The Dawg Patch

[MissS]

Your garden is really moving along. Those carrots are just beautiful. Were they over-wintered or seeded this spring? I have no idea because I don't grow them.

[PlainJane]

The wind is going like a howler monkey but not much precipitation. Should be affecting your place by now I would think.

[GoDawgs]

Your garden is really moving along. Those carrots are just beautiful. Were they over-wintered or seeded this spring? I have no idea because I don't grow them.

Thanks, Miss S. That row was sown on Oct 6 and they overwintered. I just sowed a new row on March 28 and they just starting to pop up early this week. It's a good use of a bed (and two others above it) that's sunny in the winter because there aren't any leaves on a nearby pecan tree. They'll get a lot more shade once the tree leafs out.

I also wonder how many more funky ones I'll find.

[GoDawgs]

The wind is going like a howler monkey but not much precipitation. Should be affecting your place by now I would think.

It sure did and it was even worse today, especially this afternoon! I think they said it should be gone by tomorrow. Sure hope so!

[PlainJane]

Finally calm here, nice and sunny. That was more of a wind event than a rain event for me.

[GoDawgs]

We briefly had more wind this morning but right after lunch it seemed to have laid down. I hope so.

I got the Spring Treat corn bed planted this morning. Seven 18" circles of it. Soil temp 60 with really warm weather setting in for the next five days. Spring Treat is one of those that germinates in cooler soils. It's been my early corn for at least five years now. This will be the big test of whether 2019 and 2020 corn seed held in the freezer all that time will germinate. I took it out last night to thaw on the counter and then soaked it for an hour before planting. We'll see.

It's going to be broccoli time soon Here's part of the brassica bed with the Packman brocs. The first planting of four is getting ready:

24.04.10 Packman broccoli.JPG

24.04.10 Packman broccoli coming along.JPG

Meanwhile a few of the old Packman plants from the fall are making seed pods. They're loaded!

24.04.10 Packman broccoli seed pods filling out.JPG

I'm going to collect some and then grow out a few this fall. Packman's a hybrid so it should be interesting to see what it's parentage looks like. Then maybe let the nicest looking one of those go to seed and collect those. None of the many heirloom brocs I've tried over the years do very well. And of the hybrids I've tried, Packman F1 has been the best broccoli in this garden for consistancy and production so maybe one of its ancestors could be as well. That would be great because Packman is getting hard to find.

[JRinPA]

Frozen corn seed idea/test, I would like those results and info how to replicate. $37/2500 this year for the stuff we like. I would like to keep that fresh as can be for 3 years instead of wasting some shooting blanks next year.

I just caught up on your blog/log/post. Everytime I clicked on it, it would take me back a few years. So now I clicked through every page and it seems to stay current. Hope it does. Your new neighbors have burros?

[GoDawgs]

Frozen corn seed idea/test, I would like those results and info how to replicate. $37/2500 this year for the stuff we like. I would like to keep that fresh as can be for 3 years instead of wasting some shooting blanks next year.

I had 54 of the '19 seeds left and 58 of '20 seeeds. On my "vault" inventory I had put a note about the 2019 seed that said a germ test done in 2020 showed 60% germination. I mixed the two batches together and planted 16 seeds around the perimeter of the 18" diameter circle. That's about 2" apart and I will thin them out depending on what comes up if anything.

I have some Incredible seed left over from last year in the freezer. That will be planted in a bed next week. No crossing as SP's a 67 day and Incredible is about 85. Then about three weeks after that, four regular 18' rows of Silver Queen will be planted. It comes off about the same as Incredible so should also miss crossing with the staggered start.

Your new neighbors have burros?

Yeah! Two nice donkeys named Waffles and her daughter Dora. They like to come to the fence sometimes and see if I have any carrot pieces to give them. I think they're in there to protect the cattle (bull, cow and their two young 'uns).

[GoDawgs]

Projects, projects. Earlier in the weekit was time to rehab the tomato pallet row, i.e. replacing bad pallets and putting a new layer of cardboard under them for weed and ant prevention. We left what was left of the old cardboard in place. The bricks under the pallet corners had sunk down due to the weight of the tomato buckets so I had to remove those, fill in the holes and reset them.

24.04.12 Pallet row rehab begins, 2.JPG

I had gotten a load of flattened liquor cartons from the local store earlier this week but we ran out about 3/4 of the way through. I called to see if I could get more next week but she just happened to have had an extra delivery this week and had some on hand! I immediately went to get them and we finished the project.

24.04.12 Pallet row rehab finished 2.JPG

Yesterday was the last day under the lights for the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and dill.

24.04.12 Plants ready to go out to harden.JPG

24.04.12 Eggplants and dills ready to go out to harden.JPG

Today, out they went.

24.04.14 First day out for tom, pepp, egg, dills.JPG

24.04.14 Eggplants first day out.JPG

Over the next 7 or 8 days I need to fork five beds and mix in amendments to the nursery mix I got for the tomatoes and eggplants. Got the first bed forked this morning, After the Masters finishes this afternoon I'll work on the soil project some more.

[GoDawgs]

This evening I got three batches of tomato bucket soil mixed before I ran out of daylight and that filled four of the #15's and three 7 gallons. The regular sized tomatoes will go in the #15's and the dwarf tomatoes will go into the 7's. Four more days and evenings like this and a nice chunk of pre-plant tasks will have been taken care of.

The bed that was forked this morning will have two quad-pods of beans in one half (one each for Crawford and Jimenez) and four single poles in the other half to trial new-to-me MMMM varieties. Can't wait to see how they do!

The bed to be forked tomorrow will be for two rows of Provider bush beans. Onward we go.

[GoDawgs]

Got that last bed forked this morning! Woo hoo!

There's an open area in the garden where there used to be a large asparagus bed. Unfortunately a large pecan eventually made the area so rooty and half shady we eventually just let the grass grow back in except for a bed that was half iris and half asiatic lilies. Over time the lilies died but the iris is still there. The iris half gets afternoon shade but the lily half (and the rest of that area) is full sun.

Pickles suggested finishing the iris row with pallets for growing more peppers, tomatoes or whatever. Well, shoot... why the heck not? There are extra pallets and cardboard left over from tomato row rehab so this morning it happened. The garden stretcher at work!

24.04.17 Pallets for extra peppers, etc.JPG

24.04.17 Two pallets to finish iris row.JPG

One of my garden toys this spring is that pinkish Asuka Akane turnip shaped like a carrot. I put in half a row, finishing that with regular old purple top turnips. It's been six weeks since they were both sown and the Asuka are starting to push up out of the ground.

24.04.17 Asuka Akane turnips 6 weeks old.JPG

24.04.17 1st Asuka Akane so far, sown 2.28.34.JPG

The Asuka are a lot more upright than the Purple Tops. Pickles offered that since they're more upright and faster, the Akane could be planted here and there in and around other stuff in the garden instead of assigning them bed space. Great point. Let no space go to waste! That will be tried this fall. I will let some of these current plants go to seed and try saving that for future plantings.

[PlainJane]

I’m a big fan of tucking veggies in just about anywhere. Yeah I might forget to harvest a few but so what …

[GoDawgs]

The Red Pontiac potatoes in the second planting are coming up. The Yukons shouldn't be far behind. These are the extra sets I bought back when Pickles had planted potatoes and then we got a ton of rain. I was afraid they'd rot so I bought some "insurance". We'll see how they do. We've never planted potatoes this late but I didn't want them to go to waste.

24.04.17 First of extra Pontiac potatoes up.JPG

Netting has been put over the planting of Spring Treat corn. Last year, for the first time ever, something was pulling out the young corn sprouts. Birds? Squirrels? No idea. I've heard of birds doing that, especially crows. It was probably a one off happening but just in case, this year they'll not have any! The stakes down the bed are the centers of the planted circles of corn. The new potato bed is to the right. You can barely make out the baby potato plants.

24.04.17 Sp. Treat corn bed.JPG

[JRinPA]

I remember when a guy at the comm garden scolded through group email : "Those are not grass, they're corn, and I don't need any help weeding my plot anyway" or some such. He thought some of the little kids did it.

[GoDawgs]

The three bean beds and one for corn are now ready for planting tomorrow. We're supposed to get some scattered showers today and tomorrow, most probably on Sunday. It will break those high 80's we've had; 88 yesterday. Bean bed soil temp was 90 yesterday afternoon but back down to 80 in the evening.

Yesterday I took photos of both the north and south sides of the garden. It's nice to have the grape fence removed so that I can back up enough to get a whole side in one shot. I hope to remember to take the same two shots as the garden progresses this year to see the changes.

Here's the north side. Brassicas in the first two beds, carrots in the third and then soon-to-be-planted bean bed.

224.04.17 North side of garden.JPG

And here's the south side. The first bed has those late potatoes, then a corn bed followed by pole by two bean beds and some of the garlic. Beyond that are another future corn bed, garlic and leeks. The Yukons in the right side of that potato bed are starting to surface. Yay!

24.04.17 South side of garden.JPG

Last evening I got the bean poles set up. Pics later.

[PlainJane]

It’s all looking fantastic!

[GoDawgs]

Rain and drizzle on and off for much of the day. At least no more upper 80's for a while. It looks like we'll be in the 70's all week. Nice! I wasn't ready for 90 yet! I have to find a dry slot today (maybe an hour at 1pm) and get the Incredible corn circles planted. It also sounds like a nice bread baking day today. Oh, and yesterday I saw the first Spring Treat corn seedlings popping up. Good news!

This is the first iris of the year and my favorite color combo. The name has been lost over the years.

24.04.20 First iris.JPG

Yesterday was bean planting day! Thanks to the MMMM, I think I'll call this year The Year Of The Bean. Here's the section of my garden map with the bean beds on it. Each square is 1' x 1'.

24.04.20 Bean plantings.png

Three rows for eating and canning up (two Providers in Bed 4P and one Jumbo in 4H). The other side of 4H got 3' to 4' plantings of four varieties of various MMMM bush beans, ten seeds each.Then for the first time in a good while there are pole beans: two quadpod teepees (Crawford, Jeminez) and four single poles in 3P (MMMM's Aunt Jean's, Garrafol Oro, Grandma Robert's Purple and Alabama). If these all make we'll be swamped with beans!

On one side of the "cut through" bed (below 5P) I've planted beans that are used for drying. I've never messed with those before. Half the row is Kebarica and the other half is "Party Mix" from Seed Treasures. That's a mix of about eight kinds of drying beans. I sorted them all as best as I could and planted 4' each of two of them, calling them Mix #1 and Mix #2. Mystery beans!

24.04.19 Dry bean mix from Seed Treasures.JPG

So that's what's happening here in Georgia. Onward we go. Hopefully I'll get tomatoes planted out Tuesday.

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday we got 0.2" rain in the form of off and on drizzle. I kept my eye on the weather map and went out during a couple periods of time between rains, got the corn bed fertilizer in and then got the Incredible corn planted.

Here are the bean poles I put up the other day:

24.04.22 Bean poles.JPG

Today's agrichore list was:
- space the filled tomato buckets on the pallet row
- fork the middle of the new carrot bed for pepper planting.
- fork the middle of the garlic bed for planting summer squash
- put up another bed-long trellis
- weed the baby carrot seedlings so they don't get overrun with henbit
- start five more dwarf tomatoes.

I got them all done except for the trellis which can wait for another day as I don't need it yet. It will be for cucumbers. Here are the buckets, ready for plants tomorrow:

24.04.22 Tomato and eggplant buckets ready.JPG

This is the broccoli plant loaded with seed pods that I had to rescue. The bed it was in just had some winter leftovers in it and the bed was needed for spring. Emergency potting for the duration, hoping the seeds will finish for collection.

24.04.22 Packman broc saved for seed.JPG

Tomorrow is tomato, pepper and eggplant planting day. YAY! BTW, I think I've invented a new word... agrichore. I searched for it online and didn't find it! Lots of ARGICHORES to do in spring!

[PlainJane]

I like agrichore. Fitting!

[GoDawgs]

Well, DANG! I had pics to post and to cut a long story short, the pics got dumped from my camera about 15 minutes ago. Very heavy sigh. And so, onward we go regardless.

Yesterday:
- Planted 14 regular sized tomatoes, two dwarf tomatoes, four eggplants, three squash, seven peppers and a dill. Two peppers still not big enough to face the real world yet.
- 5 more dwarf tomatoes got started.
- Pulled three nice kohlrabi and the first five pretty leeks. I noticed that two of the leeks had sent up scapes so I darn well better start using them so I pulled the five biggest. That was a pretty photo, too. Grrrrrrr.....
- Wando peas up 4' so far and loaded with blooms.

Today:
- Tilled under the trellis that will have National Pickler and Suyo Long cukes planted under it next week.
- Tilled up a 4x18' area (not a raised bed) and put up a trellis there for Snake cuke and Tokiwa cuke (both some of this year's "toys") and 6' of yard long beans.
- Potted up one each of two different sweet potatoes just for the heck of it. One is Covington and the other is some purple thing I bought at a Korean grocery. That one doesn't look very promising. I've had it a month and absolutely no sign of an eye bud anywhere.

Tomorrow:
- Heading into Augusta in the AM to pick up those bricks that are on sale and some replacement boards for a raised bed whose boards are finally starting to fail after about 12 years. We've decided to rehab the oldest beds on the "installment plan", one bed each month.
- Fix the last surviving old dirt rake. The head came off today due to rotted wood where handle and head meet. The plan is to cut off the rot, reshape the end of the handle, put the head back on, drill a hole through it all and attach with nut and bolt.
- Start tilling four corn rows with the Mantis after lunch or, most probably, after 6pm in the cool of the evening.

Time for a cold brew. I'm still ticked off about those photos.