The Dawg Patch

[GoDawgs]

I can walk on the knee pretty good but the doc wasn't pleased with some of the swelling and ordered staying off of it, more ice and more elevation. I'm trying to be a good girl and complying but will do a quick visit to the garden later today with Pickles to put some protection over the few plants that went out last week. Lots of wind today and getting down to 29 tonight. At least today we will see the sun after a long gloomy stretch of rain and drizzle. I was about to start growing moss on my north side.

Three days ago I started the last of the three rounds of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants.



One broccoli and one cabbage sprouted up yesterday. There was nothing else up at 6am this morning but by 9:30 more decided to have their birthday so they got uncovered. It's nice to see green sprouting up!



Still to come up are the two 6-packs of asparagus seeds and a couple of cabbage seeds. Soon will begin the lights dance where the seedlings and I do a do-si-do with light heights as things grow at different rates.

Meanwhile most everything started 1/22 and 1/26 are out on the porch getting used to real life, both Rounds 2 & 3.



The next round of seed starting will be next Sunday when peppers and eggplants will get started. A week later we'll sow the first radishes in the garden and I'll start the other half of the scallion seedlings. Staggering the scallion planting is working well. We're about done the first half of the fall scallions and ready to start pulling the second planting. That way the last ones to be pulled aren't so big and tough.

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday was pepper and eggplant starting day. One Millionaire eggplant is a plenty but I also found a toy to play with and that's Chinese String eggplant, something from Baker Creek. Then I started 20 pepper plants, 8 of which are for a friend. Sweet peppers for here include Gypsy, Margaret’s (a freebie) and Red Marconi. Hot peppers include Jalapeno M, Prairie Spice, and Rooster Spur.



For the past two years I've been pruning the central leader out of the peppers when they get about 8" tall and that stimulates the growth of a bunch of new branches at the leaf axils. That temporarily slows the vertical growth down a bit. I want to make sure the new growth is coming on good before finally planting them.

Today we will set out a few more broccoli and cauliflower plants as well as the two kales and collards and first few cabbages sets. Hopefully we will also get the two pea beds planted.

[GoDawgs]

Trying to see if I can post in here without the Internal Server message.

Well, that text-only test worked but I'm still getting the Internal Server Error when trying to post pics.

[MissS]

Is this problem only on TJ or is it within your computer?

[GoDawgs]

It's only on TJ. I have successfully posted the pics on two other sites (not T'ville).

[Rajun Gardener]

I made a few changes to attachments, give it a try now!!

[GoDawgs]

Nope, it still won't work. Waaaaaahhhhhh!

[Rajun Gardener]

What images are you having a problem with? Are you uploading from a phone or camera and what is the file extension?

100_5940.JPG

[GoDawgs]

The problem is with all photos. These are plant pics. I'm loading photos parked on Imgur from my Apple desktop computer, the same way I've done it since I've been here. I usually compose a post, including the Imjur BB code, in Word so there's no chance it disappears. Then I copy and paste it all in here. I do the same at other sites and it's always worked until now on this site.

The file extension is .jpeg[/img].

[GoDawgs]

It's a dreary day out there, rain to come in later. Those two days of sunny 80's are a pleasant memory and we're back to 50. 'Tis the season of swings.

My Chibikko micro tomato has a few cherries that are almost ready. I'm going to do some seed saving on the first few since they're nice sized.



I started the other half of the scallions today as the staggered planting has worked well as far as usage is concerned. By the time we finish the first 9' of planting, the next 9' is ready. The two are started a month apart.

A few more peppers have popped up and so Spring marches on!

[GoDawgs]

Go figure. All of a sudden the photo post works. The only change is that instead of doing the copy/paste out of Word, I copied/pasted the post from one I posted on a small private site I belong to. Hmmmmmmm......

[Rajun Gardener]

It's gremlins in this older software. I just noticed the original Amazon ads are under the footer again after I made a new banner.

[GoDawgs]

We had another 1.5” rain yesterday and overnight. It’s a swamp out there again. It happens every year and this is why fall and early spring plantings are put in the upper half of the garden! The submerged area on the far side was supposed to be corn this year but with my knee recovery it will be too much to do prep and planting. The other large space will house Tahitian melon squash and maybe something else.





March 11-12 is the next moon window for planting root crops but I think the beds will still be too wet to work. Carrots, turnips, radishes and potatoes are on the schedule but that might have to be pushed back.

No sign of any peas popping yet. They were sown on 2/24 with soil temp at 58, then that dropped a few days later. Now it’s 50, kind of borderline. No lack of moisture, though! This is the pea bed three beds up from The Swamp with water between the beds. The other bed is further up the garden but no sign of life there either.



On the plus side, the Zuchetta Rampicante seeds I saved tested 100% germination. I have a lot so if anyone wants some, just PM me.

I need to reseed jalapenos if they don’t come up today.

Good grief, I’m getting antsy. It’s too wet to play outside, seeds don’t need to be inventoried, there are no seeds that need starting right now and garden planning is up to date. Just making sure that veg sets already started stay watered. I baked bread yesterday but I might have to find something to play with in the kitchen today. No cookies though as we’re both on post-holiday diets.

Those of you still buried under snow or putting up with freezing temps have my heartfelt condolences but at least it’s steady. We don’t have that here but by golly, early bloomers like daffodils, tulip magnolias, cherry trees and Bradford pears are starting to bloom and that gets the blood going. Then that’s squashed by spates of cold temps and gloomy rain. Back and forth, back and forth. Mother Nature dangling bright, shiny trinkets of spring and then yanking them away when you reach for them. It’s enough to drive ya nuts!

[GoDawgs]

We've had chilly mornings around 32 degrees but it's been warming up nicely during the day. Most importantly, the SUN has been out! All of that standing water in the lower part of the garden is gone. I still don't dare stepping into that area for fear of sinking into ooze! Been there, done that.

The designated potato area has dried enough so that they will be planted on Thursday as planned. Yay! That had been a worry.

All of the peppers are finally up. The Jalapeno M were the last to pop up 14 days after sowing and I had about given up on it as the seed was from 2018. For me that's about at the edge of pepper seed viability. I need to collect more this summer.



On another shelf in the front are two 6-packs of asparagus that need to go out on the front porch to start hardening off. Also Shimonita scallions ready for hardening and planting and a newly sprouted batch of Warrior scallions for succession planting. More peppers in the back.



These are the Shimonita scallions at the size I use for transplanting. They are about 1/8" in diameter and do just fine planted at that size.



This is the front porch hardening off area. On Thursday most of those assorted brassicas on the left will be planted out on Thursday or Friday.



Today I need to prep one side of a bed for sowing carrots on Thursday or Friday. Being careful while doing so will be the operative phrase. The knee is doing well and as of yesterday's PT I'm getting 102 degrees of bend, the best yet. As of tomorrow I'm 6 weeks post-op and don't want to screw it up!

[GoDawgs]

After a nice little stretch of warm and sunny afternoons in the upper 70's-low 80's, an incoming cold front has clouded up the skies and a cold northeasterly breeze is creating a wind chill of 49. The air feels damp as rain comes in later today. They're talking about the possibility of rough weather tomorrow. 'Tis the season when warm and cold fight it out and sometimes those fights get nasty.

All of the brassica plants are in, the peppers are up about 2-3" and tomatoes get started on the 21st. Spring is moving along.

Out in the garden are three open pollinated 'Savoy Perfection' cabbages. As I've never tried savoys before I only started three to see how they do.



The first one at the top of the pic is now developing two heads, one growing to the left and one to the right. Go figure. In this case two heads is probably not better than one.



The second one looks totally different than the other two. I don't know if it's a stray seed in the packet from a different savoy variety or what the heck it is. Interesting, though. It looks like it's starting to head up.



There's a possibility that the third one is the charm, one that looks like 'Savoy Perfection' is supposed to look.



This morning Pickles and I picked up about 30 or so free 8' long 1x1's from my secret source's "to be burned" pile along with some nice 8’ 2x2’s. As there are still some of these sticks left over from last year, the new ones should be more than enough for staking tomato cages and pepper plants, trellis work and anything else that needs them. You just can't beat free!

[GoDawgs]

Today was tomato seeding day, a nice task on a gray, chilly, very windy day. I started one each of 23 different varieties, plus 18 Celebrity plants for a friend. Starred varieties came from Carolyn’s seed given out by Farmer Shawn.

Tomato, Bella Rosa
Tomato, Creole Original
Tomato, Early Annie, a red RL determinate for canning
Tomato, Early Girl Bush
Tomato, Fake Annie, came from the Early Annie pack; produced yellow tomatoes with potato leaves!
Tomato, German Johnson (Benton Strain)
Tomato, Homestead
* Tomato, Honigsüsser Erlöser, "Honeysweeet Saviour, a sweet orange heart
* Tomato, Inzhir Rosovyi, ("Pink Fig", a pink pear shape with ribs
Tomato, KBX
*Tomato, King Kong (large red heart)
* Tomato, Koroleva Rynka, "Market Queen", round red from Siberia
Marianna’s Peace, a flattened globe shaped
Tomato, Mom's Paste, a large red plum shape with pointed end
Tomato, Purple Russian (a freebie) - long oblong shape with wispy foliage
Tomato, Rebel Yell, large pink oblate beefsteak, PL
Tomato, Red Siberian
Tomato, Rio Grande
Tomato, Rosella Cherry
Tomato, SOTW
Tomato, Super Sioux, supposedly good for hot, dry climates; from Nebraska
* Tomato, Süsse Friesin, pale red egg-shaped cherry
* Tomato, Vladyka, a pink heart from Siberia

Last fall while visiting a nursery, I was able to salvage from a dumpster 15 nice empty cups and the special tray they sit in. The cups are 4” tall, 3” wide at the top and 2” wide at the bottom.



They’ve now been used for this year’s tomatoes (on the right in photo) along with other cups and packs . Wish I could have gotten more!



Meanwhile, the peppers are coming along nicely, sharing a shelf with more tomatoes. When the peppers develop their 3rd or 4th set of leaves I will cut out the central leader to encourage more branching. It’s something I've tried the past two years and it has worked really well, making bushy plants that produce more. No more open, TV antenna pepper plants.

[goodloe]

Looking good [mention]GoDawgs[/mention] ! I've got lots of those little cups/trays myself; they come in handy! All my tomatoes (84) and peppers (65) have been up-potted and are hanging out on the back porch. Depending on weather, I'm still on track to plant out on April 10/11...

[GoDawgs]

[mention]goodloe[/mention] , that's a few weeks before me. I'm shooting for planting out on April 26. Last year's spot turned out to be too shady once the sun seasonally swung around so I have another spot picked out for the buckets. Hopefully it will get just a bit of shade during the hottest part of the day but enough sun before and after that time to produce well.

[bower]

Those savoy cabbages look great! So nice to see how you've kept everything in hand while your knee is recovering. Kudos! Hope you're 100% by the time those tomatoes want to go in.

[GoDawgs]

Thanks, Bower, but I have to give kudos to my sister for her help in planting. Another plus was that I was able to get those particular beds prepped before surgery. Then once the brassicas were in, there has been a lull between that and the next round of stuff. Just seeds to start. The whole knee thing happened to occur at the best possible time schedule-wise!

Today was my next-to-last pt appointment. Friday is the last. Woo hoo!