New purchases and Updates on growth

We recently purchased some grape vines from a hobbyist in Colorado, 5 dormant frontenac grapes and 2 Tramenier grape vines . We also received our Gurney’s grape order of 5 Reliant grape vines. They arrived bare root and dormant and so I took the risk of putting them outdoors, heavily mulched.

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Furry butt here is the reason the grapes are caged. Don’t want him getting bored and chewing them up.

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The pistachio tree is doing quite well.

Growing Pistachio Trees from Seed

The apple seeds I’ve been growing are hit and miss, but mostly doing well.

Apple Seedling

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The lone locust tree seedling I have is growing slowly, but growing.

Locust Seedling

My tomato seedlings look…unchanged. I’m doing something wrong, obviously, but I do not know what.

 

I’ve had bug issues. The bamboo brought them into the house. The grapes cuttings I’m trying to root were the worst hit. I’ve since put diatomaceous earth on all of my indoor plants. We shall see if what they say is true, and the bugs die.

 

Everything else is not noticeably different but doing well.

I have planted out the hill I built for the kids slide, mulched it and tried my best to keep the mulch in place. I’m hoping in a few weeks I will be able to remove the fencing.

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The birds enjoyed making it into the yard, usually heavily guarded by dogs. The ducks took the most advantage, though a few chickens came in. We had to escort everyone out before dinner, so the dogs could go back out. This gave the kids an opportunity to pet a chicken.

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Yesterday we also brought home a new peacock, to replace the one that was killed by the dogs. He’s an india blue black shoulder. He had some broken feathers in transit but is still looking mighty fine. The kids took the opportunity, while the pea decided whether to come out of the cage or not, to pet his long tail and peak in on him.

peaking at the new boy petting the boy Unsure boy

We hope he adjusts well and that we can open the door to the barn again soon. They’ll all be locked in there until we are sure the new pea won’t fly away.

Here are a few extra, gratuitous pictures.

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Cold Hardy Pistachio Experiment

Cold Hardy Pistachio Experiment

After finding this post on Permies.com I had to try to grow pistachio on the farm. So I went to Ebay and purchased some seeds from someone in Turkey. They took a few weeks to arrive but arrive they did.

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Ok. Great. They arrived and I didn’t research them at all. Quick Google of planting pistachio from seed. I see that a potassium nitrate mixture is said to help with germination rates. So I IM my husband to find out what household chemicals we can use to make potassium nitrate. I give him no context, just: “What household stuff can we mix to make potassium nitrate?” He replies with an explanation that includes a toxic gas byproduct. In typical fashion I ponder this for a few moments before asking him if soaking a banana peel in water won’t do the trick. I am sure that his brow furrowed as he saw that piece of brilliance pop up on his computer. I admit, bananas are the only thing I’m aware of with potassium. Sad, I know. At this point he requests information on WHY I want potassium nitrate. I think he saw that conversation going no where really fast. Anyway, I ended up soaking the seeds without the mixture added, as I am far too impatient to start to wait for an order to arrive in the mail.

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I soaked them in simple well water overnight. Some of the seeds floated and some did not. I assume the floating seeds will not germinate but I planted them out anyway.

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Sending good thoughts to this seed. Grow baby grow!

After soaking I planted the seeds out in one of my favorite containers, a plastic egg carton. They make eggcelent mini greenhouses. I also like how they allow me to see how things are developing.

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And now, we wait.