Thursday, March 24, 2016

Plum and Apple in bloom.
First the plum:

Then a bit of the apple (leaves develop along with flowers):

and finally two of my grafts, with new growth (WOW):

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Updates
Old peach tree in glorious bloom.
Plum and apple trees thinking about it.
Old peach scions grafted on young peach looking good.
Artichoke and rhubarb, here they are:


Monday, March 14, 2016

Old peach tree in full blossom.
This is what the old peach tree (that produced delicious white flesh fruit) looked like a couple of days ago. I peaked in the hooded grafts. I won's say what I saw.
Yesterday I planted some red chard, some spinach and some snow peas. Today I planted more spinach. Garden season is in progress.
The blossoms on the apricot tree are spent. I fear the worst.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Adventure in grafting.
Today I did what long ago I had resolved to do. The apricot tree is in full bloom; the peach trees are ready to burst. I cannot wait for the Extension Division Master Gardner to come show me how to graft. So I went to the web and searched. I found an excellent tutorial by Tom Spellman on "Bark Grafts."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTtXmBVsolY&ebc=ANyPxKo3OptscLd_3uHmsVVSL25PpWYH0-L-cjFqa95EuaaMiEr_G2SihaCwh_eCalW-Lxf9BOi9-l5REyFqZ6wcUa-Pg6Rdjg
It's 9:20 long and good. I am not sure that my six grafts will be successful because I had not until now researched how to collect the scion sticks. I know my established peach produces delicious fruit, but I didn't know how to collect the scions. So I fudged, and therefore I fear failure. We will see.
Here is a closeup of two of the grafts on a single branch:
and here is the tree with its six grafts (protectd by paper bags with air vents)

And here is a better picture of the apricot in full bloom:
So today marks the official beginning of my 2016 gardening season.