December 30, 2015

Good morning, since Friday is New Years day, there will not be any deliveries. Fortunately January the 8^th everything will be back to normal. Please place orders to be picked up on Saturday by 10 AM this Thursday.

It sure does feel like De Ja Vue all over again. The weather is nice and lovely (save for Thanksgiving) , then Christmas and New Years comes then winter comes with a vengeance. This is a good recipe for slower veggie growth. This will affect the greens the most because they need to grow enough each week to be harvested. Cloudy weather and cold really slows them down.

It goes with out saying my eyes are always on the weather forecasts and the garden was well tucked in for the Christmas weekend event. Looking ahead there is another weather event forecast for the first weekend in January. It too is predicted to be snow or maybe rain.

Due to all the warm weather of late my greenhouse beds had some nice heat storage. Even though the low on Sunday was 22 the greenhouse beds were in the forties while the fabric bed was near freezing.

Because there was no sun on Sunday the greenhouse beds”fed” off the stored heat and their low temps drifted down to the mid to upper 30's for Sundays over night low. The fabric bed low was near freezing.

Monday was sunny with a stiff breeze, so I did uncover the greenhouse film and got some nice heating. Even though the outside high was 36 the greenhouses got up to 70.

Due to no snow cover on the greenhouses, the overnight lows in the greenhouses was in the mid 30's. Tuesday's outside high was 50 and I removed the fabric over the film. The greenhouse's soared to 80 degrees. Wednesdays lows in the greenhouse's was the upper 30's so it looks like I am regaining some of my lot heat.

Wednesday is predicted to be 60, so I think I will leave the fabric in place so that the greenhouses do not get over heated.

I am curious as to what my harvest quantities will be when I harvest later this morning.

The long range forecast predicts weather events revolving with sunny days in between. If this is what happens I am optimistic about maintaining greens growth.

There is a very strange critter in the Asian green bed and some in the spinach. I thought it was a caterpillar and used some of my pyrethrum spray on the Asian greens and Spinach. Well I did get rid of the Aphids but the skylights in the greens remain. I did see some callusing of the holes but it seems the predation is increasing. I would love to use cold pressed neem but at the present day time temps it would just jell in the sprayer. This is as puzzling as the little dirt colored caterpillars that “clearcut” my seedlings last winter. With frustration I used Bt on them and the problem was resolved. The damage this year reminds me of caterpillars or small beetles. Other than aphids, a couple of caterpillars and a few stray cucumber beetles I can not figure what is doing the munching. There is no mulch for the critters to hide, so maybe they seek cover in the soil and come out at night. As cold as it has been at night lately, I dare not uncover and watch. Like with the dirt catepillars last year I think I am going to do a soil drench with Bt. Oh how I hate driving with my eyes closed!!

December 28, 2015

avalanche column

December10, 2015

Every year there seems to be a new critter that shows up in the garden. I suspect if you garden in one spot long enough Critters will eventually find you.

 

This year was no different; there were two that came knocking. One I did not know about until I started to harvest my sweet potatoes and the other I noticed early on. The early on one was a leaf footed bug. This bug is very closely related to squash and stink bugs. Squishing them really lets you know. They are quite pungent!!

 

These bugs have a lot of similarities to squash bugs because they start out as nymphs and over a few molts become adults. I must say that the nymphs have a very interesting paint job and are very distinctive. Take a look at these pictures and compare to the adult.

 Like with squash bugs they attack their “prey” the same way by sucking. Squash bugs seem to attach all of a squash plant. Their sucking on the leaves give them a wind burned look and on the fruit of summer squash give them little “varnish” like secretions from the squash where their proboscis’s entered the fruit. These are a couple of signs that let you know you have squash bugs even if you do not see them. In great enough concentrations they will extremely shorten the store-ability of winter squash and pumpkins

.

As for the big leaf bugs there is nothing that stands out other than the colony of nymphs hanging out on tomato fruits. It is not until the toms begin to ripen that their “play” is revealed. There can be one to many little black spots on the fruits. I have not noticed any flavor changes in these fruits.  The dots are only skin deep and are edible unless you do not eat the toms soon. By all appearances and tasting, it is a market-ability thing (appearance). For home use the spots are not a problem.

 

Literature sites that they are an uncommon occurrence and are a problem only after mild winters with few very hard freezes. This describes last winter. Yes we were cold but we only had one freeze into the teens, the rest remained in the 20’s.

Control is simple: floating row covers, covers removed to do bed work and harvest. I have only seen them on my tomato plants. You do need to be careful that you do not “trap” any of the bugs under the cover.

 

I did not use any cold pressed neem on these guys because it wasn’t until late that I noticed their handy work. Ah yes I will be much the wiser going into next year. There really is nothing that a little learning curve cannot fix.

 

Good luck and happy gardening!!! Questions? I can be contacted atmarkdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes atredwagonfarm.blogsot.com

December 23, 2015

Good morning, it is hard to believe that this Saturday is the last Saturday of the year. Even with one garden pest after the other all year, I can easily say this has been my best garden year ever. It produced enough for weekly email sales. There also was enough for a steady stream at the market along with enough to put veggies by for our own personal use through the winter. During the peak months I even had some to give away. The drip system really paid off. I look forward to next year

This winter is predicted to be like last winter: cool, cloudy and wet. Because of this prediction I have delayed starting my early tomato plants. Last year I had some difficulty especially with a cool growing room. This year I have a plant heat mat that will deliver warmth to the root zone. I have used a heating pad to germinate seeds and have had reasonable success with this. The heat mat should be a more even heat and since it is 20 inches by 48 inches I can use it to grow the seedlings too. I am curious to see how this works. In years past I have suffered losses due to coolness and dampening off of seedlings. The key is to have the soil 60 and above, 59 and below is the dampening off zone (especially at or below 55). Seedlings historically for me have grown somewhat slow and for toms the usual 4 to 8 weeks to out plant have been 8 to 12. and my peppers have been historically 12 to 16 as opposed to 8 to 12. This will be interesting.

I have ordered a remote sensing thermometer with three regular probes and one soil probe. I am really wanting to track the temperatures in the temporary greenhouses. The soil probe will be used to track any net gain in soil warming. This past week we had some cool days in the mid to lower 50's . At this temperature I would like to see if by uncovering the film would cause the greenhouses to over heat. These thermometers will let me know.

Two winters ago I noticed that the greenhouse bed was warmer than the bed covered with two layers of 19, there was no freeze splitting of the chard stems. This has remained true this year too. I did get some splitting but this was before I put the film on.

I always consider when I start my tomato seedlings that it is the beginning of the new garden year and I plan to start them Christmas day, which I feel is fitting.

No two years have ever been the same and I expect this year to be different from all the preceding years too. One thing for sure it will be interesting!

Merry Christmas to all and if I don't see you at Market this Saturday, I hope to see you in the New Year!!! Happy Gardening!!!

December 21, 2015

avalanche column

December 3, 2015

One of the ways to protect crops from freezing is the use of water.

For freeze protection to work, the water needs to sprinkle on the plants for the whole event. This must start before the freezing begins and continue until the temperatures rise above freezing.

This is chemistry and a wonderful property of water. When water freezes it expands. Put a jar of water in the freezer and neglect to leave enough head space for the water to expand. When the jar is removed (if you are lucky) just the lid has been forced off. A glass jar with a screw on lid will be shattered. Luckily until the jar thaws it will stay in tack.

It is this expansion that traps air in the ice and thus insolates whatever is underneath.

A very interesting thing happened when MOUNT St. Helens erupted in Washington State in 1980. It was in the spring before any of the spring thaw started. All of the lakes and ponds were frozen solid. I recall a very small pond where the landscape was reduced to bare dirt but because the small pond was frozen all of the fury of the explosion just passed over this pond leaving all of the aquatic life under the ice in tack. In the spring when all the rest of the landscape was destroyed there was this little jewel in the middle of all this destruction. This is a wonderful example of the amazing properties of ice.

Back to crop protection, how does it protect the crops and why must the water remain on for the duration of the event. Time for very basic chemistry, when water begins to freeze there is a very little amount of heat that is generated just as the water converts to ice. In order for this to protect the plants and to continue “generating” this heat of cooling, the water must remain on.

This is why if you see fields of strawberries that this method of freeze protection has been used, the field looks like a very bumpy ice skating rink.

Recently we had a couple of very interesting weather events collide over the top of West Texas. There were the remnants of a hurricane from the west coast of Mexico and a strong Artic cold front. Luckily the hurricane arrived before the Arctic cold front.  The rain started before it became freezing and continued until the freezing ended. Sound familiar from above. And so the ice built throughout the night.

 I recently decided to finish harvesting the rest of my tomatoes. I did not have a chance to pull the plants. In regards to freezes, this event never got too cold, 31 degrees. Maybe the hurricane scoured out some of the cold with the excess rain. But how surprising to come home from market to see live tomato plants that were all uncovered and very healthy looking.

Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com 

December 17, 2015

Good morning, I t goes without saying that there will not be no Friday deliveries on December 25. I will send my email out early and would like all orders placed by Thursday by 10AM (earlier would be best), so I can put orders together for Saturday the 26^th pick up at the market. It is so hard to believe that another year has bit the dust.

Wind events always bother me. I find it difficult to manage out in the wind. For starters it makes my ears ache. Ah but such is life in far west Texas. Like up in the NW if you do not work in the rain, you don't work very much. So I try to cope. It is a work in progress.

On a positive note, with the wind along came a dramatic cool down and the sky remained cloudless. This was absolutely perfect for my temporary greenhouse. On one of several trips to the garden to make sure all was well, none of the rocks had moved. I have seen steady winds with strong gusts actually walk rocks off the fabric. It is more difficult for the wind to move a pile of rocks as opposed to single rocks. Ah that learning curve.

This has been perfect to further test my fabric covered greenhouse. Even though the outside temperature was cool with a high temperature into the forties, under the covers it was a nice comfy temperature. I don't have a thermometer underneath but I did feel quite nice to my hand. I am sure that if there was only greenhouse film over this bed, there would have been a need to vent. This was not the case. Even last week when there were some days hitting the high seventies, this combo kept the internal temperature down to tolerable temps.

And the real nice thing I did not have to open the structure to vent excess heat. This would be a problem during the wind event.

I have two of these structures and I am thinking I may add another over my lettuce bed. With the fluctuating temperatures of late, the moderation that this structure provides should help the lettuce be more productive. With this structure I am also trying to see if winter seed germination is improved.

This winter as long as there is sunshine between the weather events the greenhouse should be very doable. I only plan to use this on the greens beds. It would have the potential to boost the other winter greens production too but I am not sure how it would affect their quality. Veggies like cauliflower, broccoli and especially carrots develop there best flavors when it is cold. Spinach just does best in a cool to cold environment. Higher temps would boost harvests but this added warmth could also cause the spinach to bolt.

Every year has bee different, this one most likely will be too. It would be nice if we have cool weather with sun just to see how this structure works.

Winter veggie update: I am not seeing any heads developing in the broccoli or cauliflower. Trimmed the broccoli raab leaves from off the ground. This should help prevent aphids from having a “warm” area to go forth and propagate. No flowers here either. I am beginning to see some buds on the Brussels sprouts. Garlic is up and doing quite well. The bulb onion seedlings were a little slow but have come up and are looking nice. The carrots, kohlrabi, turnips and beets are doing fine. I am getting weekly harvests. It is looking like there will be sweets for several more weeks. I am optimistic that there will be butternut squash into March. I am curious how big of a harvest I will get with the sun chokes. This was the first full year with irrigation and the plants responded accordingly. Some very nice plants. It was fun to watch the flowers mature. They are a sunflower. Once the seeds matured a decent sized flock of Texas goldfinches moved in an ate the seeds. Seems like this is an annual event that I look forward to.

December 14, 2015

avalanche column

November 26, 2015

Planning next year’s garden and wonder if you can use last year’s left over seeds? You most certainly can.

Information on seed packets lists: vegetable variety, whether it is an open pollinated or a hybrid, brief description of the veggie, days to maturity (from seed or transplant), in the case of tomatoes, if it is a determinate or indeterminate, then somewhere on the seed packet will be listed the lot number, germination percent and year.

Most seed is viable from one year up to five, also the smaller the seed the shorter it remains viable. The biggest culprit that shortens a seeds life expectancy is humidity.

Not necessarily the West Texas variety of humidity but the East Texas kind. After a new to West Texas transplant (pun intended) has lived in West Texas for any time, 20% humidity feels repressive. This is why the folks from East Texas look at us strange when we mention the HIGH humidity.

Off the subject but this does make the point about our local humidity. When I went to forestry tech school we operated a lumber drying kiln. The target humidity in the “dried” lumber was 20%.  During the winter and spring our humidity can be single digits. This is why your wood furniture is not quite as solid as it was in East Texas. All of the joints have loosened up due to the low humidity.

I digress. Yes all of the charts that you find on line take this extreme (to us) humidity into account for the longevity of veggie seeds.

Why is this? Moisture is crucial to germinate seed. No moisture, No germination.

In humid climes gardeners have to take special precautions to protect seeds from humidity. This added humidity activates the seed enough and it loses viability in a short time, as noted by the seed viability charts.  Some centuries old seed found in desert archaeological digs has been found to be viable.

When I lived in more humid places, I would take extra precautions at preserving my veggie seed. Since I have moved here I have become a lot less restrictive.   I only put my seed in a dark dry place.

I have found with this minimum care that I have seed to be viable well beyond these chart dates.

 Not sure if your seeds are good, what to do? If you have a lot of seed, set (precisely) 100 seeds in a damp paper towel placed into an open plastic bag. Then place the bag in a warm area like on top of the water heater. Check on it to make sure the towel does not dry. Keep it moist but not dripping and after a few days start counting the germinated seed and note the time to germination.  Continue until all the seed has germinated or you feel the rest is unviable.  The numbers that germinate is your percent germination and days to germination lets you know vitality. Fewer seeds divide germinated seeds by the total seeds set to germinate.

Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com 

December 10, 2015

Good morning, It sure has been some pretty wild weather swings this fall. It's hard to believe we were just buried in ice and now we are basking in the sun. NOAA is making a mention of potential winter weather again this coming weekend. They are not too sure if there will only be a cold front or a cold front with precipitation. Let's hope if it is winter precip that it is snow. (They are now calling for a brief rainstorm.) It doesn't bring power lines down like ice can. Snow is entertaining with the chickens. They just don't like it. Not so with the ducks. The other morning before I could break the ice, one of the duck hens was perplexed that she was standing on top of the duck pond and wasn't getting her morning dip.

What with this crazy fall, one glorious sunny day there was a curved bill thrasher in full spring chorus. Maybe it knows more than I do. But I am pretty sure it is the beginning of December. The earliest I have ever heard them start singing is toward the end of February. Just last week a cactus wren was visiting the garden and collecting fowl downy feathers. It was pretty funny, if the feathers were soap suds it could have looked like a rabid bird but instead it looked just like a pillow with wings. Not sure how it could see to fly. Now the question is, is the bird preping for some real cold weather or getting ready to be in a eggy way. If the latter I sure wish it would give my chickens a pep talk on laying eggs. Although from a low of no eggs to one egg we are now up to six eggs a day. I would like to think that we will be buried in eggs any day now. But we still have the coldest part of winter to come, that is if the weather forecasters got it right.

Well anyway since we are getting nice sunny days, I am going to give my temporary green house a whirl this year. This simple structure is constructed with 9 gauge fencing wire, a sheet of greenhouse film, and a sheet of agribon 70 fabric anchored with rocks. I might say a lot of rocks. Two winters back I tried this. It was sunny all winter after art walk weekend. It was impressive in the fact that I did not need to vent on sunny days. And kept the bed warmer on freezing nights. As long as the day time temps stay in the 50's and 60's we should be good. The mid to upper 70's with creeping into the 80's interior temps in this structure begin to be questionable. Thankfully save for one event it has not been too windy so far this fall / winter, so maybe I could vent. The combination of the fabric and film worked pretty well with a proto type. I am very curious to see if that winter's results can be replicated. I am optimistic especially if the winter remains sunny. A cloudy wet winter could make for a different ball game.

Let' hope that the curved bill thrasher and cactus wren know something we don't!

Last weeks greens harvest was a little diminished from previous weeks because of the ice and cloudy weather. I have covered both the chard / kale bed and the Asian green bed with greenhouse film / fabric. Next week should see some growth from warmer soil. I am thinking of covering my lettuce bed similarly. It seems the spinach along with a lot of the other winter crops do not mind the cooler weather, In fact it is what makes carrots sweet, and also helps with the flavors in the kohlrabi, cauliflower and broccoli. By the way the broccoli and cauliflower are looking pretty nice. Maybe they will be heading up soon.

The tops have died back on the sun chokes, so I will start harvesting them soon. I still have an abundance of sweet potatoes and a whole lot of butternut squash. I should have sweets into January and the butternuts maybe into March. And if the film on the greens beds work, I hope to not have the usual winter veggies into spring veggie shortage. It all depends on the weather.

It is all good!!

December 7, 2015

avalanche column

November 19. 2015

Last spring I was given two different bean seeds from two different fellows. Both of these seeds were pole beans. Both were considered to be quite productive.

I like to start my garden quite early. There are a couple of reasons. One is so that I have well established plants going into the usually “angry” months of May and June. The other is to get good sized plants before the root knot nematodes (RKN) become active in the garden. I find that I can usually get a good harvest from a crop before the plants succumb to the RKN.

Early march plantings means there will be at least 1 ½ more months of potentially freezing weather. Growing beans on a trellis would not work for this early planting.  I let them sprawl on the ground. 

Trellised beans would be difficult to protect from freezes, their exposure is too great. Being in the air an external heat source would be needed, such as a light. Sprawling plants can use the early spring soil warming to an advantage.

Agribon fabric does not generate heat but it is very good at conserving it. For example a couple of springs back we had a late season freeze the first week of May.  I anticipated this freeze and had everything covered with at least two layers of Agribon 19, my lightest fabric (it is good for 4 degrees of protection for each layer). The low was 22. With 8 degrees of protection you can see that the soil made up for the added two degrees of protection. The fabric retained the warmth around the plants.  Where plant leaves touched the fabric they were burned but the plants by and large came through unscathed.

The fabric is good for both kinds of freezes that we get: convection and continental.

Convection happens when there is a perfectly still cloud free morning and the cold air settles. Sometimes this cold layer shows as a freeze line through a shrub’s foliage. A blanket on top of your plants is all it takes to protect them.

A continental freeze happens when a cold front comes through just like the late spring freeze we got that year. Continental freezes take a lot more care to protect. The fabric MUST be anchored to the ground so that NO cold air can get under the fabric. With a tightly sealed package, heat “savings” can be drawn from the soil to help protect the plants until the sun comes up. Once the covers are removed after the temperature rises, frost bitten foliage will be prevalent near poorly covered areas. With luck just tips are burnt.

Of the two beans (a red and a pinto like), the red bean produced a decent crop and will be used. The other produced only foliage.

 

Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com 

December 3, 2015

Good morning, It has been several years now that I have been selling veggie bags. They have been very well received. It was a concept that Deb came up with on one of her trips related to work. She and her co-workers thought up the idea because there really was no Alpine outlet for fresh in season veggies.

The idea was that I would select the veggies to put in the bags. The number of veggies in the bag was determined by whether it was a $10 bag or a $20. Depending on the season a $20 bag would be a sampling of most of what I had growing in the garden at that time.

These bags have worked out quite well for the more adventurous types that like surprises. The contents remain the same until the changing of the season. At this time there would be a gradual change in the veggies within the bag for that upcoming season.

I must say it is the regular bag orders that help me plan my yearly garden. Knowing a base line of sales helps me immensely.

I have been doing these sales for several years now. Over the course of time I have had customers that have purchased regularly week in and week out, then stop ordering all together.

I would never hear any complaints or other comments. I frequently would wonder why. I would eventually come to the conclusion that life changes and so do folks desires.

As noted above bag sales plays a heavy role in my yearly garden planning and thus it is in my best interest to retain as many of these folks as I can.

Deb and I pass thoughts around and one of the thoughts we have come up with is that the individual veggie quantities are small and that maybe fewer varieties but more quantities of those fewer veggies would be desirable.

When I used to list all the veggies I had for sale, only a few different veggies would be selected for purchase. The vast majority of the veggies I grew would go unselected. I like a wide variety of veggies. There are more veggies that I like than what I don't like. The bag sales helped with this use of veggie varieties. It is also by having many different crops, that the chances of a total crop failure is reduced.

Bag sales are a critical part of my garden planning process. Retention of these sales customers is vital. I am a firm believer that nothing is stagnate. The ability to adapt to any change is always very important.

My questions are: are the bags just fine or would you like to see less variety and more of individual items.

I would very much appreciate any feedback on this subject. All suggestions will be considered. It is my intent to improve on this concept.

What an amazing rain we had last week. We ended up with 3.15 inches, It was interesting that the rain started before the freeze and then rained for the duration of the freeze. And was absolutely surprised to see some tomatoes that went through the whole event bare naked. Upon our return from market they looked perfect. The ice had protected them.

I finally got to spray aphids in the spinach one more time and they should be good for the winter. It has been difficult to do the timing because it has either been freezing or blowing like a mad man. Soon I will start harvesting sun chokes. Need to check the broccoli but I think they are still out a month or so.

What with all the rain and morning freezes it is a muddy mess in the garden. I hope to get back in soon to finish prepping for spring.

November 30, 2016

avalanche column

November 12, 2015

Recently I gave a presentation out at CDRI. Like writing these columns I also really enjoy giving presentations. It is especially nice to chat with all of the folks who are in attendance.

I had the opportunity to talk with one lady in attendance at the workshop who told me how much she enjoys reading my columns. This always tickles me to no end. During the conversation she mentioned that she wanted to email me some questions, but was afraid that it would overburden me.

Hopefully during our conversation I hoped that I had eased her mind on this and she would send me here questions.

A big reason why I write this column, do presentations, or even give garden tours is to encourage gardeners of any skill level. I encourage questions. I do not want to imply that I know all the answers, because I don’t. In fact I really do not know all the questions.

Because I have been gardening since the 4^th grade, I have been exposed to a lot of different garden surprises. Sometimes the questions sound familiar to one of my experiences and I can relate this to the questioner, other times I need to research and try to find a probable answer.

As is quite frequently said “the only dumb question is the one not asked”, so please ask. Your question could very easily cause me to look at doing somethings I do differently and most likely better.

Deb my wife frequently teases me that I would rather talk about gardening than to garden. I derive a great amount of pleasure from both of these exercises.

As I told this wonderful lady out at CDRI I have all the time in the world for questions about gardening. I hope that anyone that has been reluctant to pass on a question finally sits down and sends a few electrodes my way. Shoot it doesn’t have to be a question, I love hearing about fellow gardeners experiences. It is all good!!!  Happy gardening!!!!

Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com 

November 26, 2o15

Good morning, I am sending this email out early due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. I would like to note that there will not be any Friday deliveries. Prep work that I do on Thursday will be done on Friday. So Please place your orders and pick up at market on Saturday. Sorry for the inconvenience but all will be back to normal next week. Thank you very much and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I have noted on several occasions that I have root knot nematodes (RKN) in my garden. RKN are probably one of the biggest crop pests in the world and can be found anywhere there is land being farmed. They pretty much form galls on the roots and inhibit nutrient flow between the roots and foliage. It generally is a slow steady death of the plant but in smaller infestations they drastically reduce harvests.

Once you have RKN there really is no complete removal. With persistence you can control them. Once finding RKN, your gardening practices will change for ever that is if you seek to control them. The only way you can 100 percent know that you have them is to dig up a plant and look at the roots. This fall when I pulled some sick plants I did not find RKN but noticed some compromised roots like when I had an outbreak of Western Curling Disease (WCD) last year. Funny thing I did not notice the leaf curling that is associated with WCD. Most likely something new that infects roots. Always gotta love a challenge.

Anyway back to the RKN. Like with any organic control the more angles you can hit the problem from the more likely you will be successful. A list of some of the things I have done. I feel because they are single cogs in a large wheel overall I am successful. Not all are done at the same time but over the course of time they are.

Grow cover crops with nemicide or RKN trap crop qualities

Incorporate organic matter into the bed

Remove galled roots to the trash

Plant the garden at very earliest possible time

Soil drench with cold pressed neem or neem products

leave the bed fallow and void of any plants

Solarize the beds for 2 months

Till beds from clean end towards the infected portions of the bed

Clean tools in the bed just worked

This is not a complete list but as I find new means to control I add it to the above list. At one time when I first discovered these guys I thought the garden was done, but I have found there is life after RKN. I would personally take on a plague of grass hoppers if I could remove the RKN from my garden. Their control is so much easier and you can see the results of your endeavor much more quickly. None the less it is what it is. And as I said “Gotta love a challenge!”

Last Saturday night brought a bit of a chill to the garden. Sunday mornings low was 21 degrees. I had the last of all my summer veggies all tucked in. I did notice a little freeze damage so I went ahead and pulled my Jalapenos and the remainder of the Toms. I ended up with around 7 or 8 flats of toms that should ripen slowly over the next couple of months. Most of these are my long keepers. I still have some New Mex big Jim chiles and some pobalanos to pick. It sure was a nice run from the middle of March to the end of November for summer veggies.

The winter veggies are coming along, I have been harvesting some kohlrabi along with all the other greens. Some of the greens are getting a few aphids, it is just getting a warm morning with out wind so I can spray. I like to do most of my spraying of an evening but most evenings have been a bit breezy. The timing will work itself out.

It is really nice not having the daily harvest that starts with the summer squash in the spring. Now it is down to two mornings a week with maybe a couple things on Friday before I start putting bags together. I leave a few things for Friday to harvest because I find the refrigerators are quite fool.

Yes it is nice for a slower pace.

November 23, 2015

avalanche column

November 6, 2015

Floating row covers is a gardening product that is made of spunbonded polypropylene. It is permeable to moisture and sun light and really reduces wind damage.

In other areas of the country it can just float on the surface of your bed and as the veggies grow they will lift the fabric. I suspect in West Texas you could do this but the results would be less than desirable. Wind would make the fabric beat the tar out of your plants. It is for this reason I like to use 9 gauge fencing wire to make hoops.

In a lot of gardening catalogs they show the use of electric conduit hoops. These are good because they are more ridged than the wire. I prefer the wire because it is much more adaptable for my needs.

I use fabric for the entire life of the crop that it covers. Whether I use seedlings or seeds the first weeks of the crops establishment, fabric is laid right on top of the bed with the edges pulled taut and weighted down with rocks.  

Once the seeds germinate or the plants roots have healed, I raise the fabric. A mistake I made one time was to raise the fabric the full 18 to 24 inch height at this time of growth. This tunnel heated up to much, the humidity dropped, and all was desiccated. Because of this I use my 9 gauge hoops and place them diagonally across the bed thus raising the fabric off the plants (about 4 to 6 inches) and creating a nice little humid cocoon around the young plants.  This would be very difficult to do with the ridged conduit.

Once the seedlings touch the fabric, I raise the fabric to full height by moving the wire to a perpendicular position to the bed.

I do have plants that get taller than this 24 inch max height but I have found that there is little to no damage to these plants from the fabric hitting the plants in wind. Most of these plants it is not he vegetation that is harvested but fruit within the canopy.

I used to use smaller gauge wire and space the small hoops throughout the bed. I found this to be tedious and most of these smaller hoops would usually get lost in the foliage. Not so with the 9 gauge.

I am not very good at putting things away and so with fewer things to stash, I can keep track of where my wire is.  I like the multitask capabilities of the 9 gauge instead of a ton of small hoops and then a ton of ridged hoops. I have 1320 linear feet of bed. The small hoops are triangulated every 2 feet and the hoops are every 3 feet. This is a lot of wire and hoops. My 9 gauge does both of these jobs.

Not perfectly but nicely.

Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com 

November 19, 2015

Good morning, I copied this information about sweet potatoes from foodreference.com . When you read through the data you can see it is a real food powerhouse.

SWEET POTATO NUTRITION

 

According to nutritionists at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the single most important dietary change for most people, including children, would be to replace fatty foods with foods rich in complex carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes.

Sweet Potato Ranks Number One In Nutrition

CSPI ranked the sweet potato number one in nutrition of all vegetables. With a score of 184, the sweet potato outscored the next highest vegetable by more than 100 points. Points were given for content of dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars and complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. Points were deducted for fat content (especially saturated fat), sodium, cholesterol, added refined sugars and caffeine. The higher the score, the more nutritious the food.

Sweet potato baked 184
Potato, baked 83
Spinach 76
Kale 55
Mixed Vegetables 52
Broccoli 52
Winter Squash, Baked 44
Brussels Sprouts 37
Cabbage, Raw 34
Green Peas 33
Carrot 30
Okra 30
Corn on the Cob 27
Tomato 27
Green Pepper 26
Cauliflower 25
Artichoke 24
Romaine Lettuce 24
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington D.C.

The reasons the sweet potato took first place? Dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. The sweet potato received a score of 184; the vegetable ranked in second place was more than 100 points behind with a score of 83.

Sweet potatoes are high in the following: beta-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin B6 and vitamin C; fiber, thiamine, niacin, potassium and copper. They are also a good source of protein, calcium, vitamin E.

The numbers for the nutritional sweet potato speak for themselves: almost twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, 42 percent of the recommendation for vitamin C, four times the RDA for beta carotene, and, when eaten with the skin, sweet potatoes have more fiber than oatmeal. All these benefits with only about 130 to 160 calories!
 

Sweet Potato Nutrition Facts  (for one medium size sweet potato)

Calories 130
Fat 0.39 g
Protein 2.15 g
Net Carbs 31.56 g
Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
Calcium 28.6 mg
Sodium 16.9 mg
Potassium 265.2 mg
Folate 18.2 mcg
Vitamin C 29.51 mg
Vitamin A 26081.9 IU
Source: US Department of Agriculture

Before I moved to West Texas I had never grown sweets. I thought it was too cold in the places where I lived. Maybe if I had discovered agribon fabric back then, I might have tried.

Besides being a very nutritional crop it is very easy to grow and very productive. This year my four beds of sweets yielded 582 pounds. Two of the beds were infected with root knot nematode (RKN). And were planted early around the middle of April. We had a very cool Spring up into June. Real proof of this was harvesting sugar pod peas up until the middle of May. The middle of March when things usually begin to heat up,brings the peas demise.

The first two beds yielded 2.5 pounds per linear foot. My beds are 4 feet wide. In years past I would not start the harvest until September. This year I started harvesting in August. What with the nematodes that impact the roots of plants and the cool spring, I think of these played into the low production. Sweet potatoes like hot weather. This and also starting to harvest a little early caused the sweets to be a smaller size. Most of the tubers were less than 1 1/2 pounds.

Now he third bed where I used the unrooted cuttings I got a very nice harvest per linear foot. Right about 7.5 to 8 pounds. This is the amount I have come to expect from Sweets. Five to six pounds is a good rate too.

The fourth bed production was back down to 2 pounds. There was signs of RKN but not too bad. Last year this bed was planted to squash and succumbed to RKN late in the year. Winter it was plated to Idaho Gold Mustard., a mustard with nemicide properties. I also use Azaguard on the bed before planting (this is a nemicide) the sweets. This was my last sweet bed planted, about the first of August. I feel the lateness of this beds planting was the main cause for its lower poundage per foot. Like I said sweets like it hot. It is a 90 to a 100 day crop. August was nice and toasty but night times really started to cool off going into fall. Most plants do a good portion of their growing at night and the cool nights slowed this beds growth. The tubers were all nice looking but on the small size from less than a pound to a pound.

As for the third bed it was planted the first of July and was hot for a good solid two months and loved it. Most tubers in this bed were 1 1/2 pounds to 2 pounds with some up to 4.

For the whole harvest here were about 75 pounds with questionable sell-ability. About 45 pounds of these were severely eaten on by ground squirrels. There may be more that were totally eaten. 45 pound is getting into the problem pest range. We are in negotiations with the cat as to what the problem is. Then for the rest of the 75 pounds, the sweets have a russet thing on them. Some sort of infection related to RKN ? I do not know. A Google search is needed.

So Next spring because this winter is expected to be a ditto of last, I am only going to plant one early bed. Grow the greens for sweets and cuttings. Then I will plant the last 3 beds in July. 582 pounds of sweets is a good harvest but it would be interesting if it can be boosted.

Sweets are very easy to grow, quite productive, tasty, very nutritious and store well too. I am out of time but the foliage is also quite nutritious too. So if you haven't grown sweets I would recommend giving them a whirl.. The vines can be really quite sprawling and need plenty of room.

November 16, 2015

Avalanche column

October 29, 2015

With fall temperatures and daylight decreasing, winter veggies are coming into their own.

There have been years that I have sown seeds throughout the year including the winter but I find that seed sown from the middle of November until the middle of February don’t perform very well. This has been especially true with the last few years due to actually having winter like weather.

Seed sown from the middle of October to the first of November actually get some size before the colder weather then go dormant. They then quite easily return to growth with warmer weather. These veggies do not seem to be stunted. Veggies seeded in the coldest time of the year appear to get quite stunted and never really catch up with seed sown the middle of February. So I forgo any seeding during the winter.

There are a number of veggies that I grow through the winter and actually grow nicely in the cooler weather. I have mentioned that plants are survivalist and will grow in less desired conditions than what they will germinate. The germination locks insure that the seed is going into optimum conditions. These conditions can change and thus this is a survival tool that plants have and they will continue to grow after germination.

When one walks down the veggie isle at the store, some veggies (especially greens) are harvested as whole plants or as leaves. Following this lead (because this is what folks are accustomed too), I have harvested whole plants or leaves. There are a few veggies that I struggled with in order to have a constant supply and these were whole plant harvested.

When harvesting whole plants there is the succession dilemma. Successions can be difficult. First it is important to know the days to harvest, then you need to figure how long you want to harvest that sowing, then you count back to your sow date. For successions, taking into consideration how long you want to harvest and this will determine your next sow date. This all depends on everything coming together like clockwork. Yes this can happen.

So going back to the statement that plants will grow in less than perfect conditions that they will germinate set my mind to thinking; why not grow some of the harvest whole plants as cut and regrow.

There are two plants that I do this and they have been well received. They are green onions and spinach. Boc choy is another big favorite and I have never been able to meet demand. This year I am giving leaf harvest whirl. Any crop that you are harvesting the top, this should work, and all root crops there will be the need to plan out the succession thingy.

One big benefit to cutting leaves, plants are slower to bolt with warmer weather.

Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com 

November 12, 2015

Good morning, Building and maintaining soil fertility is a major goal of organic gardening. The premise is to feed the soil and the soil will feed the plants.

In the recent past there was a fellow who would drop off compostable material at my door. Sadly this has ended. It was nice just building compost piles and not to have to procure the material too. Considering how much compost I used, this does add to weekly garden chores. I do generate some compost from my flock of fowl but not nearly enough. I also mentioned getting the brewery leavings but this needs to be combined with another compost ingredient so it does not compact and go anaerobic.

I am seriously thinking of going to cover crops and turning them in before planting. This would be a lot easier than procuring compost then building piles to heat. The pros of this is time saved by not having to get compost material, a considerable time saver. The cons is that crop rotations will not be immediate like when adding compost. Depending on how warm it is when I turn in a cover crop there would need to be at least 2 weeks for the turned under material to decompose.

I like to have my beds prepared and ready for spring planting no later than the 2^nd week of March (weather permitting). Last year was a cool damp spring which if it were to happen again this year would throw a curve ball into turning in a cover crop and actually have it decompose too. Forecasts indicate that this will be so. What to do. Wish in one hand and pore water in the other. It never is really quite cut and dried.

Another option would be to sow a legume ground cover a month after the main crop is planted and established so that it can out compete the ground cover. A low growing clover such as New Zealand white would be used. I would be curious to see how this would spread over the bed since I do drip tape that only waters a 1 foot wide strip through the bed. Granted it is 1 foot wide at the surface but there is an inverted cone of moisture into the soil. Enough width for the clover to fill the bed? No Idea.

This may have to be my choice since I would hate to have multiple beds of clover to turn under 2 +/- weeks before planting and finding the soil too wet to work. I was fortunate last year that I had compost to work in and was able to go into the winter with ready to plant beds for March. Once a crop is finished I would work the ground cover into the bed after the crop had been pulled..

I do see some potential problems with this but then again I just may be over thinking this. Which could very easily be the case. I will try it and see what happens. Very likely I may have to make time to get compost material.

I am perplexed with my pea crop. Normally when I sow the middle of October the soil is cool enough to not rot the seed before the peas have a chance to germinate. I may have gotten 25% to germinate. The seed packet said that in May of this year these peas had an 80% germination rate. It was a new seed house that I used. I normally use Johnny's but I used a company that had all the seed varieties I needed to complete my fall planting. I did have some year old peas from Johnny's that I used and they performed as poorly too.

Around the time I sowed the soil may still have been too warm but there was some heavy rain showers at about the same time too. I suspect it is a combination of things that all came together at just the right time. Too warm and too wet.

Options would be to delay planting further for cooler soil (maybe I should use a thermometer next time instead of “feelings” ). The other option which would be a perfect solution but extreme care is needed. This would be to germinate the seed in damp paper towels. The seeds would be actively growing but the tinder roots are very easily broken. But only seeds that are actively growing would be sown. Which could make for a 100% stocked bed. One might say why not plant soaked seeds. I have had horrible success doing this in Far West Texas. Up in Oregon there was no problem and I got great results. I suspect why this is so here is that unsoaked seed has a natural protection to fight off bacteria until the seed germinates. Soaking the seed washes off this protective layer. This is why germinated seed would need to be used. Of course the protective layer is my thoughts but it does seem to fit.

One thing is for certain every year is different; adjusting and adapting techniques is always critical.

November 9, 2015

avalanche column

October 22, 2015

It is really nice to hear from all the followers of this column. I write about what I do and try to relay how well things go and also how badly things go. It is my intent to encourage trial and error. Not everything that I do will work for everybody because each person is different and everybody’s gardens are different too. What I do may be adaptable to the individual gardener’s needs.

I think that the best teacher is mistakes. Once you have made a mistake evaluate what went wrong and how to correct it. The first thing after a problem comes up; I like to see if maybe it was something that I may have done. Correcting something I have done is a whole lot easier than correcting an environmental problem.

One of the most common questions I receive is whether I do presentations. I used to give evening talks but it has been quite a while. Somehow it is difficult to find the time to prepare and do an evening presentation.  In recent years I have been working with Jesse Schneider. She is the county extension agent for Presidio County and works with Logan Boswell who is the county extension agent for Brewster County.

I usually give a presentation that is one segment of a day long workshop. I find these to be a whole lot easier to prepare for. It is also nice to visit with folks that are in the agriculture trade.

I mention this because on the 29^th of October I have been asked to give a presentation about winter gardening. The workshop is titled Nature Appreciation Day and will be held at CDRI. Check out the schedule on face book. There will be a lot of great topics covered and a great time will be had by all.

If you are interested please call Jesse at 432-729-4746,   5600 for more details. Also ask to be put on her upcoming event mailing list. Hope to see you there!!!

 Questions? I can be contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com