The Dawg Patch

[Whwoz]

If it wasn't for the leaves, one would be thinking that those spring onions were leeks

[pepperhead212]

That looks like some of my huge scallion plants! I used them one at a time by cutting the hard parts off abovethe roots, and the hard green section. Then, cut everything into approximately 1" pieces, and chopped them by pulsing them in the FP. Then, I use it in a Chinese dish, or a few dishes, about the equivalent of a dozen normal scallions!

[GoDawgs]

Today it has been 96 with a 108 heat factor. In this kind of weather the tomato plants won't be setting any new fruit as these temps kill pollen. It happens every year. So it's the annual process of keeping the plants alive until the weather moderates. Hopefully that will happen next week when 80's move back in.

These are the tomatoes up at the house where they get a bit of shade during the late afternoon. The one with all the greenies on it is Homestead, which sets a bit later than the rest.




The two fall tomatoes, one Early Girl and one Siberian, are down at the end and coming along.



Near the other side of the house is what I call the Tomato Annex. There are still three of the original four there. The Purple Russian wilted up and was removed. Left standing are the German Johnson, Super Sioux and Rebel Yell and they've stayed fairly healthy all summer. After the squirrels stripped most of the green tomatoes at least the German Johnson has reset some that are sizing up well.




And these are the tomatoes in the garden out in full sun. They've been affected more by disease and have had about half of their foliage cut off. I've already removed three plants. They're just hanging in there except for the Russian 'Market Queen' and KBX (a 'Kellogg's Breakfast' cross), both of which are putting on more fruit.



Meanwhile the okra and field peas are loving the heat At least something is thriving!

[PlainJane]

Hope you can squeak a good remaining tomato crop between the weather and squirrels. My tomatoes are finished up - had to buy them this week. It will soon be time to start cool weather seeds!

[GoDawgs]

[mention]PlainJane[/mention], The leek and scallion seeds popped up yesterday. My schedule tells me the next things to be started are the braassicas on 8/11-14. They'll be ready to go out about four weeks later unless there's another hot streak going, which is a distinct possibility in September!

This morning I need to add more mulch to a couple of beds while it's still cool out. It was 96 here yesterday but 108 heat index.

[GoDawgs]

It's another hot and humid day, nothing new for July. In the cool of the morning I got more mulch on three beds and watered everything well. Later on after 6 or 7pm I'll deadhead the zinnias, cone flowers and marigolds and will have to stake the yellow zinnias as they're tall and sprawling. Gotta find me a better yellow. Something upright and not low otherwise deadheading them would kill my back.

First thing this morning we picked pole beans, lima beans and assorted hot and sweet peppers.



The pepper basket on the left is a mix of Rooster Spur and Prairie Spice. The other is a mix of sweet peppers, mainly Gypsy, Red Marconi and Margaret's Sweet Pepper. Pickles also picked some big fat jalapenos for poppers tonight. Oh boy!

It's almost watermelon time! Today I got two tomato cages and put them over the two largest Charleston Gray melons in the patch. It was too hot to fool around with staking them down but that will happen this evening. Damn the thieving coyotes; full speed ahead!



Pickles was picking pole beans near the melons and spied a Black Diamond hiding nearby so there are some in there. First one we’ve found. They just have to get big enough to see them among the shadows of the vines. I found one more and marked both positions with stakes for future reference. They're still small; this one's probably about 8" wide.

[GoDawgs]

Summer is droning on and the garden is chugging along valiantly in the heat. This is the first time I've messed with growing green beans in the summer. So far, so good. The Kentucky Wonder pole beans take up half of a trellis and now have flower buds. Some new-to-me Beit Alpha cukes are just starting to climb the rest of the trellis and have their first flowers.





On the other side of that bed are half a row of Provider beans and Strike beans in the other half. The Providers are starting to bloom so maybe first beans in two weeks.





In the last post I had a pic of two Charleston Gray watermelons but here's a revised photo:



Yep, one was ready and I pulled it yesterday. It weighed 28 lbs (12.7 kg). Boy, is it sweet! Probably the best melon I've ever grown.





Yesterday morning the okra was looking a bit droopy even though it was watered well the evening before so I soaked it good again right then and again last evening.



If they didn't recover I would think the nematodes were at work. But this morning it looked good so I added more mulch and watered again. And while there I added some t-posts and the first string support down the sides of the adjacent Red Ripper field pea bed.



That's all I did in the garden today but this afternoon it's time to start the fall plants; broccoli, collards, kale and the like. That means in about four weeks I'll be planting them. Time sure does fly...

[PlainJane]

It’s great seeing everyone else’s harvests as I’m in the ‘slow’ period right now. The watermelon looks so good!

[GoDawgs]

[mention]PlainJane[/mention], I started the fall brassicas yesterday including the Jacaranda and Red Bull.

That watermelon is probably the best tasting one I've ever grown. One half was given away yesterday, one quarter has been eaten and the last quarter was cut up last night for consumption. Good thing there are more out there!

And I'm particularly happy since last year's watermelon effort was destroyed by nematodes. This year the melons are growing where they did really well two years ago.

[friedgreen51]

Pickles was picking pole beans near the melons and spied a Black Diamond hiding nearby so there are some in there. First one we’ve found. They just have to get big enough to see them among the shadows of the vines. I found one more and marked both positions with stakes for future reference. They're still small; this one's probably about 8" wide.

Do you make Watermelon Rind Pickles? Or maybe Pickles does (couldn't resist). I make them every summer for my husband. He loves them. Black Diamond are absolutely the best watermelon for Watermelon Rind Pickles. I haven't had much luck growing the Black Diamond or any watermelon and the lady at the farmers market that used to have them doesn't come anymore. Just thought I would pass this on. I have an awesome recipe if you are interested.

[GoDawgs]

Do you make Watermelon Rind Pickles? Or maybe Pickles does (couldn't resist). I make them every summer for my husband. He loves them. Black Diamond are absolutely the best watermelon for Watermelon Rind Pickles. I haven't had much luck growing the Black Diamond or any watermelon and the lady at the farmers market that used to have them doesn't come anymore. Just thought I would pass this on. I have an awesome recipe if you are interested.

[mention]friedgreen51[/mention] , I DO make watermelon rind pickles! Pickles would never have the patience for peeling off the outer skin and cubing the rinds up. LOL! Also, she's not real fond of them and so I make them for myself and as Christmas presents for a few friends who love them. There's one jar left from last year that's been sitting there unopened as right now I'm low carbing.

Thanks for the tip about using Black Diamond. And although I too have a good recipe, I'd love to see yours!

[friedgreen51]

Watermelon Rind Pickles
14 cups of watermelon rind, peeled and trimmed of all pink & green and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 gallon of water
1/4 cup of pickling lime
3 cups of white vinegar
7 cups of sugar
2 tsp of whole allspice
2 tsp of whole cloves
10 - 2 inch sticks of cinnamon

1. Mix lime and water well. Put cubes in mixture and soak over night in refrigerator is a covered glass or stainless steel container.
2. In the morning drain water off and wash cubes several times in fresh water. Put in a stainless pot and over with cold and boil 30 minutes.
3. Drain and rinse in fresh water several times.
4. Combine vinegar and sugar and spices (tied in a cheese cloth bag) pour over the cubes and boil slowly until cubes look clear. About 1-2 hours.
5. Pace in hot sterilized jar and seal. Process in a water bath. Yields 6 pints.

[GoDawgs]

[mention]friedgreen51[/mention], thanks for posting that. Your recipe and mine are very similar; mostly the same ingredients but slightly different amounts. Mine doesn't have pickling lime in the rind soak but does have pickling salt. I love the stuff!

[GoDawgs]

It’s time to start some fall garden stuff. In some cases a few plants are being started now and more of the same will be started in a few weeks to provide a little stagger.

Broccoli, Packman (50 days) – 6 now and 6 more later
Broccoli Jacaranda (50 days) – 3 from seed someone sent me to try.

Brussels Sprouts, Red Bull (100 days) - 2 from seed someone sent me to try. If they don’t make, it’s the absolute last time I will try to grow Brussels. Yeah, I’ve said that before but this time I mean it!
Cabbage, Stonehead (55 days) – 2 now, 2 later
Cabbage, Early Jersey Wakefield (64 days) – 2 now, 2 later
Cabbage, Savoy Perfection (92 days) – 4 now
Cauliflower, Amazing (71 days) – 3 now, 3 more in 2 weeks and the last three 2 weeks after that
Collards, Vates (68 days) – 2 now
Kale, Premier (60 days) – 2 now. Two collards and kale are a gracious plenty for two people!
Leeks, King Sieg (84 days) – already growing under the lights.
Onion, Australian Brown (100 days) – will start seeds indoors as soon as they arrive
Onion, Texas Grano (175 days) – will start seeds indoors as soon as they arrive
Onion, Warrior scallion (60 days) - will start seeds indoors in 10 days for October planting. I already have a pack of Evergreen scallions growing under the lights.

To be direct sown later in September and October:

Bush beans, Provider
Carrots – Bolero, Envy, Napoli and Yaya
Garlic – Lorz Italian, Siberian and Russian Inferno
Kohlrabi - Blauer Spec, Kolibri and Gigant Winter (a “just for fun”)
Radishes –French Breakfast and Daikon
Rutabaga – small test planting to try
Tomatoes, micro dwarfs – One each of 6 varieties for growing indoors during the winter.
Turnips – Purple Top

[PlainJane]

Cannot wait to see how this goes!

[GoDawgs]

Today all but two of the house tomatoes from spring were removed as they were spent and getting funkier. No rehab possible on those puppies! The two left (on the right) are the Bella Rosa and the Rosella cherry, at least for a little while longer. Stuff on the other end includes zinnias, eggplants and new fall tomatoes/eggplant.



These are Dwarfs BrandyFred (L) and Bushy Chabarovsky (R) with another Millionaire eggplant behind them.



At the far end are Red Siberian (L) and Early Girl (L) which already has a few greenies on it. We usually do these two for fall since they're quick producers (55 days). Started June11, they should be done right before first frost in late October. I need to find a few Dwarfs that will fill that same function but that have better flavor. Any suggestions from the Peanut Gallery?



Down in the garden I "groomed" the other tomatoes again this morning, cutting away funk foliage. It appears that the bottom halves of the plants are putting out fresh new shoots. As soon as any rain from TS Fred passes through tomorrow I'll give them a good spray of neem oil to see if they can be protected. There are also new flowers in the plant tops and with a few days of temps not above 95, maybe they can set a few tomatoes. We'll see. With most tomatoes gone, the squirrels have no current interest there and have moved on to the muscadine grapes which are just starting to ripen.



Three of the four tomatoes in the Tomato Annex are history, leaving the German Johnson still hanging in there.

No sign of the snow peas popping up yet. Because of a few coming days of 80's, I removed the wet newspaper so I don't have to keep checking for germination twice a day.

Speaking of germination, all of the fall brassicas started on Wednesday had popped up by yesterday morning.

And finally, in a sign that summer is getting older, the Stephanie Golden Camellia by the back door is setting lots of flower buds. The first blooms should appear before mid October.

[GoDawgs]

We ended up with 2.1" of much needed rain from what was left of TS Fred, After several days of cooler weather, today we're back to low 90's.

The snow peas have all popped up. Glad I took the newspaper off.

This is the okra bed with two Choppee on the near end and two Heavy Hitter on the far end. The Choppee just aren’t as big and leafy as last year’s monsters. All of the okra is looking kind of "thin". I’m still not sure there aren’t nematodes at work here.



This year someone gave me some seeds of Heavy Hitter, an okra supposedly with more fruiting branches than other okras with those branches starting very low on the plant. I’ve counted fruiting branches on both varieties and find no real difference between Heavy Hitter and Choppee. This is a Heavy Hitter:



This is the Choppee. I tried it for the first time last year and am finding I really like this okra whose slim velvety pods stay tender even at 8” long.



I’ve been keeping a count of the number of pods cut from both plants of both varieties. So far Choppee is in the lead 62-59. One of the two Choppee plants kind of stalled out at 8” tall and just sat there for at least two weeks before resuming growth so I imagine if it had kept pace with the other one it would have produced more pods to date.

There will probably not be the avalanche of okra picked from last year’s four plants of Choppee.

[GoDawgs]

The upper 90's are back and that rain that hit the ground is being sucked back out. Very humid. This is a 1:30 pm photo of part of the garden's upper half and you can see the humidity hanging in the air in the background.



This morning I got out there around 9am while it was still a tad cool and got this bed forked up for planting Provider beans down each side next week and put up a second trellis. The snow peas have all popped at the bottom of the near trellis and next week I'll plant some Wando peas on the far trellis. I've not tried Wandos in the fall so this will be a small scale test.



Baker Creek had a field pea called Stickless Wonder which supposedly doesn't need any support so I'm playing with it. I'm not so sure about that "no support needed". But I shovel-turned the right side for planting turnips next week. Later on when the peas go away I will plant kohlrabi down the other side.



Meanwhile, there are the first baby Red Ripper field peas forming...



... and I picked the first Black Diamond watermelon. It's a 19 pounder.



The melon vines are dying and there are still about six small Black Diamonds on the other side but I doubt they'll get any bigger without support from the vines, . But there's still three large Charleston Grays and one large BD left so we'll have watermelon for a while!

[GoDawgs]

OK, so two days ago I picked the first Black Diamond watermelon, a nice 19 pounder.



Yesterday afternoon Pickles cut it open and got a huge surprise. It was white inside! I've never seen this before!



I've looked up this problem and there are a host of reasons including being picked too soon, overwatering during the late ripening stage, a condition known as white heart, seed having come from watermelons exposed to cross-pollination with something called a citron melon, etc. It showed all the signs of being ripe; plenty of days between seeding and now, dried up pigtail, creamy yellow underside. There was no overwatering, it doesn't fit the white heart symptoms (white streaks among red flesh), etc. Maybe it's the seed, the citron melon theory. The seed came from the local feed and seed, measured from bulk seed.

I went to the garden and picked another of the Charleston Grays and it was just fine so we have nice cold watermelon in the reefer again and I have enough cut up rind to make pickled watermelon rind. No more Black Diamond planting, at least not without fresh packaged seed!

[PlainJane]

What did the flesh taste like?