Grafting and other stuff

Yesterday I grafted three different plums (Golden Nectar, Golden Transparent Gage, and Reine de Mirabelle) onto the sprouting rootstock of a plum that died (the part above the graft died, that is, but the rootstock is thriving). I'm dubious about my ability to graft and don't have high expectations, but I thought I should give it a shot. If they take, great. If not, I'll plant a new plum next year. It's funny, there are many things I can be careful and patient about, yet others I can't seem to summon up the patience to do a good, careful job. Grafting, alas, falls in the latter category. The knowledge that more grafts fail than take, especially for beginners, may contribute. I'm not expecting it to work, so I'm doom myself from the start. The power of negative thinking, eh?

In other yardwork, we cut back two overgrown evergreens by the pergola that overhung our path from the back door to the driveway and dripped rain on us. Just in time, it's raining again today, and predicted to do so for the next 10 days as well. magscanner's new toy, an electric hedge trimmer, performed mightily.

Much of my other time has been devoted to prep for the sustainable vegetable gardening class I'm teaching. It starts Tuesday -- did I mention it's full, 40 people? Woohoo.  There are lots of handouts for the first class, and lots of samples for show & tell (the topic is soils, amendments, and mulches), but I think I've got it all organized.

I'm going off to see the Body Worlds 2 exhibit today with a group of friends. At least it's not the very last day (closes Saturday).

I think some office clean up is on the horizon before I go off. In the course of prepping for the class, I moved a large stack of stuff to get to an empty file box which is now being used to transport course materials, but had just been sitting in the middle of my floor for no good reason. If I process the stack, I'll really have cleared the space. Woohoo again.

No comment hooks here, folks. Move along.