Making cuttings...a new stage

As I promised months ago, I said I would post some pictures of my new work environment back at the nursery and greenhouse that made me the heavy duty gardener that I am today.  Remember last year's gearing up in the basement greenhouse?  Well, I will not be making my cuttings like I usually do since my living space is not the same and I have greenhouses to watch instead (and not enough energy to do both).

We had to start over with the propagation bench that we had used years ago and had been abandoned for a new, but not necessarily economical or successful method.  We have incorporated the extensive misting system into the method, but we are using the heavier sprinkler head option.  Short soaking bursts less frequently to keep the cuttings moist down where the roots will be growing.  We are also incorporating direct bottom heat with heating cables in the perlite filled bench.  There is heavy screening material to provide very adequate drainage so we have very even moisture and heat.  We expanded to a second bench with heat mats and a second thermostat.  Electricians hooked us up with an outlet in reach of both areas so we don't have to stretch the cords or use extensions which are not great ideas when water is involved.  The heat mats (similar but much longer than my home model) are regulated digitally with the thermostat which will accommodate all three mats.  We can put up to 30 flats of cuttings in this area to add to the 15' bench adjacent to it.  We had some downy mildew problems with some but the rooting is coming along nicely so we can start to get them into flats of soiless mix soon.  

We also finished off the fall mum season this week.  I regret that I did not get a better picture on my own phone of the growing area before we shipped.  This was just before shipping on a particularly peaceful morning before work.  The coleus bed is in front with the mums the rows of colors in the back of the frame.  If I download a better one from the work files, I will add it here.

Enjoy these glorious days of autumn.  It is my favorite season.  It is time for a get away to take in the colors of northern Wisconsin.

                            

A very garden weekend

I think we have finally turned the corner with the weather in Milwaukee.  We had snow flurries in the air on Friday night, which we pretended didn't exist as we were driving home in it.  Saturday morning dawned beautifully and the day was sunny and warmer.  It was an especially beautiful morning as I had been looking forward to a woody plants grafting class.  I won't go into great detail about the whole process as it has so many fine points.  I enjoyed the instructor, Michael Yanny very much.  I have heard him speak at other events, so I knew that it would be a quality class.  It also came very highly praised by other friends who did it last spring.  We got individualized instruction with just four people in each session.  He checked our technique and work to guide us through.  Time will tell how successfully we joined two plants together.  I will be purchasing The Grafter's Handbook by R.J. Garner.  We all went home with six pots that we grafted ourselves.  I was partial to the antique apple varieties we had to choose from.  I also did a lilac, amur cork tree, and witch hazel.

 Plants have started popping after a spring rain (Wednesday/Thursday) and a bit of following sun.  I can see the rhubarb poking through.  The dwarf iris are now blooming along side the snow drops.  I covered over a few things in the vegetable garden with straw in November.  I pulled that off on Saturday afternoon and can see some Swiss chard, kale, radicchio, and I think the late planted baby cabbage plants made it as well.  

 

     

It was the official first day of line-dried clothes day today.  I have been putting out sheets and light weight t-shirts most of the winter, but today was an all out, fill up the lines wash day.  Everything dried on the lines without laying them around on chair backs, so that is what makes it the official first day.  I watched birds coming and going the past couple days which we haven't seen since last fall.  Turkey vultures circled the neighborhood while I stood watch over the grill. It was just such a fine day to be outdoors.

I didn't spend as much time outside as I would have liked today.  Between loads of laundry, I was busy making more cutting of coleus, geraniums, and ibosa vine.  I cleaned out some of the old stock plants to make way for more seeding.  The coleus from the last cutting was well rooted and was put into cell packs for spring planting.  I saved a few stock plants in larger pots, back up for failed cuttings and possible starters in the garden.  I seeded my Tidal Wave Petunias and Purple Tower Petunias as they have 8-10 week start time.  I also put in some Red Acre cabbage and Bonsai Pak Choi for early planting out later.  I already have the Brisk Green Pak Choi and the Baby cabbage ready to go.  I set the plants out with my onion seedlings for a few hours today for hardening off.  There is only two weeks until Easter which is my goal for planting them all.  Welcome back, Spring!

The Hope of Spring to Come

This was the scene just yesterday looking towards downtown Milwaukee.  The ice is thick on the water this year.  The Great Lakes are frozen over the most in over a decade.  Ice fishermen are having to use extensions on their augers to get through ice over 3 feet thick.  It is a good thing as our lake level will go up instead of down this year due to the evaporation loss being lower this winter.  The added snow will also help increase lake levels which is also a good thing.  It is just so hard being a gardener and waiting, waiting for spring to show us that it will come.
I heard the broad wing hawks out in the back yard trees calling back and forth today.  There is some snow melt and temperatures are into the 40's again.  We have a weather system moving in tonight but it is a promise of rain rather than white stuff.  It may freeze, but temperatures are going up.
I have much to do in my indoor green space.  I want to get some micro-greens going this weekend.  I have my seeding schedule all laid out, but not on my calendar to make sure I do it on time.  It is also time to make some cuttings and start pitching the old plants soon.  Spring will come, in small, quiet steps.  We turn to look and it disappears, but it is there.
I am looking forward to my annual Art in Bloom held at the Milwaukee Art Museum.  I am taking my oldest daughter for her first time this year.  I have a bonus day this year to spend with a college friend coming into town for the event.  This is such a wonderful time to take in beautiful art work, floral arrangements, and see a world class building.
Spring will come, we just have to go and find it under the snow banks this year.

Spring will come...eventually

Yesterday was hours of basement gardening.  After seeding tomatoes and my earliest flowers, I transplanted.  Petunias and violas had set on sometimes two or three sets of true leaves.  Peppers are not far behind.  The coleus that I had cut was rooted enough to put into potting mix. 

To make room for all the new transplants, I refilled the rooting jars with the rest of the coleus cuttings I allowed to grow on the plants the last time.  The remainder of the coleus stock plants are now compost.  I boosted these shorter plants up towards the light with buckets underneath the flats to optimize the artificial light being received by the leaves of the new transplants.

I am an early riser.  This morning was no exception.  After getting the ingredients for fresh bread in the machine, I settled in with a borrowed copy of the book The Worst Hard Time.  I'm enjoying this lesson on the Dust Bowl of the 1930's and how it impacted lives and the environment.  PBS did a similar two part documentary if you are not into reading.  Both are worth the time spent.

I got up from reading to refill my coffee cup.  The scene out my window changed in 30 minutes.  This is Wisconsin.  What was a gray and cold morning is now a white and cold morning.  The peas that I put in the ground are suffering through the indignation.  I did put a clear plastic tunnel over the row (concerned about excessive rain rotting the seed).  I really am not sure how the peas seeds will handle this.  Only time will tell.  Gambling the old seed to the soil is worth the chance.  There are more pea seeds at the garden center.

Sometimes, as a gardener, you have to make your best guess about what the weather will do.  I gambled on the peas, but left the beet, radishes, and other root vegetable seeds on my kitchen counter waiting for a better day.  Looking out the window, it seems that spring will never come.  It will in its own time.  I will continue to enjoy my book while I wait.

Wrapping Up Fall Projects

 I have been wrapping things up for autumn, figuratively and literally.  We may hit 32 for our first freeze this weekend.  I still am hanging on to one tomato plant.  It has become a game to see how long I can keep it going, even if it never has another ripe tomato on it.  Today we hit the 70's again after cool temps and lots of rain.  Tonight I wrapped the tomato in a wall of plastic, topped with heavy frost cloth so it has some ventilation.

I followed through on my plan to wash my pots before storing them this fall.  I brought up hot water from the basement to fill my largest tubs on the driveway.  I added bleach to the water to sanitize them with a 10 minute soak (or so).  It worked out nicely to have so much room to work.  It was hard on the back, but I can think of worse ways to spend a gorgeous fall day. (Like the two days my husband and I worked in a very large, very loud costume warehouse to help the band raise money.)

I have a good variety of pots salvaged from other gardeners as well as ones I have saved myself.  It was good to have some help re-stacking them all back together when they were dry.  It will be much appreciated when I am not doing it in a 6'x6' area this winter.  I also don't have to worry about filling the drains with excess soil.

I kept around some of the flats that have broken corners.  I double them up to compensate for their weaknesses.  Many garden centers box plants, so acquiring more flats is not as easy as pots.  I even wash out cell pack to reuse for planting seedlings.

I am also coming along in the cutting bench.  I root some plants in glass jars in water while others I use a sand/sand mix kept moist.  Most cuttings that require a period of callousing off (letting the cutting lie exposed to air over night) I will also use a rooting hormone powder before sticking them in the sand.  Geraniums are one plant I root in sand.  Coleus have been rooting in the glass jars very well.  I also start some of my vines and small flowering plants in water.
The kraut is also coming along well.  It has been fermenting for about a week and is bubbling well.  I push out the excess "air" each day.  I think there must be at least one more week before it is ready.
Now that the plants are in and the cuttings are started, I have some time off to enjoy a few days off.

Canning and Cuttings

With a conference to attend and family in town, I have had no time at home.  Today was catch up time.  I spent a pretty penny on the precious apples and was not about to abandon my plans of spiced apples and green tomato mincemeat.  
The mincemeat was a little putzy, but I think it was worth it in the end.  I even pulled out the old meat grinder to grind up eight cups of green tomatoes.  I have still been trying recipes from The Pickled Pantry by Andrea Chesman.  Both of these were in her book.  Most of the pickling recipes need about six weeks of shelf time to fully develop their flavors.  The mincemeat is ready to go any time and can even be frozen if that is more convenient for the cook.  It was supposed to make six pints but I had at least two more in the kettle when the canner was full.  I did one pint in two half pint jars for smaller uses, and I ran out of pint jars.  I took some extra to the neighbor who passes produce my way and put a bit in the frig to try a bit in some crust when I make pasties for supper tomorrow.

The other job on the top of my list this past week was making sure I get my cuttings in the house before the plants freeze.  My coleus are done after last night's cold, but there was good cuttings at the neighbor's house who I share a cup of weekend coffee with. We met when I used to walk the dog.  Both of us garden, but he changes up what he is growing.  It is this neighbor I have to thank for my light table as he lost interest in using them himself.  He consistently keeps roses in the mix.  The conversation is never lacking for interest.
It may be time to see about cabbage for sauerkraut on my next market trip.  I look forward to trying another new skill.