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#ithaca

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Raye :tattoo_butt:

I went out and got my double jab. Although a short walk from where I live to the pharmacy, I still felt my fingers and toes get cold inside my gloves and boots.

All manner of winter weather is in tonight’s forecast, I think it’s time for some hardcore hunkering down.

Looking down from the bridge at Cayuga Street onto the semi-frozen Cascadilla Creek. The creek is several feet below street level. Brown, dead grasses and plants line the edges where the concrete walls meet the creek. Between one and two feet of ice is meanderingly formed along the edges of the flowing water. The center of the creek is still flowing fairly vigorously, and is a milky white instead of clear.
Screenshot from a weather app, showing that when I went for my vaccination appointment, it was 19F (-7.2C) but with the wind chill factored in, it felt more like -3F (-19.4C).
#Ithaca
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Raye :tattoo_butt:

The three days with warm, summery afternoons and really crisp autumn overnights we just had cranked up the leaf color, and it’s clear more leaves are coming down. The location of a couple of yesterday’s errands meant I could use Cascadilla Gorge Trail (located in downtown Ithaca, leading onto the Cornell campus) to get to two of them.

Cascadilla Gorge is a series of waterfalls, and this is the first one when you start walking the trail from the park on Linn St. Golden trees stand above a thin waterfall spilling down stone ledges.
Shallow pools step the creek down towards the park on Linn St, surrounded by glacier-carved Llenroc walls. “Llenroc” is the name given to the specific type of stone found in Ithaca, and yes, the name of the stone is Cornell spelled backwards. This section is above the first falls, where the creek makes a gentle turn, and in good weather people like to take off their shoes and walk into the ankle-deep water here.
A stone bridge allows walkers to cross the creek in a section where there are many very short waterfalls. This bridge and pathway section that you reach after climbing steps below the Stewart St bridge is one of my favorite parts.
Final falls, below Stone Arch Bridge/College Ave. stone steps lead to stairs on the right hand side of the falls. Golden trees line the gorge.
#Autumn#Ithaca#Trees
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Raye :tattoo_butt:

It's Oct 22, I have had saffron blooming for 11 days, and have only had four flowers open. However, last evening I told a friend I had 60 corm tips or leaves showing, and this morning there are 74 tips/leaves emerged. Corms are waking up and growing. Two years ago the crop bloomed from mid-November into December. I just need to keep observing.

I made the executive decision to allow the saffron to fend for itself while I travel even if that means I lose spice to weather exposure. I was considering asking the downstairs neighbor who works from home, but the clear sounds of coughing from both members of the couple over this last week made me decide otherwise. Making the simpler/easier decision is not bad at all.

A single open saffron blossom lies inside a hammered steel bowl. The reflective surface adds to the appearance of the purple petals. Lavender purple petals with dark purple veining surround three bright yellow stamen and three red stigmas.
#Saffron#Gardening#Ithaca
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Raye :tattoo_butt:

This is one of the slowest rollouts of saffron flowers in my growing history. I have the planters swapped around so that the one showing the least development so far is now in the sunniest spot.

I stirred the top inch or so of the soil to lessen pooling and run-off when I water, and to prevent pockets from forming along the sides of the fabric liners when the soil contracts as it dries. I have been a little mechanical in my watering and am going to try to be more random/natural.

A single flower comes up from a corm that has already put up greens. Next to and behind it, lots of green tips are showing above the dirt. This is the fourth flower, and it’s from the third planter to produce a flower.
#Saffron#Gardening#Ithaca
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Raye :tattoo_butt:

When I checked the saffron planters around 6:30am today, I had nothing but some leaves emerging, but when I walked out there to get some fresh air around 2:30pm, that all changed.

Here is what I have been waiting for: the first flower.

Everybody, I’d like to introduce you to Saffron. Saffron, everybody. I will allow this flower to emerge and open further before I pick it.

A long lavender flower can be seen emerging alongside the slim green leaves. At the leading tip, there is a bit of red. The saffron threads are enclosed by the pale purple flower petals, and the fluted ends of the red stigmas just barely stick out.
#Saffron#Florespondence#Bloomscrolling
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Raye :tattoo_butt:

Went to look at the weather to see if I have any chance of aurora sighting, and find a big red FROST ADVISORY on my weather page. Our first frost looks like it may happen tonight.

This coming saffron service day I should dig out a few of the black, synthetic, moving blankets that are in the closet and wrap the planters so they have more thermal mass. Because they are under cover and need to be watered by me, the dangers of soaking or freezing wet should be minimized.

One planter's wire cover dips almost right down to the dirt and there have been signs of little grabby hands so I am meditating on a differently-shaped cover that would encompass the coming flowers more fully. The squirrels may be up to their little fuzzy chins in acorns and chestnuts, but there's no way they're going to ignore these flowers. I can just tell.

At any time now, the flowers could begin. By which I mean my most important annual garden event and spiritual holiday will begin.

A thin trench has been dug in the dirt of one planter, without lifting the wire top, revealing a couple of corms about to put spike up above the dirt. I imagine the culprit squirrel just stood on the wire and reached through with little grabby hands. I suspect they smell the corms or otherwise can sense what's coming through the dirt. Nothing can be pulled up, but once the bloom starts, nibbling is a danger. Usually the flower petals would be nibbled/mangled, leaving the spice intact, but really, I want no squirrel nibbles. Still have ample poultry wire, and already have an idea for a new cover shape. Having had rare squirrel nibbles in my saffron bed in Seattle, I can tell my balcony planter location emboldens the squirrels here.
In the center of the image, one white spike can be seen protruding from the dirt. The bulk of spikes coming up first are producing tiny leaves, often a sign of an immature corm that can't make a flower yet. This corm is so thick and has come up from the dirt further than the others, but has not yet made leaves and I wonder if this might be where I see my first flower?
#Saffron#Gardening#Plants
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Raye :tattoo_butt:

Sunday means saffron service day. Even with corms coming up in two boxes, I added one more bag of potting soil across the four planters. I watered today too, and barely had any run-thru which is what I was going for. I also rebuilt the wire planter lids, they are more structured, and are secured to the planters.

Two planters that have just been topped-up with a bit more dirt. Saffron crocus should be planted deeper than spring crocus, which is hard to do in small planters. I watered by measuring with a jar into the watering can, giving each planter the same amount. This worked better to not have much liquid soaking through and falling out of the boxes.
The chicken wire lids have become proper box tops now, being formed more precisely to the shape with three edges that overlap, the fourth side hinged with zip ties, and a “lock” on the front made of twist-ties. In this partial shot of a planter lid, a black zip tie hinge can be seen along the back edge of the chicken wire, in the center. Likewise, the center front edge of the lid is where a white zip-tie piece twists shut to lock the wire lid. I hope the Cornell squirrels are not smarter than this.
#Saffron#Gardening#Plants
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Raye :tattoo_butt:

This Sunday I did one of my most important saffron rituals. I think of it as The Confirmation, or The Reassurance. It’s the point where I dig down into the saffron planters to reassure myself, or get confirmation, that the saffron is beginning the bloom.

One month ago, all the corms went from being packed for travel to back into an environment designed to foster growing. Today I picked one planter, and dug straight down in the center, where I know more corms are located. The very first one I found looks like it has a whitish spike with a faint tint of green coming out of it. That white tube is going to grow to the surface and a mature flower and/or green leaves will emerge. It will still be a few weeks for that much growth to take place, but I have confirmation that the bloom is beginning and I am reassured that the corms are alive and doing their thing.

In the center of a visual field of dirt full of amendments and perlite, a slim whitish spike can be seen sticking up. That’s the saffron corm beginning the blooming process. A fully mature flower is going to be produced, that’s why these get called “corms” instead of “bulbs.”
#Saffron#Gardening#Plants
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Raye :tattoo_butt:

I got more potting soil to top off the planters this week. Three bags of Happy Frog, and there is probably room for a fourth one. I took a bathroom break after adding dirt, made tea, and then went back out to put the chicken wire back on.

Something clearly inspected my dirt. 🐿️ Nothing was left by the inspector, and the saffron was still several inches below the inspecting.

An empty bag for Happy Frog brand potting soil. Each of these was 12 quarts, and I added three across the four planters. After things settle, I may get one more.
Dents and divots in the dirt surface show evidence of squirrel predation. No saffron was uncovered or harmed. My mentor in WA who grew a quarter-acre of saffron had wire mesh on the ground to deter digging, and fencing. It was a fence failure and the destruction of an entire crop’s worth of their necessary winter leaves by deer that brought his saffron growing to an end. This had occurred before in his farming career several times, but this last time with him now in his later 60s, he just didn’t feel like he had it in him to restart from scratch again.
#Saffron#Gardening#Plants
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