The Dawg Patch

[GoDawgs]

@GoDawgs Your garden is amazing! I've enjoyed reading about it on our cold sub-freezing day! We can only dream of planting right now. I saw that you had tried growing summer squash vertically at one point. Do you do this anymore? I tried vertical growing last year and it was a bit of a pain, but kept the squash off of the ground.

Thanks for the encouraging words, CT. Yes, I still do vertical summer squash and you're right. It can be a pain. Those plants grow so fast it's like every time you turn around they're needing tying again! I do think that hybrids might be easier for staking. The old heirloom squash vines get pretty long and rangey. But overall, the staked plants seem to stay more healthy for a longer time. Sooner or later the funk seems to find them all.

@MissS, was that a hybrid patty pan? I grew an Early White Bush Scallop last year that was a sprawling monster and refused to submit to a stake.

[MissS]

@GoDawgs, it was an OP, Bennings Green Tint. I did plant it later in the season (end of July) to avoid the Squash Vine Borer's so it didn't have much time to get too tall.

[CtGrower]

I will be trying some hybrids this year. Zephyr and Dunja. Last year I vertical trellised a yellow zucchini from Burpee. I'm not sure if it was OP or hybrid. (free seeds!). It grew past the 5ft stake at the end of the season. I used garden velcro to attach it to the stake. What method do you find works best to train it on the stake?

I was trying to decide if some sort of mesh trellis on an angle might work as well.

[GoDawgs]

@CtGrower, I have an old cotton nightgown that I cut strips of cloth from and use that to tie up the squash and tomatoes too. Also, one thing I have learned though is to use a taller stake for the squash. You're right about how "tall" they can get!

Thanks for that information about Bennings, @MissS . It sounds like a more controllable scallop. If I can't find the seeds locally, I see Baker Creek has it.

[GoDawgs]

It's amazing weather today. The thermometer says 80! Oh, we're going to pay for this somewhere down the line. But for now one of the late camellias at the back of the house is blooming. I think it might be Buttons and Bows', a late winter camellia that can bloom into spring. Blooms are 2" wide. The old tag down at its base is long gone and I can't find my notes on it.

25.02.03 Camellia, possibly Buttons and Bows.JPG

Then there's a very old (20 years?) Mama Lou, a Mother-in-law's Tongue (Sanseviera) that was not moved to the house for the winter. It's so heavy and unwieldy that even moving it with the hand truck up the steps and into the house has gotten to be too much. When the low 20's came she was wrapped up in blankets and left to her own devices. I think I see some viable foliage down in the center of the plant so I need to cut off all the dead stuff and find out.

25.02.03 Poor Mama Lou after temps in low 20s.JPG

And finally, here's Lester who just finished attacking and killing his Christmas toy last night. Time for a nap.

24.02.03 Lester after killing his toy.JPG

[GoDawgs]

The shelves on the light stand are starting to fill up with brassica babies. The second round of cabbage and broccoli was started yesterday and is on the bottom shelf. The plan is to set the first round out to harden in about 2 weeks and then plant out at the end of the month. I'm going to have to move the oregano and parsley on the bottom shelf to make room soon. And the paper plates with drying seeds of micro tomatoes will go too. They're about ready to pack up anyway.

25.02.09 Light stand filling up.JPG

The Frank's Sweet pepper plants are setting another round of peppers! I really like these. The two plants made a bunch of them in the first round so when they started blooming again I got been busy with the q-tip pollinating the flowers.

25.02.09 Frank's Sweet peppers setting another round.JPG

These small peppers (3-3.5" long, 1-1.5" wide) really are sweet when red and even a bit when green. The pic below is of the peppers in late December. The goal is to keep the plants going until spring when they can be repotted to larger containers and set outside.

24.12.27 Frank's Sweet Pepper ripening.JPG

[karstopography]

Frank’s is a nice sweet pepper and super early for me. I don’t know if it is a dwarf of some sort, but these plants stay extra small in my garden, much smaller than anything else pepper I have grown. I can see how these would be ideal for growing indoors. The fruit themselves are a nice size with a good sweet flavor.

Frank’s pepper plants don’t exactly thrive here during the summer, they do bounce back in the fall, but they don’t do as well as some other sweet peppers in the extra hot weather like Giant Aconcagua or Gatherer’s Gold. The other issue is that the plants are so low to the ground that the peppers themselves end up on the mulch where vermin find them and eat into the peppers.

If I could get Frank’s peppers on a plant three times as tall and a little more durable in the heat, that would be outstanding.

[JayneR13]

I moved 5.5" of snow last night! The snow didn't stop until after sunset but the city streets are pretty well lit and I have a headlamp. I'm so grateful for my snow blower! And it's better to be outside when it's 24F above than -10! Of course the snow plow came through and blocked my driveway. This is the way of things.

I probably won't need to start much this year, due to at least two of my beds being out of commission for the garage project. The contractor said he'd have to move the two right next to the garage in order to pour the new pad, and where better for the Skidster guy to move them than the two beds right next door? That'll make it easier for me to put the beds back when they're done. And my co-gardener at the pantry says she can get seedlings donated through the local botanical garden (she used to be CEO) so I likely won't need to start much there. Although better safe than sorry, right? Anything extra can be distributed. I'm also looking at what I can grow in containers on my deck. It'll be an interesting garden this year! But a new garage will be worth it.

My fingernails are distressingly clean

[GoDawgs]

I really want to see how long I can keep the Frank's peppers going with a goal of through the summer into next fall. One of the new-to-me peppers I'm going to try this spring is one I got in the last swap, Petit Marseillais. Info I found from various sources says:

- from Provence in the South of France.
- Sweet, wavy golden yellow to orange 4-5" pods; an all-summer producer from mid-season until frost.
- Plants are 24" tall, 5-10 day germ.
- In Provence, they are picked green and sautéed whole in olive oil stuffed with eggs, garlic, gruyere, parsley, salt, and pepper. They also make fantastic picklers.

This one will be going in a 3 gallon bucket along with one each of Feher Ozon, Habanada, and the Frank's Sweet. First time growing Habanada but the description says "compact" so into a bucket it will go.

Peppers going into the ground in the main garden will be three jalapenos (for making red fermented sauce) and one each of:

Ancho San Luis (swap newbie)
Bridge to Paris (swap newbie)
Lipstick (grew last year)
Mariachi (swap newbie)
Ozark Sweet Snack (grew last year)
Sugar Rush Peach (bought seed)

Will be starting pepper seed March 18.

[GoDawgs]

This afternoon I filled some more packs for the last round of brassicas. One 6-pack each of kale, collards and broccoli; two 6's of mustard, one 4-pack of cabbage. Also a 6-pack of lettuce that will be transplanted later into a window box for the table on the front porch. Got all the packs wet down and on the light shelf to hydrate overnight and then I'll seed them tomorrow.

25.02.17 For last round of brassicas.JPG

That black cart in the photo is Pickles' latest "toy" that she bought a few days ago. It's a 10 cu ft cart made by the family-owned Brinly-Hardy Co that's been in business for 180 years! They're in Indiana. That thing is really sturdy and more heavy duty than the green one that came with the Deere mower some years ago. They also had a 17 cu ft cart but that was bigger than needed. Pickles got it at Home Depot but they sell them in other stores listed on their website including Rural King. website: Brinly.com

BTW, I've heard that the newer green Deere carts are not as tough as the old ones like in the photo. Mine was one of those "buy the mower and get the cart free" deals eight years ago. Many say the tires don't last and I found that to be true, eventually ordering some Korean-made solid rubber tires. No more tire problems! But the poly bed has been very durable, unlike what I'm hearing about the newer ones.

So now with two carts we can each get on with separate projects without having to wait!


BTW, I see Brinly also makes ice melt spreaders for riding mowers and lawn tractors. Guess you need chains for the mower tires! Thanks goodness I don't have to mess with that!

[JayneR13]

I don’t bother to put ice melt down in this kind of cold, nor does the city. It’s actually ineffective in subzero temperatures. And it’s not really good for the environment.

[GoDawgs]

It's 53 in the sun out on the porch so out go the first round brassicas to resume hardening off. They were out there an hour for the first time yesterday in a slight breeze. Today is calm and they'll be out there a good while.

25.02.18 First brassicas out to harden off.JPG

In the tray on the left are Castle Dome broc (front) and Stonehead cabbage (back)

In the middle: Packman broc (f) and Kalibos cabbage (b)

On the right: 2 packs of flat leaf mustard.

The mustard is an experiment where I'm going to plant them down the middle of beds that will have plants that are particularly susceptible to nematodes. Peas and cukes are the biggies. There will be a trellis of peas on each side of their bed, mustard in the middle. Since the cukes will be on a trellis down the middle of a bed the mustard will be planted down each side. There are four more 6-packs of mustard under way. We'll see.

[GoDawgs]

It's almost time to get the first brassica plants in the ground. The cold weather is moving out. 57 today and moving into the 60's next week with lows in the 40's. I've been hardening off the first plants for about five hours a day in the afternoon/early evening so they've had a good taste of the 40-55 degree range.

First round, started Jan 22:

25.02.22 Round 1 Brassicas.JPG

Second round, started Feb 8:

25.02.22 Round 2 Brassicas.JPG

Third round, newbies started Feb 18:

25.02.22 Round 3 Brassicas.JPG

We've had a lot of cold wind that I sure didn't want to work outside in so now I have a lot of bed prep to do as I need to get that first round planted and also some turnip and daikon radish seed. Time to get movin'!

[GoDawgs]

Got two and a half beds forked up yesterday afternoon. The half bed was a pain with crape myrtle roots and Bermuda grass but it's done. I'm a little stiff today but not as much as I had expected to be probably thanks to the pre-work dose of ibuprophen. I'll be planting out those hardened off plants today.

Pinetree seed sale. Although my seed ordering for the year was "done" (is it ever?), I ended up getting 10 packs of seed and saved $8. Some was to replenish seed I plant every year where the quantity was getting somewhat low. The rest was new stuff; a couple to add to this spring's grow list, a few to try in the fall and a couple for next spring.

Beets, Crosby Egyptian - Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment and just can't accept that I can never get beets to make. Maybe this 45 day variety will work.

Broccoli, Imperial - new to me for next spring.

Cabbage - Green Express; a 50 day small head one Pickles wants to try this fall.

Carrot - Napoli (replenish) and St. Valery(new for next spring)

Corn - Stowell's Evergreen; something I've always wanted to try. Will do a small sample next year.

Squash - Benning's Green Tint scallop; added to this spring. Thanks, @MissS, for the recommendation.

Squash, Tatume - A vigorous viner and trellising recommended. A Pickles toy for this spring that will go on one of the pea trellises when they finish mid May.

Squash, Tivoli - A compact bush spaghetti squash. This I have to see. Didn't know one existed. I've got a new-to-me 5' vine spaghetti squash (Primavera) going in this spring so I'll plant a few Tivoli somewhere to compare. I'm over trying to corral long spaghetti vines!

French Thyme - because I'm out of thyme seed.

Here we go!

[MissS]

Growing the Benning's upright worked out very well for me. It looks like Tatume would be good for trellising too. I'm very interested in hearing about how your Imperial broccoli does for you as I need to find a new variety to grow in the future.

[leftylogan]

I was looking at the Green Express cabbage with the pinetree sale but I think I'm going with Excalibur for green but also Red Express. That Tivoli is tempting... I was trying to thin out my cart and squash commitments though.

[JayneR13]

I hear you about the beets! I've tried and tried, and can never quite get them to make. I got some wonderful leaves for beet salad last year but no beets! And with half of my growing space out of commission this year, I have to consider even more carefully what I plant. Sometimes good fortune favors the persistent, right?

[GoDawgs]

It was a beautiful day today, hitting 74 this afternoon. This afternoon I got two more beds weeded ahead of forking them. Pickles worked on moving a few more piles of hurricane branches/limbs that were near the garden and she toted off two old rusty wheelbarrows that had been there for ages. They've been used as a collection spot for branches and twigs. It's time to tackle the last of the garden damage done by Helene. The work table needs to be relocated as well as a new place to put the garden bench so we have a place to sit.

Over the last two or three days the first plants and seeds are in the ground. The first cabbages went into the bed on the left and mustard went into the one on the right. The first broccoli is in another bed identical to what you see. Netting over planted beds to keep the deer out. Also sowed some daikon radish seed and a Shawo Chinese Fruit Radish, one of this year's toys. It's supposed to be sweet and served as a dessert! We'll see.

25.02.25 Cabbage (l) and mustard (r).JPG

I love kale and collards but I'm not a fan of mustard greens. This is an anti-nematode experiment. Come late April there will be a trellis with cukes going into that spot. The mustard will be turned into the soil before planting to act as a fumigant. It's something I read about. Again, we'll see. The short fence on the right side of that bed is for snap peas that will be planted next week. I will have to reconfigure the netting because I sure don't want the peas getting caught up in that!

This afternoon I got two more beds weeded ahead of forking and getting trellises set up for Wando peas also to be planted next week.

And finally, these are Ice King daffs doing their thing. Fragrant too.

25.02.25 Ice King daffs by Granny Fern.JPG

I'm tired and a bit sore. Time for an adult beverage and the ease of the recliner.

[GoDawgs]

One pea bed got forked yesterday. The other will get done today and then I'll get the poles set in for trellis hanging later. Pea planting tomorrow.

I was going to start on that second pea bed but ran out of energy. There were some perennial bunching onions living there and they had to be transplanted elsewhere. The old unused bed where they were going had to be forked and that was a tough go with lots of grape roots. A real energy drainer! I only dug as much as I needed which was a 6' section. Got the transplanting done and called it a day.

[JayneR13]

I've really learned to pace myself too. Gone are the days when I could do 6-8 hours of heavy labor for 3 days straight and bounce back in a day or so! But if you're going to do it, you have to do it right. Every day is progress though, right?