The Dawg Patch

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PlainJane
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#681

Post: # 70109Unread post PlainJane
Fri May 20, 2022 3:26 pm

Love the garlic flower head.
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

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GoDawgs
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My Bad!

#682

Post: # 70170Unread post GoDawgs
Sat May 21, 2022 7:04 am

PlainJane wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 3:26 pm Love the garlic flower head.
Well, DUH! It's NOT a garlic flower. It's a LEEK! "Haste makes waste."

Thanks to any who realized my error and didn't mention it. My embarassment has already punished me enough :lol:

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GoDawgs
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The Kohlrabi Surprise!

#683

Post: # 70212Unread post GoDawgs
Sat May 21, 2022 2:36 pm

Speaking of the alien leek, today the flower was completely popped out, it's now-useless cover hanging by its side. And just as I expected, the flower looks just like an overgrown scallion or onion flower.

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I harvested the next to last kohlrabi this morning. Talk about another alien looking plant!

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For those who have never met a kohlrabi, the flavor is mild, kind of a cross between a cabbage and a turnip. We like them sliced or chunked and steamed, baked in a gratin or shredded for a salad with a mustard based vinaigrette. Just cut the leaves off and peel, just like you would with a turnip.

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And one surprise! I had let one kohlrabi from the fall planting keep growing so it could bloom and I'd collect the seed. It still hasn't bloomed, just gotten a lot bigger. So I took a closer look and was amazed to find it making baby kohlrabis along its length!

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I didn't know it would do this. After a cabbage is cut and if it's left alone, I've seen it produce small mini cabbages around the cut, maybe about Brussel sprout size. Since kohlrabi is in the same family, I guess it does kind of the same thing but in its own way. Who knew? Not me! I'm going to let it keep going and growing as long as it can just to see how big these secondaries will get.

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PlainJane
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#684

Post: # 70242Unread post PlainJane
Sun May 22, 2022 6:28 am

Am hoarding my last kohlrabi and it’s getting very odd looking indeed.
My mum turned me on to kohlrabi many years ago but I rarely see it in markets here.
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

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GoDawgs
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#685

Post: # 70481Unread post GoDawgs
Thu May 26, 2022 6:59 am

The rain is making plants really jump in the garden. A few days ago I pounded in stakes on both sides of the bean rows for running twine up and down the rows. It keeps the plants from flopping and makes picking easier. Yesterday I noticed that the new growth meant it was time for the first line of twine. A second tier will be added later when necessary. BTW, I like to keep the baling twine in a plastic shopping bag so that when it gets low it won't all unravel from the middle and make a huge fur ball of twine!

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Three of the sweet potato plants are starting to run but the runners aren't long enough yet to start weaving them into the trellis. As fast as they grow it won't be long!

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Peas were picked again and I think they probably peaked with the prior picking and are on the downhill side of producing. Two weeks is the usual run. When they are done and pulled out, one bed will be replaced with Red Ripper field peas.

I got the first Gypsy and first jalapeno pepper yesterday. Then I noticed that two 'Margaret's Pepper' are about ready. Margaret's is a rather compact plant and would probably do well in a pot. It just might be a candidate for digging/repotting/overwintering in the house or just growing a new one indoors for an early jump on next spring.

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I noticed yesterday that the Silver Queen corn is touching the top of the low netting:squirrel exclusion" tunnel. Today I will remove that, weed and fertilize. It's at the 5-leaf stage so it's time for a dose of ammonium sulfate. If the squirrels start messing with it I intend to put a 3' tall wall of netting around the bed. My guess is that with their little claws, their feet will be really unhappy getting tangled in netting. Serves them right.

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karstopography
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#686

Post: # 70527Unread post karstopography
Fri May 27, 2022 5:58 am

The black polymer netting Lowes and HD sells is pretty effective on squirrels, maybe not 100%, but way, way better than zero percent. They won’t casually wander into the garden digging here, nibbling there and causing general mayhem with the nets securely in place. A determined squirrel will try to bite a tomato through the netting that is near the netting itself. A determined to get at the tomatoes squirrel will work hard to find any entry point if given enough time. I’ve yet to observe a squirrel climb the netting. I’ve observed two squirrels inside the perimeter of the netting, both squirrels panicked to find a way out and didn’t attempt or were unsuccessful attempting to climb the nets to escape.

One net inexplicably split about 2’ feet vertically in length near the raised bed frame level, so near the ground and I repaired that split with zip ties. Squirrels are able to locate splits. The split wasn’t gnawed open, the splitting will remain just one of those mysteries that will never be solved. Thor’s lightning bolts, an evil jinn conjuring up sudden and unforecasted tempests, garden fairies, The spirit of Adelaide *(previous owner of property), any and all of those can and have caused mysteries and mischief in the garden.

If a squirrel does somehow manage to find itself inside a net, such as a mysterious split in the net for example, just be ready for a panic attack. The squirrel’s, the dog’s, whatever humans are nearby, it will be one agitated and worked up rodent and worked up rodents tend spread the agitation around freely.
Zone 9b, located in the Columbia bottomlands, annual rainfall 46”

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GoDawgs
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#687

Post: # 70530Unread post GoDawgs
Fri May 27, 2022 7:23 am

I did take the tunnel off yesterday, weeded, fertilized and mulched. I will see this morning if anything was bothered.

And we got another half inch of rain. Those beans are jumping so fast I might have to run the second level of twine already!

friedgreen51
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#688

Post: # 70539Unread post friedgreen51
Fri May 27, 2022 10:49 am

GoDawgs wrote: Thu May 26, 2022 6:59 am The rain is making plants really jump in the garden. A few days ago I pounded in stakes on both sides of the bean rows for running twine up and down the rows. It keeps the plants from flopping and makes picking easier. Yesterday I noticed that the new growth meant it was time for the first line of twine. A second tier will be added later when necessary. BTW, I like to keep the baling twine in a plastic shopping bag so that when it gets low it won't all unravel from the middle and make a huge fur ball of twine!

Image

Three of the sweet potato plants are starting to run but the runners aren't long enough yet to start weaving them into the trellis. As fast as they grow it won't be long!

Image

Peas were picked again and I think they probably peaked with the prior picking and are on the downhill side of producing. Two weeks is the usual run. When they are done and pulled out, one bed will be replaced with Red Ripper field peas.

I got the first Gypsy and first jalapeno pepper yesterday. Then I noticed that two 'Margaret's Pepper' are about ready. Margaret's is a rather compact plant and would probably do well in a pot. It just might be a candidate for digging/repotting/overwintering in the house or just growing a new one indoors for an early jump on next spring.

Image

I noticed yesterday that the Silver Queen corn is touching the top of the low netting:squirrel exclusion" tunnel. Today I will remove that, weed and fertilize. It's at the 5-leaf stage so it's time for a dose of ammonium sulfate. If the squirrels start messing with it I intend to put a 3' tall wall of netting around the bed. My guess is that with their little claws, their feet will be really unhappy getting tangled in netting. Serves them right.
I am trying sweet potatoes for the first time in a number of years. I am late but with the long growing season here I should get a decent yield. I noticed the black collars around your plants. What are they and what purpose do they serve? Thanks

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GoDawgs
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#689

Post: # 70544Unread post GoDawgs
Fri May 27, 2022 11:53 am

@friedgreen51, I call those "watering collars". They were something I came up with after seeing water just run down the sides of the planting ridge when I watered the sweet potato slips. I wanted the water to stay right there so it would soak down and actually water the plants, not run off. So I cut the top 4" off of some old one gallon pots I had and nestled them down into the soil around the plants. Worked like a charm!

This is an uncut one gallon pot and a "collar" cut off of another one.

Image

friedgreen51
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#690

Post: # 70552Unread post friedgreen51
Fri May 27, 2022 2:16 pm

Thanks! Great idea. I know keeping the slips well watered is key to their success.

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GoDawgs
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#691

Post: # 70592Unread post GoDawgs
Sat May 28, 2022 6:31 am

I went ahead and ran the second level of twine on that bean bed yesterday just before they needed it. Growing so fast! We've had temps in the 80's with clouds so they're enjoying the heck out of that.

The netting is off the Silver Queen corn now and so far no squirrel damage. I fertilized it, weeded the bed and mulched so it shouldn't need anymore attention until the last fertilizer until it starts to silk and tassel.Hmmm, forgot about twine. Later on when they get tall I'll have to run twine around the bed to minimize storm blow-over

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The cukes have finally fallen over and are starting to run. They always head east so they'll eventually have to be gently turned back towards the bed. Cuke :rolleyes: and sweet potato vine guidance is a regular thing, eventually joined by snake beans.

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This is Pickles' annual sunflower bed with sunflowers on the outside and cukes down the middle to eventually act as "living ground cover". This year she's growing 'Beach' sunflowers, a shorter variety that's supposed to be good for drawing in pollinators. They were really pretty last year.

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Hopefully she'll patrol the bed to make sure the cukes aren't trying to climb and pull down the sunflowers! It's happened before!

Last night I ordered two different kinds of leek seed for the fall. Right now I have King Sieg, an early variety. It will be joined by Carantan (a mid season) and Autumn Giant (a later variety). I'm thinking one row of each to extend the leek harvest.

Now that the spring/summer garden is in, up and running, it's already time to start a little thinking about fall. :o

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GoDawgs
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Danged Squirrels In The Corn EARLY!

#692

Post: # 70648Unread post GoDawgs
Sun May 29, 2022 6:54 am

I removed the netting from the Incredible corn (now 3' tall) as it was starting to push against it. The rationale was that the squirrels were just looking for that freshly planted corn seeds and tender new shoots. For three days all was well until yesterday when four stalks were chewed down and munched on.

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The corn's too big for a tunnel so I decided to make a 3' "wall" of netting around the bed, figuring that the bird netting I use (1/2" mesh) is so aggravating (it catches on everything) that the squirrels would avoid it after getting their little claws all tangled in it. Four t-posts per side, 1/2" pvc pipe tied to it so I could attach the netting to the pipes with the clips I have.

Unfortunately all t-posts were in use but one of the two pea beds is about done so I had to pull out those peas, take down the trellis and pull the t-posts for corn duty. Once I got all that mess cleaned up I was able to start on the corn bed. Nothing like having to do a project to get to another one!

Posts and pipes in place, I clipped the netting to it. The netting is 6.5' wide so after the edge was clipped to the 3' tall pipes there was a lot of excess at the bottom. That got rolled and shoved onto the bed edge. To secure the netting to the bed side boards I pounded in some 1.5" brads at a downward angle and hooked the netting to each nail to make it tight.

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Well, that took care of that bed. Then I had to deal with the other corn bed on the other end of the garden. It’s about 1.5’ tall and had its low tunnel removed a few days ago because it too was outgrowing it. Can’t tempt the squirrels! In a few days more t-posts will be available when the other pea bed is finished. Until then I put up a quick netting wall by shoving old thin tent pole segments into the ground, putting 3’ pvc pipe pieces over them, clipping on the netting and laying some long 2x2 pieces of wood along the edges on top of the excess netting instead of going through the long process of putting in nails. The poles aren't straight (a result of tightening and clipping) but I don't care. It's temporary until I free up the other t-posts. I'm not buying eight more t-posts!

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The t-posts will also eventually be strung with baling twine to help reduce storm blow down. It worked pretty good last year so they’ll do double duty this year as the netting will need to stay on all the way through harvest.

Gardening is definitely an exercise in troubleshooting!

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PlainJane
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#693

Post: # 70652Unread post PlainJane
Sun May 29, 2022 7:26 am

Lol, truer words never spoken!
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

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Whwoz
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#694

Post: # 70699Unread post Whwoz
Sun May 29, 2022 5:25 pm

@GoDawgs sounds like you need a little dog trained to hunt squirrel, thinking a Jack Russell Terrier would be great.

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GoDawgs
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#695

Post: # 70725Unread post GoDawgs
Mon May 30, 2022 8:07 am

Some of garlic leaves are starting to brown more. The last time I pulled a bulb to check proigress only half of it had formed cloves and the rest was still round. Yesterday afternoon I pulled another one and I think they're about ready. This is Lorz Italian and planted the full length of the bed in the photo.

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Then I noticed that the Russian Inferno (half a bed length on the other side) is putting out scapes so I cut them and they'll be used in some kind of stirfry today,

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The older batch of micro tomatoes now lives on the front porch. They were started at the beginning of January.

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The new batch of micros, all different from the first batch, were started from seed April 14 and are under the lights vacated by the older ones. They're now blooming and I see little green bb's forming here and there.

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One of the new ones,' Andrina', is loaded with flowers! I'll probably have to shove in a small stake when they all form cherry tomatoes!

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This is 'Totem', taller than the rest of them:

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And finally, when I tore out the pea bed the other day I spied a plant that looked familiar. Yep, a volunteer sweet potato. They were grown in that bed last year. Today I'm going to fork that bed and get ready to plant something else but the sweet potato will stay. Such persistance should be rewarded. :D

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PlainJane
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#696

Post: # 70729Unread post PlainJane
Mon May 30, 2022 9:04 am

You’re getting great results from your micros - nice!
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

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GoDawgs
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#697

Post: # 70738Unread post GoDawgs
Mon May 30, 2022 11:05 am

Whwoz wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 5:25 pm @GoDawgs sounds like you need a little dog trained to hunt squirrel, thinking a Jack Russell Terrier would be great.
Oh my.... I don't think the two cats here would appreciate that, especially a high strung Jack Russell. I can just imagine it hunting poor Herman and Lester. :D

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GoDawgs
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#698

Post: # 70739Unread post GoDawgs
Mon May 30, 2022 11:06 am

PlainJane wrote: Mon May 30, 2022 9:04 am You’re getting great results from your micros - nice!
They're just so much fun and sure scratched that middle of winter gardening itch. Perfect for that!

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worth1
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#699

Post: # 70743Unread post worth1
Mon May 30, 2022 11:29 am

GoDawgs wrote: Mon May 30, 2022 11:05 am
Whwoz wrote: Sun May 29, 2022 5:25 pm @GoDawgs sounds like you need a little dog trained to hunt squirrel, thinking a Jack Russell Terrier would be great.
Oh my.... I don't think the two cats here would appreciate that, especially a high strung Jack Russell. I can just imagine it hunting poor Herman and Lester. :D
I've had more than a few cats that would set one in its place.
They wouldn't run and instead go on the attack.
Sylvester took down a fun grown German Shepherd and a full grown Pit Bull.
Neither dog wanted anything to do with cats after that.
My veterinarian had a Jack Russell and it stayed clear of Cruiser.
Cruiser was 31 inches long and twice the size of the Jack Russell.
Both cats hunted squirrels and they attacked on command.
Worth
25 miles southeast of Waterloo Texas.

You can't argue with a closed mind.
You might as well be arguing with a cat.

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GoDawgs
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#700

Post: # 70865Unread post GoDawgs
Wed Jun 01, 2022 6:25 am

Two days ago the last of the peas and the first yellow squash were picked.

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Yesterday I got two more nice squash so I weighed the three and they were 1.5 lbs. The new grocery circular is advertising squash for $1.47/lb so what I picked is $2.29 (tax included) that stays in my pocket!

Nine days ago I pulled out the finished Cascade snap peas and decided to put in some Cherokee Trail Of Tears pole beans. They can be used at both the snap and shelly stage and they dry really well. Behind them is a section of Arkansas Little Leaf cuke and one of Beit Alpha cuke just to try them. They're growing very slowly.

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This is a different bed and it looks a little like a jungle right now. In the foreground on the two corners are the two pigeon pea plants that I'm playing with. Behind them are two hills of watermelon, one 'Stone Mountain' and one 'Charleston Gray'. Behind the melons is the surviving row of Yukon Gold potatoes, They're flowering now. Behind the potatoes in front of the trellis are Pickles' big sunflowers and behind those are the Jerusalem artichokes. Quite a mix!

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The sweet potatoes are starting to run so it will be a daily thing to guide the runners to and through the trellis.

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And finally, the first Sunday Gloves daylily is blooming. It was transplanted in the fall and apparently is very happy as it's loaded with buds. :)

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