April 30, 2015

Good morning, this garden year should go a lot easier. I say this because I will not be needing to do the long water days standing at the end of a hose from 2 in the morning until 2 in the afternoon. I will rejoice not having to do that anymore.

I am in the process of adding an injector to the drip system. The main purpose is so I can run vinegar through the lines to prevent calcium build up in the drip tape. The second is so I can inject neem products into the root zones to see if I can combat my root knot nematodes from another angle. I am not delusional that I can eradicate them but it would be nice to keep them to a manageable level.

It seems that last year they were more of a problem with my sweets than the wire worms were. Even with the RKN, I was still able to get a pretty good harvest. I think that says more about sweet potatoes than anything; they are a very productive crop even with adversity!

This injector will also be able to control cucumber beetle larvae. Cucumber beetles are unique in the bug world because the only life faze of cucumber beetles that is not harmful to plants is the egg stage. Cucumber beetles and larvae are known to introduce pathogens into plants when they feed on them. This then leads to the plants demise. Exclusion is not an option with the cucurbits because they need insects to pollinate them. So unlike self fertile veggies and greens that can be covered all the time, the cucurbits need to be exposed.

Unlike leaf hoppers that are the vector for Western Curling Disease, where their host plants are native vegetation, cucumber beetles hosts are vegetables. Soooo in theory they should be controllable.

Wow! The Earth Day Celebration was a happening event. What a great turn out of vendors and patrons alike. It has made all the difference in the world since moving the event fro Kokernott lodge to Murphy Street. The prior location was a good one but Murphy Street is so much more accessible. I so much look forward to next year.

Please mark your Calendars YT Ranch grass fed beef will be back the 30^th of May.

Looking forward with the weather forecasts it does appear that we will by Friday start getting highs in the 80's and overnight lows in the 50's so maybe my summer veggies will begin to mature.. This is the push that the garden needs to complete the winter to summer veggies. I see the spinach and peas in a slow motion crash, and the summer veggies are just hanging out and in no rush to mature. I continue to harvest immature unpollinated summer squash because there are NO male flowers yet. Maybe next week? 

Mondays cold front will not help with this ripening. Tuesday night I felt would be the night that it might freeze. It was a challenge but I did manage to get the garden well tucked in and then after diner the fruit trees were covered. Tuesday night was not a sound sleep and I got up at 2 AM the thermometer was at 38 and dead calm. By 5 AM the temperature was 33. Just before sunrise the mercury dipped to 32 and then rose to 32.5. A splitting hairs thingy. When I went out in the garden there was a hard frost on all of the fabric along with the covers on the trees. It appears the only freeze damage was the leaves that were touching the fabric. Other than that all is fine. This sine curve weather is playing havoc with the laddies. Egg production seems to ebb and flow from week to week. I sooooooo hope this is the last hissy fit.

Veggie orders may take some creativity to fill this week. Thank you for your patience!!!

Last but not least Is a note from Isabel Whitebread who is raising money for the Alpine Community Garden

I have the information for the online fundraiser we are conducting to help Alpine Community garden. 

The link to the donation page is www.gofundme.com/alpinegarden 

We are raising money to complete a shade structure for the gardeners, get our hands on natural weed suppressants like heavy gravel, add a picnic table, etc. All of the extra info is on the donation webpage.

I encourage anyone to contribute what they ca to this wonderful asset to the Alpine Community mark

April 23, 2015

Good morning, it has been a very interesting different type of growing year to date. What with all the winter moisture both frozen and liquid, it really has been mild as far as the temperature swings. We only had one morning low in the teens and that was before all the moisture started.. As for the highs I think there has only been one day in the 90's so far and I think that high is suspect.

The wintry precip really chilled the soils down and delayed spring planting by about a month. I usually like to have my first toms in by the middle of February, I just do not like to plant into a snow storm. It was the same with the first of March plantings too. It really wasn't until the middle of March that the soil started to warm. I like to push seasons but I do not want to push the season for the sake of pushing, especially if I do not have the confidence that things will survive.

It really was an interesting observation with regards to my potato seedlings and 3 layers of Agribon 70 fabric. If I had really thought about it the observation would have been obvious. The fabric only holds warmth. What I mean by this is that with all the ice and snow there was virtually no soil warmth. I could have put 20 blankets over the spuds and they would have still frozen. This is a bit of an exaggeration but it does make the point. With the 3 layers, theoretically it should be good to 8 degrees. But the starting temperature was in the mid to low 30's what with the ice chilling. So with even a modest drop in temperature the plants would still freeze. If the soil was in the forties this would make all the difference in the world. It is because of this observation that I delayed planting. We are now well into that comfort zone where the fabric can work its' magic in the advent of a chill down. I really so hope that the freezes are over. It would be wonderful for a number of reasons not to mention that I might be able to eat a tree ripened peach straight from the tree. This would be maybe the second time since planting the trees. Not the best climate for fruit trees.

It does seem that the moisture keeps on flowing. Recently we got 1/2 inch of rain and short panic period with a dusting of hail. I am not sure how much total precipitation we have gotten (one ice storm froze over the top of my rain gauge) but what I have read is a little over 5 inches.

I would not mind if the angry months of May and June were more timid this year. We did have a couple real nasty gusts of wind last week. So far we have had some breezy days but nothing that you could write home about. Lets hope for a wonderfully temperate year. OOOh time will tell, but we can only hope!!!

This weekend is the Earth Day Celebration on Murphy Street. It will start with the Farmers' Market at 9 and continue until 4 in the afternoon. There will be lots of good stuff happening all day. Soooo come on down and join the fun. This will be the third year on Murphy Street and and each year it is getting better and better.

There will be all kinds of vendors in the court yard and on Murphy Street. Plans are to block of both east and west Murphy street from traffic. As for the market all of our usual vendors will be there along with the folks from the YT Ranch with grass fed beef.

I hope to see all yall there.

Oh how everything is jusssst on the cusp of being fully into summer veggie season. The cooler weather of late is slowing maturation quite a bit. It was sad to see 2 female zuke flowers and not a male flower in a 45 foot bed, but Wednesday night I was seeing some male flowers that will open today. The twain shall meet soon. I am seeing enlarging fruit but they will be a week or two out at the least before they can be harvested. Oh how my mouth is watering for that first red ripe tomato. It has been said that patience is a virtue. Ohhh but how trying it can be!!

I continue to nurse the winter veggies until squash, beans, chili's..... can take up the slack. The prolonged cool is helping with that but is also slowing the rest. Sighhhh!

I can be reached at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com or go to http://redwagonfarm.blogspot.com/  

Happy gardening!!!

April 16, 2015

Good morning, every year that I have been gardening in Far West Texas has been different. I think that there would not be very many folks that would argue with me that this year is off the charts different.

It really is quite amusing to me that when I planned my garden successions last fall that I had planned for a bed of tomatoes that would go in right behind the sugar pod peas. This might happen yet. Peas are really an allusive crop for Far west Texas. Far West Texas “usually” is not a very good pea growing climate. Peas “usually” are also not a very good crop for spring. Usually our springs are very short lived before all “H E double tooth picks” breaks loose with the first course meal being wind and then progresses to the delicacies of heat and low humidity. Are we sure that this is Far West Texas?

I have learned to plant peas in late fall when the soils cool enough to get better germination. Late August and early September the soil temps are in the upper 80's and 90's, a bad temperature to germinate peas. This all changes by mid October. I grow them through the winter as small seedlings (a stage that peas are very cold hardy). Then about mid February as the soil warms? up, the peas “usually” then make rapid growth and bloom to provide peas through March before it begins to get to hot?. What a difference a year makes. The warming didn't come until the middle of March and the peas didn't start coming on until the end of the month. April is rainy and cool and the peas are as happy as clams at high tide. Like with the cool damp weather and late season peas, these are all unexpected gifts and I will relish all three while they last.

All the moisture has slowed the progress of finishing the spring planting. I have toms to go in that infamous pea bed, I'll just have to put them else where. Else where is too wet to turn so we may have to for go with tilling and just plant and mulch. These are the ways innovations are made and could be the new way of doing things. This same bed has some Asian greens that I want to save seed from. The seed pods are big and fat but a little bit of sun and warm is all that is needed to ripen the seed for harvest. OHHH patience!!!!

I need to mention that Earth Day (April 25) will be celebrated on Murphy Street again this year. Preparations by the Sul Ross ConBio club are progressing quite nicely. There will be events all day starting with the farmers market and ending at 4 PM.

Also on the 25^th the wonderful folks from the YT Ranch (Alice and Rob) will be selling state inspected grass fed beef. Deb and I had a roast that was really quite fine.

First blooms on the beans, Zukes and crooknecks have the vestiges of blossoms, chili's have set, toms are blooming, potatoes are 12 to 18 inches tall, those infamous peas are peaing right along, another of those little mysteries the spinach is still doing it's thing.

Sun chokes are done along with the beets, but a new beet sowing is close to being mature. I am almost finished with an older planting of carrots and a new planting is getting close. I have never been able to provide enough green onions, so I am trying something a little different. Because onions will regrow from their centers fairly easily, I am hoping, by cutting the tops off below grade and letting the tops regrow from the roots I might be able to have a regular harvest of green onions. It is easier for a plant to sprout a leaf as opposed to growing a whole new plant from a seed. We can always hope that this will work!!! Won't know until we try.

Because of various crops that are finished and the delay of new crops, there is a chance that I will not be able to completely fill orders. I will only bill for the portion I do. Mother Nature has the last say in this stuff. Thank you for your patience!!!!

April 9, 2015

Good morning, I want to thank Gwin Grimes ,form the Alpine Avalanche, for providing me with the mother load of rubber bands. I could very easily have a life time supply (several one pound bags of rubber bands). It is funny how roles change, before anyone purchases rubber bands please!!! talk to me first, because I can help!!

What a pleasant surprise to see a few of my very neglected fruit trees survive.

Last year before the rains began, June was just like that “friend” you wish would just leave. I hit the wall with watering from 2 AM until 2 PM only to get up in the morning and do it all again (it reminded me of Groundhog Day, the movie). I hit the wall!!! First I drew back on what I could do and not watering the fruit trees was the first change. Fruit in West Texas is at best a maybe, but if I could keep the garden hydrated, that would be a certainty. So the fruit trees were on their own.

There are a few trees that seem to have been able to handle this treatment and by all appearances are doing fair to good with some doing surprisingly well. This was the second year where the fruit trees got the short end of the watering stick, so this is further proof to me that these are pretty drought hardy trees. The key is they were established going into this.

The trees that did not make it: Stella cherry, Montmorency pie cherry , Winesap apple, Gala apple, Northern spy apple, ranger peach, and Braeburn apple.

The trees that have come through are: granny smith apple, independence nectarine, Arkansas black apple, Hunza apricot, pomegranate, hale haven peach, Belle of Georgia peach ( I see some borers, not good) , Le Grande nectarine, and Indian blood peach.

It is my desire to try and keep these guys going. They all seem to be covered with blossoms. Which could in its self, not a good sign. It reminds me of my time working in the Weyerhauser Southern Forestry Research Center in Hot Spring Arkansas. The research station was very sadistic as to what they did to pine trees. These treatments were done to force the trees into a survival mode. What I learned is that a very heavily fruited tree can mean one of 2 things: very happy or about to kick the bucket. Looking as to what my trees have been trough, option 2 weighs pretty heavy.

Let us hope that the rains continue, freezing is over and we have a joyous temperate growing season this year. My fingers are crossed but I won't be holding my breath.

The garden for the most part is planted. I am waiting for the sweet sets to arrive the middle of the month. Most of the sweet propagation has not been as satisfactory as I would have liked. A bottom heating propagation pad would more than likely enhance my success. I only have another 20 feet of okra to go. I need to pull some bolting chard. Chickens go YUM!!!. First blossoms on the summer squash are forming, maybe by the end of the month. Peppers have set, toms have blossoms, I think there is the first signs of blooms on the beans. Garlic is looking nice with big thick stalks, and the bulb onions are looking very nice. I do need to mulch them though. Second harvest of peas, sure would be nice if they hung on until the end of the month. I am not seeing any heat stress or aphids, both very positive signs. Just for funzzies I did a succession of boc choy. Most winter greens seem to detest our spring heat, but it has been a very strange year, so what the heck. Open bed, plenty of seed, just might get lucky.

I have been given some seed for pole beans. One is a yard long bean and another is for dried beans. I am a bit apprehensive to grow them. Most culture for pole beans is to trellis, i.e. the “pole” in pole beans. Now the dilemma, I am seeing another year of leaf hoppers. Leaf hopper? These are the vector for Western Curling Disease (WCD). WCD is a virus and eventually kills the plant if let to go full term (a mistake I did last year). Need to pull plants at first signs. In the process infected plants can and will infect the rest of the plants.

I have found WCD has it's favorites: Solanaceae (toms, peppers, eggplants, potatoes), chard and beets along with beans. Spraying the leaf hoppers on the plant will kill the hopper but if it is an infected hopper and was chewing on a plant, you have a dead bug and a dead plant. Maybe the only preventive control is to cover with fabric. Hence the problem, 8 foot poles are very very hard to cover effectively. Sooo, the culture I can provide is to let them ramble and thus be able to protect them with fabric. I am not sure how productive these will be. It would be extremely difficult to control the hoppers due to the garden being surrounded by acres and acres of native vegetation. This will be interesting, always up to another challenge. Stay tuned!!

What a wild wind storm yesterday. All was good until 6:15 P when along with the 39 mph wind along comes a gut of 59. And I was sent to the garden to anchor fabric from blowing away or beating plants with the loose ends.. Things calmed down enough about 30 minutes later to asses how all the plantings were doing. As expected everything came through fine, but what a rus thee for awhile!!!

April 2, 2015

Good morning, something that I would like to do is grow all of my own sweet potato sets. This year I set aside a number of the small tubers to sprout. I also rooted a few cuttings that I overwintered in a cold frame. I think that both of these techniques have potential, but they do need to be tweeked to be viable.

I layered the sweet tubers in the beds they would be planted to. Well as everyone is aware this winter was continually cool with several ice and snow events. Sweets like to be stored at 50 to 60 degrees with around 80% humidity. In years past I have found that our soils stay fairly warm at 6 or more inches in depth. I buried these tubers at 8 to 10 inches, thinking I was being conservative with this depth. The soils remained saturated for most of the winter and with the several ice / snow events the soil temperatures really dropped even down to my tubers depth. This ended up being a perfect mix to rot the tubers. Not many looked like they would survive to sprout when I dug them so I could raise them closer to the surface. I also had buried some in the bed I was using greenhouse film under fabric for a cover. These fared better but I think they also were too wet through the winter.

Next fall I intend to layer these small tubers in some damp sand that is in a small ice chest. I will place this under the house or in one of our back rooms. Normally our dry winters turn these little tubers into little mummies if left uncovered. I do not think these mummied sweets would sprout.

With my rooted cuttings I was afraid that the vines would take over the house so I left them in the cold frame a bit too long. I thought that bringing them into the house the first of February would be long enough for them to grow big enough to take multiple cuttings from, Wellll maybe enough for one bed I will grow three beds and each bed needs about 180 sets. Deb has a south facing window at work she would like to grow a sweet potato vine around. This might be my solution for cuttings.

So I ordered sets for 2 beds and next fall I will give the propagation thingy another whirl. It is not that the sweet sets are expensive but I really would like to do all of my plant and seed propagation in house. I have never done this with all of my crops but I think it would be an accomplishment that I would like to achieve.

The fall of 2013 I planted some small potato tubers in the garden so that they would germinate and grow as they saw fit. Doing this and having a drip system for the first time, I actually got some decent sized tubers. Some were almost a pound. I have never gotten tubers that big. So last fall I thought I would do the same thing again.

To my surprise the soil stayed warm all the way up until Christmas. A good portion of these tubers sprouted and were growing quite well to my dismay. Well needless to say they got frozen back to the ground. Since this happened at the beginning of their growth cycle, I was not concerned. As they start to regrow I am noticing several tops emerging from the soil. Depending on what depth these are sprouting from there is the potential for a lot of nodes to produce spuds. Time will tell. Next year I may have to stall on planting the tubers until mid December or January. I think this technique has potential.

This all reminds me of the number of set backs I had with my early tomato plantings. I used to have to start a lot more toms when I was figuring the earliest I could plant them in the ground. Through trial and error I have found which conditions need to be present to insure that the toms do not meet an early demise. Nothing like trial and error.

Ah yes pushing the seasons.

And there is some good news at the market. We have vendors that are selling vegetable transplants. I must say that they do look very nice. This is a welcome addition to the market. Also the folks from the YT Ranch will be selling grass fed State inspected beef once a month. Last week was their first week. They come from Northern Kermit County so they do have a bit of a trek to get here. They plan to come towards the end of each month and this Month will be on April 25^th. Which also coincides with the yearly Earth Day celebration on Murphy street. This is always a blast. Last year there were over 50 vendors. We have also had a gentleman inquire about selling Artisan Bread. This would be a very welcome addition to the market!

As for the garden, I keep hoping that my spring / summer veggies come on line just as the winter veggies are finishing. Winter pickings are thinning. But I did finally get a picking of peas. I so hope I can get more than a week or two of harvests before the spring heat kills them. Last year they were finished before now. But yessss peppers are blooming along with toms. Beans are 6 inches tall, likewise with the Zukes and yellow crook necks. Okra is up, new bed of chard and kale transplanted. The garlic and bulb onions are looking very fine. Yes I do believe spring has sprung.