The Dawg Patch

[GoDawgs]

The second flight of fall plants was planned for setting out around the 24th but they're ready for take off now. They were started Aug 15th. I'll set them out on the porch today and let them adjust for a few days and then plug them in. However before that day I'm going to have to dig holes in advance and pour the water to them for several days as the ground is still powder dry.

24.09.14 Next flight ready to fly early.JPG

Still no rain and the same old "cloudy with spotty showers" forecast. This morning the map shows showers all over next door neighbor South Carolina and a few in south Georgia. There's a big old red line of storms cutting through Alabama from NW to SE. It will probably fall apart before it gets here. Heavy sigh...

[JayneR13]

Dawgs, please remind me: when you direct seed during dry weather, do you put newspaper or cardboard down over the plantings to keep the moisture in? I'm thinking to lay cardboard down over the garlic planting at the food pantry so I don't have to run over there Every.Single.Day to water. And obviously, we remove the cover once the seed has germinated. Once germinated I'll probably have to make a weekend run, but the place is close to home and it wouldn't be the first time!

[GoDawgs]

Dawgs, please remind me: when you direct seed during dry weather, do you put newspaper or cardboard down over the plantings to keep the moisture in? I'm thinking to lay cardboard down over the garlic planting at the food pantry so I don't have to run over there Every.Single.Day to water. And obviously, we remove the cover once the seed has germinated. Once germinated I'll probably have to make a weekend run, but the place is close to home and it wouldn't be the first time!

Yes, I do. I soak the furrows well several times then plant and water one more time. Then I lay soaked newspaper sections over the row, using poles down each side of the newspaper to hold it down. The trick is to make sure the newspaper or other covering is removed at the first sign of germination or risk leggy useless seedlings. Bush beans usually pop up in 4-5 days but I start checking them on Day 3.

Once they pop up they get watered again and then mulched well to lock in the moisture.

[GoDawgs]

I found a Covington sweet potato at the grocery in January and after reading that it was somewhat resistant to nematodes I bought one to try. Slips were grown from it and two test hills were planted. Yesterday was digging day. They're a lot smaller than the Jewels despite being in the ground the same amount of time. We'll see how they taste and how well they store.

24.09.16 Covington sweet potatoes dug.JPG

24.09.17 Covington test hills dug, 4 lbs.JPG

I spent yesterday morning plus this morning and afternoon prepping holes for tomorrow's planting. The soil is so dry at least a shovel's depth. So I dig a hole and fill it several times with water.

24.09.17 Prepping planting holes.JPG

Then I add a shovel of compost, refill the hole, add fertilizer and turn the soil about four times before making a saucer-shape to plant in. The saucer shape helps catch rain (LOL!). In this case, I water one more time. Once plants are in I'll mulch everything. This bed is ready to plant. There are 50 plants of various brassicas that will get planted later today. It's cloudy, low 80's and that heavy wind of the past several days is gone. Perfect.

24.09.17 Bed ready for planting.JPG

The peppers are loving the cooler weather. It's the same every year. They shut down in the summer heat so you keep them alive, pick a few now and then and then watch them go nuts when it cools off. This is a Mucho Nacho jalapeno plant, just loaded.

24.09.17 Mucho Nacho pepper loaded.JPG

Tomorrow I need to prep some areas for seeding turnips and carrots later. Once all that's done and the mulch is down it's maintenance time. Whew!

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday afternoon was planting time for the second half of the fall stuff. Fifty plants went in pretty quickly with two of us plugging them in. I learned a good while ago that trying to prep holes and plant that same day is just way too much to do. Better to spread it all out over two days.

Today I need to take down the four trellises out there and prep a row for carrots.

Meanwhile the fall tomatoes are looking good. They like this cooler weather. There are a lot fewer of them than the spring group. That big one on the left is the SunSugar cherry, a spring holdover that I cut in half a month or so ago. It's right back up there and setting fruit again.

24.09.17 Fall 2nd round tomatoes, peppers.JPG

This is Laura's Bounty Dwarf, a first timer for me. It's setting nicely and down at the bottom the first one is ripening.

24.09.17 Laura's Bounty.JPG

Got the first Noah's Stripes dwarf yesterday. Not a real pretty one with all those little dits on it but gives me an idea of what it looks like. The plant has been struggling.

24.09.17 Noah's Stripes Dwarf.JPG

And the Morden cucumber is starting to climb. Those are BIG leaves for a cucumber!

24.09.17 Morden's cuke taking off.JPG

We had the first heavy fog this morning. Time to count 45 days and see if it's close to the first killer frost. Our usual first killer is around Nov 10 so we'll see.

[Seven Bends]

Is anyone else not seeing the photos in @GoDawgs' latest post? I just see file names ending in .JPG. Tried reloading, tried right-clicking, no luck.

[JRinPA]

same

[pepperhead212]

+2

[JayneR13]

Ditto. We’re not nuts. It’s a technology thing.

[GoDawgs]

Yesterday afternoon was planting time for the second half of the fall stuff. Fifty plants went in pretty quickly with two of us plugging them in. I learned a good while ago that trying to prep holes and plant that same day is just way too much to do. Better to spread it all out over two days.

Today I need to take down the four trellises out there and prep a row for carrots.

Meanwhile the fall tomatoes are looking good. They like this cooler weather. There are a lot fewer of them than the spring group. That big one on the left is the SunSugar cherry, a spring holdover that I cut in half a month or so ago. It's right back up there and setting fruit again.

24.09.17 Fall 2nd round tomatoes, peppers.JPG

This is Laura's Bounty Dwarf, a first timer for me. It's setting nicely and down at the bottom the first one is ripening.

24.09.17 Laura's Bounty.JPG

Got the first Noah's Stripes dwarf yesterday. Not a real pretty one with all those little dits on it but gives me an idea of what it looks like. The plant has been struggling.

24.09.17 Noah's Stripes Dwarf.JPG

And the Morden cucumber is starting to climb. Those are BIG leaves for a cucumber!

24.09.17 Morden's cuke taking off.JPG

We had the first heavy fog this morning. Time to count 45 days and see if it's close to the first killer frost. Our usual first killer is around Nov 10 so we'll see.

[GoDawgs]

Apologies for the photo foul up!

I have no idea why it happened but it looks like it's good to go now.

And I did pick that Laura's Bounty that was turning. As I touched it, it fell off into my hand. Yep, ready! It has light striping on it. Haven't tasted it yet.

24.09.19 Dwf Laura's Bounty.JPG

[Tormato]

Yesterday afternoon was planting time for the second half of the fall stuff. Fifty plants went in pretty quickly with two of us plugging them in. I learned a good while ago that trying to prep holes and plant that same day is just way too much to do. Better to spread it all out over two days.

Today I need to take down the four trellises out there and prep a row for carrots.

Meanwhile the fall tomatoes are looking good. They like this cooler weather. There are a lot fewer of them than the spring group. That big one on the left is the SunSugar cherry, a spring holdover that I cut in half a month or so ago. It's right back up there and setting fruit again.

24.09.17 Fall 2nd round tomatoes, peppers.JPG


This is Laura's Bounty Dwarf, a first timer for me. It's setting nicely and down at the bottom the first one is ripening.


24.09.17 Laura's Bounty.JPG


Got the first Noah's Stripes dwarf yesterday. Not a real pretty one with all those little dits on it but gives me an idea of what it looks like. The plant has been struggling.


24.09.17 Noah's Stripes Dwarf.JPG


And the Morden cucumber is starting to climb. Those are BIG leaves for a cucumber!




24.09.17 Morden's cuke taking off.JPG


We had the first heavy fog this morning. Time to count 45 days and see if it's close to the first killer frost. Our usual first killer is around Nov 10 so we'll see.

I know that I didn't send you Arkansas Little Leaf by mistake.

Please save seeds if you get that far.

[GoDawgs]

It's been garden cleanup time. There were four 18' trellises used for peas, cucumbers, a small melon and long Asian beans.

24.09.19 Trellises ready for removal.JPG

Those need to be rotated to different areas come spring so we took them down for the winter. It sure looks different without the forest of poles!

24.09.20 Trellises taken down.JPG

The fall straightneck squash plants are getting bigger and needing some elbow room under the deer netting. I had to add my homemade "extenders" to raise up the netting. The first squash should be ready in a day or two. That will be the first thing to come out of the garden in a while. In the two beds behind this bed are some of the new plantings; a row each of collards and kale next to the squash and cabbages behind that bed.

24.09.20 Making room with extenders.JPG

All of the fall plants are in now and I finally got them all mulched well. Still no rain to speak of. A couple of days there have been a few drops here and there, leaving the rain gauge absolutely dry. It's now been 45 days since we had 1/3" on August 10th.


The Gulf Fritillary butterflies are all over the place, especially when I water the garden. They're thirsty too. A couple of them kept landing on my arm, staying in place even as I moved around. Perhaps they were wanting the salt from the sweat on my arm. But it was fun chatting with them

34.09.20 Visiting Gulf Fritillary.JPG

[GoDawgs]

Well, it looks like Dances With Hoses can close the rain chant book and retire. Hurricane Helene is going to bring all the rain we want over the next few days.

Today is Prep Day, mostly tying down some things. We were talking about just running the gennie cables into the house ahead of time. It has a remote start so nobody will have to go outside to do that if needed. It's rare when we lose power for any length of time so there's no need for the huge expense of a whole house generator. The last big outtage was five days in February 2014 when Winter Storm Pax's ice brought down so many trees, limbs and power lines. That was before we had the generator and was the reason we got one.

Yesterday in the garden I picked a few Big Red Ripper cowpeas after finding the first ones ready.

24.09.24 First Red Ripper field peas.JPG

There are a ton of lavender colored blooms! And all kinds of bees, wasps and other critters are after the nectar that forms at the base of each flower.

224.09.24 Red Ripper flower.JPG

Today I'll pick any more that are ready. Just like with sweet peas, they need to be picked about every other day for shelling out fresh peas.

24.09.25 Lots of Red Ripper peas about ready.JPG

So that's all that's going on here. Just a waiting game.

[JayneR13]

Gennies are one of those things that's better to have and not need, than need and not have. But yeah, it's getting towards the end of the season. I'm sure I'll be watching gardening shows in January and itching to get my hands back in dirt, but for now, it's winding everything down and putting the beds to sleep. It's been a weird year too. I can't believe the zukes in the food pantry garden are still fruiting, but there it is. Normally they'd have been done a long time ago.

[bower]

Thinking about you @GoDawgs and hopefully a safe adventure with that awful Helene.
I'm sure there will be lots of pieces to pick up, but you were ready to weather it out, and I hope everything worked for you.
Your beautiful garden is a charm! All will be restored. I have confidence in you.

[JRinPA]

I have buddy in lawrenceville, said they didn't get anything hardly.

[JayneR13]

She’s OK. I don’t want to presume to say too much, but I’ve seen her very brief posts on another board and she’s OK. For now, her internet service is extremely limited. Cell phone towers are down everywhere. So be patient! Huge mess to clean up but her garden, along with her family, have survived. I’m sure she’ll be back here soon with the rest of the story!

[GoDawgs]

We're OK. And sooo very very blessed that there was no damage to house or outbuildings. Pics here:

viewtopic.php?t=5779

We still have no power and I doubt we will for a long time. Just about every power line is down. Georgia Power said yesterday that their worst restoration was when they had to put in 1000 new poles after the big ice storm ten years ago. Right now they're looking to replace 8000-9000 state-wide so it looks like the generator will be running a good while longer.

On Monday the nearest open gas station was 70 miles away. On Wednesday some power was restored to a town 15 miles away at their I-20 exit. We were able to fill four empty 6-gallon cans. Will need to get more on Sunday. It seems the genny uses 5-6 gallons a day as it runs 24 hours to keep the reefer and freezer going. We also have internet and tv hooked up to it and when necessary the coffee pot, a small lamp, the radio etc. So far the genny hasn't tripped off from overload.

Cell service finally came back up Wednesday evening.

The water we put in all the big stock pots and containers we had pre-storm is still holding out. The neighbor across the pasture has a whole house genny and said we can come get water anytime we want and come for hot showers. There are two 55 gallon water barrels under the pole shed with water treatment that keeps water safe to drink for five years. We opened the first one a couple days ago and the water tastes terrible. It will be used for toilet flushing and dish washing.

I've pretty much got most of the garden cleaned up and picked two yellow squash yesterday. Also some Contender green beans. I'll have to get some pics of stuff taken today. Some tings will make it, some won't.

Fire ants are going nuts building mounds now that the ground is soft so one must be careful. I used two 1-gallon jugs to treat two mounds that were building up in the squash/bean bed. A justified use, I think.

Today will sorta be laundry day. Working laundromats are few and far between. Both Pickles and I have a ton of t-shirts and shorts but are running out of clean socks and underwear so we will use two buckets of water to wash them. One will scrub and one will rinse/wring out stuff and hang them on a big foldable laundry rack that's here.

And so it goes! We're making it and so very grateful for what we do have considering the poor folks in NC and TN that have lost everything.

[JayneR13]

That's incredible! Our hot & cold running civilization is SO precarious! When it goes, we're back to the way our grandparents and great-grands lived. And guess what! They got by. I'm sure they were happier with laundry machines than two buckets, but clean undies is what matters. I'm so glad you and Pickles are OK! The pictures I've seen coming from TN and NC are horrific. I've read that most of the people don't have flood insurance either. Of course, I've also read that flood insurance is horribly expensive and barely worth spit. My heart goes out to all of you.