The Dawg Patch

[PlainJane]

Technology can be so annoying sometimes.

[GoDawgs]

It's a love/hate relationship with this Microsoft photo program. I just opened it up to add some new pics and there... THERE... were the photos that weren't there after I had deleted them from the camera. Another heavy sigh. But the cold brew was welcomed anyway. SO.....

The first tomatoes have been potted up. There are four eggplants in front; Millionaire, Chinese String, Matrosik and Rosita. And there's room on the other end for more dwarf tomatoes I just started:

24.04.24 Eggplants and tomatoes set out.JPG

24.04.24 Tomatoes planted with room for 2nd round.JPG

That big bushy cedar in the background above was the target of Pickles' chainsaw yesterday. There were a LOT of mostly bare limbs at the bottom, each having just a puff of greenery on the ends. Yesterday's chainsaw massacre will be posted later today as that non-productive pear also came down last evening!

These are the first Carentan leeks and more kohlrabi I pulled the other day plus a cup of seed heads I collected from the Heshiko bunching onions.

24.04.23 First Carentan leeks pulled.JPG

24.04.23 Kolibri leeks, second planting.JPG

24.04.23 First Carentan leeks, kohlrabi and cup of scallion seeds.JPG

Today will be spent clearing up the chainsaw mess and hopefully I will get to start tilling four corn rows. Maybe. That's the area that flooded this spring but now with little rain lately, it needs to be tilled before it gets too hard!

[PlainJane]

Are you planning to pull the cedar stump or just leave it?

[GoDawgs]

It was the pear that got cut down. We're thinking about cutting the top of the stump flat and putting a bird bath on top.

24.04.26 Pear cut down, cedar branches trimmed.JPG

[Josetom]

Beautiful garden GoDawgs, can I ask whats the benefit of putting the containers over pallets? Instead of directly over the lawn

[GoDawgs]

@Josetom, the main garden is a bit downhill from that greenery behind the tomatoes. There is some kind of bacterial wilt in the soil that hits tomato plants as soon as they get fruit half sized up. One day you see the tip of a top branch wilted over a little. The next day about 1/4 of the plant is wilted and by the third day the whole plant has pretty much wilted. This wilt doesn't bother anything else in the garden but I can't grow tomatoes there.

What to do? Find another place to put them. By golly, I WILL have tomatoes! The pallets offer an even, flat platform for the buckets to sit on. There is a layer of flattened cardboard boxes under the pallets to prevent weeds growing up through them. That also deters the fire ants we have here from getting up into the buckets and making nasty nests in them. The location gets enough sun and also some late afternoon shade to block the hottest part of the day. It works pretty good!

[GoDawgs]

This year's corn area is flat ground below the raised bed area and hasn't been tilled in two years. After being flooded this spring, it's pretty dry now with the recent lack of rain and has gotten a bit hard. It's also grassy and weedy. Yesterday I got just two of the four 18' corn rows tilled. Since it's hard to rake out all the weeds and Bermuda grass after tilling, I first took a hoe to a row, hacked that mess out and raked it to the side. Then I tilled just the rows with the Mantis, three passes wide since it only tills about a 6-8" wide path. Two rows was all I wanted to deal with in the afternoon heat.

23.04.25 Future corn rows.JPG

Meanwhile, Pickles had taken the chainsaw to a cedar tree near the tomato row the day before. A lot of lower limbs were long and bare with just a puff of green on the ends and so they got cut off. That was about five pickup loads she hauled back to Mt Brushmore yesterday. Then to finish the day she dropped the non-productive pear tree that was near the cedar. 8" diameter trunk. It sure looked a lot bigger when it was on the ground! That will be de-limbed and bucked up when time and energy allow.

Here's what that area looked like "before"; cedar and pear tree behind the pallet row.

24.04.12 Pallet row rehab begins, 2.JPG

Here's what it looks like now:

24.04.26 Pear cut down, cedar branches trimmed.JPG

I think we're taking the weekend off although I just might mess with the other two corn rows. For sure, Pickles needs time off and I'm tired too. On second thought, I think I'll set up the sprinkler and let it run a while today on that corn area to soften it up.

[GoDawgs]

I did a few putters in the garden yesterday including hand watering everything. Then I tried to get the oscillating sprinkler set up on top of the ladder I use for that so I could soften up the corn row area for tilling. This is what the sprinkler set up looked like last year. I usually set it up for the corn so that the water actually rains down on the patch, not beat up the stalks. LOL! But it does increase the range.



The bracket that holds the oscillating part to the sprinkler frame broke late last summer and I rigged a fix. But the fix failed during installation yesterday and I'm just gonna have to buy a new one. I spent about an hour trying various fixes and each time I turned it on after a "fix", the strong breeze blew water on me and out into the pasture. Useless! After getting soaked I quit trying. Iffy rain chances for the next ten days so I gotta get a new sprinkler soon.

Both Pickles and I decided to take yesterday off. It's been a long week. Today we'll probably begin cutting off branches and bucking up that pear that was cut down.

[PlainJane]

Every once in a while you just need a break.

[GoDawgs]

The Wando peas are now 4-4.5' tall and yesterday I spied the first tiny pea pod. It won't be too long before it's pickin' time. I also found the first sugar snap pea and of course I had to eat it right there in the garden.

24.04.25 Wando peas now 4-4.5 ft tall.JPG

I can officially report that when those pink Asuka Akane turnips are cooked, the red streaks inside stay red and maybe even get a little more red. The color seems to bleed just a little into white on each side of a streak. So pretty! It's a keeper and small enough that next year I won't devote row space for them but just sow them here and there to fill in.

24.04.25 Cross section of Asuka Akane turnip.JPG

Got the pepper bed mulched. Peppers down the middle, carrots down each side and fall-planted shallots on the far end.

24.04.26 Peppers middle, carrots on sides, shallots at end.JPG

That five gallon compost pail on the porch got its last batch of kitchen peelings etc and so it was time to dump it in the compost bin. Right now there are two bins; one I'm just turning so it can finish and the other is in the building stage. I've been turning the new one, then adding the scrap bucket contents and then topping off with more leaves, shredded paper and any old used potting soil from dead plants. Both piles are loaded with red wiggler worms. Right now it seems the bucket fills up every 3-4 weeks. Probably more often come canning season.

[GoDawgs]

I picked the first sugar snap peas this morning! They are 'Sugar Sprint' in the first half of the row. The back half is Snak Hero, a slightly later variety. Just 4 oz of snaps but I just might stir fry them up with some chopped leeks, broccoli side shoots and thin carrot slices for a nice homemade side dish tomorrow.

24.05.01 First sugar peas and dry beans.JPG

24.05.01 Sugar Sprint peas.JPG

The 'Incredible' corn planted in circles is popping up. It's under a netting tunnel for now to keep whatever from snatching the seedlings. Once I think they're all up I'll thin them to about 7-8" apart.

24.05.01 Incredible corn circle.JPG

This is the first planting of potatoes, the ones I thought might drown. And for a while I thought a few did but they just came up very late. Two 11' rows, one Red Pontiac, one Yukon.

24.05.01 First potatoes. cherries behind.JPG

And you may remember I bought "insurance" sets just in case the first ones did rot. Well, I kind of forgot about them. One day Pickles happened to see the bag, looked in it and declared that they were sure enough ready to plant! Oh, chit! So I forked up the last bed available, a real rooty one that hasn't seen a fork in several years and Pickles planted them. They're looking real good! She did the last hilling last week. And so it goes.....

24.05.01 Insurance potatoes coming along.JPG

[WoodSprite]

I just ventured into this section of TJ. Wow! I've been missing out on so many great posts! I'll have to go back to the beginning of your thread and other threads to see what all you are up to. I really liked what I saw so far. Very nice, GoDawgs!

[GoDawgs]

Thank you, @WoodSprite. It keeps me out of trouble.

[GoDawgs]

Rain! We actually have rain this morning! It comes and goes but we'll take every drop. I should be able to skim off the top weeds/grass easily tomorrow and get the last two corn rows tilled. I like to rake all that stuff out before tilling or a lot of it will grow right back if I don't.

The Alcosa savoy cabbages are coming along slowly. They're about 4" wide now. They didn't do well last spring so I did them again in the fall and they did better but even a tad more slow, probably due to shorter days. I have other and faster cabbages (Early Jersey Wakefield and Stonehead) coming on so there's no rush in getting these a bit larger except hot weather is coming in again next week.

24.05.03 Alcosa savoy cabbage, 4 in..JPG

Yesterday was cuke, squash and sunflower planting day. I usually just do National Pickling cukes but this year I'm also playing with a few of the long English-type cukes since Pickles has started buying them at the grocery. They last longer in the reefer. She bought Indian Snake cuke and thanks to the MMMM I also planted some Suyo Long and Tokiwa. All will be trellised. For late summer/early fall I'll try some Morden Early (45 days).

I seeded another Early Prolific straightneck, one Early White Bush Scallop squash to join the other two planted out as sets three weeks ago. Also seeded Cucuzzi Italian under a bed end trellis. Last year's Cucuzzi went up the trellis, down the other side and then the full length of the 18' long bed before I cut the leader!

[PlainJane]

Wish we’d get rain here; dry and hot the last 2 weeks and at least 1 more.

[GoDawgs]

It's been a couple days since I posted but that's because it's been the Big Push to get stuff planted. Yesterday I got the sweet potatoes planted, pulled out all the remaining leeks and picked the first Wando peas. In the afternoon I got the okra bed prepped and planted. In the evening as the setting sun touched the tree tops on the horizon I finished planting the four rows of Silver Queen corn. Other than flowers and a few stray odds and ends, the garden is OFFICIALLY IN! Boy, was I stiff all over when I rolled out of bed this morning after yesterday's planting marathon but it was worth it.

The Wando peas are almost 6' tall. Two beds with a double row down each side of each bed. It's a tunnel of peas!

24.05.08 Tunnel of peas.JPG

These are the snap peas with three assorted dry bean varieties on the other side. The peas nearest the camera are the shorter Snak Hero with the other half of the row the Sugar Sprint.

24.05.08 Sugar snap peas, dry bean asst.JPG

Got the okra planted last evening so there will be six plants over the 18' giving them lots of elbow room. Turnips on the left, young scallions on the right.

24.05.08 Turnips, new planted okra, scallions.JPG

The last of the carrots got pulled this morning, about 8 lbs worth. 5th Gear will can some up and I'll play with dehydrating some. One of them was the longest carrot I've ever grown at 14"! The variety is Envy and they don't get that long so either it's a big overachiever or a stray imperator-type carrot seed got in the mix.

24.05.08 Envy carrot, 14 in..JPG

And finally, the eleven hills of sweet potatoes are in. Before prepping the bed I had to pull the last of the leeks but I left three that were bolting so I can collect the seed later.

24.05.08 Newly planted sweet potatoes.JPG

The four rows of corn got planted too but we all know what four strips of bare soil look like. LOL!.

Now comes the maintenance phase beginning with a lot of mulching on these new beds and starting some flower seed. The hardest part is done! Now come the putters and puttin' up when the time comes.

[PlainJane]

Going to be a productive season!

[GoDawgs]

I hope so! I'm pleased with the sugar snap peas and will do more next spring. I might even try to get a quick fall batch in.

[GoDawgs]

Last evening I cut some 3' stakes from my stash of 1x1"x8' poles, banged them in along the bean beds and ran baling twine down the sides of each bean row. The twine helps keep the plants from flopping toward the middle of the bed or out into the walkway once they load up with beans. When they flop like that it's harder on my back when picking beans. There will eventually be another run of twine higher up later on. Occasionally I'll have to "help" a plant stay within the twines as they grow.

24.05.09 Bean strings added.JPG

The Crawford pole beans are the first ones to reach out to the poles and start climbing.

24.05.08 Crawford are first to start climbing.JPG

And finally a splash of color! This is one of the few surviving Asiatic lilies that were planted a long time ago. It was in an order of mixed colors and I can't even remember who I bought them from. But it's faithfully been the first of several Asiatics to bloom every year.

24.05.28 Old unknown Asiatic lily.JPG

We just had some rain move through but there will be some time this afternoon before the next rain line comes. I got a bunch of flattened cartons yesterday and this afternoon I hope to get them laid down in the watermelon area to keep the grass down. I already scalped the area but grass and weeds will be back in a heartbeat if I don't get the cardboard down. That will get covered with leaves.

[PlainJane]

lol, was thinking of you @GoDawgs when I found turkey thighs at Publix yesterday.
And your garden is looking so good!