September 18, 2014

Good morning, Well it seems it is that time of year again where I begin to plan the garden for another calendar year. I do this so that I have an idea when the next succession needs to be planted and it also gives me an idea of how much seed I need for the year. Before I do this I like to reflect on the year that has just passed. I like to note all the successes and those things that didn't quite turn out right. This is important so that errors are not repeated.

I like to think the end of August as the beginning of my garden calendar year. It just fits for me. This past year has been quite eventful. Last fall was pretty mellow until the last couple weeks of November and the weather just didn't want to play nice anymore. This set the stage for a cool spring and I hope this does not become the annual late freeze norm (late April). This was followed by a moister summer but not an average wet year. The rainfall that did fall came in decent quantities to get things really deeply wet.

Any way there was that learning curve thingy again. I seeded all of my usual fall veggies towards the end of August. I had great germination and all of the fall beds were well stocked. I experimented with a late fall seeding of peas. I have found that late August soil is too warm for peas and this really affects their germination (always very poor). I also notice that these August seedings get to blooming stage when the freezes hit. This really affects the pea harvest (slim to none). I seeded this year around the middle of October. The young seedlings got well rooted to go through the winter and then took off with warmer February weather and I got 3 to 4 weeks of harvest. This will be repeated. My bulb onions were not as fortunate. The first of November seeding took very well and all was well until the end of November with freezing rain and a very wet winter with very cool soils. This was a recipe for damping off disease and took out all the onion plants. I purchased onion seedlings and planted them in late February. The white onions were all of a good transplant size below a 1/4 inch but this was not the case with the red. When I transplanted them because they were closer to 1/2 and we had a very cool spring most of them bolted and did not form bulbs. Then to add insult to injury the late freeze killed several of the lower leaves and this then affected the mature size immensely. This freezing of the lower leaves affected my garlic likewise. I am going to erect hoops over the allium beds and have a layer of agribon 19 at the ready just to give them a little added protection if it is needed. The harvest for onions and garlic was good but the bulbs were some what small.

The mid to late November freezing rain afforded the chance for an amazing experiment. I uncovered a small bed of chard to see what the affect of 2 days of freezing would do. Not good! I then cleaned it up. I then covered with greenhouse film and a layer of Agribon 70 (the heavy stuff) over the film. I have noticed cooling affects with fabric and was hoping to have a temporary green house that did not need to be vented on sunny days. Sunny days in the winter are windy days. To make a long story short, this experiment worked beyond my wildest dreams. The lows on a 11.7 degree morning only got into the 20's and the high on an 80 degree day was only around 105. Where as a film out and fabric in bed exceeded 120!! I plan to expand this temporary greenhouse usage into the garden this year around the first of November.

By the middle of March my garden was fully planted except for the sweet potatoes. 

I have mentioned that I have root knot nematodes (RKN). This year I tried some new treatments. These were Actinovate, orange peels, watering bi weekly with cold pressed neem oil and planting a squash crop after my garlic harvest. The one treatment that I feel has worked the best was the squash planting after garlic. It is totally possible that with the other treatments I did not make appropriate application amounts. I may have to source more orange peels and with an injector attached to my drip system, I will be able to make adequate applications of neem oil and Actinovate. A study I read on Actinovate (a natural fungicide) did not kill RKN but was shown to reduce reproduction success. This is a good thing it fits into my RKN program of multiple attach fronts with population reduction always being the goal. RKN are for ever but they do not need to be the end to the garden either.

A late freeze could have wiped the garden out but I was constantly monitoring updates on the weather and did manage to be quite prepared for the freeze. Will not say I came through unscathed but I did not loose anything save for leaves that were in contact with the fabric. The fabric saved the day once again. This was the freeze that killed the lower leaves of my alliums.

After this freeze, day and night time temps were like a roller coaster. 90's by day , 30's by night. This had a huge impact on plant growth. It pretty well halted. The garden was late to mature, mid July. I always shoot for mid to late May for a mature garden. I am planning to use on a few selected beds a layer or two of Ag 70. My hope is to keep some of the veggies actively growing so that the harvest does not slow. Two layers of 70 would give me 16 degrees of modification.

Well May and June were true to form with heat being in the triple digits. With 12 to 14 hours a day 7 days a week of watering, I felt like I hit a wall doing 60 miles per hour. I was thrashed!!!! We finished installing the drip system. I for the life of me cannot understand why I had been so reluctant. I got a life back and the garden was the most bountiful it has ever been!!! I had a summer squash bed that has gone from March until the present . Save for the healing period after a hail storm we have been swamped with squash. I have usually planted 2 successions with hose end watering. I reseeded after the hail because I thought the squash would not heal. Boy was I surprised. I have planted 2 beds of butternut squash, I will only plant 1 bed next year. With several stacked flats of butters and 3 layers deep under the bed, I think the drip system performed beyond my wildest dreams.

Yes this has been a very eventful and productive year. I look forward to applying my new found knowledge!!

What with all the recent rain and cloud cover the garden has slowed. I have beaten back the squash bugs, cucumber beetles along with a white and a green stripped caterpillar in the Summer Squash, although the powdery mildew may have the last say. Sadly the summer veggies will soon be gone. But December will soon be here and spring Solanacae sowing is not that far away. Save for some dampening off with the spinach and pill bugs nuking some broccoli raab, fall seedlings are coming along. I do need to start some more carrots, lettuce, beets and green onions. There never is a dull moment.

And last but not least an awesome note. The Alpine Farmers Market has been given a best in region rating by Texas Monthly. Check out the site http://www.textraveler.com/texas_best_farmers_markets/

I have been invited to do a column in The Avalanche on my favorite subject. First article is this week. And on the 25th of September the small land owner workshop in Fort Davis. See the note

  FORT DAVIS – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct a Small Acreage Landowner Workshop from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 25 in the First Baptist Fellowship Hall, 111 E. Agave St. in Fort Davis.

“When one thinks of our beautiful Fort Davis area, what generally comes to mind are the expansive vistas encompassing huge ranching properties,” said Jesse Lea Schneider, AgriLife Extension agent in Presidio County. “But there are many folks out here who own much smaller acreages who are seeking ways to best manage them, and that’s who we are targeting for this workshop.”

Schneider and Logan Boswell, AgriLife Extension agent for Brewster/Jeff Davis counties, will conduct the workshop.

The program is free and open to the public, but Schneider requests those planning to attend RSVP by Sept. 22 by contacting her at 432-295-0342 or Boswell at 432-249-0265.

Topics during the day and the speakers presenting them will include:

Range Plant ID, Dr. Alyson McDonald, AgriLife Extension range specialist, Fort Stockton; Ag Exemption 101, Dr. Rob Hogan, AgriLife Extension economist, Uvalde; Fence In vs. Fence Out/Theft Prevention, Mike Barr, Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association special ranger, Fort Davis; Sheep and Goat Management, Dr. Bruce Carpenter, AgriLife Extension livestock specialist, Fort Stockton; Winter Gardening, Mark Foster, Dirt Farmer, Alpine; and Bee Keeping and Africanized Bees, Dr. Mark Muegge, AgriLife Extension entomologist, Fort Stockton.

The day will conclude with a question and answer session featuring workshop speakers.

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