungal spot and bacterial rot.  My hope here is they will be much easier to give TLC in the big containers, and I can keep them on the back patio when in season, then move to the vegetable garden the rest of the time.  

I con't know if they will bloom next year, or thrive in the containers.  I hope they do.

Buffalo Grapes, Harvest to Jelly. 8 Sept 2023

 Here is how the Buffalo Grapes looked a couple of ago.  I planted this variety because it is a Concord type that can be grown and produces in my area.   This vine has been growing for ten years.

I picked a tub of grapes.  There are more than that, still on the vines.

I cleaned up about 5 pounds of the darkest and bluest.

And made grape jelly.

The flavor is really rich.  I have to wait until tomorrow to see how well it gelled.

Buffalo is the most prolific of my grape vines, so far.  The same row also has Himrod.

Those are very tasty, but don't have that "grapey" Concord type flavor.  Some of the others had a few clusters.  They might grow faster with irrigation and fertilizer.  But I think the flavor is richer without those, and I don't need that many grapes.