What have you done today in the Garden?

Thanks @Oreti and yes I'll take some pics.

 

I got into the rockery today, I dug out two bucket-fulls of grass.






It's a bit of a "baby and bathwater" situation, as the grass is entwined amongst the roots of the phlox. But I've put back what got pulled out and chucked a load of potting compost over it. I've ordered some more, there's fewer choices this late in the year, but I'm happy with what I've ordered.

I'm not looking forward to it, but at some time I need to jet-wash the big patio. Wet n' Forget, gets rid of the green, but not the dirt.

 

Rainy and chilly.

Up-potted all of the sauce tomato plants, and the tomato plants I will give to my neighbor. Next, the slicing and cherry tomatoes need it too.



I air layered three more fig branches. One on Lattarula and one two on the Violette de Bordeaux. The two that I air layered a few days ago were one-year-old branches. I read that some growers can air layer 3 to 4 year old branches, which would result in a much larger tree, sooner, so why not try?

Here's why I want to keep the Lattarula tree


It's the most loaded of my fig trees. And they are delicious.

I might be able to keep it a year or two as the air layer start grows and comes into production....

The Violette de Bordeaux is such a slow grower, I don't know if it's worth propagating. But so delicious. I air layered a one-year -old branch and a four- year -old branch.


This time I tied the foil with string, instead of taping it. It will be easier to open and peek inside in a month or two.

I inspected some of the apple grafts.

Might be a flower bud, but at least it looks viable. If it's a flower, I can usually cut that off, and a vegetative bud emerges in its place.

Another one...

Another. I feel more certain this is a growth bud, not a flower bud. I usually let the new branch grow at least a foot long, before removing the binding.


And the ginkgo I grafted to see what would happen.


Also did some reading about growing Everbearing strawberries in containers.

 

We NEEDED the rain though, so I am not sorry for the rain. Gardens do not grow without rain. We got about 4" in two days. We might get some more over the weekend. It was very dry here and we had not had rain for over a month. Missouri has underground limestone formations called karst, and the rain water vanishes quickly. I will mow later.

 

It’s a busy day inside , way too much rain outside, stepping out on soggy landscape with the sound effects …squish , squish , literally.

Everyone managed to get a lot accomplished today. I really enjoy the opportunity to keep up with all the daily pix shared this time of year .

Moss is a yearly problem . I have a15 gallon sprayer that is hooked up to a12v battery that can shoot the moss treatment up on the roof - no problem . I don’t like climbing up on the slanted portion of the roof it’s slippery. Commercial moss products don’t work well on the blacktop driveway. I may go back the ole Clorox solution , works better than any product on the market.

 

Filled bird feeders, suet cages and did a flat of assorted flower seeds.

 

Clay the birds will be happy campers in your garden lots of on snacks to gobble up.

 

Nothing today it's been raining for most of it.

 

Wet,wet ,wet....

Took all the plants out of the greenhouse and big coldrframe to gradually get use to the big wide wet world. I always start planting out mid May so they had better start toughening up.

 

Fancy grafting work, Daniel— how’d you figger out how to do that?

 

We've had this acer in our tiny front garden for nearly forty years, Every winter I prune six inches and more off it, all the way round otherwise it'd be almost twice the size. It's as tall as the eaves of our house.
But it never disappoints, the leaves start off pink, changing to light green, then darker green later in the year. It always has blossom, but it's pale green, so hard to see when it comes.

 

Mostly three places.
I learned whip-and-tongue grafting at a Home Orchard Society workshop in Oregon. They are defunct now.

I learned various other styles, and a lot more, from this classic book. pdf here
https://ia904501.us.archive.org/28/items/the-grafters-handbook/The grafters handbook.pdf

"The Grafters Handbook by RJ Garner"

And Stephen Hayes on youtube. I view youtube as being like looking for diamonds in a landfill. Stephen Hayes' videos are diamonds for grafters. From his videos, I learned to use strips of plastic cut from food bags, instead of all the exotic tars and waxes (although in this video he uses tars or waxes). Also, he is so down to earth.



Today I trimmed some of the plastic strips to let the graft buds grow, and started thinning apples. Also repot the last of the tomato seedlings.

 

That is some good stuff, Daniel. You were once a student, but graduated cum laude. What a talent you have developed.

 

Grafting is an exciting process. Can’t wait to see all the grafts a few months from now.

Riley beautiful acer. It shows the care you have provided it over the years. Perfectly shaped from a extremely skilled gardener.

 

That sounds like a lot in two days. Do you also collect in rain barrels?

Those birds will be happy!

Perfectly shaped! You are inspiring me to get to work on mine!

Thank you Sjoerd. You are always so encouraging.

Grafting is such a useful garden skill. For example, if you have an apple tree, and discover that it doesn't perform or isn't good, you might be able to convert it, fairly quickly and inexpensively, to a different variety. Or, if there are no nearby varieties, you could add pollenizers. Or, one variety might make more than you can use all at once. You could add an early and a late variety to spread them out.
it goes on and on.

I think, like a lot of things, the successes of nurseries, stores, marketers, have resulted in loss of a lot of skills.

Thank you Pac. You are also always so encouraging. Also, viewing your beautiful landscape and garden.

Inspecting the yellow jacket traps, At this early time of year I bet these are queens.



I hope that means fewer nests too.