June 30, 2016

Good morning, I have always been the curious sort. My Mom has frequently commented on this trait compared to my brother.

The most frequent story my Mom will tell is when my brother and I would sit in our red Radio Flyer wagons and roll down the hill behind our house in Seattle Washington.  When my brother’s wagon would get stuck on a stump, rock or in a hole; he would get out of the wagon and pull and tug with all his might to free the wagon. Myself I would get out of the wagon and see what the problem was, then lift up and move the wagon so then I could be quickly on my way. I would also make note where these obstructions were so that I could avoid them in the future.

I have always been curious.

Whenever anything happens not to plan I try and evaluate the outcome to modify or enhance the outcome for a much preferred outcome in the future. Maybe this is why I so very much enjoyed geometry in high school.

I like to frame the problem into a sentence, try to figure out a potential solution, and then try that solution, followed by reevaluating the outcome after trying that potential solution.

Using this format in gardening can take years just to achieve a final solution. It does help with the anticipation of the passing of seasons though. Case in point is with bulb onions.

Bulb onions are a long season crop and are very much in tune with the changing seasons. Onions come in three “flavors” so to speak. They are long day, day neutral and short day. Understanding this and to realize that we can only grow short day onions (that is if we want to grow bulb onions). If we try and use day neutral and long day onions we would become very frustrated because the length of our days would only allow these onions to become green onions that bolt to flower.

It is also very helpful to understand that onions are a biannual plant. This means that it takes two years to go to seed. Other helpful info is to know what the preferred size of your overwintered onion seedling is, which will determine whether it will bulb or bolt. The preferred size of the onion plant so that it does not induce bolting when the onion plant emerges from winter is less than one quarter inch. Larger than this and you have green onions with flower tops, and less you have bulb onions in May.

As if all this info is not enough, it helps to know that onions in a dormant situation are extremely cold hardy that is until they begin spring growth. Even with the spring flush of growth they are more cold hardy then other veggies. Cold snaps will not kill the plants but it will burn the lower leaves and cause them to die. Each leaf that dies is a decrease in the onions mature size. This is why it is important to protect onions from cold snaps but only for the cold snap. Perpetual covers will cause the onions to mature prematurely.

As one can see there are a number of pieces to this puzzle. I started this jigsaw puzzle a number of years ago. 2015 was the first year I harvested bulb onions in quantity; I replicated my success again this year. Soooooooooooooo, going forward I think I have finally figured this out, but I will remain observant.

This is exactly why it helps to have a grasp as to how things work. It is not too dissimilar as using a cook book to prepare a meal. If you follow that cookbooks recipe to the letter, there is a very good likelihood that it will turn out OK. But if you take a look at that recipe and really study it, you can tweak the ingredients and make it your own. Ah!! And this is where the fun begins.

With anything it helps to get that back ground information so that you can then sit back, ponder, and tweak then to repeat all the above steps. Maybe I have too much time on my hands. Who was it Aristotle that sat and pondered the chimpanzee skull?

This week I anticipate harvesting chard, kale, lettuce, carrots, beans, cucumbers, eggplants, chilies, zucchini (yellow squash are waiting on a new bed to mature), okra, and tomatoes

I have started harvesting butternut squash as soon as they have cured I will be offering them.

June 27, 2016

Avalanche column

June 23, 2016

I had not been gardening in Alpine very long when it dawned on me that our growing season is not like the rest of the country.

I have lived on both coasts and several states in between. WE garden in a unique location.

Growing veggies like I would elsewhere, I got marginal success. Traditional spring veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, peas…) would start out OK with March plantings but spring around here can get vicious with heat, wind and low humidity pretty quick. Everything these crops dislike. Most years these spring crops would become aphid magnets, and it would become a battle to get a decent crop to mature.

I felt I needed to define the growing seasons to help determine at which times to plant different crops.

Clues were derived from where different crops originated in the world; I then tried to match these crops to the time of year that the climate in West Texas could most reasonably duplicate. I evaluated all of the different crops and then matched them to these seasons. This has dramatically enhanced my success!!

I broke the gardening year into three seasons.

I like to start the gardening year with the best time to garden in West Texas.  This is the Monsoon / fall season. This is (or can be) our most amiable season. All crops that can be grown in West Texas can at least be started in this season. A number of crops started at this time finish in the spring. This season starts the first of July and goes until the first killing freeze.

The next season is the winter/ spring season. This is a short season. It is from the first killing freeze until the heat and wind begin. This is roughly from the middle of November until the end of March.  This season is when I finish most of the crops started in the Monsoon / fall season. These would include the brassica’s (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower…) and spinach. Two other crops would finish in May/June (onions and garlic).  It is in this season that I plant my summer crops which include seedlings I started in December (tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants).

The next season I call the angry season. I think it is the least hospitable season in West Texas. We suffer through it to bask in the rest of the year. This time of year can see triple digit temperatures, single digit humidity and for “funzies” fifty to sixty MPH winds and hail storms. This does not happen every year but there is the ever present potential!!! Save for Okra and sweet potatoes I plant NOTHING else at this time.  It can be EXTREMLY difficult to keep seeds and seedlings moist enough so that they can get established.

Next: matching veggies to the seasons.

June 23, 2016

Good morning,

It was a little over 28 days ago that a lady gave us six fertile duck eggs to put under a broody hen. Duck eggs are pretty big eggs. We had a couple different bantam’s that had gone broody. One was sitting on several eggs that it had requisitioned from several different hens, and another one that was trying to hatch air.

Well thinking that the hen on eggs would be the best candidate for the ducks we put her on the eggs. Funny how she was on the eggs overnight and then “got over it”. Like “this is more than what I want to commit to”. So we put the “air” broody on the eggs, maybe not as dramatic as some one playing “air guitar” but much more productive.

It never ceases to amaze me how a hen can just flatten out and really cover some square footage with their feathers. The egg coverage was not a problem but man was she flat!!

One of the things that just amazes me is the length of incubation. If all the eggs are laid before incubation starts, even though they were laid over the course of a week or two, they will hatch the same day. This is an exact time and depends on the the species of fowl. Chickens are 21 days, ducks are 28 and geese are 31. This is not a more or less number. This IS the number. You could set your clock to it and most likely be more accurate than an atomic clock. Sooo exactly on 28 days : I always get surprised by babies but it was not a surprise to see four little fuzz balls attached to a chicken. By the end of the day the two unhatched eggs were kicked out of the nest.

This really makes very good sense on a survival level. It is good that not all of the wild things have been bred out of domesticated fowl.

In a wild situation it would not behoove a hen to still be sitting on unhatched eggs while the rest of the brood is hatched and ready to go. All fowl hatch and are fully developed to start being eating machines and they are. It would be hard for mom to protect these foraging babies while she is still confined to the nest.

Before the hen goes broody, she will lay her egg and then immediately get off the nest. This usually takes a week or two. (this is why fresh eggs do not need do be refrigerated) I have noticed as the “broodyness” of a duck hen increases, she begins to cover the nest with sticks, grass, her feathers.... If you do not KNOW where the nest is you will not be able to find it. It is camouflaged. I suspect this does a couple things: protect the eggs from predators and to keep the eggs cooler.

Sooo once the clutch gets to size and her broody hormones go into over drive, she begins to sit. Very seldom will she leave except to feed and evacuate the stored up poo well away from her brood. It is when she starts to go broody that the clock begins to click and in exactly 28 days there are little fuzz balls.

How perplexed was the chicken mama to see all of her babies bobbing on water. This will be interesting. Some how I am sure there will be some traits the babies pick up from mom but I am sure scratching like a chicken will not be one of them. Would be hilarious though!! web feet and all.

Babies are always such fun!!

One last note: it is with domesticated chickens and communal nest boxes that uneven aged eggs can occur. Just because a hen has gone broody this will not stop the continued addition of eggs to the communal broody hens clutch. This and other reasons are why it is important to relocate the hen and her eggs to a isolated nest box. It would also be wise to replace the eggs she is sitting on so that all the eggs are on the same time frame. Because of domestication some hens will continue to sit on the unhatched eggs. This can cause some very unpleasant things to happen. So with out going into details IT is a good idea to have even aged eggs under a sitting hen.

I anticipate harvesting chard, kale, carrots, beans, okra, cucumbers, summer squash, chilies, eggplant, and tomatoes.

June 20, 2016

Avalanche Column 

June 9, 2016

Recently a friend and fellow vendor at the market suggested that I watch the You Tube video of Ruth Stouts Garden. This lady is a real pioneer in gardening and has forged her own path. It is really amazing to see how she has adapted to her own environment. Her techniques are quite in sync with her climate in Kansas. She extensively uses hay mulch.

 

Deb and I once tried a fully hay mulched garden bed for an extended period. The theory is very good but what we discovered here in west Texas, less fluffy mulches work better for us. I suspect that the loose hay acted as a wick to draw the moisture away. Like a towel on a hot day draped over the side of a 5 gallon bucket filled with water. The water is soon wicked off.

 

It would be interesting to try her methods with finer textured mulch such as the wood shavings / chicken manure. Like what I use to incorporate into my beds and then to mulch the surface. I feel it would need to be thicker than what I normally use to be fully effective.

 

With our limited water during the year there would be no way to not water. Natural water is not that dependable. The prospect of pulling back mulch and planting seeds or plants is intriguing. There is the potential I will try this on a small scale. I think that I would do this in the summer and not in the winter. The mulch would keep winter garden soils too cool.

 

It would be interesting to see how long a fallow bed would retain moisture and then see how long it would be to rehydrate the bed once it was to be replanted. I have found bone dry mulch to repel moisture.

 

Ruth is an independent sort and follows the beat of her own drum. She is not one to tell anyone else what to do but is more than glad to share what works very well for her.

 

Like with all gardening each garden is a little different from everyone else’s and gardening techniques must be adapted for your conditions. This is a fun video to watch and I encourage all to watch it. It just might give you food for thought!!  Here is the link

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNU8IJzRHZk

 

She was quite progressed in age when this video was taken but I am sure she is smiling on all of us gardeners, like her, doing what we really like to do, garden!!

June 16, 2016

Good morning, it has been a bit confusing but for some reason my eggplants keep having leaf edge burn. The truly perplexing thing about this is that I do not notice any of the precursor signs of leaf burn. There has not been any leaf wilt. The leaves have always been (I love this word) very turgid. I plan to augment water to the eggs in between water days. With my drip system every bed gets four hours of water every 3 days.

There are no other beds or portion of beds that are exhibiting water deprivation signs.  I am getting several tomatoes that are in excess of 12 ounces. Only one tom has had blossom end rot. Since our soils are high in calcium the only other reason for blossom end rot is irregular watering. But only one tom would not give me pause especially with the sizes of the other tomatoes. The same reasoning holds with the chilies, I am getting big Jims that are 12 inches+. This is not a diminished water sign.

There always is the possibility that they are infected with root knot nematodes, but other than leaf burn, there are not any of the other signs that I would expect to see; such as leaf yellowing and smaller plant sizes. Yes very confusing.

There are number of set fruit and we will have to see if they mature to the 1 to 2 pound size. Last year a one pound fruit was a big one. I do not feel it has anything to do with the fact that the eggplants are from saved seed, but I will not rule that out. None the less the leaf burn confuses me. Hopefully further examination will expose the reason. These are the only plants in the garden that are performing adversely from my expectations. It could be easy to ignore this as an anomaly, but it seems to be happening with all the eggs.

This spring I was given the seed from a new winter squash. It is a Japanese heirloom. The mature fruits are supposed to be < 3 pounds, which are a perfect market squash. The variety is Kuri and the skins ripen to a bright red color. An interesting thing had to do with the seed company that they were from, Bakers Creek Heirloom. This is a company that only sells heirloom seeds. Their main intent is to save varieties before the seed lines disappear, so this implies that they would like gardeners to save the seeds from these crops.

The very interesting thing that I find is that nowhere on the seed packet do they give the scientific name for this squash. This can be a problem with saving squash seeds. Squash are a huge family of many different varieties. These varieties are broken into several different families of which there is no cross pollination between these families, but within the families it happens very easily.

Of these families there are three that most varieties come from. They are: Maxima, Moschata, and Pepo.

Pepo is the home for a lot of our familiar squash varieties. One of the distinguishing characteristics of Pepo is the bristled foliage. Some of the more common squash in this family are zucchini, yellow crook neck, pumpkins, and acorn squash.

Moschata includes butternut and trombone squash. Two varieties that I have grown but it was very difficult to save seed from these squash because the very easily cross. I liked the trombone squash but it was not very productive (especially considering the amount of space it occupied), so I discontinued it. This made saving butternut seeds much, much easier. A very common characteristic of these vines besides being quite sprawling is the fuzzy roundness of the leaves. Knowing that these were also characteristics of the Kuri, I was afraid that it would be in the Moschata family.

So since there was no scientific name on the seed packet, I needed to do some searching. I have a seed saving book that does break down the families and then list most of the more common varieties within those families. It really was a relief to find that the Kuri squash was within the Maxima family. This will make saving seeds very easy!! Now it is only with my Pepo squash that I will need to take precautions with cross pollination.

So, I am curious to see how the Kuri performs with harvest quantities, storability, and sell ability.  If this squash turns out to fill all of these requirements, I will most likely grow one bed of butternut and one of Kuri. Last year with the butternuts I had several hundred pounds to store. Until I got the last squash stashed I did not think I would have enough room. If the Kuri turns out to be as prolific, this year could be a storage night mare, but with one bed of each next year this will be doable.

Usually I cringe when given seeds to try, especially after I do my yearly garden plan in October. Fortunately I had some crops prematurely ripen and bolt. This opened a space large enough to do a decent trial for this squash, so, in the near future look for some red colored squash on the table at market or maybe even in bags.

This week I anticipate harvesting chard, kale, carrots, summer squash, green beans, chili’s, cucumbers, okra, and tomatoes.

June 13, 2016

this week I will post a previous veggie sales email. Recently the Avalanche did not run my column and I am caught up to the one that will run this week. I really do not want to run it before it runs in the paper.

 So this week I will do a piece about wire worms and root knot nematodes (RKN). some how since running this piece several years ago the wire worms have ceased being the problem they once were. But the RKN have more than filled the void. RKN are and will always be a work in progress.

Good morning, in my garden are two pests that could easily drive one to distraction. Research and the developing of a game plan for their control is critical. They have conflicting garden cultures. These two critters are root knot nematodes (RKN) and wire worms ( larvae of click beetles ).

Both of these critters affect plant roots but do it in different ways. With RKN the females enter the root but remain close to the outer layers of the root where the males have access.. The female remains within the plant depositing eggs while the young leave the host plant to enjoy other plants. It is the egg laying that gives these lovely critters their name. Laying eggs forms galls (knots) on the roots. Light infestations and the plant continues growing but with less vigor. Severe infestations can disrupt the plants ability to take up nutrients and can then lead to the death of the plant. As for wire worms, they have a tendency to feed on roots and tubers. As a rule of thumb only seedlings die from wire worm infestations (eat all of the seedlings roots). What wire worms do best is to chew little 1/16 of an inch diameter holes into the sides of tubers and roots, such as sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, carrots and beets. They do not kill these plants but these superficial wounds diminish or eliminate the tubers sellabilty. These wounds are superficial and is only a visual thing. Edibility is not affected..


One of the real culture difference for these two pests deals with the use of compost. With RKN it is recommended to add compost to help thwart them. The theory is to encourage bacteria and other soil borne critters that have an affinity for RKN. I have noticed that this does work in reducing RKN populations. On the other hand, with wire worms, I have read numerous accounts that show reduced compost in the soil will help thwart wire worms. It wasn't until I read the logic behind this cultural treatment that I feel it has validity. Wire worms are drawn to an area with higher CO2 gas concentrations. Normally this would be from the germination or other growing activities of plants. Well compost passes a lot of gas, no pun intended as it decomposes. Kinda like a red cape and the bull charges. But this can be used to the disadvantage of wire worms too. We will get to this.


Another discrepancy between these two critters is the use of any of the grass family. Cereal rye, Secale cereale ( not rye grass, Lolium multiflorum) is a trap crop for RKN. I am not exactly sure how this trap crop works. I see two possibilities, one where both sexes enter and nobody leaves including the young. The other where only the female enters and does not have access to males or if she does the young cannot leave. Anyway it diminishes the population of RKN. Click beetles thrive in grass lands ( My garden is surrounded with native grass lands, my source of these critters). They prefer eating on grass roots, especially wheat ( most likely rye to). This crop can be used to draw the wire worms to the germinating seedlings and away from the crop. The grass can then be pulled and disposed of along with any wire worms that are attached to the roots ( chickens say YUM, for both greens and larvae). With RKN the rye is merely mowed down and tilled in. The RKN are killed when the rye decomposes. Now for some real conflict in cultures. If the rye is used for RKN control, it would be unwise to plant any of the above mentioned tubers and root crops as a succession crop in any of the RKN rye beds. The wire worm population would have easily exploded since they thrive in grass. Now for the kicker wire worm larvae take anywhere from 2 to 5 years to mature. It is for this reason that I do not see myself using rye to combat RKN. On the other hand I might use it to draw wire worms away from my sweet potatoes or Irish potatoes. I have not noticed any carrot or beet wire worm infestations. The rye bait could be a strip of rye planted on both sides of sweet and Irish potato plants the length of a bed. Then once the soil heats up to 60 degrees (temp where wire worms become active) these seedlings could be pulled and then disposed of accordingly.

Another cultural practice that is affective for RKN but not for wire worms is bed solarization. This is where a plant bed is thoroughly watered, graded very flat, covered with a clear plastic film and all edges are buried to trap moisture and heat. When done in May and June temperatures of 130 to 140 degrees to a soil depth of 6 to 8 inches can be achieved. It can really fry RKN. Not so with wire worms. Once the soil begins to warm above 85 degrees the wire worms migrate down into the soil profile where the soil is cooler. Once the soil cools down below 85 degrees in the fall they resume feeding. This is why on a sweet potato tubers you will see larger healed over holes and smaller unhealed holes. Spring feeding and fall feeding. With this info, harvesting tubers as soon as they are of size in mid to late August would circumvent this second feeding because the soil would be above 85 degrees.

And now for one last different treatment. Cold pressed raw neem oil (CPN) has different affects on these two pests. Studies have shown that CPN hinders and suppresses RKN. Wire worms on the other hand, are repelled by CPN . It is recommended to spray every 14 days to continue diminishing RKN and to also continue repelling wireworms.

June 9, 2016

Good morning, it really was a surprise when I looked under the covers to find that what were supposed to be Oregon Spring Toms were actually cherry tomatoes. Somehow I must have pulled seed from the wrong seed container. Only problem I don’t remember ever buying cherry toms. Since I grow pink eggs I do not feel the need. Could a seed company have sent the wrong seeds? Who knows? Anyway the chickens said “yum”.

I did not want the hole in the bed (about 12 feet), so I took cuttings from the first bed of toms where the OS toms were located.

Cuttings are pretty cool. It is said that the rooted cuttings are the same maturity as the plants they were taken from. It will be interesting to see how quickly these plants start to bear.

Tomato cuttings are very easy to do. Make cuttings of the growing tips of the tomato plants, otherwise referred to as the apical meristem. I like to cut two to three leaf nodes. Fill a cup with moist soil, dibble a hole with a pencil, insert the cutting, wet the soil to settle around the stem, cover with a plastic sheet, check daily to make sure soil stays moist and Valla rooted cuttings once the growth resumes. Let the pots fill with roots; acclimate to the sun and out plant. Done, that is except for waiting for the toms.

Another way which is as successful but for only small quantities is to root them in a jar of water. I suggest only 4 to 5 cuttings (max) per jar. More and I find that the cuttings just rot. It also helps to change the water daily. This takes 4 to 5 days. Once the roots form they can be transplanted and then allowed to fully root for transplanting.

I plan to fill the rest of my sweet beds with cuttings using an adaption from the first method of tomato cuttings.  With sweets I cut a piece of sweet potato vine (does not have to be the tip) that has at least 3 leaf nodes. The big leaves are clipped off (slows plant transpiration and wilting), Use a dibble with a diameter of about ½ inch, make a hole in the soil and wallow out the hole. This is a very easy way to root cuttings (the cutting does not need to be rooted just a bear stem). The cutting is put into the hole clean up to the tip which is just above the surface. The hole is collapsed around the cutting. Water thoroughly and cover with a blanket or 2 layers of agribon 70. Check daily for dampness and once the tips start to grow increasing exposure to full sun can begin. I have had better than 90 percent of the cuttings survive in a bed out of about 180 cuttings. If only I could grow a mother plant through the winter to start my sweets outside in the spring.

This week I will be harvesting:  chard, kale, carrots, summer squash, green beans, and tomatoes. I also have garlic and bulb onions. These two crops will have drying foliage that can be cut off IF they are to be eaten immediately. Otherwise leave the foliage on until you are ready to eat them. Please email as to availability.

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

June 6, 2016

Avalanche column

June 2, 2016

With a recent weather event there were some fellow gardeners that were unfortunate and were in the path of what I like to refer to as “hard water”. With hail, intensity and duration determine survivability.

It really is important to realize and to be aware that spring in west Texas is our hail season. These hail producing storms that start here often go on off to East Texas where they not only produce hail but tornados too. It is just a lot of unsettled weather. At least our summer thunder storms “normally” do not produce hail but more likely have driving rain and wind. For me this is much preferable to “hard water”

There are precautions one can take to minimize the damage from a hail storm. Hail storms intensity and duration could be compared to: instead of being hit by a train going 60 MPH to being hit by a half ton pickup doing 30. It all looks bad.

Spring IS hail season. All spring storms have the potential to produce hail.

I find myself glued to weather forecasts most of the year but during hail season especially so. IT IS the best way to be prepared for the potential hail storm. I personally like the NOAA internet weather site and especially like the weather narrative that can be found at the bottom of the page after the weeks visual forecast.

Personally if I find that I am going to be away all day and there is a chance of precipitation predicted, the garden is covered with anything that I can cover it with. The plants will be less stressed from darkness all day than to be run through a meat grinder for a portion of the day.

If you are one that does not particularly like drama or do not wish to risk the chances of having your garden beaten back to the Stone Age, there is another option. We have an amazingly long growing season, in excess of 200 days. A person starting with transplants can have a decent garden if they plant around the first of July. Most years hail season is over by this time, emphasis on “most years”.

Myself I like to get my garden in at the very earliest possible date. With the use of agriculture fabric I have been able to weather most anything that has been thrown at me here in Far West Texas. I am an Optimist that this can be done. I will say that I can answer the one question that must be answered if you chose to push the seasons. The quicker you can answer the question affirmatively, will determine how suited you are to season extension.

The question:  “are you willing to lose your whole garden and start from scratch?” For me is without hesitation YES!

June 2, 2016

Good morning, The garden successes that I have had with peas and onions have been very heart warming. With my present culture, I can expect to pull off these crops with a reasonable amount of certainty. It will be interesting to see if this success continues as we deal with West Texas variability. No two years have been the same since starting my garden in 2003. Although I have noticed a greater propensity for variability since 2011. Whereas the years prior to 2011 seemed more similar and mellower.

For me the biggest change is the huge temperature swings. This has been moderated with fabric. It does a wonderful job of moderation.

I really thought that I had a working culture for Irish potatoes, but this years crop is failing. I continue to study this crop. What has worked best for the last two years is to plant small (1 inch or smaller) seed potatoes at the beginning of winter and then let the spuds come up as they will. This has yielded a varying aged potato stand that would provide Deb and I with a steady supply of spuds for most of the year. This year the plants seem to be prematurely dieing before the potatoes have gotten any size.

My thought process leads me to believe that it could be the saved seed is the problem or it could be that I might be keeping the bed too moist. In any case the roots do not look healthy.

What I like about the winter sowing is that because of the seed size, there is no need to cut them. Planting cut seed potatoes at this time would be a recipe for the seeds to rot. Then the potatoes emerge when things are warm enough. No need for back filling holes as the spuds grow.

The early planting has brought the greatest success with this crop. I have found that Purple Vikings to be my best producer. The problem with planting the first of November is that there is no seed potatoes available on the market. Seed companies are very reluctant to ship during potential freezing weather.

Ah yes, with enough pondering I will eventually have predictable success with this crop too. Potatoes by genetics is a cool season crop, and some how with an early variety of spuds this will fly.

This week I anticipate to harvest chard, kale, green onions, carrots, squash, and tomatoes. Please email as to quantities and availability.

I have transplanted the next crop of lettuce. It should be ready in a few weeks. The cucumber and okra harvest will be starting very soon. I have harvested singles of each. The butternuts are setting fruit. There will also be chili's very soon, the plants are loaded. Eggplants are starting to size up. Last year for some reason I could not get the eggplants to get up to the pound to two pound size. I suspect this had to do with how hot and dry the summer was compared how damp the spring was. We can always hope for nice sized ones. Mother Nature rules!! The sweets are starting to send out runners so the last couple of sweet beds will soon be stocked with cuttings. Yes Spring is fine and with the recent rain it is double fine!!