Tag Archives: plum

Asian Plum Breaking Dormancy + Asian Plum Grafts Update…

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Last week, my Mom showed me that the Asian Plum (near the storage) is starting to bloom.

Asian Plum Starting to Bloom

This Asian Plum tree is always our first deciduous fruit tree to break dormancy… This means that I need to start grafting to it… and I haven’t even sorted the scions that I got this year, so I have to do that soon.

Asian Plum Tree

I took inventory of all the grafts that I made on this particular Plum tree and I’m happy that many are still alive. These include:

– Asian Plum ‘Elephant Heart’ (Graft 2009-04) Flickr
– Plumcot ‘Apex’ (Graft 2010-05) Flickr
– Pluot ‘Flavor Supreme’ (Graft 2010-04) Flickr
– Asian Plum ‘Inca’ (Graft 2011-01) Flickr
– Apricot ‘Large Early Montgamet’ (Graft 2011-04) Flickr
– Asian Plum ‘Sierra’ (Graft 2011-03) Flickr
– Pluot ‘Flavor Queen’ (Graft 2010-02) Flickr

Asian Plum 'Sierra'

It’s kinda neat how this one tree now has Plums, Plumcots, Pluots and Apricots.

Sadly two grafts did not make it:

– Aprium ‘Mark’s Seedling’ (Graft 2010-03)
– Asian Plum ‘Inca’ (Graft 2011-02) which is ok because this was a duplicate graft

I also took some time to prune some on the limb back, especially the ones that hang too low or crossed other branches.

Grafts 2011 Batch 2

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Our Bing Cherry looked like it was about to open its buds, so I grafted some Cherry scions as wells as some Plums and Apricots.

– Apricot ‘Skaha’ scion grafted onto Plum (near sink)
– Cherry ‘Black Eagle’ scion grafted onto Bing Cherry
– Cherry ‘Burbank’ scion grafted onto Bing Cherry
– European Plum ‘Coe’s Golden Drop’ grafted onto European Plum (near Vegetable Bed 1)
– European Plum ‘Baray’s Green Gage’ grafted onto European Plum (near Vegetable Bed 1)
– European Plum ‘Old Green Gage’ grafted onto European Plum (near Vegetable Bed 1)

Grafting 2011 Batch 1

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Our Japanese Plum (near the storage) is starting to bloom, so I started grafting some of the Japanese Plum and Apricot scion, which I believe are compatible to Japanese Plum.

– Graft 2011-01 Plum ‘Inca’ scion grafted onto Japanese Plum (near storage)
– Graft 2011-02 Plum ‘Inca’ scion grafted onto Japanese Plum (near storage)
– Graft 2011-03 Sierra Plum scion grafted onto Japanese Plum (near storage)
– Graft 2011-04 Sierra Plum scion grafted onto Japanese Plum (near storage)
– Graft 2011-05 Apricot ‘Large Early Montgamet’ scion grafted onto Apricot

Plum 'Inca' Graft

Apricot 'Large Early Montgamet' Graft

2009 Coleus Rescue Project + First Italian Plum…

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Starting the 2009 Coleus Rescue Project…

My Coleus cuttings from 2009 have been severely neglected, I assumed they were all dead, but many survived. I will they to recut them and make new cuttings. Hopefully, they’ll survive.

I’ll followup with the survivor list…

Picked the first fruit from our big Italian Plum tree… and it was so good!… Still crunchy, but sweet with a slight tang.

Nets + Zinnias + Taro + Dried Snap Peas…

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Earlier I tweeted: Are Gurney’s ( @GurneysDeals ) and Henry Field’s are the same company?… because I am getting identical emails from both of them. I got a responce saying: “yep. Same with springhill and michigan bulb”

When I got home from work, I noticed that my Mom set out the net to catch the Plums Folia that are starting to drop.

It's Falling Plum Time Poor Zinnias

My Zinnias grown from seeds have been in their small cell packs for a while. I haven’t had the time to transfer them into better pots until this evening. I planted them in my Solo drinking cups pots, with each color representing a different variety. By the time I got them all potted, it was already dark outside.

Potted Zinnias

My Mom found some of the Taro in our pantry sprouting. She cut of the growing tips, placed in a bowl with a damped towel and covered with a pastic bag to keep it moist. This evening I took the Taro tips and planted them temporarily in a big cell pack with potting soil, so the root will grow and develop.

Taro Sprouting Taro Planted

Finally, I shelled the old Snap Pea Pod that I put out to dry. I’m not really saving these to plant, so we may use them as food somehow.

Dried Snap Peas Shelled Dried Snap Peas

Father’s Day Gardening…

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After having a great Father’s Day with a big BBQ lunch for my brother… then a short nap… I work in the garden a bit.

I’m slowly cleaning up the Square Foot Beds and this evening I started collecting seeds from the dried up volunteer Wild Calendula plants so I can cut them down to make room for new plants. There were quite a few seeds and I’m sure several dropped before I got to collect them… but those will form the plants for next year.

Dried Wild Calendula Wild Calendula Seeds

As I was cutting the Wild Calendula, my Mom started cutting down the bolting Beets Folia in a nearby square. These Beets are actually pretty old–they were planted May 2008… and I don’t have the heart to chop them down completely. I’ll just let them grow and pick off the young leave to use for greens… though I’m debating weather to move them or just let them stay at there current location.

I noticed that the volunteer Cerinthes Folia are already dropping seeds…

First Plum Harvest

I picked my first Plum Folia fruit from the tree next to the sink. It’s not completely ripe but still good… sweet with a little tartness. Yumm!

A Whole Bunch of Gardening Going On…

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12:45pm I’ll be planting alot soon and almost out of blank plant labels, so I’m erasing (they were written with pencil) used ones to be reused… #

4:06pm Tulips and my Mom’s Azaleas are blooming the the back yard… #

4:19pm Borage, Osteospermum and Snapdragon are blooming… #

4:28pm Comice Pear graft, Asian Pear near sink and Persimmons are starting to open its buds… European Plum near veggie bed is starting to bloom… #

4:31pm Envy, Fruit Smoothie and (Seeds from 2005) Zinnias are sprouting… #<

5:39pm Sowing 3 types of Tomatoes: Black from Tula, Beefsteak and Rutger-Select… #

5:43pm Sowing various Peppers: Emerald Giant, Golden Marconi, Red Bell, Carmagnila Rossa (G3), Sweet Mini Red, Sweet Mini Orange and Thai Dragon… #

5:49pm Sowed other Nighshades: Easter Eggplant, African Orange Eggplant, Congo Trinidad Pepper, Datura Golden Queen and Datura Purple Queen… #

5:54pm Almost forgot to sow the Scarlet Chinese Eggplant (G2) seeds… #

6:36pm My Mom is top dressing her hanging tuberous Begonia with compost… They are starting to sprout… #

6:46pm Sowed some flowers in cell-packs outside: Tithonia Torch, Moonflower, Cleome Rose Queen and Cleome Four Queen… #

6:46pm Sowed even more flowers in cell-packs outside: Orange Butterfly Flower, Blue Flax, Statice Rainbow Mix and Coreopsis Plains Bicolor… #

6:47pm Sowed Strawflower Dwarf Mixed Colors in milk carton container… #

6:50pm Sowed 4 veggies into cell-packs outside: Misome, Miike Purple Giant Mustard, Marvel of Four Seasons Lettuce and Broccoli Raab… #

6:51pm Kiwis, Figs and Pomegranates are starting to leaf out… #

6:54pm It’s been a busy day in the garden and it’s now dark… I would stay out longer to sow more seeds, but the mosquitos are annoying me!… #

10:35pm I noticed that the Sugar Cane now has a second sprout. The first one is about 3 inches now… #

Sowing Okra Tips + Grafting Plums and Cherries…

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  • 3:22pm (from @PAllenSmith) A little tip from Allen’s grandmother: Sow okra seeds in milk overnight to improve germination. #
  • 4:53pm Grafting Plums and Cherries… #