July 28, 2016

Good morning, I have been looking back at some of my old emails from 2011 to compare to this year. The summers are quite similar but the winter and springs could not be any different.

The winter of 2011 had some of the coldest weather seen in West Texas for many years. Two freezing events got down to single digits with one really snuggling up close to zero. It also was pretty dry. Whereas this year was coolish and with a little moisture early on and then turned mostly dry.

2011 spring brought with it some very strong winds that fanned some very large fires then turned real hot. Quite a contrast in just a few months from coldest weather to some of the hottest seen in years. Funny how I hose end watered throughout that whole summer and into the next summer before I saw the light and went to a drip system. I did enjoy the nightly sorties with the water hose but it got real tedious starting to water at 2 AM and then finish watering at 2 PM only to start it over again that night. It did beat me up.

I feel 2016 is a lot hotter than 2011 because the veggies are showing it. I did not have enough compost to mulch all of the beds. These unmulched beds are the plants that are showing the stress from our extreme evaporation / transpiration rates the most. This will be rectified going forward. Something that has never happened before is sun scald through the fabric. Kind of lets me know how intense it has been out side.

This year is the first year that I have lived in West Texas that I have witnessed complete shut down of growth due to heat. There is one exception besides the usual hot weather plants (okra and sweet potatoes). Swiss chard has just thrived. I keep expecting it to slow but I can not harvest it fast enough. I believe this is due to the drip system and being able to really deep water it.

One huge difference between these years are the numbers of bugs. Since there was no rain to speak of in 2011, 2011 was a bug free year. 2O12 made up for this because we got rain.

This year it has been one bug right after the other with two taking the crown. Thrips that started on my onions and cucumber beetles which are everywhere. I have found multiple organic sprays that I can use and my approach to both of these bugs will be different. I will monitor for them and on first sighting go after them full scale.

I have thought in the past that if you have an infestation in your garden that your soil fertility is off. I have grown to think that sometimes the conditions are such that you have a full”bloom” so to speak. All you can do is lessen their impact. Of course always striving for soil fertility because healthy soil means healthy plants and healthy plants can out grow an infestation.

So 2011 and 2016 are very similar but also very different. And YESSS this too will pass.

Today I will harvest chard, kale, lettuce, carrots green onions, cucumbers, okra, summer squash, butternut squash, and tomatoes. Please email for quantities.