September 24, 2015

Good morning, It seems like yesterday but it has been 6 years since Deb put together our book of “Organic Gardening West of the Pecos” . Deb especially liked the “West of the Pecos” part of the title.

We keep talking about doing 2.0 but just not found that “roundtuit” yet. It will happen. Life just has a way of happening.

Funny how I seem to recall being somewhat complacent in the garden. I thought My learning curve had mellowed. This was before the year 2011 hit. The year started out fine enough then along came February. February's emergence on the stage brought some of the coldest temps seen in decades in west Texas. The garden recorded a low of 1.5 degrees. Funny how February brought some of the coldest weather in years but the cold was done by mid February. The race was on for some of the hottest days in May and June. Normally we have few if any century mark days. The summer of 2011 had several.

That summer is when I really got the feel for what evaporation and transpiration meant. Up to that point I only had the textbook definition, the summer of 2011 was a living definition. It was harsher than what I ever imagined.

It is funny even though I would start watering very early in the morning and finish by mid afternoon, it would still be a couple years before I finally got a drip system.

Yes I will say up until the first week of February of 2011 there did seem to be a bit of a “normalcy”to the weather. From February 2011 on it became a whole different book.

Some of the new things I have learned that should go into the next book 2.0: AG70 (the heavy fabric) can be used year round, a very watchful eye towards bugs is mandatory (because their populations can explode unexpectedly), drip systems do boost veggie production exponentially, cold pressed neem oil has some limitations, a huge insect outbreak has nothing to do with garden culture, a wonderful temporary greenhouse can be built with AG 70 and greenhouse film, indeterminate tomatoes are not necessarily the best choice in the desert.

These are just a few things that would be included in 2.0. 

Someday!

Save for kohlrabi and the parsnips all of my fall seed are up. The kohlrabi was reseeded and the parsnips can take up to three weeks to emerge. This is why if I do not get a take on that sowing there will not be any parsnips this year.

A mysterious critter thinned out some of my chard seedlings. I have reseeded and put a collar around the seeds. We can hope this works. It really does help when you can identify the culprit.

I have beaten back the pin worm out brake in the tomatoes, so I hope to have toms clean past freezing (of course they will all be ripening inside), Okra is not happy with the cooler nights but is still producing though. It would be nice if we got a frog choker and end the burn ban. Really need to smoke some jalapenos.

We did get 2 tenths on Monday night, not my frog choker but I will take it. Oh yes I am curious to see what the winter and the next year brings. I am sure it will be full of surprises!!