The Blairmont Apple Project

 After chores and all; got out and got a few grafts done. Shockley, Cranberry of Georgia, King Solomon, Park's Pippin, Terry Winter and Yates. Also figured out a rabbit ears graft of Circassian on a big piece of G.214.  Still like the cheapo grafting tool. And the knife sent even though it is a double bevel. I need to get out and re-profile the other two knives. But the included knife keeps up good work..

 Already very wet here and it just added to it. The pond is about 2.5 feet from over topping. The old dry creek bed that feeds the swamp is 6 - 8 feet deep in water now. The orchard greenhouse and blueberry and grape areas are in 3 inches of water.   Clearly little is happening on the project. Still needing to till up the compost pile is the next priority.

 Got Disharoon, Pionier {Romainian} and Piervomaiskoie grafted today. Need to make more soil. 

  Have to admit I was hopeful and anxious about how this blade/tool combination worked. Sure you would get a strong graft. But the cambium layer? How would they line up?  Well interestingly enough I noticed even if a scion/root stock mismatched; you can eyeball the cutter to make a great line up. So anyway I felt it would be sacrilegious to not do Blairmont on the first graft. And soon it was sitting in the field in a pot. I also grafted P.1 on M111 and Kaido on M111. Both have resistance M111 does not have. And I felt M111 would bring good vegetative growth for cuttings. Lastly I planted mother trees of G.214, M111 and P.2. Roots on root stocks? All looked good. G.214 had plenty of feathery roots. Can't do a lot more today. Have to get potting soil. And must take the tiller to break the compost pile up. A nearby farm has tested and graded compost soil with no added nitrogen. For a great price by the bucket{about 12 50 pound bags} Also have to settle on my feed bags and how to best

 A lovely 22lb box of root stock arrived. It is really hard to believe M111 are "regrades". They look great. The Polish P.2 looks curiously athletic for a dwarf stock. A bit of curving, but still pretty good looking. Then the G.214. Well ok. It is a bit crooked. But otherwise quite healthy. It will work. All the root balls seem substantial. Will not see them until tomorrow when I start grafting. I think my new grafting tool will work just fine. In fact I will likely switch to the Omega cutting blade to make stronger unions.

 Well our little greenhouse is erected and covered. Moved 2 long tables inside and placed the weekend's plant projects inside ahead of the little cold snap arriving tonight.  Our greenhouse came together nicely from simple materials. 4 - 8 foot wood posts. Two hog panels, Thick plastic wrap{uv resistant} , a couple dozen tie wraps, handful of nails. 3 long 1 x 6 treated boards; and a staple gun with 1/2" staples.  All together you get a walk in 6'5" 'ish tall shed. Open on one end but a door could easily be installed. We have two long tables with realistic room for a third. But why we liked this design? You can hang pots easily courtesy of the hog panels. It was very windy tonight and it has not phased it at all. Down to waiting now. Tools, knives and tape arrive tomorrow. 150 rootstock are somewhere headed here. I can not say enough good stuff about https://www.treco.nu/ They are great folks to deal with. Probably the most knowledgeable and helpful rootstock com

 Been a busy weekend. Got a lot of chores done. Got the mower and tiller going. Explored the composted mulch pile and got about 100 pounds out. Mixed it with potting soil and manure compost. Potted many figs and some grapes. Even got the greenhouse/workshop erected but not covered yet. Looking forward to the rootstock arriving. Still have to get labels.

 Pretty busy today. Got rooted Camilla's in pots. Put a ton of Plumbago's on soak. Watered the wifes trees. Grapes blooming. Anna Apples finally getting in gear. Many Black berries are now pushing up shoots. Some top grafts are plumping up.Two Dorsett Golds have now leafed. Circassians as well. One Kaido appears to have died. Will give it a few more days. Getting supplies to pot up many apple rooted cuttings and lots of fig cuttings this weekend. Just about to get rootstock ordered within a week.

 Well. The Apple tree fairy bought me a Cripp's Pink tree outta the blue. A great deal on a 2 year old tree too. $21. In other news, Dorset Gold is finally blooming. Nothing from Anna. Which is still green and very bendy.

 So apple scion ordering has just about dried out now. Thanks to Southern Orchards in Mississippi I managed to add a couple of very rare Georgia apples today. Barring a Scion fairy appearing; I got a lot of things to work on. Apples we got: Blairmont Circassian Coffey Seedling Cranberry of North Georgia Golden Harvey Hackworth Hoover Hudson Golden Gem Husk Sweet Kaido Crab King Solomon Magnolia Gold Norfolk Beefing P.1 { a rootstock} Park's Pippin Piervomaiskoie Pionier Rouville Shockley St. Anna Rode Boskoff Red Detroit Tanyard Seedling Tar Button Terry Winters Wallace Howard Wickson Yates Georgia Origin Apples I missed out on: Black Limbertwig Disharoon Mr’s Bryan Old Fashioned Limbertwig Rabun Bald San Jancinto Spice of North Georgia Anyway. I have some tools to order and on to a rootstock buy.

 Many new Georgia Origin apples {8 plus 2 Southern Classics}are now in the house courtesy of Horse Creek. Cranberry of N.GA Hackworth  King Solomon  Park's Pippin Shockley  Tar Button  Terry Winters  Yates  Coffey Seedling{Dula Beauty} Husk Sweet