Shifting Things

 I have dug up and removed a lot of my Daylilies just because they take so much effort to protect from the deer.  I have saved a few of my favorites.  I saved four of these "Big Smile" daylilies up near the house.  They are one of the last varieties to bloom and they are right along the driveway so the protection season for them is long and strenuous.  But they are worth it.

The easiest way to protect them is to keep a couple of these "Pest Guard" mesh plant covers on them.  In the evening I go out and cover the plants, securing the cover with an Earth Staple or two.  In the morning I collect them up and stack them in a dark corner nearby.  Easy peasy.

But one of the Daylilies was too close to this Bird's Nest Alberta shrub.  I had a note in my spring to-do-list to shift it over.  This is an easy job when the plant is dormant and the ground is soft.

I just dig out the soil where I want the clump slid to, dumping the soil in a trug.

Then I cut the roots around in a large circle to avoid disturbing them too much and use the spade to leverage the whole thing to the right tight against the edge of the new hole.   If your plant has any deep tap roots it may even move over without breaking them.   Then I dump the soil out of the trug and firm it in.  Done.  Plant shifted.  And if you do this on a rainy day, you don't even have to go get any water to water them in.  We had almost an inch of rain the evening after I moved this.

The wet spring is also a great time to pull grass or weeds out of your ground cover.  Dandelions and grass are always weeks ahead of most perennials.  Its the perfect time to spot them and remove them before they get lost in the plants.  If you accidentally pull up any of your ground cover you just replant it right there.

Rye grass was starting to take over the Snow on the Mountain.

Soon the Snow on the Mountain will fill in and the grass would have been inaccessible.

Here is a look at some of my spring flowers.

Pinching Dahlia Seedlings

My Dahlia seedlings are doing well and I would not consider them to be "leggy" but they have awhile to go in their small 6 pack cells before I will have enough grow light room to pot them up into larger accommodations.  So they need to be size controlled.  Pinching back will not only control their height, but will encourage them to put out two thicker sprouts in place of the single leader, making them bushier.  In the case of flowering plants, this also means, potentially, twice as many flowers per plant.  Pinching back can begin when the plants have three sets of true leaves.

Using a pair of snips, or simply breaking off with your fingers, you remove the growth tip and maybe a set of leaves.  There should be at least two sets of true leaves left.

In this example, I could have gone down one more set of leaves.  In the photo below I have illustrated where two new "axillary buds" will emerge from the leaf "nodes" and form new stems.

 If you were interested in propagating more plants, you could use these cuttings to root more.  I have no idea what the characteristics of these plants will be since they are first season, cross pollinated plants.  I don't need any more of them.  If these plants were sprouting from tubers, and therefore clones of a known variety, they may be worth saving.

It only took me a few minutes to clean the dried cotyledons and pinch back all of the seedlings by a third.  All of the plants look nice and healthy.  Some are taller and some are very compact with little stem length between the sets of leaves.  It was tempting just to cull the taller, rangier plants right now and only grow on the short, compact ones as this growth habit will continue throughout their lives.

I had a nice surprise today as I was poking around in the seedling trays.  My Cherry Tomato variety "Dwarf Eagle Smiley" is finally sprouting.  These seeds were sown on March 5th.  That's 28 days!  All of the other Dwarf Tomatoes and Ornamental Peppers I sowed in that week are already inches high.  These seeds are TINY for a Tomato seed.  Last year they took weeks as well.  in fact, last year I gave up on them, chalked it up to bad seeds, and then Surprise! -they popped out in an abandoned cell tray after I had given up hope.  So this year, I just left them where they were on the heat mat and kept them watered.  What finicky little divas.  Next year I will choose a similar Dwarf Cherry.  I really like the variety a lot but if they are going to be so hard to grow....  I don't need the hassle.

And he's not out of the woods yet.  As you can see, the cotyledons have not broken out of and shed the seed coat yet.  They are still encased and will need moisture to help them break out.  I misted the poor little guy and left him alone.  There are at least five other seeds in there.  We'll see if any survive to adulthood.

Peas and Carrots

 Today I planted my first row of peas.  I have discussed my pea planting plan before.  This year I am planting two beds with two rows each.  I have been saving pea seeds for several years now.  I decided to clean house and use up all of my old seed.  I generally plant somewhere between 2.5 and 4 ounces (dry) of seeds per row.  I have a little over 12 ounces of seed left, so 3 ounces a row it is.  I am going to plant one row a week on Wednesdays to try to spread out the season a bit.  I am planting only my saved Penelope Pea seeds so they may all catch up to each other.  Today is cool and rainy, but I prepped the bed two days ago with Garden Tone fertilizer and dug the rows.  I soak my seeds over night so all I have to do is walk out there and pour them out.

Then I rake loose soil over the seeds until they are well covered and tamp it down with the rake so there is good soil contact.  It is raining on and off today and will continue through the night.  At some point I will sprinkle lettuce seeds along the side of each row to act as living mulch.

While I was out prepping the bed the other day I dug some carrots.  For years now I have been growing carrots in containers which works very well, but with the thinning and daily watering, they are fairly labor intensive.  Last year I ran a seed tape of YaYa carrots along the back of the Strawberry bed where the soil is rich and deep.  Besides watering them now and then I completely ignored them.  I have been digging them since fall.    One of the last things I did last fall was rake loose mulch up over the tops of the carrots to insulate them from cold.  Carrots protected thru the winter will grow exceptionally sweet and crisp.  These carrots have been excellent.  I don't think I will bother with the container carrots this year.  I'll just run a double row of seed tape back there.

In the workshop everything is growing like crazy.  I started my Indeterminant Tomato seeds today.

Marigolds transplanted 4 days ago

Ornamental Hot Peppers and Dwarf and Micro Tomatoes

Cabbages, Cauliflower and Broccoli.  Lettuce to the right

One of two rogue Petunia volunteers getting ready to bloom

My next gardening chore will be pinching back these Dahlia seedlings.

Pruning Fruit Trees

I have three apple trees and a pear tree.  The pear tree is still small and I just prune out any branches that are growing back inwards towards the middle.  On of the apple trees is still quite young and not putting out a lot of growth.  I may take out a branch or two each spring.  Then we have the two Northern Spy trees that I planted in 2009 from grafts of the last old orchard tree here.  One tree is very productive but does not put out a lot of new growth.  It focuses its energy on apples.  I generally prune that one a bit at a time throughout the summer removing a branch here and there.  The other tree, is a beauty queen.  She focuses her energy on new growth and apples are an afterthought.  Most of my pruning focuses on keeping this tree thinned out.

When pruning a fruit tree, first stand back and assess what the goal is.  This tree is shaped well but always needs thinning in the interior.  The first branches to remove is the "Three Ds".  Anything Dead, Damaged or Diseased,  The second consideration is any water sprouts.  These are soft, fast growing branches that grow vertically straight up from old growth.  They are usually at the site of something you pruned off last year.  

Water Sprouts

Take them off right above the collar of the branch which is the angled portion right next to the trunk.  This will allow the tree to heal properly.

They are easy to spot because the bark will be bright and smooth.  These branches are always very straight and will not produce any fruit this year anyway.  I will, occasionally leave one if I want to fill in a bare spot, but most of them need to go.  I save the longer ones because they are useful around the garden for staking things.  You can even use them to weave a fence for your peas.

The third consideration, and one that requires more thought is any cross branches.  It takes a little more thought because you usually have to make a choice of one branch vs. the other.  Which will result in a better shape?  You should always favor the branch that grows straight out from the trunk.  Not up, not down, not to the left or right.   Cross branches will rub against each other causing a scar on the bark and allowing insects and diseases to enter.  They also cause congestion and limit air flow.  I always wonder where they all come from.  Presumably I cut them all out last year.  Trees fill in very fast.

There are several choices to be made here.

When I'm done I have a pretty good pile of branches, but the center of the tree looks airy and well groomed.  Last year and this year I concentrated on "limbing up" to get rid of those branches that are always catching my hair, trying to poke me in the eye...  They shouldn't be pointing down anyway.

Before and After

Now I give it some time.  I walk around the tree, maybe for a week or two, checking my work from every angle.  The hardest pruning cuts to visualize are the Heading cuts.  These cuts shorten a branch and cause it to send out a new shoot from that location.  Here are some Heading cuts I made on the other tree last year.  Then I went back and cut more a week later removing the top of the central leader.

Heading cuts, by their nature, occur on the outer edges of the tree.  The trickiest ones are at the top, mainly because you can't see what needs to be cut when you are standing beside the tree.  A tree will send growth hormone to the uppermost tips of the branches.  So, if you have a tree with one central leader, and one of the side branches develops and starts to come out above the tip of the branches growing from the leader, that branch will get more growth hormone and eventually take over for the original leader.  The other tree, shown above has a central leader (and not the original one) but the tree below has been pruned to a Modified Central Leader.  The top sort of fans out with several main branches.   This is most apparent from a distance.  These branches to the right want to take over and must be shortened.

Because of the size of the tree, I have to use the old pole pruner.  There is no way I could reach these even from a ladder in the center.  I have to choose a good place to cut as well as a spot where the pruner will stay put.  You should always cut a branch right above a bud that is facing in the direction you want new growth but in this case the side branch is already there and I just need to remove all of the tall branch.

Cut #1

Cut #2

Gone.  Now the top has a more uniform shape from every angle.

While I have the pruner tangled up in there, I take the opportunity to cut two branches that are headed back into the middle.

Done.

And here is the Before and After from this angle.

This tree still has more growth on the south side (left of above photos).  That is something I am working on over time.  A few years ago the apple trees got a touch of blight and I had to take a lot of large branches out of the north side of this one.  The tree has recovered it shape well but almost any plant or tree will put more growth out on the side that get's the most sun.  

If you would like more, expert advice the blog link below from Cornell is excellent.

A Basic Guide to Pruning Your Fruit Trees.

After pruning the trees, I applied a general dormant spray and a copper fungicide spray.  The copper I bought chiefly for the pear tree.  Back in 2024 it got some sort of leaf spot, the leaves bronzed out and the whole tree defoliated by the end of August.  I used the copper spray last year and the leaves stayed green and healthy all season.  I put both concentrates in the sprayer at the same time so the apple trees get treated as well.  Last year was the first year I used this particular combination and I noticed a reduction in the sooty blotch on the apples as well.  These sprays can be used up until the time of harvest, but I may spray a second time before they leaf out.

 

Marigold Transplant Day and Vego Grow Light Review

 I noticed yesterday that the Marigolds were opening their first true leaves, so today was transplant day before the root systems get too big.

That fluffs two little cells in a tray into a large tray that takes up a whole shelf.

I am fully enjoying the Vego grow light tower.  I have it outfitted with fans on timers.  I have one negative note about the design.  All but the lowest shelf are adjustable to two different distances away from the grow lights.  However - if you keep the top shelf on the highest setting, which creates a perfect hooded area to hold heat and germinate seeds, the lowest light has to be three levels above the tray instead of one or two.  And this is quite a distance if you are growing trays of newly transplanted seedlings that should be about 10" from the light to avoid stretching.  

You can purchase extra trays and extra lights.... but that doesn't solve this particular problem because there is no available shelf on the lower section of the frame to hold the extra tray at the desired height.  So I solved that problem by purchasing an adjustable kitchen shelf.  The adjustable shelf has two height settings so you can even tweak that by another two inches.  

This shelf works perfectly.  With it in place you still have a little storage below it.   And if you needed to you could temporarily add another magnetic light underneath it for low growing plants. I consider this shelf essential, because most of the seed starting season you need to use the top tray at the highest adjustment.  I need it there for five or six weeks, but I need the fourth shelf (bottom shelf) for the second half of the season, another five or six weeks.  The two time periods and conflicting agendas overlap by a couple of weeks.  The clip on fans work perfectly. I've had one of these for years and I purchased three more to match.  The Vego tower comes with hooks that are perfect for hanging a heat mat thermostat.

I still need my older grow lights.  I have two out of the three set up, the Oslo from Gardeners and one of my original florescent fixtures.  This set up badly needs trays to contain water when it drains out of the tray and I have two Oslo trays on order to solve that problem.  Then I will be completely decked out!

Under the Oslo high intensity LED fixture I have my Zinnias and Dahlias.  The Dahlias can be pinched back soon but they are going to have to stay in their cells at least until the Cole crops get planted out freeing up another light because when I start bumping these up, a single tray of cells can become three or four trays of larger pots requiring more lights.  One thing to note is that the plants by the window do not lean towards the extra light coming through the window at all which means they're getting adequate light from the fixtures provided.  That's a good thing and pleases me because I've tried very hard to achieve the best set up .

I bumped the Coleus cuttings up to deep four inch pots and they are taking off, even the ones that had really been languishing in the cool workshop over winter.  They have almost doubled in size this week.  In fact, those big ones can be pinched, making either two or four more new cuttings.

I am also starting my sweet potato slips.  This sweet potato was left over from the 2024 crop.  The second winter they really lose their sweetness and texture but still do not rot.  This one was in a basket in the kitchen and started to sprout on its own, so I potted it up and put it in the window.  These slips are about ready to be broken off and placed in a jar of water to grow better roots.

...and Daffodil season is here.