December 29, 2016

Good morning, How surprising after this last bit of “chilly” weather to find a tomato seedling in one of my temporary greenhouses. This was observed after a 17 degree morning. They are about 3 inches tall. This is one of the beds that is covered with Agribon 70, the heavy stuff. These plants do not look leggy or yellowing, two signs of not enough light.

On the other hand where I have used 3 layers of 19, I am seeing some signs of legginess. These beds have lettuce and beets, two crops that I would think would not have a problem with reduced light.

I have not figured out the light matrix under the fabric with greenhouse film.

A few years back I had the opportunity to use a light meter during winter under both the 70 and the 19. I did readings with both 1 layer of each and 2 layers each and the light reduction was a calculated reduction by reducing the amount of light by the number of layers. The agribon number is the indication of how much light is reduced with each layer. So with the 19 roughly 80% of the light gets through where as with the 70 only 30% gets through. On a sunny winter day when I took the my readings the direct sun was 10,000 lumins and under the fabric the 19 was about 7900 lumins and the 70 read around 3300. Pretty close to spot on.

These reading were made before I thought about the temporary greenhouses. There does seem to be something different about the light with greenhouse film under a single layer of 70 and 3 layers of 19. It would be interesting to take a reading under both of these configurations. The light seems to get “distracted” under the three layers. This is a little confusing because the temperature under 3 layers of 19 is a few degrees warmer than under the single layer of 70. These are some puzzling things.

This observation of a tomato germinating and growing under the greenhouse gives me some new thoughts about using 70

I have thought that the reason greens do so well is because the greens have larger leaves. I have felt this is due to most greens are from the higher latitudes where there is less light. The larger leaves help these plants collect more solar radiation. Where as Tomatoes and the other Solanaceae varieties are more tropical in nature. With more solar radiation the leaves tend to be smaller.

I have always thought that the 70 would not work as a permanent cover for these plants. This observation gives me pause.

I have been extensively using fabric for many years now and it still surprises me. I am going to use 70 on one of my tomato beds and just see what happens.

Being able to use the 70 on all of my beds would be more expensive but the 70 last about 3 times as long as the 19.

Some advantages would be that I would not have to make a mad dash to cover with a forecast of either hail or an impending cold spell. I also would not need to make sure that there are enough rocks on the fabric to anchor the fabric before a wind storm.

There is only one family of veggies that I remove the covers for and this is the cucurbits. These plants have to be pollinated by insects and must be uncovered for this purpose. They could easily be started under 70.

One of the observations that I made when I crawled underneath the covers, I noticed that the fabric acts like a prism and the light is reflected all around underneath the cover. The light meter reading was the same if it was under a plant or not. I feel the light is superior under the fabric. It also is an indication that we have more light than what plants need to grow.

This all plays into the fact as you take a walk across our desert landscape, where some shrub allows for shade. As this plant has been able to grow and increases in size, the soil is cooler under this shrub. Because of this cooling many other plants find an environment that they can germinate and grow also. These “mother” shrubs have become to be called nurse plants because they have created a much less harsh micro climate around their base, Much of which the fabric does.

I have said that I could garden with out fabric but with it, there is a much more level playing field.

I hope to be listing greens soon. There is a steady increase of productivity. I hate to list something and immediately say I am sold out. Please ask about availability.

Presently there are turnips, and sweets in abundance.

December 26, 2016

Avalanche column

Dec 1, 2016

Recently a gentleman asked me how high are my hoops over my beds. These hoops support the fabric that covers my plants.

I aim for 18 to 24 inches.

There are several ways that you can support the fabric and all of them work quite well.

The most common hoop materials are 9 gauge wire, 1/2 inch metal conduit and 3/4 inch schedule 40 PVC pipe.

The biggest thing that influences the height is the width of your fabric. Agribon fabric comes in several different widths. I like the 10 foot wide width. This allows for a lot of versatility. If you use narrower fabric you need to be very careful that your hoops do not exceed the width of your fabric.

Unless you bury some of your hoop in the ground, the hoop needs to be narrower than the fabric. I like to have 12 inches of fabric on either side of the hoops. This is needed to anchor the fabric to the ground. Besides the width of your fabric , the width of your bed will also determine the finished height of your hoops. This is where using the 10 foot fabric helps.

The folks who use the more rigid hoops can either bury the hoops on either side of the bed or drive pieces of re-bar at your preferred spacing along either side of the bed

If your bed is wide enough the PVC will easily bend and slip over your re-bar.

If you use metal conduit, a pipe bender is required.

The use of the rigid hoops does give a very nice profile to your beds.

I prefer the use of the 9 gauge wire. Once your hoops are cut it is very easy to install and remove to only be used on the next bed. Granted the profile isn't as nice looking but it protects the plants very well.

In less windy areas the fabric can be just laid over the plants and the plants will raise the fabric as they grow. In West Texas as the wind beats the fabric, the un-hooped fabric would destroy your plants. The fabric protects your plants from the wind along with frost and/or heat.

To anchor the fabric, the edge can be waited down or buried. Unless your hoops are high enough to walk under, burying would hamper doing bed work. I like to use rocks, they are very available. Sand bags would work, but the bags would need to be UV resistant. Besides this is just another expense and the rocks are accessible.

I have found by gradually raising the fabric I can create a better growing environment for seeds and or plants. This can keep the seeds and or plants moister and warmer for more rapid growth. Placing the wire diagonally across the bed varying heights can be achieved . This can not be done with the rigid hoops.

December 22, 2016

Good morning, yes we are having a bit of that Far West Texas Sine Curve winter weather. 80's one day only to be followed by the teens. This is difficult for critters and especially veggies. At least for the most part critters can get out of the weather and into “protected” locations. That is except for the ducks, they seem to enjoy that inclement weather although they did not much care for the wind. Who does?

f it were not for using agriculture fabric in the garden, winter gardening and even in some occasions summer gardening, would be very difficult to pull off.

Most unprotected veggies “bite the bullet” at 20 degrees. In the best of outcomes they are very severely frost burned. It can be questionable if it would be worth while to nurse them back to health.

Like with so many weather events I thank my lucky stars that I discovered Agribon fabric. It almost makes gardening easy. Of course after one learns how to use this invaluable tool.

If I make sure that all of the fabric is tight to the ground and is not touching any leaves, I can survive some intense events. This proved true a few years back when we had a late May freeze. My only mortality or plant burn was from these two”infractions”. The prevention of air gaps under the fabric is easier to deal with than the fabric touching plants. To correct for the touching of the fabric, the fabric needs to be pulled back and hoops straightened. This can be difficult during a wind storm that precedes a freezing event. O f these two problems the air gaps are the most lethal. The plants usually can grow out of tip burn.

I look forward to harvest this week. I am sure, like so many times after such an event, I will be amazed at what looks to be light shear fabric can protect everything underneath it so well. Who would of thought what this stuff can do, be it hot or cold.

As expected those plants that were touching the fabric got burned. This was the case inside my temporary greenhouses too. My boc choy with two layers of 19 seemed to be the hardest hit. A note to self would be to add at least one more layer. My broccoli is starting to head but was not hurt although that leaf touch thing clobbered them.

With a week or two of nicer weather some of my greens beds will allow larger harvest. This will also help with the broccoli florets and my kohlrabi. I also see that the beets are getting close to being a nice size too. And yes I have started the Jerusalem artichoke harvest. Funny how I like to wait until the middle of winter to star this harvest that I am noticing they are trying to start to grow.

What a strange year this has been!!!

December 19, 2016

Avalanche column

November 24, 2016

Selecting garden seeds can be fun but it can also be overwhelming.

Do you want bush varieties or vine types, early ripening or latter varieties, large storage types or single serve types.

These are just some of the questions a gardener may want to answer as they are selecting seeds.

My seeds “bible”, “The Garden Seed Inventory” 6^th edition and printed by the Seed Savers Exchange has been very helpful with this . This book was printed in 2004 and at that time it listed all of the open pollinated and heirloom seeds that were available in the US and Canada. The listings describe the veggie and then also where you can purchase your selections.

I have found this book to be extremely valuable to me.

One of my big selection criteria is short season. Short season crops tend to be more cold tolerant and ripen very quickly. Even though they may have been propagated for northern states they work very well in the south too.

There are some very good reasons that I like to do this.

Short season veggies ripen quicker and can be easily forced so that summer veggies can be harvested much quicker than you would expect. Starting veggies early allows me to have well established plants going into the angry months of May and June. One more very good reason helps me cope with a pest that I have in the garden.

Root Knot Nematodes (RKN) are very very tiny worm like creatures that burrow into the roots of most all vegetable varieties. In the process of feeding and reproducing they cause the roots to form galls. In worst the cases the roots no longer look like roots but a mass of convoluted and swollen root material. RKN become active once the soil reaches 65 degrees.

Plants can grow in cooler or warmer soil than what they will germinate in. This is fundamental to one of my RKN management practices.

Starting seedlings very early and out planting the plants before the RKN become active, I can get good harvests before they succumb to the galling. In some cases the roots can grow outside infected areas and survive all season.

This book allows a gardener to make seed selections that are very pertinent to their needs and can be quite fun to do. For example there are over 60 pages of tomatoes with 20 plus varieties to the page. Of course this covers every color of tomato that you can imagine. This can be overwhelming but I like to think of it as an adventure to see what wonderful varieties are available. Monsanto eat your heart out!! By and large most of these seeds are available through small “Mom and Pop” seed houses. Most likely Front Street Books can get you a copy. ALL of the veggies available in this book can be saved for future gardens and how cool is that!!!!!

December 15, 2016

Good morning, I do not have a chipper / shredder, something that would be useful for pulverizing dead okra and pepper stems. Some of these can resemble small trees and their biomass takes some effort to decompose. For the most part these plants are piled up at the end of the season and during some distant century they will break down. As for the bean straw and any other of the less woody material I have found just throwing it into the chicken coop and let the ladies have at it.

Chickens have a need to scratch and peck and they are relentless. With 50 +/- hens most all of this debris is broken down into smaller pieces rather quickly. All the while they are pooping and in a very short while this bedding is ready for the compost heap. This method makes it fairly easy to get a good carbon to nitrogen mix. This material heats up very nicely. Most heatings there is that distinct smell of what I like to call fertility. Not having close neighbors, this is not a problem.

When it comes time to turn the pile, I take the covers off and let the ladies at it. The pile does get spread out pretty good but it does get things mixed up nicely. Once they have turned it, I add more water if needed and re pile it for a finishing heat. And of course the ladies are excluded at this time.

This all takes time but it sure does cut down on some of the labor.

I subscribe to a 14 day composting. Using the chickens does extend this process but not by much.

At the end of the heating, all of the material is in an advanced state of decomposition. This material can be used as a mulch or incorporated into the soil without any ill effects to seeds or plants.

Since I garden year round, the use of compost is very important. It allows for continuous cultivation. If I were to use fresh manure or to turn under green manures there would be a given amount of time that would be needed to allow all of this material to become “non lethal” to seeds or plants. Depending on the time of year this resting period would be a minimum of 2 weeks.

With compost this all becomes mute. A bed can be cleaned tilled and planted in the same day. A very nice turn around time.

One of my difficulties with compost is not having a way to exclude the hens from the compost area. Left to the hens vices the compost heaps would never heat because they would always be turning the pile. This is one of the draw backs of free range hens. A small one but a problem none the less. A pile of compost is a calling card to chickens like a fire hydrant is to dogs.

I do have some ideas how to exclude them and the selectively allow them to different piles, it is just finding that “roundtuit”. Chickens can be quite obsessive about something if they see it and crave it. If there is a way they will discover it and have access. So much for “Just dumb chickens”. On some levels they are quite intelligent. Ah yes life with fowl!!

The garden continues to become a little more productive. What kohlrabi I have is beginning to mature. I plan to have a little more lettuce this week along with chard and kale. My Asian greens are recovering from the flea beetles along with the poc choy. I have temporary greenhouses on several beds and this seems to be helping these beds mature. I expect to have beets and radishes soon. Next week I will start the Jerusalem artichoke harvest. I have my second planting of peas starting to germinate and my first sowing is about 12 inches high with a very nicely stocked bed. The parsnips harvest will start soon too. Next year I am going to attempt germinating the parsnip seeds for a better stocked bed. It is so funny but last August was a perfect temperature for parsnips but I neglected to keep them moist between the rainstorms. Carrots and parsnips need to remain consistently moist up to the development of secondary leaves or they will have a large mortality. Ah yes this fall my attention was a little scattered. Deb would say “and what else is new?” Life in the fast lane!!!

December 12, 2016

Avalanche column

November 24, 2016

Selecting garden seeds can be fun but it can also be overwhelming.

Do you want bush varieties or vine types, early ripening or latter varieties, large storage types or single serve types.

These are just some of the questions a gardener may want to answer as they are selecting seeds.

My seeds “bible”, “The Garden Seed Inventory” 6^th edition and printed by the Seed Savers Exchange has been very helpful with this . This book was printed in 2004 and at that time it listed all of the open pollinated and heirloom seeds that were available in the US and Canada. The listings describe the veggie and then also where you can purchase your selections.

I have found this book to be extremely valuable to me.

One of my big selection criteria is short season. Short season crops tend to be more cold tolerant and ripen very quickly. Even though they may have been propagated for northern states they work very well in the south too.

There are some very good reasons that I like to do this.

Short season veggies ripen quicker and can be easily forced so that summer veggies can be harvested much quicker than you would expect. Starting veggies early allows me to have well established plants going into the angry months of May and June. One more very good reason helps me cope with a pest that I have in the garden.

Root Knot Nematodes (RKN) are very very tiny worm like creatures that burrow into the roots of most all vegetable varieties. In the process of feeding and reproducing they cause the roots to form galls. In worst the cases the roots no longer look like roots but a mass of convoluted and swollen root material. RKN become active once the soil reaches 65 degrees.

Plants can grow in cooler or warmer soil than what they will germinate in. This is fundamental to one of my RKN management practices.

Starting seedlings very early and out planting the plants before the RKN become active, I can get good harvests before they succumb to the galling. In some cases the roots can grow outside infected areas and survive all season.

This book allows a gardener to make seed selections that are very pertinent to their needs and can be quite fun to do. For example there are over 60 pages of tomatoes with 20 plus varieties to the page. Of course this covers every color of tomato that you can imagine. This can be overwhelming but I like to think of it as an adventure to see what wonderful varieties are available. Monsanto eat your heart out!! By and large most of these seeds are available through small “Mom and Pop” seed houses. Most likely Front Street Books can get you a copy. ALL of the veggies available in this book can be saved for future gardens and how cool is that!!!!!

December 8, 2016

Good morning, recently market day was forecast to be rainy and just plain nasty. Because Deb and I have veggie orders for folks to pick up at market, we were obligated to go. We really expected there to be only us and the Roberts. They too have orders to be delivered.

Because we did not expect very many patrons we did not bring any can goods.

Boy were we surprised when over 11 vendors showed and there also was a pretty good showing of patrons.

This is really warming to the heart both that folks showed for market, but is also an indication how much the market is a part of their lives. And they do this rain or shine!!

I do remember when we were at the Ritchey on nasty days were nonexistent patroon days too! I think because we are so visible at the new location that folks are beginning to believe we are an “all weather” event and come to market.

This is a mazing stuff. Next time, the can goods will make it into the truck, just in case I don’t have veggies besides what are in the bag sales. This market thingy is really coming together.

After this last nasty market I sent a question out to the vendors what they thought about procuring a patio heater with the donations that everyone so generously give to the market. A resounding YES came back. So Deb ordered one and hopefully will be here for Saturday market. How funny no sooner had Deb ordered a heater Bennett Jones got permission from a rental property to let the market use a patio heater through the winter. How Cool is this!!! I hope everyone thanks Bennett for his generosity! I have plans to construct a temporary wind brake area so these heaters will be even more effective. I am so totally gob smacked at how the market is coming together!!!

After a blast of Arctic air the wind is predicted to come from the SW and warm the day. A sunny but cool start with a high around 60, so compared to last Saturday this coming Saturday looks to be a fine market day. Hope to see everyone there!!!!!

I did manage to harvest before the storm. Today is forecast to not get much above freezing with chances of rain/ snow/ sleet/ and freezing rain, in other words a nasty day. And tomorrow is forecast to improve but will most likely be unable to harvest due to the fabric being “welded” to the ground. I hope to have harvested enough for all orders.

If I am unable to fill all orders I will only charge for the portion I fill. Follows is a list of the harvest.

Chard, kale, spinach, boc choy, lettuce, carrots, green onions, turnips with greens, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash.

Save for the sweets and butternuts quantities are limited.

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

December 5, 2026

Avalanche column 

november 17, 2016

When gardening or even landscaping, transplanting veggie seedlings, woody shrubs or trees are easy ways to get a “jump start” on a more productive garden or a mature landscape.

These transplants are available as bare root or containerized material. There are advantages and disadvantages to both of theses methods, especially if you are purchasing them.

Let us start with bare root material. This is exactly as it implies, the transplant's roots are exposed to the air. I frequently do seed beds for transplants. The advantage is the amount of space that is used to start the seedlings. As for landscaped bare root material most folks are familiar with fruit trees taking this form. It is a whole lot less expensive to ship plant material without soil. Any plant that is transplanted from one location to another needs to be treated as bare root Any time that you transplant a plant there is a substantial amount of root loss. This is where you can get into trouble with bare root. Only CONTAINER GROWN material can be treated differently.

I am very particular as to when I transplant bare root veggies. I like to do it just as cooler or cloudy weather is forecast. After transplanting, I lay fabric right on top of the transplants so that a nice humidity layer helps with their healing. I usually leave them this way for a week or so before raising the fabric. This allows the roots to heal enough so that all the plant functions can resume.

As for landscape plants, purchased bare root fruit trees are only available during the winter. During this milder time they can become established and continue to grow. It would be impossible to do a bare root plant in July and have a reasonable expectation of it's survival.

This is true with transplanting trees and shrubs in your yard, it is best to do this once the tree or shrub becomes dormant during the winter. This is not saying they will survive but they have a better chance.

As for watering you need to keep them moist but not saturated.

As for containerized plant material, you can plant them any time you like. I still like to do this going into a cooling period. This may not be necessary, but why not give your plant the best opportunity to survive and thrive. Probably the biggest difference between bare root and container material is the weight and the cost.

December 1, 2016

Good morning, I hope all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Deb and I sure did!

It looks like it is finally cooling down a little bit. NOAA is predicting a warm dry winter although rain predictions continue to be popping up in the forecasts. This is always good. In the winter I do prefer snow to ice. As if I had a say as to what happens.

I finally put up my temporary greenhouses. Temperatures above 70 tend to make the greenhouses too warm and they need to be vented. The frequent changes from warm to cold or cold to warm usually entails wind. It can be difficult working large sheets of greenhouse film or fabric in such conditions. So I like to see a cooling before I erect them. It makes life easier. With the drip system there is only the need to pull the covers to harvest and perform bed work. I am hoping for sun this winter, cloudy days don't work with passive greenhouses or at least not as well.

It is a work in progress as to which veggies that I will grow in these greenhouses. I do know that my brassica (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower...) crops will not. I want them to have the full effects of any cold so that they can develop their flavors. I will cover the broccoli and cauliflower with heavy fabric in the advent that there is a deep freeze and their heads are forming. Like with peas the foliage can take freezes but the florets and pea pods are destroyed by freezes.

Presently I have chard, kale, and lettuce covered. I am contemplating beets, green onions, Asian greens and the boc choy.

It is good to see that the transition from summer veggies to winter veggies has gone well. Even though my butternut stash is not what I wanted to see but I do have a nice stash of sweets. They are not as big as they have been in the past but they are still tasty. The first hard freeze really did shut growth down. I think growth is starting to resume. Quite a shock from the upper 80's to the lower 20's within 24 hours!!

My peas are doing quite well and were not effected by the chill down along with all my cole crops. This chilling is what makes them tasty. It also causes the spinach to become sweet along with the parsnips and carrots. I plan to do a second sowing of peas the first week or two in December. The second sowing last year sure did extend the pea harvest. My mid summer peas only had a few pods, I think there was too much competition with the sweet potatoes. For funzies I do have a July sowing planned. They will be germinated and covered with the heavy fabric, then maybe in September, peas. We can only hope!!! Some things ya just gotta try.

Stocking levels are improving but it is slow.