The Dawg Patch

[Texgal]

Thanks, Texgal. Like everybody else's, it's always a work in progress.

After just a few days of drying out, it's rain today through Thursday. The purported heat tolerance of the Wando peas will be tested this year as they're going to get sown probably the latest they've ever been sown. The beds were just starting to dry out and now more rain.

Yesterday I put tunnels over the two pea beds and the one potato bed just to keep the rain out and help them dry! When I grabbed a handful of soil, the top 2-3" seemed ok to plant in but below that it was muddy. and when this bout of rain finally stops, I'm going to go ahead and plant in that top 2". If their roots go down into the mud and they drown later I have plenty of seed for replanting.

Now the turnip and carrot sowing scheduled for today has been cancelled until further notice. I have no idea what this year's garden will finally look like. I just know that when it's finally ok to plant it's going to be an avalanche of tasks to do at once. Oh well, been there and done that before and it will all get done sooner or later. Hopefully not later. It's always a race to get stuff up and running before the heat comes calling.

I ow what you mean about the rain. I like your sun tracking project and your notebook idea. I've been struggling with note taking the past couple of years, as I want to track the weather conditions. My problem is I've got part of them in Excel on the computer, part on my ipad and part on my phone and they never get combined into one place! LoL! I like the idea of scrapping technology and just getting the flippin' notebook.

[GoDawgs]

Test Test Test

[eyegrotom]

I can hear you

[Rajun Gardener]

You made it!!!!

[bower]

Welcome back!

[brownrexx]

Yay!!!

[GoDawgs]

We've been having computer problems such as either not being able to load some sites or being able to load them but not being able to post. I've been dealing with a ten day garden site withdrawal syndrome! Also, something's been eating our monthly data allotment every month starting around mid month with no extra usage by us. I spent an hour on the phone with HughesNet tech support last Thursday night and another hour Friday morning. I had told them this depletion occurs during the day but they ran a four hour data depletion test overnight just to check.

There was no usage overnight but while I was on the phone in the morning, all of a sudden they noticed data being used even though I wasn't connected to the modem! Aliens in the modem? The upshot is that they sent a new modem which arrived yesterday and gave us a few gigs of extra data. The new modem has solved all the problems and is a bit faster too. I am soooo glad it wasn't the computers!

Again, many thanks to Rajun who valiantly tried to help!

[GoDawgs]

It’s Day 3 of a four day stretch of rain. Another 1-2" possible today. At least the worst of it will pass south of us.

BUT...It's "Start The Peppers, Eggplant and Roselle Day"! First I had to move some stuff outside to the porch to make room under the lights so out went the 20 asparagus seedlings and two kinds of scallions. Also on the table are two dormant cannas and one potted camellia, both awaiting planting.



Then the following were started:

Pepper, Ancho
Pepper, Biquinho ("little bird's beak", small hot pepper from Brazil used for pickling)
Pepper, Carolina Wonder - nematode resistant bell
Pepper, Charleston Belle - nematode resistant bell
Pepper, Gypsy
Pepper, Jalapeno M - OP Jalapeno
Pepper, Mucho Nacho - Hybrid
Pepper, Maule's Red Hot Cayenne
Pepper, Red Marconi
Eggplant, Millionaire
St. Kitts & Nevis Roselle - darker red than the Thai red I tried last year
Thai Red Roselle - Growing again to compare to St. K&N



Meanwhile the first round of broccoli, cabbage, collards and kale are more than ready to be planted out when the beds finally dry out a bit. I might have to put some in buckets as they're close to being rootbound.

[MissS]

It looks like you had a fun day! Your plants look lush and healthy. You sure have had the rain this year. I hope that it shuts off soon so that you can get your plants in the ground.

[PlainJane]

Cool, you’re growing Biquinho peppers! Red or yellow?
I love them. Do you plan to pickle or use fresh?

[GoDawgs]

This is my first time out with Biquinho and I don't know which color they are. Whatever Bill sent me when he offered up seeds a few weeks ago. Pickled or fresh? I'll probably try both unless they're too hot to eat fresh. I guess I'll see!

[GoDawgs]

Good morning, one and all! Ahhhhhh, the SUN! And a nice warm one it is, 65 out there although it's already starting to cool off as a cold front comes through. But boy, they're talking about a lot of wind with sustained 15-20 and gusts to 30 possible. It's already getting breezy and this warm temp will start dropping. But no rain in the forecast for the next six days! Woo hoo!

A little while ago my sister Pickles and I headed to the garden to uncover that planted pea bed and get that big plastic sheet folded up before the wind gets up. We got that done just in the nick of time, too. The plastic is wet but it won't get hung up to dry until tomorrow. Big winds would probably rip it right off the line. But look what was under the plastic... peas popping up on each side of the line!



Time to get the pea fence installed on each side. It will go where that baling twine is in the photo. But that too will wait until tomorrow as I really don't like working in wind especially one that's getting cooler.

While in the garden Pickles mentioned that she used the last carrots yesterday so I pulled some more. These are Yaya. It's the first time I've tried them and they're a winner. They will be added to the A Team, a list of stuff that needs to be grown every year.



We ended up with 3" of rain this week and water is everywhere out there but....
SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN SUN!!!!!

[GoDawgs]

Things have finally been drying out a bit since last Thursday's rain. It's been good to see the sun. Even though a few showers are "possible" tomorrow, I'm going to start planting stuff Wednesday come heck or..., well, I won't mention the rest of it. Might be bad luck. The garden still looks woeful and although the standing water is gone at the bottom on both sides, the mud is still soft enough to suck the shoes right off your feet.



But I've been playing with a couple of dwarf cherry tomatoes that have entirely different characteristics. The one on the left is Whipper Snapper which came under a German name from the Carolyn collection via Farmer Shawn. It's tall and thin but blooming. The one on the right is Red Robin which has been around a long time and is so stocky. It has set one tomato but the other flower buds don't seem to want to open. Because the nights have been pretty chilly I've been toting them out to the porch during the day and back into the house at night. Babysitting tomatoes.



One casualty of all the rain is half of the garlic planting. The ones on the left were planted from last year's stock. The ones on the right are a different kind and were bought in the fall. I need to do some weeding.



The Jerusalum artichoke tubers arrived three days ago and are still in their box and living in the little drinks refrigerator. After pondering where to plant them we got out the garden stretcher and are making a new spot. More on that project tomorrow.

In the meantime, the first 'Replete' daffodil has bloomed. It's a pretty double daffie and fragrant to boot.

[PlainJane]

Glad to hear things are drying out. Unleash the planting hounds!

[SQWIB]

Man those carrots are awesome.
Everything is looking great. I'm just glad my garden is much, much smaller than yours, I don't know how you do it!

[GoDawgs]

Man those carrots are awesome.
Everything is looking great. I'm just glad my garden is much, much smaller than yours, I don't know how you do it!

Thanks, SQWIB. Fall planted carrots take so much longer than spring planted ones. Less daylight, etc I guess. I'm going to plant more this afternoon, some more Yaya and one called Romance I picked up during Park's dollar sale last year.

I used to just wait until "planting time" to prep the beds and get everything planted in about a week's time. It was just too exhausting especially as the garden got bigger. Funny how that happens!

Now I make a schedule for planting things in groups like real early spring (February peas, brassicas), early March (potatoes, carrots), mid to late April (tomatoes peppers, eggplant, beans, cukes, squash) and early May (field peas, okra, watermelon, sweet potatoes. Beds get prepped about a week or two before planting. It's the old saying about how you can eat the whole elephant, just one bite at a time.

All the rain this year has really gotten me backed up.

[GoDawgs]

I have been under the weather. Waaaay under. Wednesday at 3am I woke up, got really sick and that began a three day stretch of dry heaves and diarrhea (sometimes both together). It has subsided but I am washed out with zero energy. Doc says gastroenteritis. Five days is the normal course of recovery.

So... just a quick recap of doings.

Potatoes planted - Pickles was finally able to get them in two days ago. A few days prior she had opened a trench enough to allow the soil to minimally dry enough.

Carrots seeded - I sure didn't feel like it but I had carrot seed already soaking and it had to be planted. 9' each of Bolero, Envy, Romance and Yaya.

Turnips seeded - 18' of good old purple top.

Pea fence up - That got done right before the gut bug struck.

I might have to re-seed some peppers. For whatever reason they're not coming up like they should.

That's it for today. I'm headed back to the recliner.

[PlainJane]

Quite the exertions when you’re still recovering. Rest well!

[GoDawgs]

Today is Day 5 of the Gut Bug and, as the doc predicted, I feel a LOT better. My sister Pickles is a retired pharmacist and went in to Dollar General on Saturday to get me several items, each geared to address specific issues of heartburn, gut gurgling, etc. By golly, they sure worked the charm! I almost feel like a new woman now! Well, almost.

Today I need to start a few pepper seeds in damp paper towels as a few varieties I started are being really stubborn about coming up. We will see if it is seed, soil, or temp that's the problem. I've never had this issue before.

No hand digging today but I'm tempted to take the new Mantis out for it's first spin.

[GoDawgs]

"We are stardust, we are golden
We are billion-year-old carbon
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden...."

(CSNY, "Woodstock")

Yep, the gut bug is gone and it's time to get back to business! :thumb:

Today the new Mantis got its first run. It's been years since I had one and the modern model is just as handy to use and now comes with a kickstand so I don't have to look for a tree or fence to lean it against when it's not being used. It made short work of cultivating the two sides of Pea Bed #2 and the row where the scallions will get planted.

L to R: The turnip/onion bed, pea bed #1 and the bed with scallions on the edge where circles of popcorn will be planted down the middle in April.



The turnips are up. Trying to put a little stagger in the harvest, I planted just half a row on the 10th and will plant the other half next week.

I got Pea Bed #1 mulched except for a 4' length of skips that were resown on the 10th and not up yet.



In spring '18 I planted three sage plants all grown from generic seed. Like a lot of OP stuff, all three seedlings were different with one having prettier leaves than the others. Come fall I harvested and removed the two thin leafed ones and let the best one stay just to see if it would make it through the winter. Well, it's still there and today I saw a few flower buds starting!



It sure is good to feel like doing something again! Tomorrow I will resume the Jerusalem Artichoke bed project.