The Dawg Patch

[GoDawgs]

@goodloe , we went and picked up the annual load of potting mix this morning and got all of the tomato buckets filled. The moon is right for planting later this week so Thursday or Friday will be 'mater planting day. I think I'll hold off on putting out the peppers for another week just to be sure.

[GoDawgs]

Some frost lessons learned. On March 13 it got down to 24 and the onions were uncovered. They were hit hard.






The damaged foliage was all cut off and now most have recovered. However, the Australian Brown onions in the foreground are starting to bolt. And in the background, a lot of the Texas 1015's didn't make it. Lots of skips now.




A week ago the weather folks said it might get down to about 35 with a breeze. Since the tender stuff wasn't planted out yet we thought we didn't need to cover the potatoes. Well, the wind died and it got down to 33 with scattered frost. hitting the potatoes hard. The damage, lots of it, showed up two days late. 5th Gear cut off all the damaged foliage which didn't leave much and we thought we've pretty much lost them.











We might end up with a few taties but the lesson has been learned. I told Pickles, "If there's ever a time when either one of us thinks "oh they should be ok tonight", the plants in question will get covered anyway!

[karstopography]

Late frosts are the devil.

I forget, but what’s the deal on bolting onions? A few of my Texas 1015 yellow onions are bolting. What did I read they don’t store well if they bolt or is there more to it than that? My plan was to pick those bolting ones soon and use pretty much immediately. Hopefully, the remaining won’t bolt. None of the Texas purple onions seem to be bolting. All are bulbing up. I’ve eaten a few already. Tops are flopping over in some cases. It should not be long until I can pull them for field drying.

[PlainJane]

So sad. I waited an extra week before planting out the tomatoes this year as March was such a yo-yo.

[GoDawgs]

I forget, but what’s the deal on bolting onions? A few of my Texas 1015 yellow onions are bolting. What did I read they don’t store well if they bolt or is there more to it than that? My plan was to pick those bolting ones soon and use pretty much immediately.

Over the past four years it seems to me that one or two late frosts after periods of warmer weather trigger the bolting. I think this frosting that the onions had was "winter" to them. Then it got nice and warm. A week ago we had that next light frost that burned the potatoes and it got warm again. The onions probably think it's time to make seed! This is the earliest I've had them bolt and it will be the last as I'm done trying to grow onions. Leeks will be the replacement after this year's experiment.

Late frosts are the devil.

Wouldn't you know it.... now the local weather folks are saying we have one more low morning to deal with:

"Sunshine returns Tuesday in the wake of this system with unseasonably cool weather expected Tuesday and Wednesday.
Tuesday and Wednesday will both be nice, sunny days, but highs will struggle to make it out of the 60s Tuesday with low temperatures possibly dipping into the 30s Wednesday morning.
Once we get through the chilly start Wednesday, temperatures will warm up rapidly Thursday through the weekend when highs are expected to reach into the lower and middle 80s."

Since we're to have rain tonight and drizzle a lot of tomorrow I'll have to get protection in place this afternoon and deploy it this evening before the rain comes in. I will shove all the tomato buckets together and get a tunnel in place. Or since the plants are small I might set 3 gallon pots over them and then cover the works with old sheets. The two rows of potatoes will get plastic covered tunnels. No more messing around with Mr. Frosty.

[GoDawgs]

Today is planting day for bush beans, cucumbers, peppers, the last four tomatoes, one squash plant with a hill also direct seeded and one more round of scallions. The prep was done yesterday so all I have to do today is stick stuff in the ground. Rain is coming in tomorrow so that will work out great.

Yesterday I noticed something odd about the Little Purple snow peas. One half is distinctly taller than the other half. Whaaaaaat? They were all seeded at the same time, same depth. It makes me wonder if nematodes are at work under the shorter plants. At least I saw the first bloom yesterday. It was on the taller plants.



The celery is still doing well. It's in the middle of the photo between the turnips and the kohlrabi. And yesterday I noticed that the newly seeded turnips (the half row continuing the turnips that are up) have popped up. That means this year there won't be an avalanche of turnips all at once!



Squirrel troubles again. This time they're after the corn seed. That's never happened before. There were a few small holes dug in the bed before the seed sprouted right where the seed was but yesterday there were more. I put netting over the bed yesterday afternoon. More on this later.

[GoDawgs]

Well, I didn't get all the planting done on Monday and finally got the peppers put in yesterday. Four more t-posts were bought at the feed and seed yesterday so I was able to get those pounded into the sweet potato bed for that trellis. The fencing will be hung on it today and the sweet potato slips will be planted Friday.

As I mentioned in the previous post, for the first time ever something has been digging up the corn kernels I planted. It's not birds because this started before sprouting and I've seen one big fat-assed squirrel running from that area of the garden several times. Damned tree rats! Time for protection.

One undisturbed circle of sprouted corn:




One circle almost completely dug up. Note the holes:




Last year I bought a roll of 9 gauge wire and made hoops from it for lightweight tunnels. So I stuck them in the ground, covered it with the deer netting I have and clipped that to the wire with clothespins. Then I laid some pieces of wood along the edges to prevent anything from scooting under the net. The ends were weighed down with bricks.








Meanwhile I've been experimenting with growing some corn sets to be used to fill skips. I've never done this so am learining about timing. Never knew I'd need to do this due to Mr. Squirrel! I sowed a six pack the day I planted the corn. Wrong! Too soon! It sprouted in three days and by the time the corn in the bed started coming up 8 days later the corn in the pack was already 4" tall under the lights! So they were tossed out and I started two more six packs this past Friday and again they are up in three days and will quickly catch up to the corn in the garden.

I am keeping an eye on the freshly planted bush bean bed and so far nothing has disturbed that.

At least the purple snow peas have lots of blooms now. That's good news.

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday I got the sweet potatoes planted. Just nine hills this year instead of last year's eleven. The bed was a bit shorter than the others but that's OK. We still have sweets on hand from last year.

I also used the corn sets to fill skips created by the thieving squirrels. It's been a lesson in timing. It's amazing how fast they germinate and take off!





The garden planting was already up an inch or two but the sets caught up fast and when I planted them yesterday, both groups were pretty well matched in height. So my new rule of thumb will be not to start sets until I see the first garden corn breaking the surface.




There are three beds left to fork up; one for more beans, one for okra and one for Silver Queen corn. All of that gets planted around the middle of next week so I need to get to it and do one today. Once that's planted the garden will officially be "in" except for two grains I'm playing with. One is Dragon's Claw millet and the other is a grain sorghum (Ba Yi Qi) and the soil needs to be a bit warmer than it is now.

[GoDawgs]

I got the second bean bed forked up yesterday so one down, two to go. The okra bed will be done today. I was going to do more Choppee okra this year but it seems my saved seed from last year isn't cooperating on a germination test so I will do some Jing Orange from my "vault" in the freezer.


The garden is progressing! This is the south side. Incredible corn closest followed by newly planted sweet potatoes, bush beans yet to pop up, cabbages/kohlrabi/turnips, peas, future okra bed and tomatoes at the very bottom.





This is the lower end of the north side. Garlic, future Silver Queen corn bed, yellow squash bed, and trellis for Baker Creek's Chinese Python Snake beans (one of this year's toys).





And this is the upper end of the north side with newly planted peppers followed by broccoli/kale/collards, future succession bean bed and peas. The muscadine grape vines on the fence have now leafed out.





The potatoes are in a separate area in 11' rows. The Yukons survived being frosted but the Red Pontiacs didn't make it. This pic reminds me to remove those tunnel hoops. The dead potato row will get knocked down and spread out as two hills of watermelons will go in there. By the time the vines reach the Yukons, those potatoes will have been dug. At least, it worked like that last year!





As I sat on the bench yesterday afternoon and looked around, it hit me that it's really starting to look like a garden!

[PlainJane]

Lol, it’s crazy that way. One minute not much and the next - explosion!

[GoDawgs]

It's been a pretty busy couple of days. With the exception of several garden "toys", by Friday the garden will officially be "in".


We've had several high temps in the low 90's. Two afternoons ago I put the soil thermometer in one of the tomato buckets and it registered 93. Time to deploy the old sheets to shade the buckets. I'm still working on a better was to deploy the shade cloth.





Yesterday morning I scouted for potato beetles after 5th Gear said something was making holes in the leaves.Yep, first ones of the year. I found one adult, some young ones of various sizes and lots of yellow egg clusters. They're gone now! Then the dead potato row got raked level and there are now two prepared holes for planting watermelon. By the time the vines reach the Yukon potato row, the potatoes will have been dug. I hope. At least that's the way it happened last year. There's a row of Jerusalem artichokes and a bucket of russet potatoes on the right.





Meanwhile the Incredible corn is almost tall enough to remove the squirrel netting. The plugs I set into the skips are looking just fine.





The sweet potatoes have been planted and are getting daily waterings for a week. So far they look ok.





And the first planting of beans is popping up. Those are Contenders on the left, Providers on the right. A bed of Blue Lake Bush will go in Friday.

[foxtailferns]

Do you completely refill your pots every year? I've gone back and forth on whether I should. This year I just topped off with compost, but I know it would be better to have fresh mix.

[GoDawgs]

Yeah, new soil every year. The old soil gets put into beds that need a little topping off, to fill any small holes around the yard and mixed into planting holes in beds before setting out peppers, etc. For $40 I get a 1 cu yd of this mix which fills the back of Pickles' short bed pickup. It's a blend of compost, lime, bark fines, and their Kricket Krap. They also own a bait company and raise crickets. If I had to buy bags of potting mix I'd never afford enough to fill 29 buckets!

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday I planted two hills of watermelons. One is Charleston Gray and the other is Stone Mountain, one I've never done before. That will make more than enough watermelon for two people!

The Blue Lake bean bed got planted too although I decided to just do a row on one side of the bed for now and will plant the other side in ten days. That should string out the finish time for a longer period of eating nice fresh beans. They'll get done again in the fall.

The first Little Purple Snow Peas are ready. So many flowers! This is the first time I've tried them. They may be short plants but with all those flowers making peas they just might outproduce the taller Oregon Sugar, etc. Thumbs up for Little Purple Snow Peas!





Last year something dug up and stole the new Jerusalem artichokes I had just planted but one survived and in the fall I dug them up. What a surprise at how many small arties that one plant produced! Seven were replanted. By the look of the photo, it seems I missed "a few" on the near end of the bed.





With the garden mostly in and stuff coming up, it's mulch time. I got the cuke and pepper beds mulched well with leaves. They should appreciate the soil being cooler. But it looks like the highs for the next ten days will be in the low 80's so that will be decent weather to work in.

We've had a steady breeze all day for the last several days. Late yesterday afternoon it finally laid down, allowing me to spray all the brassicas with bT as cabbage worms were suddenly munching the leaves.

Today's projects will be to get the Silver Queen corn bed planted and staked put in next to the pepper plants. The Incredible corn plants are up about 6" so I think it's safe to remove the hoops and netting. Those will go over the Silver Queen bed in case the thieving squirrels have any idea of raiding it.

[PlainJane]

Great progress!

[GoDawgs]

Between Sunday and today I've gotten a lot done.

- Beds mulched: bush bean, sweet potato, new zinnia bed by the fence, two short trellises of pole beans, carrots.

- Tilled up: Two planting strips (one each for millet and sorghum) and under last year's large trellis

- Pepper stakes put in. The peppers don't need them now but the job's done.

Progress report: The recently planted okra, watermelon and Silver Queen corn seeds are popping up!

This is the new zinnia bed. Those poor leggy plants each have their own crutch if they need it. Only about three really do.



The celery experiment continues. They're doing OK, I guess. Not having grown them before I'm not sure at what growing stage they are or when stalks start going vertical. They're the plants in the middle of the bed between the turnips and kohlrabi.



One plant has some crispy edges. They don't seem to be getting any worse. One other plant has just a touch of it. Maybe they got dry. These suckers need a LOT of water. I think they get too much sun in this bed. I'm tempted to transplant one somewhere it will get shade from about 1:00 on.



This is a rather hodgepodge bed. There are two fall-planted kale that were shovel transplanted here because I needed their original bed to plant beans. Then there are the next to last batch of scallions, trying to keep a steady supply going. I'm currently pulling readies from a different bed. And one straightneck squash. Recently I've been tying them to a stake and they seem to stay more healthy that way. Out of camera range is a newbie just popping up. Again, trying for succession planting, starting a new one about every two weeks..



And finally, the first iris of the year. The name has long been forgotten.

[PlainJane]

That is a lot done!
And reminds me I need to start zinnias.

[GoDawgs]

The garden is IN! Yesterday afternoon I planted the last row of Blue Lake beans. The Chinese Python Snake Beans got an overnight soak and were poked in the ground too. Boy, those are gnarly looking beans! I should have taken a photo of them. They're the strangest looking beans I've ever seen with a surface that looks like tree bark with scalloped edges.

Now things are moving into the Maintenance Phase of mulching, watering, weeding, health inspections, etc. There are still a few additions to come when things like the peas and brassicas are ripped out after they're done. They'll be followed by those Stickless Wonder long beans and Red Ripper field peas. More Red Rippers will follow the corn but that won't be until early-mid July.

One day, hopefully a rainy one, I'll start planning the fall garden and do a seed inventory. It's always something.

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday I started mulching beds where the plants were big enough they wouldn't get covered up. Things are coming along nicely. This is the southeast corner of the garden.





The first bed has garlic which isn't quite ready yet; maybe three weeks away. That's Lorz Italian on the left and both Siberian and Russian Inferno on the right. The other day I planted Giant Cactus zinnias down the middle so there will be some nice color and food for pollinators after the garlic gets pulled. I've never grown this variety before so it will be interesting seeing what they look like!





Next is the Silver Queen corn bed with the anti-squirrel netting over them. The plant circles have been thinned to seven each and once they get to the 4-5 leaf stage they'll get fertilized and mulched.





After the corn comes a bed with a few kale plants and three (so far) straightneck squash. I'm trying to spread out the squash starts so that when the vine borers arrive I'll have at least some squash plants still small enough to protect with cover. Then there's the trellis for the Chinese Python Snake Beans that were planted the other day and the two strips where I planted the millet and sorghum. They're not up yet.





Tomorrow I'll take photos of another section. Meanwhile, the baby muscadine grapes love the morning sun!

[GoDawgs]

This is the whole south side and just the southwest corner. In the foreground is Pickles''s triple row bed of sun flowers with a cucumber under planting to act as ground cover. This evening she's going to scuffle hoe it, water again and mulch it. Then there's a trellis with Cascadia snap peas on one half and two sections of test cucumbers. One section is Arkansas Little Leaf and the other is Beit Alpha, both of which just popped up yesterday. The snaps had their last picking yesterday and the plants pulled out. I think I'll put plant some Cherokee Trail of Tears pole beans there.





Next to the trellis is the okra bed; four Jing Orange down the middle and three Cajun Jewels on each side of the Jing. On the left are some Warrior scallions that are making seeds for collection and on the right are some King Sieg leeks starting to flower for future seed collection. When all the collection is done, they'll be replaced with some kind of flowers down the sides, probably dwarf marigolds or whatever else is in the seed box.



Next is the cuke bed and a tithonia/zinnia bed. The tithonias get big so I put them on 4' spacing. The last of the fall planted scallions and onions are still waiting to be pulled.



This is the second pea bed and they are lagging behind the other pea bed. I think there might be nematodes at work on the far end stunting the plants. Plus I think it's just too hot there for them. The good bed gets a lot of shade so I think all peas will be grown in the northeast section from now on.



And finally today, this is one of the garlic flower buds starting to open. Kind of an alien looking thing! The pod bursts open and this "thing" starts bulging out.