Another grafting session

I spent some quality time with my new grafting knife.  After I took my grafting class in Mike Yanny's Nursery School last month, I took some scion cuttings from my neighbor's Golden Delicious tree.  I wrapped them with moist tissue and bagged them in the frig to hold until the time was right for outdoor grafting.  Mike had explained to us that it takes a week of temperatures in the 60's to get a good graft.  The tree or shrub has to have expanding leaves on it (growth has been initiated for the season) as well.  This week provided the temperatures that popped my espalier apple tree this past week.  Saturday morning I went out with the necessary tools and supplies and made my grafts.  I had taken four cuttings, three went on to my Goldencrisp apple which I am trying to turn into an espalier.  The fourth I grafted to my Snowdrift crabapple as an experiement in ornamental to fruiting apple tree.

Besides my new grafting knife, I also had my Felco pruner, grafting paint, masking tape, and an old toothbrush.  I made my cuts like Mike taught us and fixed three grafts at an upper level of my espalier.  Hopefully, two will take on opposites sides to make my life easier.  The grafts are held in place by pressure and tape.  The grafting paint covers the whole scion and I found that the tooth brush worked well for applying it and was disposable besides.  Time will tell now.

In addition to my grafting, I transplanted a bunch of seedlings to trays indoors, seeded a few more things, and set things to order in the yard.  The lawn furniture came out and the snow blowers were drained and put away.  By the end of the day I was tired but pretty happy about what got done.  

Time is running short on seeding indoors.  I will just do my cukes and squash from this point now.  I soaked my sweet peas for my flower trellises so those have to go in today.  The Thunbergia will also have to be transplanted for indoor sprouting.  It is a little late for those, but I will just have to wait a little longer for their bloom.  I guess I better get out and drop those sweet peas in the soil before the day gets away from me.  Happy Mother's Day to the rest of you mothers out there.

Time to start seeds, spring is coming...I just know it!

I officially have all my seed orders in hand with the exception of the items that get shipped later (after the ground is no longer covered with two feet of snow.

Rather than re-write the whole process, I will just share my link to the prior post on seed starting.  

Gardeners have hope.  We look at tiny seeds the size of a period and see new life.  It is amazing to know that in that capsule that looks like a comma, there are tomatoes that will grace our table at the end of summer.

I have a word of caution to those starting seeds indoors by themselves.  Please remember the essentials for success:

• Sanitation-Make sure everything you have is sterile (pots, soil, table...) and use only new soil starter.  It does not pay to cheap out and deal with consequences of insects and disease problems.
• Warmth-seeds need warmth to start in 99% of our garden crops unless it is something you are direct seeding later, even then it needs some warmth.  Germination percentages will be greatly affected if you choose to compromise on their needs here.  It also can affect the success of seedlings.  Damping off can take everything if you don't keep the seedlings warm as well.  Germination mats and domed covers will help you control the temperatures in ways that costs so little for your gain.
• Water-Moisture is essential in the correct amounts.  Too little, and your germination suffers.  Too much, and your germination suffers.  You should find the happy medium where you are not blowing dust off the top of your trays and you can hardly lift your trays because of the water content.  It is best if you check them at least once a day.  Domed lids will help you regulate this as far as water loss is concerned.
• Light-Plants can't live without it.  Even seeds that germinate best with dark conditions need light once they break that seed coat.  Keeping seedlings within 6" of their light source is best.  A sunny south window is still not enough light in the northern climates at this time of year.  Always use some sort of supplemental light, even a florescent shop light will do.

Look at your seed packets and try to time out your crops to their optimal starting time.  I error on the side of caution and time them for the shorter time (later rather than sooner) so I am not dealing with larger plants indoors because it is too cold to move them out. Plan your seeding ahead of time and then you will be able to move through the season with less worries about forgetting something or not timing your crops as needed.  

Happy Spring...I know it's coming!

The flowering kale saga continues

Last fall I had the most amazing flowering/ornamental kale in my garden.  I had grown the rose flowering for a couple years and love the way it looks in a pot.  At Christmas I add greens and lights and it is even more stunning.  Kale, both ornamental and edible, is an extremely cold tolerant crop.  You really have to add some of this to the garden just because it is still looking beautiful when the temps fall below freezing.
I bought additional flowering kale seed to plant more of the peacock red that was in my front garden last fall.  I only had four plants, but they were show stoppers.  I wanted more.  I picked up another more generic variety when a second choice I ordered was out of stock when my seeds came.  Then I lost track of them.  They didn't make it on my seeding list, and they weren't in my seed box.  This "change of life" has not been always kind to my brain.  I looked everywhere logical and then the illogical.  No seeds. 
I broke down and bought plants.  Millager's  Garden Center had several varieties of 3" plants in a 6 pack tray.  I bought three kinds.  Then I went to my favorite little local garden center Luxembourg Gardens and found three more varieties in the smaller 4 pack which made them really affordable.  Lots of kale for this fall.
Two days later, I am putting away some condiments in the refrigerator and a little, plastic bag falls forward.  Yep, it was the kale seeds.  Since the seeds I have are all different than the plants I bought, I put them all in trays to germinate.  They are germinating well.  If all my chickens hatch, there will be a huge flowering kale display on the dead end this fall.
Now, I don't want to put it all in the garden all summer, so my plan is to pot some of it up and hold it for the summer.  I will fill in the empty holes of fall with the pots.  I started the up-grading process tonight to reduce the water requirements on the pot bound plants I bought. It may all seem a little crazy, but it will be worth it in the end.

Sometimes gardening is hard work

I have been pushing myself to the limits lately.  There are these big jobs that I put off until another day until they just can't wait anymore.  I live adjacent to a county park which is only 13 acres, but the county has been cutting budgets and staff to the point that nothing gets done which isn't an emergency.  For the 15+ years that we have been their neighbor, we have adopted our 140' stretch of "natural" area to keep it free of most invasives.  Trust me, this is what would grow there exclusively if it weren't for human intervention to fight it.

I did the pruning on the sugar maple that was planted there to keep it growing in good form this weekend.  I think it will take a rope and saddle rather than free climbing the next round.  By then it might also be ready to tap for maple syrup.  Time will tell.  I also pulled and pruned off several box elder sprouts that are threatening to make life miserable.  I had one that got away from us and it is too big to cut down without notice now.  That one got pruned up so a mower can pass under it rather than letting the burdock grow under its protection again.  This meant more brush to the pile.  Add to that the dead, cracked, and worn out lilac stems that were creating a tangled mess of nothing pretty to the mix and the pile grew even more.  Fortunately, a former co-worker is able to come by and chip the multiple piles and leave behind a truckload of chips besides.

My husband has one knee replacement and one needing replacement, so shovel work really aggravates the problem.  We have two more deck posts to dig out as well as three shrubs to transplant in the place of the invasives.  In their place, kiwi vines will grow to fruit and screen the backyard.  They arrived in the mail this week, so time is of the essence.  The old deck poles will find a new home as supports for these hardy vines.

Asparagus roots have arrived and the mushroom plugs are waiting for the spruce stumps to sprout their bounty.  Seedlings are needing water in the basement greenhouse and another round of seeds need a home to grow.  When it rains, it pours.

My advice:  Don't come around anytime soon if you don't want a shovel thrust into your hands.  Happy Arbor Day!

Tomato countdown, seeding day

My journal entries have been less than regular of late.  I have a dental procedure and bad weather to thank for my hiatus from gardening.  Milwaukee has seen nothing but rain day after day.  Rivers are over-flowing their banks and gardens are reduced to mud.  We have been soaking up a slow seepage of water in one corner of our home due to the saturated soil around us.  And, it has been cold.  40's are no temperature to garden in.

Today is T-day.  The day that tomatoes need to be seeded in hopes that the weekend following our Memorial Day the soil will be ready to have them take root.  I have some flowers to seed also.  I am doing a second round of hollyhocks this year in the hope that these biennials will provide me with blooms every year from alternate year crops.Asters, Statice, and Thithonia are also on my seeding calendar to be done 6 weeks before last frost.  Some seeds could be direct sown, but I want to have some plants to have a head start this year.

The onion crop is still in a seed tray.  I started hardening them off and then the cold came with the ceaseless rain.  I gave up and will trim them back, again, in hopes that next week will be warm enough to set them out during the day.  Maybe next weekend I will get them in the ground.

That is the thing about gardeners.  We always have hope for the future to be just a little bit better.  We look forward while learning from the past.  Sometimes plants die and plans go awry, but there is always tomorrow to start again.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing

It has been a good week to be a gardener.  I got busy indoors last weekend sowing my seeds indoors and the sprouts are coming up.  Cabbage, lettuce, and radicchio have sprouted and as soon as the first set of true leaves pop, I will transplant them into larger cells so I can put plants into the garden later.  The basement greenhouse got a big overhaul also.  I made cuttings and dumped out a number of stock pots to make room for the seeding.  I also put up my shelves and light in my kitchen window for expanded growing space.

 We have had a change in weather in Milwaukee.  The sun has been showing up on a regular basis and the snow is nearly melted even in the shady parts of my yard.  I took a walk around the garden this afternoon and picked up a bit of soil in the garden.  It is a bit wet for working yet, but it has warmed up quite a bit, even in the bed not covered with clear plastic.  I think that I will have to get the garden peas and radishes in this weekend.  If all goes well, the onion plants can make it in soon.  I have to start hardening them off by giving them a few hours of outdoor exposure each day until they are ready to stay out all the time.

Even though I haven't gotten in early plants this year, I have done more indoor gardening.  I bought micro-greens mixes from Pinetree Gardens last year.  The germination is still very good, so I have been sowing 4" pots for fresh cut greens.  I add them to the top of a lettuce salad for a bit of flavor beyond romaine lettuce.  I also brought out the sprouting seeds and have done several batches of mung bean and alfalfa sprouts to salads and sandwiches.  Every little bit of homegrown makes such a difference.  Once you have put out the initial expense of seed, soil, and containers, it becomes more affordable to do yourself.  It is also fun to pop the little extras into the lunchbox for a bit of summer during the cold months.

More heat, no rain

It is sounding like a broken record (for those of you who know what vinyl sounds like when it's broken) with our weather in Southern Wisconsin.  There is no vacation time without lining up a neighbor to tend to the garden while you are not.  Clouds built up on the horizon Friday to give some a tease while most sat dry after they passed.
I have found it necessary to take two things with me while watering.  I need a bucket to pull the weeds as the ground gets soft from the water and scissors to dead head everything that is going into survival mode and trying to produce seed.
Normally a single cutting on my herbs prevents them from flowering and seeding.  I think this is the fourth time I have trimmed the thyme, oregano, and mints this year...so far.
It is also necessary to dead head flowering annuals so they do not give up and stop flowering all together.  If plants start putting the effort into seeding, they slow or stop producing flower heads.
I have seen large amounts of seed production by trees this year.  Everything is going into survival mode by trying to reproduce.  The linden trees produced the largest seed brackets I have ever seen.  They looked like large white flowers laying around the trees and in the streets.  They sure have blown around in the wind with the large sails they have on their seeds.
If the grass is yellow but the weeds are green it is all about the roots.  Many weeds have a good tap root and are pulling up moisture from levels below the grass zone.  Some of the really annoying ones like burdock and thistles can be stopped in their tracks before they seed over your whole garden.  They are starting to flower now so cut them down to the base.  This will kill the plant all together in most cases.  Stop weeds from seeding whenever possible.  If you don't have time to weed the whole garden, pull out the ones that are flowering and seeding first. Do what you can as you can to save yourself from a bigger problem later.
If you are on water restrictions or your well just can't keep up anymore set your priorities in the garden.  Save the trees first.  Shrubs are easier to replace and will grow to size much more quickly than your shade trees.  I would save my vegetable garden before my flowers.  Grass is on the bottom of my list.  Choose wisely.