The Dawg Patch

[Amateurinawe]

having steamed cauli with "chicken dinner winner" today. It doesn't look as nice as yours thou', nicely packed florets and looking lovely and white.

[GoDawgs]

This year fall color was pretty dull. Some trees shed a lot of their leaves and a lot kind of held on to them a while. I usually incorporate some pretty leaves in Thanksgiving table decorations but there were none to be had. So it was a big surprise when a lot of leaves started turning in early December; some dogwoods, the callery pears (wild version of the domesticated Bradford,) some oaks, etc. So late but so beautiful. One would think it to be November.

Last week was the height of color. Here are two shots of a callery pear along the driveway, taken six days ago.





Shortly after these pics were taken the tree lost leaves rapidly and most of the color in the area dropped too. So why were they so late in turning? The shortening of daylight is a trigger for color change but that’s the same every year. It’s gotta have something to do with the weather.

Some sleuthing on the internet provides clues from Michigan State Extension.
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/how_weath ... all_colors

- “The most brilliant leaf displays follow a period of warm days filled with sunshine and cool nights.”
- “The best displays are produced when the soil has been adequately moist throughout the year coupled with the aforementioned late summer weather.
- “A warm period during the fall can also decrease the intensity of fall colors by triggering early leaf drop before the colors have had a chance to develop.”

We had an exceptionally warm November. Time to consult my weather data. The average daily high for this November was 5.0 degrees above average and nights were an even higher 6.9 degrees above average! We only had a couple of days all month where nights were in the mid 30’s. But the weather cooled quickly starting with the first few days of December with four mornings in the 20’s and heavy frost a few other mornings. And the leaves started turning. My guess is that the cold snap was the trigger. Regardless of the reason, I got to finally see some pretty leaves!

[GoDawgs]

There's still some of this and that coming out of the garden. This is what I picked yesterday: some turnip greens from the two turnips (added to some pulled the other day), some broccoli side shoots, a Stonehead cabbage, two each kohlrabi and turnips, two kinds of daikon radish and Yaya carrots. The purple kohlrabi is one from Baker Creek called 'Blauer Spec'.



Some falls the fat kind of daikons do well and sometimes they're not so fat other years. This fall they've done well. This one, as far as I can tell, the fat one is called 'Gauljeojang' and is from seed I bought at a Korean grocery. It's the first one pulled this season and weighs 20 oz. I usually plant only about five at a time in stages. One *can* have too much radish on hand! The other thin daikon is 'Minowase'.

[GoDawgs]

The year has almost slipped by. I will grab it by the tail tomorrow and hold it long enough to get one more planting in. The six kohlrabi are ready to go, the moon is right and rain will be moving in. I've never planted kohlrabi or anything else this late so it's just an experiment. The mornings in the 20's are gone for now so the new kids on the block will have some days in the 60's to grow in for a little while.



Just a little while ago the last full moon of the year rose over the horizon and was huge! So I grabbed the camera and used just the auto setting and zoom. Then I played with it in the iPhoto and added a blue tint just for grins and giggles.



Time to grab a cold brewski and watch some football! Y'all have a decent evening

[GoDawgs]

The newest micro tomatoes are coming along just fine. Boy, they've grown in the 11 days since I last took their pic when they had just poked up!



I was a bit alarmed that one of them, 'Groovy Tunes', looked so yellow. Wassup wit' dis? Then I remembered. It's supposed to be! The Bunny Hop catalog description:

"Groovy Tunes is a purple tomato (clear epidermis) with green stripes on a plant with glowing chartreuse foliage. It has the dwarf growth habit of bushy rugose leaves and thick central stem with limited height. This variety can be grown as a micro-dwarf or as a balcony dwarf. If you grow Groovy Tunes in full sun in a 1-gallon pot, you will get a bushy little plant about 12” tall with large cherry-sized fruits. If you grow it in a very large pot, the plant will be bigger in width and height (14-16” tall) and it will yield cocktail/saladette sized fruits."

I think I'll shift them up one more size to a 1 gallon pot and let it go at that. Meanwhile, the three maturing ones continue to put on tomatoes so I must be doing something right in the pollination department. It's been fun having something to play with over the winter. This is 'Jochalos':



And this is 'Red Robin':



I just saw the post about Bunny Hop’s sale! Jeez, I have enough micros for now but I might have to look again at their other stuff. As if I need more. Sigh.....it's a sickness, I tell ya!

Yesterday I did get the new kohlrabi planted out. The last planting doesn't look so good. They hadn't got much age on them before facing 23 degrees unprotected. BUT... it was an experiment. I will protect these new ones if need be.
Meanwhile, spring garden planning is done for now but I'm sure there will be changes due to weather, additions, deletions etc. As we all know, there's nothing quite as sure in this world as change!

Y'all have a good New Year's Eve. I'll pop in later tonight to toast the new year.

[worth1]

I met a guy that thought the fall leaf colors was a made up thing.
He had lived in Austin his life and had no idea they could be that color.
Seems odd because we have trees here too that turn color but not as many.
The red oaks this year were astounding in some places.

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday was a pretty day so I checked out the garden to see how it fared during the recent cold snap. Sometimes it takes a few days to really see long term effects. For sure the carrot tops are still green and thriving but they're more flat than upright and the kohlrabi looks slightly limp but surviving.

The garden looks rather frowsy in winter. In the closest bed are the two different turnip plantings. The early planting has been mostly picked. The bed behind that has the carrots and the one beyond that has the collards, kale, cauliflower and kohlrabi. In the far upper right corner is the broccoli/cabbage bed.



The one cauliflower that's been coming along is still small, about 4" across but is already past prime. I read that when they get ready to flower the heads start opening up and looking like rice. I think that's what is happening here. But I did see that some of the later plantings have cauliflowers developing so all is not lost!



I've never grown savoy cabbage before so thought I'd see what that's like as the groceries around here don't sell it. I've got three 'Savoy Perfection' going and they're just now starting to wrap a little as they're as they're a long 92 day cabbage and my others are in the 55-65 day range. Being OP, all three plants are slightly different. The one in the middle looks like the catalog photo and the other two have darker leaves, one darker than the other. And one of the darker ones is more loose than the other. Can't wait to see what the cabbages look like!

[MissS]

Your garden looks pretty good to me. You have green plants growing out there while my garden is either white or brown.

[Whwoz]

Looking good for the winter to me [mention]GoDawgs[/mention] and yes would agree that Cauliflower is going to seed

[GoDawgs]

I got all my seeds ordered on Sunday so now their safe arrival here is at the mercy of the Post Office and the black hole that is their Atlanta Distribution Center. The Baker Creek catalog finally arrived and I just had to get some "toys" for the garden. More on that later!

Just a few more pics from the garden. This is the onion/scallion bed. Onions on one side and two separate plantings of scallions on the other. I decided to plant half of the scallion row one month later than the other so they won't all get ready at once.



Then there's the garlic. It's a hodge podge of varieties. There's the new-to-me Lorz Italian, some Siberian and Russian Inferno from last year's stock, a mix of Shilla and Maiskij (that's what I get for not labeling properly), and some from one bulb I bought in WalMart's grocery section. That bulb has nice big cloves and very few little ones inside, just what I like. We'll see how it does. They all look a bit beat down after those several days with lows of 23.

[GoDawgs]

Over on the "2021 Grow List" post I listed the 22 different regular tomatoes I'll be growing this year. Here's the rest of the stuff going into the garden, among which are several fun-sounding "toys". I always have to have a few to play with. They're usually from Baker Creek. Too tempting.

Asparagus, Conover's Colossal - A few more 6-packs to add to the existing planting
Bean, Bush, Blue Lake
Bean, Bush, Contender
Bean, Pole, Blue Lake
Bean, Pole, King of the Garden
Bean, Yardlong, Stickless Wonder - new toy, supposedly just 30” tall requiring no support. Hmmm…
Broccoli, Chinese Yod Fah - new toy, asparagus-like spears
Broccoli, Green Goliath
Broccoli, Packman
Cabbage, Early Golden Acre
Cabbage, Early Jersey Wakefield - usually grow Charleston Wakefield but couldn’t get.
Cabbage, Stonehead
Carrot, Bolero
Carrot, Danvers
Carrot, Envy
Carrot, Napoli
Cauliflower Rober - trying this for spring as it supposedly holds up to temp swings. Will still do Amazing in the fall.
Collards, Vates
Corn, Early Pink Popcorn - new to me
Corn, Seneca Sunrise – new to me, being developed by Seed Treasures
Corn, Silver Queen
Cucumber, National Pickling
Eggplant, Chinese String – new toy, 10-15” very thin, can be picked early when they’re like string beans.
Eggplant, Millionaire
Garlic, Lorz Italian Softneck - all garlics were planted this past fall and are growing now.
Garlic, Mixed, Maiskij, Shilla - my bad for not labeling properly!
Garlic, Siberian
Garlic, Russian Inferno
Garlic, WalMart grocery section – just had to plant a few. The bulbs had nice large cloves with very few little ones in the middle.
Jerusalem Artichokes – trying again after last year’s planting died early.
Kale, Premier
Kohlrabi,Kolibri - new to me and will compare to the Blauer Spec I've been growing lately
Leek, King Sieg - trying leeks again after having failed at it about 7 years ago.
Okra, Choppee
Okra, Heavy Hitter – new to me and will grow alongside Choppee, which did very well last year.
Onion, Australian Brown – all onions planted last fall, growing now
Onion, Texas 1015Y Supersweet
Onion, White Creole
Onion, Scallion, Shimonita - started the seeds this morning in a pot for transplant in about 2 months
Pea, Field, Big Red Ripper
Pea, Wando
Pepper, Gypsy
Pepper, Jalapeno M
Pepper, Margaret's - freebie coming in
Pepper, Prairie Spice – new to me, given by a friend
Pepper, Red Marconi
Pepper, Rooster Spur – new to me, given by a friend
Potatoes, Yukon Gold
Potatoes, Kennebec
Radish, Daikon, Minowase
Radish, D'Avignon
Radish, French Breakfast
Radish, Opolanka
Radish, Phil. White Box
Rhubarb, Victoria Homestead - we’ll see if it survived the winter and if it grows.
Squash, Sum., Straightneck Yellow
Squash, Sum/Win, Zuch.Rampicante
Squash, Spaghetti, Small Wonder
Squash, Tahitian Butternut - another new toy
Squash, Zucchini - whatever the feed & seed has
Swt Potato, Jewel
Tomato, micro Birdie Rouge
Tomato, micro Chibikko
Tomato, micro Groovy Tunes
Tomato, micro Gelbe Topftomate
Tomato, micro, Jochalos
Tomato, micro, Lille Lise
Tomato, micro Pinocchio Orange
Tomato, micro Whippersnapper
Tomato, micro, Red Robin
Turnips, Purple Top
Watermelon, Black Diamond
Watermelon, Charleston Gray
Watermelon, Kaho – new toy, small, a “two serving” size

[Whwoz]

Impressive list [mention]GoDawgs[/mention] , hope they all do well for you.

[bower]

'Frowsy' is such a good word for the winter garden. Everything I stuck into my greenhouse is looking frowsy (and partly my own fault of neglect). On days without snow, my mom's leftover brassicas have that look as well. Still standing but our winter will take them down - they haven't quite decided to give it up though. Yours were so beautiful in November!! But I think those savoy cabbages are still in the running.
Your garden always blows me away... Georgia has an amazing climate and you sure make the most of it. Happy garden 2021!

[GoDawgs]

About 20 years ago I had both knees replaced, a year apart because I wasn't that brave to rehab two at once! A bit over two years ago one of the replacements went bad (they're supposed to last 15-20 years) and that had to be replaced. They call that a "revision." Well, all of a sudden this weekend the other knee started acting up and I was able to get an appointment with my ortho for this morning.

Long story short, it looks like I'll be having the second knee fixed. The plastic disk which acts as the meniscus between the upper and lower parts has worn very thin. However they may it or may not be replacing just the plastic disk. They won't know until they get in there if they do just that or replace the whole works. As the doc said, the xrays look good on the device itself but we're looking at a three dimensional thing in two dimensions. If the device has loosened up over time (and they do loosen after a while) or if there are other plastic parts in there that are worn and shedding plastic particles, they'll have to replace it all. They'll go in to replace the disk but will be prepared to do it all. Whatever you have to do, doc!

So after referring to my 2018 calendar and seeing about how long after surgery it was before I was lightly puttering in the garden again, it was about ten weeks. I'm going to call Ortho Doc tomorrow and tell him to schedule me for the works. Why replace just the disk in a very old device only to have the device go to pot later, who knows when. Gotta have good wheels and there's no use in putting it off. Git 'er done and be done with it. Now I'll have to look at the spring garden plans and maybe cut back some of the early stuff. It depends on how much of the early stuff Pickles can manage by herself. We'll have to discuss that.

[Whwoz]

All the best with the impending operation [mention]GoDawgs[/mention]

[GoDawgs]

Thanks, Whwoz. Years of sports in early life took a toll, added to by a stretch of working loading nursery trucks and jumping out of the back of those trucks.

[goodloe]

Sorry to hear this, [mention]GoDawgs[/mention] , but it looks like you're on top of it! It's frustrating to have something like this happen in the runup to Spring planting. In February of both 2019 and 2020, I was hit with physical problems that impacted my gardening plans: Bulging lumbar discs in '19 and double hernia surgery in'20 (delayed 3 months due to covid-19) . Thankfully, my Wife and youngest Son stepped up to get 'er done!!

Best of luck with the surgery! Please keep us updated on your progress.

[bower]

Yea GoDawgs best wishes for successful surgery and a recovery that doesn't interfere too too severely with your garden enjoyment!
Likewise [mention]goodloe[/mention] here's to a fresh spring in 2021 without any surgeries! Go easy all the same, on your recovered injuries, as both of those can recur again if you're not careful. I say keep the Wife and Son involved is a good idea

[GoDawgs]

Thanks, guys. I'm gonna call the doc Monday and tell him to go ahead and schedule the works.

Last night Pickles and I chatted about cutting back the garden. It looks like most of the plans will proceed as scheduled. The beds won't get broadforked as the thing's almost too heavy for Pickles to tote, let alone use but the Mantis will be able to till up the beds and prep planting holes decently deep. She said she can handle that. I use the broadfork so that the soil layers don't get too disturbed but you do what ya gotta do sometimes.

Putting up the two large trellises, one for sweet potatoes (a first time trial) and the other for pole beans/trombone zucchini, won't happen until the end of April and I should well be able to help by then. The only thing I think we're going to ditch is the corn plot, but the popcorn and a sweet yellow corn, both in raised beds, will happen as planned. Onward we go!

[HenriSportif]

I tried a sweet potato trellis idea this past season, but every time the vines got long enough, the deer ate every single plant back down! It was like I was serving them up, special!

Best wishes to you for a successful surgery and recovery, and ditto what [mention]Bower[/mention] said to [mention]goodloe[/mention] as well! And to the family too; sometimes it's easy to overdo when you're helping someone! Take care, guys!