August 6, 2015

Good morning, well I did finally get my pyganic pyrethrin spray, it lived up to its billing with a very fast knock down. The cucumber beetles population has truly been devastated., with a deep sigh of relief. I do want to hit them at least one more time to hopefully knock the population back to the stone-age. The only other time that I can remember populations of this size was when I neglected to clean up after a very severe hail storm. I was working for the Texas Forest Service and was unable to clean the damage up quickly and by the weekend the clouds were in full force. I did not get control of them but as crops finished I pulled them and this reduced their food sources for the beetles. It is nice to have an equalizer, but I do need to be very reluctant using it except in a need to situation. Unlike cold pressed neem critters can develop an immunity to it.

They may not be a problem next year but I will be ready for them in any case. Most likely some new and exciting pain in the rear bug will come forward. Gotta love a challenge

I have been noticing sky lights in my sweet leaves and the growing numbers of little grasshoppers fleeing. It is time to pull out the cold pressed and with a couple sprays they should not be a problem any more. One could say why not let some fowl in to work on them. This would work until they noticed the greens under the covers. With the very intermittent and sparse rains, there is nothing green except what is in the garden. Tumbleweeds are even dying!!

Oh what a good hard 1 inch rain would do for the garden and my spirits.. Well water and rain water is like talking oranges and apples. What an amazing elixir the rain is. The last “big” rain was .67 (last week) and that has been the most in one setting since back in June. This week we got .02 on Sunday and .04 on Monday. As I write on Tuesday it is threatening rain again. I hope my boat arrives. We got .3 on Tuesday night, not an inch but well received none the less.

With all the early rain this past spring the plants were able to get pretty tall, Now with the reduced rainfall and warmer sunnier days the evaporation / transpiration rate has gone through the roof. It is increasingly difficult to hydrate for the three day water cycle I use to cover the whole garden. I may have to start a midnight water cycle. At least it won't be like the old days where I would water 20 minutes and then off 30 minutes for the whole day. It is much easier with the drip.

The garden continues to be quite productive. I am hoping that I will get a re-greening of the cukes since the beetle pressure is off. I did reseed summer squash and with any luck they will be coming on as the old bed kicks the bucket. 

razy as it sounds I am already in the planning stages for fall crops. The end of August is only 4 weeks away. How time flies when you are having fun.