The Dawg Patch

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Re: The Dawg Patch

#441

Post: # 46520Unread post GoDawgs
Mon May 10, 2021 5:23 pm

Thank you, AA! That's quite a compliment coming from an English gardener. :) Retirement feels really good and I can play in the garden as much as I want.

I guess the beans didn't really mind those three nights in the low 40's because here they come, the sixth day after sowing! The saving grace was warm days, almost 80, to warm the soil back up.

Image

In fact, today I noticed not only the Contender and Blue Lake bush beans were up, but also the Blue Lake pole beans, King of the Garden limas, National Pickling cukes, two kinds of sunflowers, Heavy Hitter okra and a Charleston Gray watermelon. Everything popping except the winter squashes, Choppee okra and the Black Diamond watermelon.

One of the two Wando pea beds probably has a nematode problem, at least that's my best guess after putting up with them for so long. That bed has had them before but last spring corn and onions were in there (which 'todes don't like) and it stayed fallow after that (starve the boogers!) until this spring. Usually that will knock back the 'todes enough to get in a crop of early cool weather stuff. Not this year, I guess, as it got warm early which woke the 'todes up early.

Image

The other bed is doing fine. I guess I'm just going to have to avoid planting peas in that first bed. Another wrinkle in the rotation scheme!

Image

Both beds are setting pea pods. So far the powdery mildew has stayed away, hopefully because I've been really diligent this year about pulling out any henbit weeds in the pea beds. When henbit is done and ready to hit the road it always funks up with mildew and passes it along to the peas like clockwork.

This is short day onion area but it seems I have better luck with intermediate or neutral day onions. The shorts seem to always bolt in the warm/cold temp swings here. This year the Granex and White Creole both bolted about three weeks ago. So far the intermediate Australian Browns have not. I keep swearing "no more onions" but always end up doing some anyway. :roll:

And finally, my favorite (and only) rose has started blooming. This is Perfume Delight with a fragrance that's outta sight. Combined with the sweet scent of the honeysuckle that's regrowing in the nearby grapevines, you get a good snoot full of wonderful when walking by. A rose for you, my friends!

Image

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Dawg Patch Micro Toms

#442

Post: # 46650Unread post GoDawgs
Wed May 12, 2021 4:09 pm

It's a rainy day which is great for the popcorn I planted yesterday afternoon. That completes garden installation; it's now officially IN! So today is indoor putter day. I was rearranging the plants growing under the lights and it struck me how different one of my new micro tomatoes was from the other four.

Image

Wow, tall and skinny vs the other compact thick stemmed ones. The tall one is Gartenperle. Time to consult the plant description from Bunny Hop: "A perfect extra early Heirloom German variety for smaller spaces and container growing, developing into a bush habit that requires no pinching out or stopping." Huh? Bush habit?

Reading on: "The plants will trail but are best with some support to grow through. Tend to be a little aggressive for all but the largest hanging baskets." Now that I can believe! I think this one will definitely be transplanted later into a hanging basket or other pot where it can hang over the front porch railing. Have any of you grown this one before?

This morning I cleaned seed from hybrid Packman broccoli as the pods are now dry. I'll be growing ten or so plants from them this fall just to see what the resulting broccoli looks like.

Now I'm about to play with the kaolin clay powder to determine the amount of water needed to make a thick but brushable paste for coating squash stems. It's an idea that popped into my head one day and an experiment at preventing vine borers. I'll brush it on something and let it dry just to see how thick one coating is and how hard it dries. Perfect activities for a rainy day.

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Re: The Dawg Patch

#443

Post: # 46867Unread post GoDawgs
Sat May 15, 2021 6:53 pm

Everything is loving the rain we had at the beginning of the week. The Seneca Sunrise corn is just about ready for it’s second fertilizing and first hilling. Then it will get mulched.

Image

Two days ago I picked the first handful of peas and another handful today. By the looks of it there’s a lot more to come. This morning I noticed an imposter among the peas. You can see it poking out in the above pic, near the left end of the bed.

Image

It’s a potato! Probably a Kennebec as that’s what grew on that end of that bed last year. Speaking of potatoes, ever since I picked off several adult potato beetles and squashed some young ones several weeks ago, we haven’t seen any since. It pays to catch things like that early.

And 5th Gear’s Russet In A Bucket is looking really good. This is the best any of her bucket potatoes has ever looked. Usually they’re dead by now, most likely from too much water.

Image

The Silver Queen is coming along. The next bed back with the onions has four hills of okra down the middle and those seeds have just popped up. Behind that bed are the bush beans, Blue Lake on one side and Contender on the other.

Image

The garden has officially moved from planting phase to maintenance phase. There's still some mulching to do so it's not quite on “autopilot” yet, but getting close.

User avatar
Amateurinawe
Reactions:
Posts: 1484
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2020 1:11 am
Location: Emsworth UK

Re: The Dawg Patch

#444

Post: # 46874Unread post Amateurinawe
Sun May 16, 2021 1:53 am

[mention]GoDawgs[/mention] I had a similar lonesome volunteer this year, but I had to pull it, it was in the way. It came from some seed potatoes that I picked up at the local garden centre which were free. They were well past their sell by date and they were giving them away - so I bagged the lot. We often find ourselves in the sad section, or unwanted plant section of these places. The discounts are great and you can always pull the plants through with a bit of attention. Last year at one garden centre, they were writing off aubergine that had been discounted twice and still not sold. I asked if I could buy then, and the manager said he couldn't now sell them as they were written off. I asked if I could make a donation to charity, but no. I asked what he was going to do with them, and he responded that they would be dumped in the skip along with other write-offs. Sometimes that's the problem with big chains, having to follow rules. My local independent wouldn't do that.
The behaviour of light means you observe me as i was then, and not as I am now.
I cannot change history, so I do hope i gave you a good impression of myself

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Re: The Dawg Patch

#445

Post: # 46946Unread post GoDawgs
Mon May 17, 2021 6:37 am

The big box stores around here toss their stuff too and won't sell at a discount or give away even if the plants are almost dead. I think it depends on what kind of contract they have with the vendor. Having worked in the nursery industry, I know of some arrangements where the chain only pays the vendor for things that are scanned and sold at the cash register. They want the vendor pick up any unsold plants, dead or alive. That always creates the "They were healthy when delivered and you neglected them so you don't get a credit" discussion. In cases like that they won't sell the damaged goods at a discount or give them away. It's like them throwing away cash.

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Re: The Dawg Patch

#446

Post: # 47075Unread post GoDawgs
Wed May 19, 2021 8:48 am

Last evening the peas got the second of three peroxide sprayings. Leaves that had been fungusy at the bottom had turned yellow after Monday evening's spraying. I noticed something starting on two turnip leaves so the turnips got sprayed too.

Image

This is the pump sprayer I use and so far it has lasted four years whereas others just like it wouldn't work going into their second season. I finally remembered that the secret to sprayer longevity is to triple rinse after use and spray some of that third rinse water through the nozzle. As easy as that. No gumming up over the winter or even between sprayings.

Anyway, after trying to remember how much of what gets mixed with how much water, I finally got smart and wrote those on the side of the sprayer with a wax pencil. So handy!

Image

And on the other side I marked fluid levels that weren't already printed on the container. I used measuring cups of water to find and mark the right fill levels for those.

Image

Seed saving has begun. Right now I have some arugula, some Shimonita scallion seed heads and daikon radish seed pods picked yesterday. The daikon is a hybrid so I just want to see what variations the seed makes this fall.

Image

Today's mission is to rig up some kind of shade for the tomatoes. I need to figure the method and also how high or how much to one side of the row the shade cloth needs to be in order to allow the good sun but protect from the bad sun at the height of the day.

But first, the day will start with pea picking while it's still cool. So far the first three pickings have yielded about 7 ounces total but that's getting ready to change as "The Avalanche" will be starting soon as more pods get ready all at once. It will be every other day pickings for the next two weeks and then the peas will be history for this year.

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Corn Tasseling REAL early

#447

Post: # 47166Unread post GoDawgs
Thu May 20, 2021 5:11 pm

This year I'm trying a corn called Seneca Sunrise and right now it's 15" tall and looking so healthy.

Image

But I noticed today that it's starting to develop tassels. Heavy sigh.

Image

There are several things that can cause early tasseling. One is stress, like nutritional deficiency, not enough water, high heat. The other is a cold snap after planting. This corn isn't stressed so I checked both the planting date, my weather data for that period and my pocket notebook. Bingo.

We'd been having highs in the 70's-80's and the corn went in April 14, soil temp 70. On the 16th a front came in and the overnight low hit the 40's. I put a plastic tunnel over the bed hoping to warm the soil back up, which it did. Highs back to the 70's. On the 20th the first corn sprouts were up. But we got a light frost the morning of the 22nd and a low of 36 the next day. After that, temps went back up to where they had been, but the damage had been done.

It should be interesting to see if I get any ears at all. If so I'll save the seed and try again next year. And plant a bit later or at least pay attention to the forecast!

User avatar
PlainJane
Reactions:
Posts: 2665
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 8:12 pm
Location: N. FL Zone 9A

Re: The Dawg Patch

#448

Post: # 47173Unread post PlainJane
Thu May 20, 2021 6:29 pm

Oh my ... bummer!
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

User avatar
Whwoz
Reactions:
Posts: 2462
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 12:08 am
Location: Trafalgar, Victoria, Australia

Re: The Dawg Patch

#449

Post: # 47184Unread post Whwoz
Thu May 20, 2021 9:53 pm

Not good news for sure[mention]GoDawgs[/mention]. To late for a replant with one of the short DTM varieties I take it.

Thanks for posting, not aware of this possibility.

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Re: The Dawg Patch

#450

Post: # 47374Unread post GoDawgs
Mon May 24, 2021 1:27 pm

Every time I've tried to plant late corn it hasn't worked due to heavy insect pressure that isn't there during this late spring/early summer time. And if I plant a short DTM now there's a good chance it will be tasseling at the same time as the popcorn. Oops!

It's been just four days since that corn pic. Here it is this morning, about twice as tall!

Image

The tassels are still sitting down in the plant but haven't started pushing out yet. And still no sign of ear shoots which is a plus. Who knows, I still might get a few ears!

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Getting Hot; Two Shade Experiments

#451

Post: # 47378Unread post GoDawgs
Mon May 24, 2021 4:34 pm

We're heading into 98-99 time and I thought about those poor zinnias and marigolds that were just set out two days ago. Time for experimenting with wire hoops and lightweight row cover for shading purposes. So I got out the 9 gauge wire I bought at Tractor Supply a while ago for this purpose. $16.99, 171' of wire.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... _vc=-10005

Image

Image

Some internet research indicated that 54" of wire with each end pushed into the ground 6" would make a hoop 16" tall at center. Just what I want for low growing and young stuff, shade in the summer, cold protection in the winter. I used the bolt cutters to cut six 54" lengths (27' total). A word of caution that I am very glad I read in that article. Note how the coil of wire is tied at three places to keep the coil together. The writer of the article strongly advised leaving those three ties in place. If removed, the whole coil of wire will SPROING! everywhere and it will be a royal pain to try to recoil the mess and tie it again. I just pulled the wire backwards through the ties until I got enough to cut each hoop.

Image

I folded a length of lightweight row cover in half because it was so wide, laid it over the hoops and held it in place with clothespins.

Image
Image

I also stuck an outdoor thermometer under there and it's a good thing. Two hours later I checked and it was 120 degrees under there! Off the cover came in a heartbeat!. I had left about 6-8" air flow along the sides but it wasn't enough. These wire hoops will be saved for winter/early spring use. I'll have to put my regular tunnel back up where there's lots of airflow.

Tomatoes. Two years ago was the first time growing tomatoes in the open garden in buckets set on pallets. They really suffered in the all day summer heat and performed poorly. Last year I moved them to where I thought they'd get afternoon shade during the hottest part of the day. Geez! Waaaay too shady. They made some tomatoes but really needed more sun. This year they were moved to another part of the garden where they'd get some shade but I find it's not enough. But Santa brought me some 50% shade cloth. Time to deploy it!

I first has to put the second cages on as two plants are already just above the top of theirs. It was time.

Image

Pickles helped me get the shade cloth stretched along the sunny side of the tomatoes but at 1:00 the sun was hot and still right over head so nothing got shaded. 3:00 wasn't much better. The cloth was wide enough that we were able to raise it so that it hung down to the tops of the buckets, not the ground. That gave some excess, allowing us to drape that over the top of the sunny side cages. It was enough to throw some shade the other side too. Right now the cloth is attached to the cages with clothespins but that will have to change as the plants get bigger and start growing through the cage sides. Wind usually blows from the sunny side and so will push the cloth against the cages.

Image

This is the view from the shady side:

Image

This will have to do for now. I still might do a version of something I did years ago with lightweight white row cover only use the shade cloth this time. It was 2012 in the sweet days before bacterial blight and nematodes. We were going though a hellacious summer with streaks of upper 90's-low 100's. You do what you gotta do! Funny what you can do with sticks and old cheap tennis balls. :lol:

Image

Image

User avatar
PlainJane
Reactions:
Posts: 2665
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 8:12 pm
Location: N. FL Zone 9A

Re: The Dawg Patch

#452

Post: # 47380Unread post PlainJane
Mon May 24, 2021 5:06 pm

Very ingenious! Reminds me I better move my zinnia seedlings into shade for the next few days; we’re having the same hot hot weather.
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

#453

Post: # 47459Unread post GoDawgs
Wed May 26, 2021 6:22 am

Turning from infrastructure back to plants, the only thing bring grown indoors now (except for a few miscellaneous herb/flower starts) are Pickles' lettuces, Little Gem and Little Caesar romaines. They were out on the porch table until this heat started so they are now happy doing their thing inside in a nice cool, bug-free environment. Good in salads and possibly another plant for winter indoor growing.

Image

Outdoors the rhubarb experiment continues. They’re hanging in there but not thriving. We’ll see if they make it through the hot summer. They get shade after 3:30.

Image

The sweet potato row is progressing and those little slips are bushing out. I re-mulched yesterday.

Image

They’re starting to run and one of those was able to reach the first wire so I helped it since sweets can’t climb on their own.

Image

The bush beans have recovered and have really pushed up in the last several days. This morning I want to run baling twine down both sides of each row while they’re young. It really helps with the picking later as the twine keeps the plants from flopping over. Nice upright plants to pick from!

Image

And finally, the first daylily has popped open, a nice 5” wide one. I give you ‘Caprician Fiesta’…

Image

User avatar
Whwoz
Reactions:
Posts: 2462
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 12:08 am
Location: Trafalgar, Victoria, Australia

Re: The Dawg Patch

#454

Post: # 47510Unread post Whwoz
Wed May 26, 2021 5:17 pm

[mention]GoDawgs[/mention] , you may want to try and get your rhubarb in a position where it gets shade from about 2 pm in the hottest part of summer. Thinking about where I had mine at there peak, where I was regularly picking 400 gram stems from the Wandin Giant, they would have been getting shade from around then. Beneficial to keep the roots as cool as possible, if you could wrap tubs in something reflective they would be better off.

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

The Dawg Patch

#455

Post: # 47563Unread post GoDawgs
Thu May 27, 2021 11:02 am

Thanks for that, Woz. I might have to rig up some kind of shade that protects earlier than the 3:30 shade they get now. And you're right about that black pot. I have a good length of white row cover that has some holes in it but have hated to toss out "just because". Maybe I could wrap it around the pots or even paint the pots white.

Reading your reply in the Rhubarb Update I posted, I got to thinking that maybe I could transplant one of the two now and do the other one this fall just to hedge my bets.

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Re: The Dawg Patch

#456

Post: # 47682Unread post GoDawgs
Sat May 29, 2021 7:04 am

The peas are almost done; for sure one of the two beds is toast so plants have been pulled and trellis dismantled. There might be one or two more pickings on the good bed. The total harvest will be way short of the usual as that one bed just didn't thrive and I can't blame nematodes. The only nodules on the roots were nitrogen fixers, which don't rub off like nematode nodules do.

It's been very hot with a hot breeze so daily watering has been necessary even with all the mulch, particularly the tomato buckets. It's cooler today as a front has arrived bringing nice weather for the next week. I can hear the garden breathing a huge sigh of relief!

Pickles has been working her way through excess veggies in the freezer from last year, making various veggie soups. She's tried some new ones including one with a southwest flair and that's a keeper.

During the hot afternoons this past week I've been starting plans for the fall garden. That included making a list of what we want to grow (not much different than last fall) and, after consulting the almanac for moon phases, roughing out some planting and seed start dates.

Next will be figuring out bed rotation if necessary. I've been cheating a little by devoting a full growing year to plant families in a bed. For example, if legumes grew in a bed in the spring/summer, I will also plant fall legumes in that bed if necessary since I believe pest buildup over a just few months will be negligible. To do a complete rotation every six months just isn't feasible. So far no harm, no foul. Next to come will be a complete seed inventory.

There's always something to do!

User avatar
PlainJane
Reactions:
Posts: 2665
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 8:12 pm
Location: N. FL Zone 9A

Re: The Dawg Patch

#457

Post: # 47687Unread post PlainJane
Sat May 29, 2021 8:35 am

I started a seed inventory last week which instantly caused me to order more seeds. Ha!
“Never try to outstubborn a cat.”
- Robert A. Heinlein

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Re: The Dawg Patch

#458

Post: # 47781Unread post GoDawgs
Mon May 31, 2021 6:06 am

The potatoes were planted 80 days ago. Yesterday morning we dug the first two Yukon Gold potato hills since two of eleven plants had just kind of kicked the bucket in two days. They have a 60-80 DTM so maybe it’s time to dig. We found fire ants in those two but still got some potatoes, about 3.5 lbs. Not a lot but better than nothing. Disappointing though as this is a spot where they did wonderfully three years ago. Two hills down, nine more to go, maybe iun another week since the plants are still ok.

Image

Image

On the other hand, the Red Pontiacs (80-100 DTM) are still looking good and not ready to dig yet.

Image

About all of the Seneca Sunrise corn stalks are tasseling now and ear shoots have emerged. I would say the plants range from 4’ tall now.

Image

So far I’ve found only one plant silking down near the bottom of the plant but that’s where the ear shoots are.

Image

Meanwhile, yesterday I got the Silver Queen corn hilled and mulched. The plants are looking really good. There’s been no anti-wind string run around the bed yet but I’m watching the forecasts for any sign of bad storms. They're bound to happen but it's been a pretty dry entry into summer so far.

Image

And finally, “stringed beans”. Two years ago I got tired of trying to pick beans from plants that had flopped towards the middle of the 4’ wide bed. And plants flopping to the outside of the bed were a pain to mow around. That’s when I started running baling twine down the inside and outside of the bush bean rows to hold them up. It sure is a big help and easy to pick! The plants aren’t quite big enough yet to need string support but it was a nice cool day and perfect for getting the job done ahead of time.

Image

Gardadore
Reactions:
Posts: 841
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 12:15 am
Location: NE PA zone 6

Re: The Dawg Patch

#459

Post: # 47782Unread post Gardadore
Mon May 31, 2021 6:51 am

Interested in how you are growing your sweet potatoes. It is still too cold here to plant but it looks like yours are in pots. One slip for each pot? It looks easier than making a large mound and covering with a ground cloth with slits in it. Could you elaborate on what you did? Thanks.
I have only grown sweet potatoes once and have new slips with good roots sitting in
jars of water waiting for warmer weather. Your garden is awesome!

User avatar
GoDawgs
Reactions:
Posts: 3741
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 6:38 am
Location: Zone 8a, Augusta GA

Re: The Dawg Patch

#460

Post: # 47793Unread post GoDawgs
Mon May 31, 2021 10:29 am

Thank you for the kind words, [mention]Gardadore[/mention]. Being retired has its advantages. These sweets are planted in a long raised row as usual. What looks like pots is actually the top 4-5" of old one gallon pots that I cut off and then pushed down into the soil at each planting location to act as a watering collar. It keeps water from just running off down the sides of the hill. Just an idea I had one day and it works well. Then I use a dibble to poke a hole, insert the slips and water them in.

Here's what the row looked like earlier:

Image

For the time being I didn't mulch the actual row itself as I wanted the soil to keep warming up. Now It's been mulched for weed control.

Two years ago, after planting sweets I had one slip left over and couldn't make myself toss it. So I got the idea of putting up a quick trellis on the end of a bed and planting it there. I tried playing with making a design out of the vines but that got out of hand pretty quick! July '19:

Image

Then in mid September I noticed a sweet starting to push out of the ground so I dug. Talk about being shocked and amazed. This is what I dug up, with that biggest one being almost 2 lbs!

Image

So that's the story of how I started doing this. Since it worked well on a small scale, I decided this year to just go all in and do the whole row like that. We'll find out in September if the bet was a smart one or not. :)

Post Reply

Return to “Grow Logs(Glogs) And Video Logs(Vlogs)”