Welcome to the Red Wagon Farm Blog

Red Wagon Farm grows vegetable year-round using organic techniques. We also keep chickens and ducks for eggs.


We sell our produce and eggs at the Alpine Farmers Market at the Hotel Ritchey Courtyard on Historic Murphy Street. We all sell homemade pickles, relishes and mustards.

The farmers market is open every Saturday of the year, from 9 am until noon.

Monday, January 18, 2016

Janurary 18, 2016

avalanche column



Dec 31, 2015

Folks will ask how much would this greenhouse cost? Most of the parts can be sourced locally. Nancy at Brown Dog Gardens has 10 foot by 12 foot frost blanket for $18. Johnson Feed has 10 pound rolls of 9 gauge wire for $17.50. You will need some heavy duty wire cutters. And Territorial Seed Company (territorialseed.com) has 10 foot by 16 foot greenhouse film for $47.95 plus shipping. I think Nancy is looking into a source for the greenhouse film too.

Doing a search on the internet Hobby greenhouses start at around $100. The least expensive ones look to me as though one West Texas “breeze” would destroy them.

I would like to reiterate that this green house would be for growing veggies through the winter. It would not be practical to start seedlings in. For starting seedlings I use a light table in one of my back rooms. For me this works very well.

Next week I will be starting a series on the insects that I have encountered in my garden and what I use to control them. I feel this is a good time so that you can become familiar with the more problematic critters that would like to dine in your garden. This may be a repeat but I find that repetition is one of the best ways to learn.

It is critical that you identify the pest. Some insects might appear to be a “bad” bug but in reality are beneficial. The larvae of the hover fly are one. The adult fly is a pollinator but the larva (maggot) resides on the bottom of leaves, it is not a pretty bug but it devours aphids. This guy can be killed without realizing the good that it does.

Proper identification allows one to learn about the bug and how to best control them. Control is desired, complete eradication does not leave food for beneficial insects to feed on and stay in the garden. This is a delicate ballet of good guys and bad guys.

For Identification, I like to have a book that can be easily taken into the garden. Once identified, I use the internet to learn everything I can to combat it. This has a means of reinforcing the critter into you memory. My garden bug book is “The Texas Bug Book” by Howard Garrett and C. Malcolm Beck, published by the University of Texas press, Austin. It is available at Front Street Books. A little side Howard Garrett is known as “the Dirt Doctor”.

This is not an all-inclusive book but is pretty well covers the subject. This book also includes beneficial insects too. This is very important so that you do not “shoot yourself in the foot” so to speak. Knowing this you can encourage the good and discourage the bad.

Happy gardening!   

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

 

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