October 30, 2014

Good morning, Deb recently forwarded this blog site to me.

http://commonsensehome.com/my-favorite-seeds-sources-seed-storage-and-germination/

It does have some very good information pertaining to veggie seeds. I especially like the germination chart that lists most of the veggies that are commonly grown. This particular chart is immensely beneficial to anyone who may want to get into season extension or even winter gardening. I have mentioned that the lower the minimal germination temp is the better the chance that that veggie is a good candidate for winter gardening

We are getting towards the end of the “gravy” time of fall where seeds germinate very easily and plants can get well established very quickly. Through trial and error I have found sowing seed much past the first week of November doesn’t work very well. I do sow my bulb onion seed during this week. This allows for well rooted seedlings that will stay under ¼ inch and make wonderful transplants for the end of February.

It is getting very close to the time when I will erect my temporary greenhouses that will have the film covered with fabric. This worked very well with my heavy Agribon 70 fabric through last winter. Because I will need to keep an extra heavy blanket available for any deep freeze that could damage my cauliflower and broccoli crops, I will not have enough 70 to cover all of my temporary greenhouses. I intend to see how two or three layers of 19 will work. There will be a total of 6 of these green houses. I hope that this works very well. Time will tell.

I would like to share some interesting viewings from my blog site. The very surprising thing is that most of the views within the last week were from Poland and Turkey. There were a total of 31 viewings, with the US being a distant third. I have noticed Poland and Russia are the most common viewing countries but there has been Canada, France, Denmark, and Great Britain too. To date there have been over 1000 viewings. I guess I am easily entertained.

It is nice to see my fall greens are starting to come on. This will be the first week to list radishes, Asian greens and broccoli raab greens. Broccoli raab florets are still a couple months out. The green kohlrabi is starting to bulb up and the fall peas are up too. This weekend I plan to plant my garlic bed and seed my bulb onion bed. It is nice to see the change of seasons!!

October 23, 2014

This is the last week that I will be posting to the Yahoo group site. You will be able to read my weekly email at my blog site or to receive an email that you can order veggies from, please look at the addresses that follow later in this email.

Last week was a real wild ride The Little Brown Dog got rolled by the truck and received some cuts and a very sore body for a day or two and then acted like nothing happened. Myself five stitches an immensely swollen hand a week of healing and I am almost where I was week ago Tuesday. Oh this too will pass. I appreciated every ones kind words for the both of us.

Good morning, I have used soil solarization several times. This organic treatment is very labor intensive to do but the benefits are well worth the effort. Here in West Texas there is only one time period during the year when it is most effective and that is during the months of May and June. These are our most sunny and hottest months.

What soil solarization does is heat the top 6 to 8 inches of soil to 120 - 130 degrees. This affectively sterilizes this portion of the soil horizon. It kills everything or causes critters to move out. Once the treatment is completed this soil is quickly recolonized with beneficial soil microbes and this really boosts soil fertility. This also can boost a farm’s production quantities.

The main reason I have done it is to combat root knot nematodes (RKN).  RKN females enter the roots of plants and cause galls or root knots to form. The galls are the results of egg laying and feeding on the roots. Fortunately RKN are very slow movers in the soil, by their own mobility they will move less than three feet a year. Man is probably the biggest transporter of RKN. Contaminated farming equipment can transport them miles away. Just hosing off farm equipment can slow their spread immensely.

When I was unaware of my “little garden friends”, I inadvertently spread them to more beds. This has slowed with my awareness. I have observed RKN in 13 of my 32 beds. I have not noticed any new contamination in a year. This has been achieved by washing off tools in the bed I just finished preparing for planting.

I have also slowed the spread by mapping the contamination sites within a bed. When I prep a bed, I work from clean areas toward contaminated. The use of compost has helped too. This introduces into the soil bacteria that are unfriendly to RKN. The planting of certain crops can also slow their colonization.  The mustard family that includes broccoli and friends, produce natural nemicides when they decompose. Garlic and onions also are unfriendly to them. I planted a very infected bed to garlic last fall and this summer was then planted to summer squash. When I pulled and examined the roots, I did notice a fair amount of root galling. Even so this bed did produce squash quite nicely.

These are a lot of different means to combat RKN but soil solarization smokes all these techniques hands down. Like I said it is very labor intensive or I would do it more.

How it is done; the bed is prepped just like it is going to be planted. This is done so the soil will not be disturbed after the process. The bed needs to be well watered so that heat will be transported down into the soil. Once the bed is prepped, a six inch trench is dug around the bed. This is the big labor thing because my beds are up to 4.5 feet wide and 46 feet long. It is very important that the bed is extremely flat. Clear plastic is laid down over the bed. It is then stretched tight and the edge of the plastic is covered by the refilling of the trench. This is important so that the day time heat is not lost. Once the plastic is in place sit back and let it cook, the longer the better. I try for 8 weeks during May and June.

Once the process is completed the plastic is taken off, trench refilled. You then need to be very careful not to disturb the bed more than you have to when you plant it. Disturbance could bring RKN back to the surface.

I think it is important to note that not all plastics are equal. I would not use off the shelf  store bought plastic. THIS product will start to disintegrate into small pieces before the process is done. (Experience!). You need to use greenhouse film. Available at G & M Ag Supply, Johnny’s selected seeds, and Peaceful Valley Farm Supply to name a few suppliers.

Of my 13 infected beds I have solarized 5 or 6. Of these beds only one I have noticed an influx of RKN. The others seem to be RKN free but the positions where the RKN were are still noted so that I can check to see if the RKN are making a resurrection.

This is soil solarization in a nut shell; check out the site listed below for more information on solarization.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

The summer veggies are just about gone. There are jalapenos, some chili’s, eggplant, beans and okra. The toms are all but finished, first the root knot nematodes then the western yellowing disease (transmitted by white flies), pin worms, powdery mildew.

It is interesting to note that this is the first year ever that I have had mildew on the toms and some chili’s. I think this is an indication that we have experienced very high humidity this year with a very stubborn high pressure that did not allow thunder storms to develop except when we had disturbances in the atmosphere to allow for convection to develop.  

Anyway with the white flies and pin worms covering with fabric is the best prevention but not having the covers on is the best prevention of mildew.

Research has shown me that pin worm moths fly at night. I have not seen for white flies if they have a less active time.

Systemically administered Neem products would protect for the pin worms. It would also control the white flies too but… if my logic is correct it is the feeding that transmits the virus similar to mosquitoes and malaria. The bug is dead but it has passed on its “care package”. So covering is the best prevention. Baking soda and neem oil (either one cold pressed or clarified) works very well at controlling mildew but I have also noticed that neem oil on peppers will cause flowers to abort. It is always something!!!

On an interesting note here is a link to a site about a documentary movie on urban agriculture. It fits very nicely into my thoughts that everyone should grow some food even if it is just one container with a tomato. The article also notes that the movie will be on PBS later this fall. Have a look.     http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/20/urban-farming-revitalize-america/?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=c1bb8ac3e2-Top_News_10_21_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-c1bb8ac3e2-85338065

october 15, 2014

Good morning,

Everybody's okay, but my little dog Missy got hit by a car, and when I tried to pick her up, she bit me. I have stitches, a giant bandage and a lot of pain. And, Debbie says I have to stay inside and take it easy. So, I won't be taking any orders this week. We will be down at the market, so come on down and pick up some goodies.

I'm sending this out early just to let everyone know.

This years garden plan is taking a little bit more time to complete. The reason for it is having to consider the the drip system and how it has boosted my production.

I did expect to have a reasonable production boost but I feel it exceeded my expectations immensely. It is nice to know that I have not tapped out the production capacity of the garden.

My garden plans of the past have used extra beds of veggies to increase quantities. This was when I only hose end watered. This time period of the garden I had learned by trial and pure accident that there were some crops that can become full season crops with extra care. A short list of these would be determinate toms, summer squash, butternut squash, pumpkins and cucumbers. I used to think that to continue season long harvests for these crops, I needed to plan for these crops to have successive plantings . Successions take added bed space and time for the crops to mature.

Different things happened and I noticed that these crops could be full season crops and get repeated blooms off of mature plants. It is a lot easier to use existing plant material than to completely regrow from seed. So I adapted watering techniques to encourage this.

In years past the pumpkins and butternuts would die back to finish ripening the fruit and then would put on new growth and provide a second harvest.

This year for all five of these crops, because of the drip system, never stopped blooming and there was a continual cropping until I realized I was at my limits for storage. This is only a problem with the pumpkins and butternuts because of limited storage space. Toms, cukes and summer squash are perishable and are sold weekly or are preserved by one method or another. The canned goods are then stored for latter sales.

My plans are to plant one bed of butternuts and one bed of acorn squash. Because I have been unable to sell pumpkins except during the fall, I will discontinue them. My storage space is limited and I like to sell inventory as opposed to holding it until there is a demand. The one bed each of the above mentioned squash may need to be adjusted in the future depending on how productive they are.

For my cukes and tomatoes I really did not get to see their full blown production potential because both of these crops had other issues. The cukes and one of the tom beds had root knot nematodes. One of the other tom beds also got what I feel was yellow curling disease and they just faded away. I did have one tom bed that did well. Production for this bed was very tolerable and we did have enough toms to preserve from all three beds, so I will keep these number of beds (3 tomato and 1 cuke) . Maybe revisit this plan next fall.

Soooo, If my garden plan finds itself inadequate I can always plant a succession or make adjustments in next years garden plan. It is looking like that I will have four beds open during May and June. This is significant in the fact that I will plan for my 4 worst root knot nematode beds to be solarized. This will be a good thing. I hope to regularly schedule beds to be solarized. Solarizing will also help control any other pathogens that may be harboring in the beds. It is one of the neat tools that comes with my garden planner program, it keeps track of how frequently I am planting similar veggies in the same bed.

It is good to have a 3 year rotation before replanting a bed with a similar plant family. A short list of plants that are either related or have similar pests would be beets, chard an spinach but the real hard group to plan for are the eggplant, tom, potato, chile, bell pepper, jalapeno and sweet potato group. Many in this second group have multiple beds and with only 31 beds to rotate these around in makes it very difficult to not replant with a similar plant every 3 years. I am hoping solarization will help with this.

Oh yes it would be such an easy process if all there was to do is just bury seeds in the ground. It is nice though that with some planning I can do some major organic control on a yearly basis. I do wish the garden plan I use had a icon for bed solarization. This would be a very useful prompt.

The garden plan I use has some cheesy graphics but is very good to show you how the garden planting proceeds through the year. It is offered by Mother Earth News and here is the link

http://gardenplanner.motherearthnews.com/gardenplanner/gardenplanner.html

it does offer a trial period and has a $25 dollar a year fee. It sure beats having paper copies laying around and then trying to find them to plan your next garden.

It will be interesting to see how next years garden plan works. The drip has been a major game changer and it may take a few years of trial and error to figure out garden plans. Never a dull moment!

Something that may be of interest to folks will be held at CDRI on the 23^rd of October. I have been invited to talk about row covers and garden tasks.

Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu

Contacts: Jesse Lea Schneider, 432-295-0342, jlschneider@ag.tamu.edu

Logan Boswell, 432-249-0265, l-boswell@tamu.edu

 

FORT DAVIS – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service offices in Presidio and Brewster/Jeff Davis counties and the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center are collaborating on a Nature Appreciation Workshop set from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Oct. 23 at the nature center located at 43869 State Highway 118 at Fort Davis.

“This is going to be a goody,” said Jesse Lea Schneider, AgriLife Extension agent in Presidio County. “If being in the Davis Mountains during the fall doesn’t make you really appreciate nature, then gosh, I just don’t know what will.

“To optimize this high country fall experience, we’ve tailored this program to be as meaningful as possible by putting together quite a potpourri of topics that should pique just about any nature afficionado’s interest.”

The morning session’s first topics will include talks on pollinators and butterfly gardening.

Following a 10:20 a.m. break, workshop participants will embark on a 30-minute walking tour of the center before returning for a live demonstration featuring cooking with native plants, according to Schneider.

Schneider said participants are encouraged to bring a sack lunch and enjoy the beauty of the nature center’s grounds during the noon-1:15 p.m. lunch break.

Afternoon topics will include talks and demonstrations on Gardening with Row Covers, Fall Garden Tasks, Using Gray Water, Getting to Know Your Soil, and Geology of the Davis Mountains.

Individual registration is $10 due upon arrival.

RSVP by Oct. 20 to Schneider at 432-295-0342, jlschneider@ag.tamu.edu, or Logan Boswell, AgriLife Extension agent in Brewster/Jeff Davis counties, at 432-249-0265, l-boswell@tamu.edu .

Potential convection freeze

A strong cold front is predicted to move into the Big Bend on Monday along with strong winds like on Sunday. Mondays over night low is predicted to be 41. If Tuesday morning is dead calm there is a very good chance of a convection freeze. It would be prudent to cover any veggies and tender plants and weight the covers down with rocks due to the wind.   Good luck!!!  mark

october 9, 2014

Good morning, I was thinking what with the cloudy days and all the rain of late that I was getting a bit behind on my fall transition schedule. So I decided to see where I stood. Just to make sure I had a complete list of fall veggies I decided to look through my Johnny's Seed catalog and write down all of my fall / winter veggies and then checked them off as to whether I had planted them.

It has been slow work in the garden and I do not think I would not be as far along if I used a rototiller. Rototillers and wet soils do not mix. They make the soil clod up and very difficult to rake out. I have come to find turning soil with a shovel and using a scrapper to clean the shovel blade, I can work wetter soils and not destroy the soil texture. So only a day or two after some of our heavy rains and I was able to turn composted beds.

It really was a wonderful surprise to find how well I was on schedule. Save for some broccoli raab that got devoured by pill bugs, the cabbage seed that got dug up by harvester ants and hauled back to their nest, and the boc choy that needed to be resown because of dampening off disease, I am sitting pretty peachy. The late broccoli raab, kohlrabi, broccoli, chard, kale, spinach, parsnips, lettuce, cauliflower... are either up and growing nicely or are just about ready to be transplanted. What a nice feeling. I will start my transplanting any day.

I think what made me feel I was not well situated is all the summer veggies that are still tooling right along. The summer squash got covered with powdery mildew. They stopped blooming so I pulled them out. The drier weather of late has helped with the sweets harvest. It really has turned out to be a decent harvest even though I had some bad root knot nematode areas in my sweet beds. The last bed I have been harvesting about 8 pounds for every linear foot of bed. Here again I think the drip system is the culprit. The best I have ever done is 4 or 5 pounds per foot. The root knot beds were closer to 3 pounds per foot. The eggplants recuperated very nicely from the grasshoppers that just about nailed them. Their foliage is looking real nice and are blooming again. This is their fourth flush of blooms. I have one bed of toms that is doing well the other two are not doing so well. One of these two is the results of root knot nematodes and the other is still a puzzle. I am suspecting western yellow curling disease and was contracted from white flies last spring. The decline started with the toms that were not very well covered. But my long keeper toms are doing quite nicely so tomatoes will keep coming. Long keepers have yellow skins and red interiors. They also have firmer flesh and I have had them stay good in a cool dark room for 2 to 3 months. Truly a long keeper.

The progression from summer veggies to winter veggies is coming along quite nicely. As always I hope the transition continues without veggie interruptions. It is a nice time of year and it is also nice to know I am not behind too.

Something that may be of interest to folks will be held at CDRI on the 23^rd of October. I have been invited to talk about row covers and garden tasks.

Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu

Contacts: Jesse Lea Schneider, 432-295-0342, jlschneider@ag.tamu.edu

Logan Boswell, 432-249-0265, l-boswell@tamu.edu

 
FORT DAVIS – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service offices in Presidio and Brewster/Jeff Davis counties and the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center are collaborating on a Nature Appreciation Workshop set from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Oct. 23 at the nature center located at 43869 State Highway 118 at Fort Davis.

“This is going to be a goody,” said Jesse Lea Schneider, AgriLife Extension agent in Presidio County. “If being in the Davis Mountains during the fall doesn’t make you really appreciate nature, then gosh, I just don’t know what will.

“To optimize this high country fall experience, we’ve tailored this program to be as meaningful as possible by putting together quite a potpourri of topics that should pique just about any nature afficionado’s interest.”

The morning session’s first topics will include talks on pollinators and butterfly gardening.

Following a 10:20 a.m. break, workshop participants will embark on a 30-minute walking tour of the center before returning for a live demonstration featuring cooking with native plants, according to Schneider.

Schneider said participants are encouraged to bring a sack lunch and enjoy the beauty of the nature center’s grounds during the noon-1:15 p.m. lunch break.

Afternoon topics will include talks and demonstrations on Gardening with Row Covers, Fall Garden Tasks, Using Gray Water, Getting to Know Your Soil, and Geology of the Davis Mountains.

Individual registration is $10 due upon arrival.

RSVP by Oct. 20 to Schneider at 432-295-0342, jlschneider@ag.tamu.edu, or Logan Boswell, AgriLife Extension agent in Brewster/Jeff Davis counties, at 432-249-0265, l-boswell@tamu.edu .

October 2, 2014

Good morning, it is sad to see another summer veggie season wind down. Especially after getting your tomato plants to become loaded with tons of green fruit. You keep wondering if they will ever ripen. Now that we are getting into shorter days and cooler nights along with jack frost ever so rapidly approaching, what to do with all those green toms.

First stop watering, we want to water stress the plants. You need to hold back on the water. The next thing is to go in and prune off a lot of foliage so that more sun gets into ripen the fruit. Don't forget it is the leaves that produce the sugars in your toms so don't go crazy with the clippers. I have found that after the first freeze there can be up to 2 weeks before a real doozy of a freeze hits. Have blankets or quilts ready as you watch for these approaching storms and make sure your toms are covered to the ground and the covers weighted down so that they do not get blown off.

Say you are done with covering, go ahead and pick all the toms. I have noticed there are glossy ones and dull colored ones. I find that the glossy ones ripen best but if you have space store them all.

There are two thoughts on storage; the first is to wrap each tom in news paper and stack them in a box. The other thought is if you have the space, lay them out on newspaper in a cooler dark room so that when you turn on the light it is easy to collect the ripe ones or to see the rotting ones. Myself I like laying them out on a floor because there really is nothing quite like the smell of a rotting tomato. Especially one wrapped in paper and all the papers have to be removed so that you find the rotten tomato that is dictated by Murphy's Law to be found at the bottom of the box.

Doing this you could easily have toms into December and maybe beyond.

One last note; that wrinkly wilted tomato, by no means toss it, especially if the only blemish's are wrinkles. These toms can almost champion summer toms because they are dehydrated and all the goodies within are concentrated. Close your eyes and bite into a piece of heaven and daydream of summer past!