February 29, 2016

Avalanche column

February  11, 2016

I have noticed that whenever we have a damp spring or summer it can be expected that we will have a grasshopper infestation.

It really was not too long ago that these critters would run a chill down my spine. In reality these guys can be quite easily controlled, or at least reduced to acceptable levels. Like with weeds it is very helpful to recognize when you have a problem. There is a big difference if you deal with a weed problem just as you are seeing a green sheen to the ground instead of when the weeds are 5 feet tall. Grasshoppers are very similar in this respect. They are a whole lot easier to deal with when they are tinny than when they are full size.

There are a number of steps one can take to limit the numbers in your garden.

A ten foot clear strip around your garden, bare earth is best combined with a 3 foot tall solid fence around your garden will limit their access. Unless spooked grasshoppers seldom jump higher than 2 feet. Cover plants with at least 2 layers of agribon 19. They can chew through a single layer. Just before sunrise they are very lethargic and can be easily picked off plants or solid surfaces using both hands. Feed your chickens or toss them into a jar of soapy water. A chicken run around your garden can be entertaining while watching the chickens play “keep-away” with a hopper that chose to go through that gauntlet. Use a hopper bacteria that is very effective on grasshoppers (nolo bait), it is most effective with young hoppers. It needs to stay dry in order to work. I use 16 ounce tin cans with one end removed. Place the cans around the OUTSIDE perimeter of your garden and prop the unopened end up (prevents water from getting into the can). Daily check the cans and replenish the nolo bait as needed. Cultivating garden paths will expose eggs and prevent them from hatching.

Last but not least the use of cold pressed neem oil (not clarified hydrophobic neem oil). If the bottle does not specifically say “cold pressed neem oil” it is the other kind. THIS is very important. Cold pressed neem has growth hormones that cause the hoppers to stop molting and eating; death follows. These hormones have been removed from the clarified form. I have found that if I notice where the hoppers seek cover at night or where they are feeding the most, these are the only places that need to be sprayed. I have found that they love to chew on sweet potato vines. The dense vegetation also affords them “cover” too. Ah, but this then becomes their trap and they soon meet their demise!! Three sprayings 7 days apart is all it takes.

Read directions, wear protective clothing, don’t spray when it is windy and only spray in the evening.

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

February 25, 2016

Good morning, it really has been nice to see the market continue to grow. This has been the first winter where we have consistently had over 15 vendors every week. In years past a dozen vendors was a good showing during the winter. Last summer there were a couple occasions where we had close to 30 vendors. This is exciting stuff. The only duplication of vendor wares was with veggies. This is a good thing!!!! After all our name is Alpine FARMERS Market. It is cool to have several different veggie vendors.

The great thing about multiple veggie vendors is that there are veggies available for most of the market. This is good for the late riser patrons. 

Along with more veggie growers we are also getting vendors with other agriculture products. Everything from dairy, to fruits, eggs, nuts, honey and grass fed beef. I feel as we see more purveyors of agriculture products the attendance of customers to the market will increase too.

It has been almost eleven years that Deb and I have been vendors at the market. The market has moved several times and with each move both the vendors and customers have increased. The days of just a small handful of vendors is still vivid in my mind.

It has been a goal of the market to make it a happy place where folks like to hang, shop, visit, have play dates for kids and last but not least enjoy the day.

I still vision the day where we fill the courtyard and start filling Murphy Street with vendors.

How fun could that be?

Since those chilly teen temperatures of a couple weeks back the following warm weather has put wind ind the sails for the garden. I am sure there will be some cold again down the road but we are getting some very welcome soil warming. A soil thermometer showed 50 degrees at 2 inches and 60 at four. Ah spring is grand! With all kinds of fabric at the ready beans are sprouting and the germinated summer squash are spreading their primary leaves. The first planting of tomatoes are showing growth. And what the hey, I am going to give some germinated okra a whirl. This is the nice thing of saved seed, I really do not have any expense but my time. There is the chance I can buy the farm but there is also a chance my horse will come in first place. Much better odds than the lottery.

I have my mind wrapped around savoring that first ripe tom of the year. Yum!!!

I did plant some various greens since long term predictions was for a cool damp spring. Who knows they may mature before it gets to warm and the aphids devour them. Time will tell.

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

February 22, 2016

Avalanche column

February 4, 2016

Aphids, if you garden at some point you will have them. They come with the territory. I have found that row covers create a perfect environment for them. This is the biggest drawback I have found with floating row covers. I do not consider this a show stopper because row covers are so much more beneficial. 

Aphids are very interesting creatures; eggs are only laid by the insects for over wintering. Egg shells are very protective. It is only late in the season that males develop and eggs are laid. The rest of the year, reproduction is asexual and immature pregnant females are born. They are fully mature and ready to immediately start feeding. With this scenario they can quickly get out of hand. Also once the population becomes too great on a host, the aphids develop wings and go find new hosts.

Then to add insult to injury, ants like to farm aphids for the honeydew they produce. Ants will move aphids to new locations for the sole purpose of farming the aphids.

In cool weather the growth of the population is slow but as the temperature rises, they can very quickly multiply and get out of control.

Even if you do not use row covers during the winter, aphids can seek refuge underneath big leaves that are on the ground. Nice and cozy with a “blanket” over they, they continue to feed.

I have used lady beetles to control these guys. They are not the best choice. The first reason is their egg to predator time is much slower than what aphids can do. Inoculating with a mass of lady beetles is usually not very effective because most will migrate upon release. Row covers slow this migration but not halt it. Also lady beetles become dormant in cold weather.

Last year there were some wild Aphidius wasps that cleaned up my spinach just as I was thinking I needed to spray them. This was amazing because they did this during our cool spring. They are most effective with small populations of aphids. Aphidius wasps can be purchased over the internet. I would like to try and use them with an outright infestation to see what they could do. These wasps insert eggs into aphids which cause the aphids to become mummies and thus the next generation of wasps is produced. The mummies look like little off white “balls” attached to the underside of the leaf. They are very effective and the row covers might help “coral” them.

Hand control might work with small infestations. I usually like to use cold pressed neem with a seven day spray cycle until they are controlled. Uncovering the infected beds will also attract beneficial creatures. I have found that a flock of English house sparrows in the spring will clean a bed very quickly. This is probably the only time I sing praise for English house sparrows.

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

February 18, 2016

Good morning, well I hope we are done with the worst of the cold. After that week of in the teens daily starts, the garden really slowed down. I am very grateful that everything was covered with fabric. I did notice where some chard and kale that were touching the fabric really got burned. A gardening book I have shows a graph of cold temps and plant death. Most veggies start dropping like flies at 20 degrees unless they are covered. My Asian greens bit it altogether because it was uncovered. This really wasn't a loss because I was noticing the flower stocks were beginning to get woody. They also had not recovered very well from the saw fly larvae. I have replaced them. Normally I do not plant greens going into spring because it gets hot to quick and the greens do not do very well. The long range forecast is still saying cool and damp which is conducive to greens but present reality is 180 degrees of that forecast.

This is all very strange. Soooo what the hey, I have a bunch of fabric both heavy and light so I planted some tom transplants because the next 2 weeks are showing to be warm with highs some days being in the 80's. I had started some greens seedlings banking on the long range forecast to be cool and damp. These have been planted into beds also. I guess for one crop or the other there may be some green manure. This second guessing the weather is becoming quite challenging. Oh but this too will pass!!

Second guessing the weather can be risky but I am going to bank on long term trends that things begin to warm up after the middle of February. With increasing soil temps this is the criteria that fabric is designed for. We can still expect some cold nights and days and the fabric will do its thing. With any luck toms by the first of May. But I do have plan “B” should I be all wet.

The peas are blooming like crazy. Weather permitting I hope to start harvesting in a week. It will be interesting to see how long I harvest them this year, most likely not into May.

If anything this is shaping up to be an interesting ride. We will just have to see where it takes us!!!

This week I expect to have chard, kale, spinach, lettuce, turnips, carrots, beets, beet greens, sun chokes and butternuts. Sun chokes and butternuts are the only veggies available in abundance this week.

It is getting into that time of year where bags may have duplicates or diminished portions. I will only bill for that portion I do fill.

February 15, 2016

avalanche column

January 28, 2916

 

You might say I cut my teeth on cut worms. This is the number one bug that started my steep learning curve of West Texas Bugs. There just were not many bugs in central Oregon and this really showed me (unknowingly) what kind of a very rude awakening I was in for.

It was my broccoli crop that I so diligently planted a whole row of very nice plants that I had started. Like in Oregon, I planted them and then mulched around them. I dusted off my hands and thought of my soon to be bountiful harvests. In short order my beautiful broccoli plants were apparently growing in reverse. I was for a loss so I pulled back the mulch and there laid my problem. There were easily a half dozen cutworms around each of my plants and the plants were getting eaten into oblivion.

This was well before I had discovered agribon or figured that broccoli along with the rest of the brassica family do better as a fall planted and over wintered crop.

What I did then was to pull back the mulch and sprayed Bt. I then had to do some follow up spraying along with hand picking. The crop was never very bountiful. Since I had planted in the spring, the season got way too warm for broccoli and was soon covered with aphids. This is what did the broccoli in.

The first thing I did was to devise a planting schedule so that my garden plants are growing in the season that best fits their needs. I feel our springs are too short for traditional spring crops to be planted and expect them to mature. Fall planting works better for me.

Soon I did discover agribon and I would completely cover the bed as an exclusion barrier. This is ALWAYS done immediately after planting and mulching the bed.

The fabric does make a very nice habitat for aphids. Aphids are very fond of brassicas. What I do is spray with cold pressed neem oil. Timing is critical, if you can control the aphids just before the weather turns cold (this has been very variable of late), the aphids can be controlled until the harvest is complete. This timing coincides with the little ants going dormant. They will farm aphids for the honeydew and actually will locate them on the plants. A nice clue to spray is if all the ant mounds are quiet.

Recently I discovered that the cut worm is the larvae of millers. The little moths that so annoyingly buzz the bedroom light when you are in bed reading. So having the exclusion on during the night keeps them away but allows for bed work in the day. This is a very good reason to identify and learn the pest’s life history. It can help make your gardening experience easier and more enjoyable.

 

 

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

February 11, 2016

Good morning, I must say last weeks 14 and 18 degree mornings took me a bit by surprise. Monday and Tuesday were quite windy and I find that going out in wind storms really sets me on edge. Sooooo I tend to only go out to check on the chickens and garden fabric. Weather reports were predicting lows into the mid 20's, so a low of 14 was a bit of a surprise, especially since Monday and Tuesday were so much above average temps. As I watched the temperature plummet, I was hoping that I had enough covers on the cold frame. I am hardening off tomato plants with hopes of out planting in a week or two. This is beginning to look like pipe dreams. I have slowed their growth which is good.

It does seem that each year that passes all of the previous years norms need to be scuttled. I have gotten to where I am carefully watching short term trends in the weather and then acting on those observations. A pecan grower at market also feels this has become standard operating procedure. Atypical weather has become typical weather. As a small plot grower with a multiple number of crops, this micro management is much easier to do than if I were planting hundreds of acres to the same crop. Having a number of different crops, I am almost insured that I will harvest something.

Last falls crop failures with my brassica crops is proof that I need to adapt culture that works best to insure a harvest with these crops. Sadly the last crop that I had a decent broccoli harvest was with a hybrid. I really would like to find a broccoli that is OP and performs well in West Texas. West Texas is really quite marginal for some of the brassicas. They do seem to like a consistent coolish climate 60 to 80 degrees with 80 being almost too warm. Parsnips also fall in this group.

I am going to give a whirl of starting these crops indoors sometime around the middle of August with hopes of having nice sized seedlings to transplant in September. Inside the house has to be cooler than the soil temps that would be prevalent in the garden. Parsnips do not like warm to hot soil temps either. I am banking on the fact that plants will grow in warmer soils than what they can germinate in. Since parsnips have a carrot like root, transplanting is not an option. I have thinned and transplanted the thinned seedlings of parsnips, this does not work well. My plan is to germinate and plant the germinated seed. This is a plan that worked well with my peas to fill out the beds. So maybe it will work with parsnips too. Some things you gotta try.

Then again maybe it is not feasible to grow these crops every year, but only in the years that are conducive. Last fall was a warm one and it took until November to cool off.

Another observation I have made with cabbage and this observation held true with Brussels sprouts , this is: if the heads do not mature with in a month after the winter Solstice the heads start the first steps toward bolting. This means that the heads start to loose their density and the central stem within the head starts to elongate. Hence when the head of cabbage is cut into it is not solid but has air gaps between the layers. They are still quite edible, but they do not have a long shelf life any more.

It will be interesting to see if indoor sowing and germination can reverse this trend. Time will tell.

Change will happen but adapting is mandatory.

The cold over night lows are slowing the harvest. A look at the long term forecast, there looks to be a warming coming our way. In the meantime I will fill the orders as best I can and only bill for the portion I do fill.

I have noticed that the sugar pod peas are starting to bloom but all of the blossoms are freezing. I hope this will change soon.

This week I anticipate harvesting chard, kale, spinach, beets, turnips, carrots and lettuce. There still are a bountiful number of butternut squash and sun chokes left. Please inquire about availability

February 8, 2016

avalanche column

January 21, 2016

Probably the pest control that works best for me and is not toxic is none other than floating row covers. I am a huge fan of this agriculture product. When I tell folks what all that I use it for (much more than just pest control), most times they are amazed, but (always that but) a lot of people think it is unsightly.

This is a personal thing: is the visual experience of greater value than the pesticide free vegetables?

Immediately after I have finished seeding or planting a bed, the fabric goes on. Everything is started under fabric. Only okra (eventually out grows the fabric) and the cucurbits (cucumbers, squash, melons…) need to be pollinated by insects and are uncovered when they begin to bloom.

These are some of the insects that can be eliminated from devouring your veggies: flea beetles, blister beetles, grasshoppers, tomato horn worms, tomato pin worms, cabbage lopper, deer, fowl, curved bill thrasher, big leg bugs, saw flies and until the cucurbits begin to bloom cucumber beetles and squash bugs. This is not an all-inclusive list.

Who hasn’t gone through their cabbage or broccoli leaves looking for cabbage loopers or even looking for that elusive tomato horn worm? You can see the defoliation from the horn worm but finding a green worm in the midst of green foliage can be difficult. The use of fabric eliminates these bugs. That is as long as the fabric remains on to prevent the hummingbird moth’s and the cabbage looper moth’s access to the plants. The usual method of their control is by hand or the use of Bt. (Bacillus thuringiensis). Bt. kills ALL moths and butterflies, from Luna moths to Monarch butterflies. Row covers will eliminate this problem but needs to always be in place when not working the beds.

Another bug that is easily controlled by fabric is the flea beetle. Flea beetles absolutely love beans and eggplants. With large populations the leaves of these veggies begin to look like Swiss cheese.

Flea beetles DO NOT like shade. They abhor it!! This is one reason I like bed culture where I have a bed of beans 4.5 feet wide and 45 feet long. Once there is crown closure there is no more flea beetles. Flea beetles also love mulch around veggie plants, it is where they afford cover and lay eggs for future generations. By covering, one can mulch for moister retention and not have to wait for crown closure to chase off the flea beetles. If you have flea beetles, spray the plants with a garlic spray and then cover the plants. Flea beetles do not like garlic.

Fabric will also keep deer and fowl at bay but if there is a rip, all bets are off. The best exclusion for these critters is a deer fence, at least 6 feet tall.

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

February 4, 2016

Good morning, recently at market I had a customer that was quite surprised that I was still harvesting winter squash (butternuts). I also frequently get asked when to plant winter squash. The name is really quite confusing but I think through the course of time the varieties of squash that are called winter squash have had their name shortened. What they really should be called are winter storage squash. But like so many things, we take the shortcuts and thus they are called winter squash. This also applies to winter melons too. If you see the name “winter” in the discription of a veggie it implies winter storage. All winter storage veggies are sown in warm soil, 60+ degrees.

These “winter” veggies have quite tough skins that one needs to be careful when cutting them with a knife. Knives may have some difficulty penetrating the outer skin. It is this skin that allows these veggies to hold this title. Besides being tough, the skins have a waxy property too. The bigger the squash or melon, the longer the storage life. This has every thing to do with surface area and volume. In larger squash there is more volume than surface area and it is much slower to dehydrate through the winter.

I start my butternut harvest in July and finish October / November. These squash are heavy producers (another quality of winter squash) and they will keep into the spring (April / May). A number of them may start to show wrinkles on the outside, these are still quite edible, but because of their appearance they are not marketable.

An interesting note on pumpkins and acorn squash, even though they have the harder outer skin, their flesh is thin around the seed cavity (butternut flesh is solid with a small seed cavity). It is this thinner flesh that prevents pumpkins and acorn squash from having a long storage life (three to four months). As for the winter melons, I have harvested them in August and made a wonderful fruit salad with them for Thanksgiving. Unlike other melons, the longer the winter melon sets the sweeter it gets. This is also true with winter squash.

A characteristic of all “winter” cucurbits is that the majority of them are quite large (in excess of 10 pounds). This size is not marketable, too large. The winter melons are not quite as large but still have a tendency to weigh in at around 8 pounds, a very questionable size. Two to four pounds is ideal. My ponca butternuts are right in the “sweet”zone.

Recently someone asked me for a list of what veggies I harvest each week. It is my intent to start doing this. There is no guarantee that I will have an abundance of any one item. If you are wanting a particular veggie, you will need to ask about availability especially during the winter. Harvest quantities are very reflective of how warm and sunny iit has been of late.

Something that I have never done, even though I have frequently talked about local in season veggies, is to list the times of year that various veggies are available. What follow is such a list. You may want to save it for later reference. I will note the season and what is available at that time. Due to weather conditions not all veggies make every year.

I will start with lettuce, carrots, beets, green onions, chard and kale. These veggies can be grown year round. I have gone to leaf cutting of lettuce. This should help with its regular availability. As soon as I get an established bed of green onions, I will harvest the tops so they will regrow. It is much easier to regrow foliage as opposed to growing a whole new plant. Of this group carrots and beets will need to have regular succession plantings.

Fall and winter: Spinach, boc choi, and asian greens from October until spring warm up. Kohlrabi from mid November until the bed is harvested. Sun chokes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, parsnips and cabbage January and February. These crops except for sun chokes (perennial crop) are not available this year due to warm sowing conditions last fall. Next fall I have some new techniques I will be trying to avoid this problem. Snow peas from the middle of February until spring warmup. Last year the harvest didn't start until March and lasted to the middle of May. Radishes are available mid fall and then again early Spring (September/ October) and

March +.

Spring, Summer , and Fall Early harvests of all of these crops are very dependent on how warm of a spring we had. Last year because I was unable to plant early, most of these crops didn't mature until June and early July. Green beans, summer squash, and cucumbers harvest starts April / May and runs to fall freeze. Bulb Onions and garlic the harvest starts June /July and available until sold out. Eggplants and tomatoes May / June until fall freeze. Chili's from July until fall freeze. Butternut squash from July until sold out (April the following spring). Okra from June/July to fall freeze. Sweet potatoes from August until December /January

These are the times of year that these veggies are available. This all depends on the weather. I always like to push seasons so that I can begin harvest sooner.

This week I expect to have chard, kale, spinach, lettuce, turnips, kohlrabi, carrots, beets, beet greens, sun chokes and butternuts. Sun chokes, kohlrabi, and butternuts are the only veggies available in abundance this week.

It is getting into that time of year where bags may have duplicates or diminished portions. I will only bill for that portion I do fill.

February 1, 2016

avalanche column

January 14, 2016

I have found that folks who are unfamiliar with organic gardening techniques think that there is nothing you can do to control pests. This is so untrue for many reasons. I will quickly go through my control methods. I MUST say that I will destroy a crop before resorting to nonorganic means, but before I do this there will be a fierce battle!!!

With organic gardening soil fertility is the NUMBER ONE priority. Healthy soil means healthy plants. Healthy plants can outgrow most predation.

The garden needs to have a clean buffer zone around the garden. The closer this zone is to bare earth the more effective it will be. I try to maintain 10 feet around my garden. I weed whip to less than an inch.

Encourage a diverse environment with flowering herbs and wild flowers dispersed in the garden. This will draw in both pollinators and beneficial insects.

Exclusion is the least lethal but one of the most effective. The easiest exclusion technique is to cover with agribon fabric. There needs to be great care taken so that you do not introduce bad bugs under the cover when doing bed work. Combining exclusion with hand picking may be the only controls you may need to do.

Hand control is very effective but positive bug ID is important. This is very effective with small populations or small gardens. Hand control can also be used as a way to monitor for when spraying may become a necessity.

Repellants are good to chase bugs off. Once the bugs are chased off an exclusion cover will help keep them away.

The use of fowl can thin populations before they get to the garden. This is where the 10 foot barrier comes in handy. My guinea fowl and chickens patrol these zones for tasty bits that are easy prey.

Lastly sprays. When everything else is not working, sprays can level the playing field. Just because the sprays are organic DOES NOT mean great caution does not need to be taken. Pyrethrum and rotenone spray’s are both organic approved but they are also toxic to people. Read the label completely before spraying, wear long pants and a long sleeved shirt, rubber gloves, boots and be very careful to not get overspray on off target areas. Evenings is usually the best time to spray when beneficial insects are least active.

 Next week I will proceed with the gruesome bug details. The list that follows will include both animal and “vegetable” pests. It is not alphabetical and is not all inclusive.

Cutworms, flea beetles, blister beetles, aphids, wireworms, grasshoppers, pill bugs, hornworms, cabbage lopper, deer, moles, ground squirrels, fowl, curved bill thrasher, English house sparrow, cucumber beetle, squash bug, root knot nematode, tomato pin worm, big legged bug and powdery mildew.

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