The Dawg Patch

[JRinPA]

First squirrel damage here too. Not ripe, but getting there.

64.JPG

Protection issued. Doesn't take that long to do it, but I know it is pollinated. Can't put a sock on until it is for sure pollinated. No way I can put a fence up here.

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The white are good sized cobs with the silk golden brown. I figure 5-7 yet? The grey are smaller cobs yet but have been pollinated, probably 4-5 days more. Color coding for the first time this season. Most of the first block have 2 cobs forming.

[JayneR13]

That's a whole lot of socks! Wow!

[GoDawgs]

I think we're going to get a break in this incessant heat on Thursday when temps fall into the upper 80's for a while. Meanwhile it's water, water, water. And it's time to start removing things from the garden as it winds down.

The Red Noodle Asian beans are done and still coated with kudzu bugs.

24.07.12 Kudzu bugs on Red Noodles pre-takedown.JPG

Pulling vines out quickly created a cloud of flying kudzu bugs so I pulled them out slowly vine by vine and unwound them from the fence. When they were gone I had to laugh. All the kudzu bugs had migrated to the cucumber that was on the trellis next to the beans! Later I found some had discovered the black eye pea row.

24.07.12 Kudzu bugs migrate to cuke when RN's gone.JPG

Yesterday I did the first pull of corn. Haven't counted the ears yet but this year's total yield will be less than usual. Also got assorted peppers and cukes.

24.07.14 Fresh corn, peppers, cukes.JPG

The good ears are a lot smaller than usual but still sweet and tasty.

24.07.14 Ears smaller than normal this year.JPG

There's a tidal wave of eggplant about to wash over us. Pickles put up seven pints of eggplant pasta sauce yesterday, something new to us and wowza! Good stuff! We need another canner load of those. Soon!

[Seven Bends]

That corn looks beautiful! I'm so impressed by home gardeners who can grow corn; it's way beyond my skill level.

That first picture with the bugs is like something out of a horror movie, right before the bugs envelop the protagonist.

Is there a shareable recipe for the eggplant pasta sauce, or is it Pickles' own creation?

[JRinPA]

Those bugs look terrible.
My block1 first cobs came out pretty good, but a lot of the second cobs, though well pollinated, just didn't size. Ran out of steam I guess. So hot and dry. Of course I also have potatoes under them, that might steal their thunder some, too. My block2 is looking very poor, very little is well pollinated, but squirrel tearing it up anyway.

Did you fertilize that corn very much? It is a nice color. I did mine once at about the 7 leaf stage.
Certainly I had no honkin' thick stalks like I do some years. And no side shoots. Maybe the next block will get a good run up if the rain stays regular here.

[MissS]

Those bugs are worse than the Japanese Beetles. I would've invited them for a nice swim in a bucket of soapy water. How can anything grow with those on them?

Your corn is beautiful. It's not an easy crop for a home gardener but you have it down pat.

[JayneR13]

Having tried corn, I agree: it's not the easiest stuff to grow! Dawgs does a good cauliflower as well. Those are two things I'm still working on.

Bugs. Ugh. Would a blast with a garden hose help? At least knock them to the ground, where you could take out some frustration by stomping them into oblivion.

[GoDawgs]

That corn looks beautiful! I'm so impressed by home gardeners who can grow corn; it's way beyond my skill level.

That first picture with the bugs is like something out of a horror movie, right before the bugs envelop the protagonist.

Is there a shareable recipe for the eggplant pasta sauce, or is it Pickles' own creation?

I just posted the recipe for Eggplant Sauce For Pasta in the Preserving Methods section. Pickles found it on the internet (Recipezaar). Oh, the aroma when this stuff was simmering and when in the canner was just wonderful! Very tasty too. I want to first sear and then simmer some chops in this stuff.

[GoDawgs]

Did you fertilize that corn very much? It is a nice color. I did mine once at about the 7 leaf stage.

I put 10-10-10 in the bottom of the furrows, cover with about 3" of soil and then plant the corn. At the 4-5 leaf stage I side dress with 2 oz ammonium sulfate and a drizzle of 5-10-15 per 18' row. The usual fert for corn is ammonium nitrate but after reading that corn likes a little sulfur I switched to ammonium sulfate.

When the first tassels start showing I side dress again with some 15-0-15 (I have left from another use a good while ago) plus a drizzle of superphosphate to make up for that lack of phos in the 15-0-15. Before I started using up the 15-0-15, I used a little ammonium sulfate plus a tad of 5-10-15 in this last fert app.

So three ferts; under the seed, about knee high and at first sign of tassels.

[GoDawgs]

Those bugs are worse than the Japanese Beetles. I would've invited them for a nice swim in a bucket of soapy water. How can anything grow with those on them?

Your corn is beautiful. It's not an easy crop for a home gardener but you have it down pat.

It's really hard to get them into soap water. They're really flighty! Touch one stem and they all jump up in a cloud. They don't bite but like stink bugs they can emit that odor. One late evening I sprayed them with some pyrethrin. A little later when I was near that area I smelled stink bugs in the air. The closer I got to that trellis I sprayed, the stronger the stink was it was so I guess a bunch bit the dust but not enough. The second you start the spray, even a light mist, they all take off.

It's been about two years since they were in the garden and back then there were just a few here and there. This year has been the worst visit. Hardly any stink bugs or leaf-footed bugs last year but a bunch this year. Go figure. No two years are the same.

And thanks for your kind words about the corn.

[GoDawgs]

Having tried corn, I agree: it's not the easiest stuff to grow! Dawgs does a good cauliflower as well. Those are two things I'm still working on.

Bugs. Ugh. Would a blast with a garden hose help? At least knock them to the ground, where you could take out some frustration by stomping them into oblivion.

Well, I might have a handle on the corn most years but cauliflower is still really iffy. This spring was a bust. I keep telling myself, "Fall only!, idiot! Fall only!" but I just can't help starting a few in the spring "just one more time just to see..."

The kudzu bugs just laugh at the hose. They take off and then just land right back on the plants. I need a phaser set on stun.

[MissS]

I wonder if DE would work on them?

[pepperhead212]

Or maybe some Surround (kaolin clay). I use that against a lot of bugs, and the Spotted Lanternflies are the only ones that it won't control, though I haven't seen your pests, KOW.

[GoDawgs]

I have some bean comparisons going with the drying type of beans, something I didn't have luck with years ago when I first tried them. There is Kebarika and ones I've called Dry #1 and Dry #2. Those last two were in a dry bean mix that I had bought and tried to sort by color so I have no idea what they really are. They've already been pulled and hung to dry.

The half row of Kebarika got pulled yesterday. That leaves the Mississippi Silver peas on the other side of the bed.

24.07.15 Removing Kebarika beans for drying.JPG

Then I bundled the plants with baling twine for hanging under the pole shed.

24.07.14 Kebarika bundled for hanging.JPG

There were nematodes in the bed. They weren't heavy on the roots of the Dry #1s or Dry #2s in the other half of that row and the Kebarikas had none at all until I found one plant with really ropey roots. Bad roots on the left and normal roots on the right:

24.07.15 Dry bean nema roots (L), clean roots (R).JPG

The Mississippi Silvers (from MMMM23) on the other side of the bed are supposed to be nematode resistant. We'll see how they do later on when it's time to pull them. So far they look great and I did the first picking yesterday. I like these! They're easy to shell out unlike the Dixie Green blackeyes I bought to try this year.

I'm starting to get burned out on the garden. It's been a really long season and I'm tired of fighting the heat, watering every day, battling bugs and keeping stuff alive. The fall garden is planned but I'm almost dreading doing it. Fall brassica plants are scheduled to be started end of this month and set out end of September weather permitting. But I'll be OK. This burnout happens every year. This too shall pass.

Meanwhile we had a t-storm move through and got 1" of rain yesterday afternoon. One lightning bolt came down really close, closest in a long time. I'll have to go look at trees today and see if anything got hit.

[JayneR13]

I so know that burned out feeling! Remember when I was doing the Trudge to the plot every day at 6:30am? I was so happy to plant at the end of May, then about this time I was praying for rain so I could sleep in a bit. We all feel this way. You're not the only one fighting the evil forces trying to decimate our gardens. Here it's been 'way too much rain. My plants are still small and all of the cucurbits are having their usual problems. Every single fruit on my Costata Romanesco have rotted Hopefully the Japanese beetles and squash vine borers got drowned but I'm keeping an eye out even so.

Gardens are an incredible amount of work! But our pantries filled with good, healthy food are worth it. Our aging bodies are healthier for the exercise. And who can't enjoy lungs filled with that fresh morning air? As you say: this too shall pass. Hang in there.

[GoDawgs]

It feels strange sometimes when I see a lot of you having gardens just starting to kick into gear and here I am starting to tear stuff out. Beans and squash are done and cleared away. Friday it was the corn's turn. Tomorrow some of the cukes will be cleared away. Where the corn was will be be four rows of Big Red Ripper field peas, probably planted tomorrow.

Before...

24.07.20 Before pulling stalks.JPG

And after...

24.07.20 After pulling stalks.JPG

I finally got that sling made for the ever bigger Ha'Ogen melon. Made it from part of Pickles' old lab coat and tied it to the trellis. The melon is 5" top to bottom so far.

24.07.21 Ha'Ogen melon, in a sling, 5 in wide.JPG

The first Sweet Scarlet Dwarf tomatoes were picked yesterday from plants about 3.5' tall. The tomatoes shown are 3 3/8" wide. They still need to ripen a bit. Sweet Scarlet is supposed to have fruit weighing 6-16 oz. Kinda strange seeing large tomatoes clustered on smaller plants! They're not completely ripe yet so no report yet on how they taste.

24.07.20 Dwarf Sweet Scarlet.JPG

More eggplant for lunch yesterday and today! This time it was a recipe I found for a wrap using chopped grilled eggplant, chickpeas, thin sliced cuke, diced tomatoes, shredded lettuce and a Greek yogurt-lemon-garlic sauce, all wrapped in a 10" flour tortilla. Next time I'll make a real tzatziki sauce as the one in the recipe was rather thin and had not enough garlic for my taste. Tomorrow Pickles will be making a friend's squash casserole recipe but subbing eggplant for the squash. Hmmm, do I detect my skin taking on a slight tint of purple?

[PlainJane]

Yes, I get tomato envy looking at more northern gardens. Nothing really happy except melons and eggplant and a long wait till September.

[pepperhead212]

Hmmm...you might have to start peeling your eggplants, if that purple becomes a problem. Or maybe start growing more white or green varieties. I never peel mine, either.

[MissS]

It feels strange sometimes when I see a lot of you having gardens just starting to kick into gear and here I am starting to tear stuff out.

It sure seems strange to me to see all of you harvesting tomatoes and enjoying BLT's when I am still deciding on my grow list for the season. Something is just not right here.

[karstopography]

Summer Burnout, I understand this well @GoDawgs . We are getting enough regular rain that the remaining garden is taking care of itself. I think Beryl killed all the bugs because I haven’t seen a leaf footed bug or caterpillar, okay maybe one sickly bug or caterpillar, but nothing like what would be normal for July since the storm. Most of the yard and lot still looks so devastatingly bad that an untidy garden is nothing in comparison. I’ve only reclaimed a small percentage of the yard from the ravages on Beryl all my burnout is reserved for that. As things are, the surviving garden has been a relief from the monotony and drudgery of storm cleanup. All I have been doing in the garden is picking a few okra daily, a pepper and eggplant here and there, and there’s even a few cucumbers coming still which is later that I’ve ever gone with those. There’s been rather mild weather since Beryl, not much heat for July compared to recent past summers. I think that relative coolness, along with the near daily downpours, is keeping the cucumbers going.

I did tear out five once whole vertical tomato plants transfomed into broken and horizontal tomato plants from one raised bed. One plant, MPLA, had a very minor case of RKN, the rest of the all open pollinated tomatoes, Red Barn, Principe Borghese, Creamsicle Grape, and the Black from Tula impostor had zero sign of RKN on the roots. This bed had more trouble with RKN a couple seasons ago so things are trending in a positive direction. I’m going to credit the mix of growing over the fall and winter and working into the soil various mustards and brassicas for keeping the RKN in check. What else could it be? I did also work in crab shell meal prior to planting the tomatoes . Maybe that fertilizer actually does encourage RKN predators so that the RKN numbers are kept low. Better order some more Crab shell meal for the 2025 season.