The Dawg Patch

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rdback
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#621

Post: # 58635Unread post rdback
Sun Dec 05, 2021 10:33 am

Nice pickins @GoDawgs.

On a side note, I don't know what you did different, but the pic above loaded 10 times faster than your other photos, which was refreshing!

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GoDawgs
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#622

Post: # 58669Unread post GoDawgs
Sun Dec 05, 2021 2:55 pm

@rdback , thanks for that feedback about the photos loading faster! My old Mac computer died in September and I got a Windows HP to replace it. Still learning to use stuff on it.

I now have to use Windows Photo which seems to be saving pics downloaded from my camera at a larger size than iPhoto did and I wasn't happy with that. Too much download time. So I spent about an hour this morning trying to figure it all out and finally found how to resize photos to Small. I also found how to finagle them into my e-mails both as in line pics and as attachments. There were some hiccups there too. But it looks like the problem is solved.

I can't check to see what size my old camera takes photos at as the LED screen is dead. I can still use the camera though because it has a view finder! Old ways come in handy sometimes. ;)

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#623

Post: # 58766Unread post GoDawgs
Tue Dec 07, 2021 1:35 pm

And so it begins. The first seeds started for 2022. The scallions are just poking up. They'll be set out about two months from now. This year I'm going to make an effort to keep starting more periodically so I don't run out. That may not work out in the summer heat but I might play with growing those in a window box on the porch where it's a bit cooler.

Then there's one beet seed up; just a little red thing in the front center of the container on the right. I read where you can transplant beet seedlings but you have to do it right after the first true leaves appear. I never knew you could do that. Guessing it's got to happen before the tap root gets going. So this is a test with just six plants to be grown in a bucket. Something to play with in the off season.

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#624

Post: # 58773Unread post Whwoz
Tue Dec 07, 2021 3:51 pm

GoDawgs,beet seedlings can be transplanted at any height, often do them at 2 to 3 inches high without problems

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Off Season Play

#625

Post: # 59116Unread post GoDawgs
Tue Dec 14, 2021 5:28 pm

Four days ago I started some germination tests on three kinds of corn from my stash in the freezer using the damp paper towel in a baggie method. There were ten seeds each of Spring Treat (2019), Golden Bantam (2018) and Silver Queen (2017). I just checked them and both Golden Bantam and Silver Queen had 100% germination. The Spring Treat was at 50% so I wrapped them back up and will wait a few more days to see if any more pop.

Apparently there's no more Spring Treat out there. That's too bad as it's a nice 67 day yellow se that will germinate in cooler soils which is why I started growing it. I'd plant it mid April and be eating corn in June while waiting for the Silver Queen to finish around the Fourth of July. Corn finishes here faster than the stated DTM. First picking of the last Spring Treat was just 48 days from sowing and Silver Queen, an 88 DTM, regularly finishes in about 68 days.

If 50% is all that is viable, I still have enough seed to do plant half a bed of circles. And although it's a hybrid, if the squirrels and raccoons don't destroy it, I'd like to let it dry down, collect the seed and see what it produces the following year. And I'll probably grow off the stored Silver Queen and replace it with fresh. The Golden Bantam has never been grown here but I think I will this spring. The pack was a gift I never got around to growing.

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#626

Post: # 59579Unread post GoDawgs
Thu Dec 23, 2021 7:08 am

The fall garden keeps chugging along through all these temperature ups and downs. I cut the last head of broccoli last week but the plants have been producing some nice side shoots for salads. Yesterday I pulled more Bolero carrots. That and Envy are the two carrots I found that consistently do well in this garden. Since they're both hybrids I'm still playing with heirlooms now and then trying to find a consistently good one.

21.12.22 Bolero carrots.JPG
The cabbages are doing well and the succession planting is working well to keep me from having an avalanche of cabbage all at once. There were two plantings about two weeks apart and the three varieties are all different maturities. Stonehead (55 days), Early Jersey Wakefield (64 days) and Savoy Perfection (92 days). The shortening of day length is also spreading out the finishes. These are the Wakefields in the front with one of the Savoys in the back left. The other plants in the back are two of the four Winter Gigant kohlrabi, a toy to see just how big they get!


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This bed has scallions down the right side and leeks down the left. I'm starting to pull some scallions. The scallions were also staggered with half of the bed planted in Evergreen Bunching and then a month later the Warrior scallions. This is the first time I'm having success (so far) with leeks. They are King Sieg.

21.12.22 Leeks (L), scallions (R).JPG

Finally, I've left one Packman broccoli head go to seed for collection. Packman's a hybrid but it's been around so long it just might be stable so I'll collect some seed and plant some out this spring. More fun playing in the garden!

21.12.22 Blooming Packman head.JPG
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#627

Post: # 59712Unread post GoDawgs
Sat Dec 25, 2021 9:27 am

Merry Christmas to all! Santa has come and gone, the coffee mug is empty and it's time to get on with the day.

The other day I went to check the garden and it's liking these milder days we're having. This afternoon it will get up to 72. On Jan 1 I'm going to start another pack of scallions and the first round of brassicas will be started Jan 15.

The garlic bed is looking good. I mulched the bed with leaves and then the nearby pecan tree finished the job.

21.12.22 Garlic bed.JPG
There's also a cauliflower head almost ready. I've clipped the leaves together with clothes pins on on all of the cauli plants to keep the heads blanched. It won't be long now until this one's ready and I'll have to keep an eye on it so it doesn't get too old. It sure doesn't pay to get greedy by wanting a big 'un!

21.12.22 Cauli head covered.JPG
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Re: The Dawg Patch

#628

Post: # 59919Unread post GoDawgs
Fri Dec 31, 2021 7:53 am

We've been in a warm spell with highs in the upper 70's and lows in the 60's but that's about to change. A freight train of storms yesterday dumped 3" on us by the time they all rolled through and we'll take that! But a cold front is coming and by Monday highs will be in the 50's with lows in the 30's.

Just for grins and giggles and to scratch a planting itch, I potted up the ends of two Romaine lettuce heads the other day having read that one can grow lettuce this way. So we'll see what happens. These were potted up on the 21st.

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Yesterday I noticed a bunch of tomato seedlings around the front edge of the compost pile. I was tempted to transplant one or two to small pots but then decided there will be more growing later. It's too early to babysit tomato seedlings here!

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Tomorrow I will begin the new year by starting another batch of scallion seeds for early March planting.

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Off and Running

#629

Post: # 60164Unread post GoDawgs
Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:50 am

The MMMM Seed Santa arrived yesterday. I am totally amazed. Time to organize! Last night I started a spreadsheet to log in everything, including columns such as DTM, color, kind of tomato, plant size, etc. There will be a lot of research done online to fill in info gaps but it will be sortable and handy when finished.

The six micro tomatoes that are under the lights are getting long in the tooth. They're stlll producing and maybe on their third round of fruit set so the tomatoes are getting smaller. I should have started replacements a while ago for uninterrupted flow but now I have new seeds to play with! So I just finished starting the six replacements with MMMM varieties Baby, Florida Petite, Mohamed, Monteka, Pigmy and Venus.

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The Evergreen scallions I started on Jan 1 have popped up so they're under the lights too. And so begins the 2022 season!

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Off and Running

#630

Post: # 60653Unread post GoDawgs
Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:36 am

Tomorrow will be seed starting day for some cabbages, broccoli, kohlrabi, lettuce (an order freebie) and a few Tatsoi from seed my brother shared with me at Christmas. That and lettuce have always been big flea beetle magnets in the garden but I'm going to try them in window boxes on the porch and see what happens. More of the same brassicas will be started later to stagger the plantings.

They're still hem-hawing about frozen precipitation this weekend and I don't blame them. We're right on what's called the Fall Line where coastal plain starts rising towards the mountains.It basically runs from Columbia SC, through Augusta to Columbus GA and affects who gets what when it comes to storms of all kinds. We'll see.

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#631

Post: # 61521Unread post GoDawgs
Wed Jan 26, 2022 3:41 pm

Spring is ever so slowly creeping closer. The days are noticeably longer. Within the past week there have beenother signs. The iris are starting to poke up.


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The winter daphne (Daphne odora) is blooming, that sweet scent drifting on the breeze.


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And the first little wild daffodils are starting to bloom.


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But there's a fly in every ointment. Yesterday a 6' section in the middle of the 18' carrot row had been deer-munched during the night. I failed to get my butt out there with netting and so this morning the whole row had been mowed. Oh well, it's happened before and the greens will grow back. Meanwhile the carrots themselves are safe and sound in their underground bunker. :)


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Re: The Dawg Patch

#632

Post: # 61533Unread post PlainJane
Wed Jan 26, 2022 7:45 pm

Carrots look great!
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#633

Post: # 62168Unread post GoDawgs
Wed Feb 02, 2022 1:55 pm

Thanks, PJ. They're sweet too!

Today I started the second round of early stuff with a few more plants of each. Still trying to optimize a staggered harvest.

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Broccoli - 4 more Packman. 4 DeCicco (trying this one for the first time. A bit later than the Packman)
Cabbage - 2 more Stonehead and 2 more Early Jersey Wakefield
Collards - 3 Vates
Kale - 3 Premier
Basil - 1 Blue Spice (a freebie pack of seed)
Fernleaf dill - 1

Meanwhile, the three 6-packs of celery are poking up seven days after seeding. Yes, three 6-packs! I bought Tango just to play with it as the DTM isn't as long as others and it's also self-blanching. Pickles decided to play too and ordered Chinese White and Chinese Pink. :o

In a few minutes I'm going to get out the Mantis and go do a first tilling of a strip along the garden fence for Zinnia seeds received in the MMMM. This strip hasn't been used for a while so it will need a few subsequent tillings before zinnia time in early May.

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#634

Post: # 63228Unread post GoDawgs
Sun Feb 13, 2022 2:33 pm

The garden stretcher is at work again. Seeing as how an MMMM request for "a couple of tall zinnas" mysteriously multiplied into twelve varieties received, a few days ago I started on a new 3.5'x22' bed for zinnias along the pasture fence. :lol:

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I finished digging the zinnia bed yesterday but it still needs to be covered with leaf mulch.
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While I was in digging mode it was a good time to dig out all those volunteer purple cone flower plants left over in a vegetable bed where I had planted some down the middle just a few two years ago. The original plants were dug out at the end of that season but the next spring their progeny appeared. Remind me to never put perennials in veg beds again! Since it's hard for me to toss out perfectly good plants, the dug up roots got heeled into the damp leaves of the leaf pile until I can figure out where to put them. As I was doing that I noticed that new shoots are starting to emerge from the crowns of the plants. Since that bed hasn't been assigned anything for spring it might get... wait for it.... zinnias!

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Meanwhile, the seed potatoes are chitting up nicely. The Yukons are on the left, Red Pontiacs on the right.

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I don't have a favorite in tonight's Super Bowl. We have good Georgia Dawgs (including The Rams' QB) playing on both teams. But I think for sure I'll skip the halftime show.......

Right now I have four trays of sliced garlic and one tray of oregano going in the dehydrator. The place smells like an Italian restaurant. I can live with that. :D

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#635

Post: # 63490Unread post GoDawgs
Wed Feb 16, 2022 8:43 am

The first transplants of the new season are hardening off on the front porch. They'll get set out Monday. Four Packman broccoli, two each Early Jersey Wakefield and Stonehead cabbages and the next batch of Evergreen scallions. Another round of this stuff plus other broccoli varieties are under the lights for planting later. Also on the porch are the garlic bulbils along with sage, thyme, parsley, oregano and rosemary plants that have been outside almost all winter except for a few nights below 30.


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The little garlic bulbils I collected in the summer and planted in October are coming along nicely. I'll have to check the growing instructions I copied off to see when I need to pull them up and when to replant at a larger spacing, In three years they might make regular size garlic bulbs. Just an experiment.


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The September planted arugula has provided a nice addition to salads all winter but it's getting ready to bolt. It's only putting out small thin leaves now and starting to send up a seed stalk. Fortunately I have more started that need just a little more growing before they replace these old ones in the window box.


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And finally, there's a mystery plant growing in the 4-pack of kohlrabi. It's REALLY big. The kohlrabi are only about 3" tall and this monster is growing fast! Maybe a mustard? For sure a stray seed in the kohlrabi pack. The kohlrabi aren't quite ready yet but I'm going to remove and plant out this mystery plant along with the other stuff on Monday.


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Re: The Dawg Patch

#636

Post: # 63713Unread post GoDawgs
Fri Feb 18, 2022 4:53 pm

Two things harvested today for the first time! I've tried growing leeks several times in the past (maybe 10 years ago?) without luck and crossed them off the grow list. Since then I've grown onions and scallions with no problem so what the heck, try leeks again. They're just big scallions! And so this year I started some King Sieg leek seed in July and planted them in September. They're just an 84 day grow but the plants just never seemed to start putting on good growth until December. I decided to pull one of the larger looking ones today, day 143, to see where they are. Not too bad for a first effort. I did hill them up but next fall I'll start with a deeper planting trench to get a longer white area.

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I also tried Jerusalem artichokes again after failure on my first effort about five years ago. Something dug up what I thought was all the plants just as they were popping up but somehow one survived. Today I dug it up so I could replant the bed and was shocked at all the tubers I found! Sucess! No wonder they have a reputation of spreading. I ended up with a bit more than 3 lbs plus what was replanted.

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There were some clusters and a bunch of small ones.

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I replanted seven 3-tuber clusters so there should be a bunch next year plus a lot more pretty flowers late summer. Now I have to figure out what to do with them. I read they'll hold ten days in the refrigerator but also about the hazards of eating too many at once. :o I guess we'll eat what we can and give some away.

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#637

Post: # 63720Unread post goodloe
Fri Feb 18, 2022 5:58 pm

Cool! I've never grown those. Are they also called "sunchokes"...?
I have 2 seasons: Tomato and pepper season, and BAMA Football season!

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#638

Post: # 63828Unread post GoDawgs
Sat Feb 19, 2022 6:00 pm

Yep, they are. They're a helianthus.

Good to see ya poppin' in, my friend!

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#639

Post: # 63966Unread post GoDawgs
Mon Feb 21, 2022 3:09 pm

Today was a planting day. Pickles planted one 11' row each of Yukon Gold and Red Pontiac. To the right of the two potato rows is the Jerusalem Artichoke bed I forked up and replanted the other day. She had two seed potatoes left and planted them in the 15 gallon bucket.

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I put up a trellis across the end of a 4' wide bed and planted some of those Little Purple Snowpeas under that. It's a first time trying those.

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A half row of Evergreen scallions got set out in the bed with regular onions already growing down the sides. I just dug the coneflowers out of the middle last week and will probably plant zinnias in there this summer.

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The first three cabbages were planted out on one side and I sowed a half row (9') of turnips on the other side. There are more cabbages to come (doing staggered starting/planting) and the other 9' of turnips will go in mid March.

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And finally, I'm still working on staggered broccoli planting. Today I planted out the first four Packman broccoli sets. Rather than get out hoops and netting for just four brocs and three cabbages in different beds, I just put tomato cages over them to keep the deer away. A temporary fix. When the rest of the plants go in I will cover the beds with the netting and that will happen way before I need the cages for tomatoes.

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There are four more Packman and four DeCicco (new to me and different DTMs) that will be ready to plant March 1. Then there are four Green Magic (also new to me) that I will start from seed today. It wouldn't do to have 16 broccoli plants ready all at once!

Tomorrow I need to put out some radish seed and will start another pack of scallions. We have rain coming in. Should be here any time now. Good! It will water everything in.

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Re: The Dawg Patch

#640

Post: # 64209Unread post GoDawgs
Fri Feb 25, 2022 5:12 pm

Plants are popping up in their little pots! The Millionaire eggplant FINALLY made an appearance 12 days after sowing. It's never been that late before. If it hadn't come up by Monday I was going to start another one.

Green Magic broccoli, a few more Wakefield cabbages,. a Georgia collard and peppers Jalapeno M, Tangerine Dream and Prairie Spice are up. Still waiting on the other peppers to show. It's been seven days since seeding and last year most of them took 8 days so they should be up soon.

This afternoon I seeded another round of scallions (Shimonita this time) and tomorrow I'll sow some radish seed in the garden.

Yesterday I forked up the first two beds for Wando peas that will be planted Wednesday. That one bed is the hardest one to prep as I'm constantly battling small roots coming into the bed from a nearby grape vine and a crape myrtle but it's done. Tomorrow I'll do the other bed which will be a lot easier and take a lot less time and energy.

The weather here the last three days has been in the 80's. La Nina is strong this year. However it should get back to being more seasonal next week. Meanwhile we'll enjoy "free weather", no running heat or AC. :)

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