January 30, 2017

Facebook post

When I write about gardening, I report on what I have done that works or doesn't work for me. This does not imply that I know all the answers. It is hard to know all the answers when I have only scraped the bucket in figuring out what the questions are..

I am writing to pass on what I am doing. Is this what everyone else should be doing? By no means. I am a firm believer that we can learn from the past and improve on this. The wheel has already been invented and maybe others can use some of what I do or adapt it to their needs.

I am not afraid to try something only learning that that was not a great idea after all.

Last fall was such a situation. I am trying minimum tillage for many reasons and I am in the experimenting stage to see what works .

Established cover crops were burned down with the use of greenhouse film. The days were warm / sunny and this worked well. Dead material was left as a mulch and planted through. This worked fine for taller transplants but seedlings were destroyed by flee beetles. There also was a “miller” moth flush last fall. These moths are the parents of cutworms.

There were a few things that I should have done but did not.

Leaving the film on too long would warm soil too much for fall plants. Sooo I took the film off. I did not immediately cover with fabric. Once removed, the flee beetles and moths came in to this nice habitat I had created for them, and reproduced to no end. This really effected my seedling survival rate.

It can be said that hind sight is 20 /20.

First after removing the cover I should have: A, tilled under the debris (I would have had to have a decomposing period to do this); B, raked this debris off to compost; or C, have immediately covered with fabric to stop both of these insect's access.

Of these alternatives noted above, the tilling would be a non starter because there would be a 2 week delay for decomposition.

Raking off and covering should solve this problem or covering until I could rake the debris off.

By growing a cover crop, New Zealand clover for an example, a fair amount of bio mas can be produced in the soil from its roots. If the clover was allowed to begin to bloom then there would be the added benefit of nitrogen added to the soil.

Any cover crop that was burnt back and raked off would add to the soil. There is as much growth above ground as there is below the ground. Roots just decompose a lot quicker. It is the lignin in woody material that slows its decomposition and helps build soil humus.

It is my intent to mulch the beds with a compost that is high in lignin slowly working its way into the soil.

January 26, 2017

Good morning, I had written a Avalanche column for several years. I really enjoyed doing it. For me talking about gardening is almost as much fun as gardening. Deb would disagree with me on this.

One thing that I had hoped to get while doing the column were questions and / or a regular discourse from readers of the column. There was some but not very much.

Recently Deb set up a Facebook page for Red Wagon Farm. I plan to post to this site on a regular basis. Monday Morning will be my Facebook posting along with the same post going to the Red Wagon Farm blog. I have been posting both the Avalanche column and my Thursday missive for several years now to the Red Wagon Farm Blog site and have well over 5000 hits but only three comments. I am hoping with the Facebook format it will be much easier to get feed back. It is with great hope that this will give folks ideas and then the Facebook page can become a forum for Far West Texas veggie gardening. Everybody looks at this stuff from their own perspective and this can be very enlightening for everyone. I personally have gardened in many different parts of the country and where we reside is very unique. The seasons here do not necessarily coincide with typical seasons elsewhere. For example in a typical year our wet season is July, August, and September. This is when the rest of Texas is scorching hot.

I used to be a landscaper in Oregon and I had to work with, as I like to call them “horticulture delights”. This is any plant that is not commonly used as a food. My perspective on this changed when I had a customer request a 24,000 square foot lawn! Where I lived in Oregon was even drier than here with an average rainfall of a little over 10 inches. Residing at the 45 parallel the sun was not near as intense as it is in West Texas but a desert like environment non the less. This lawn really disgusted me, but as they say the customer is always right?

So it has come to pass that I feel with ever more constricted amounts of water to be used, growing food is a very good use of this resource. If I were to still be a landscaper I would most likely promote edible landscapes. There is a fair amount of info on the internet along with seed houses and nursery's that cater to edible landscapes..

Like with everything I write about, it is just a passage of information. It might work for would be gardeners or it may not but maybe some of this info can be adapted to their use.

So I hope to see folks join me on Facebook!! This past Monday was my first post. It deals with veggie appearance. Come Join the conversation!!!!

Once again another cold front arrives mid week so Wednesday was harvest day. I wanted to get everything harvested before the cold arrived. I also wanted to see how the cauliflower is doing. I see some starting to develop curd and those are well covered by the wrapper leaves. I am hoping that this and the extra covers will get them through this bit of weather.

It is very good to see the bag sales on the rise. The garden is picking up momentum as well. I feel that I should be able to fill all orders but in case I can't I will bill only for the portion I do fill.

January 23, 2017

Avalanche column

Dec 15, 2015

When ever I go into the garden I like to always pay attention to small details, this can thwart big problems later.

An ant trail going into the crown of a plant or a tree is an indication that there are a lot of aphids. The only time this is untrue is with stone fruit (peach, cherry...). These trees have glands located on both side of the petiole (leaf stem) near the base of their leaves. In both cases the ants are getting sustenance either from the glands or honey dew from aphids.

Accordion leaves on alliums (onion, garlic,leek..) indicates they are not being watered enough.

On brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower...) dark sticky deposits is honey dew from an abundance of aphids.

Small seedlings that are sheared off at ground level could be rodents but also could indicate cutworms, pill bugs or wire worms.

Skylight sized holes in leaves indicate grasshoppers or caterpillars.

The tops of your Solanaceae plants (tomato, eggplant,peppers...) being chewed on might be the indication of deer in the garden, only if whole portions of the plant are missing. If it looks like the leaves have been stripped, a closer inspection for horn worms is needed. Usually on the leaves or on the ground around the plant there will be block y looking feces, from tiny all the way up to 1/4 inch in size. The quarter inch ones come from the big Ones.

Stringy dark secretions on leaves is an indication that blister beetles may be present. They come in black and gray. Do not mess with these guys unless you are wearing gloves. Some folks can have very bad skin reactions to these guys.

Clusters of small bronze sand sized geometric clusters near the base of cucurbit (squash, cucumber, melon...) leaves are the eggs of squash bugs. Not always but usually they are on the underside of the leaf.

A small cluster of sand sized orange tear drops are lady bug eggs. These are usually located under the leaf, emphasize usually.

Small craters up to several inch craters in the garden beds after a strong loud lightening storm means you likely have spade foot toads in the garden.

Cucumber leaves looking like lace, means cucumber beetles are feeding.

Leaves on brassicas or cucurbits that are looking like they are wind burned and there has been no wind, indicates that there are squash bugs or even harlequin bugs feeding.

One winter I was having a problem with seedlings just vanishing. I was thinking I had cutworms but there was no place for them to hide because the soil was bare. It wasn't until I brought in some boc choi for dinner. After cleaning the veggies there looked to be dirt on the counter top. The dirt was moving! They were very tiny caterpillars. I had discovered what was eating my seedlings. I could then make appropriate measures!!!

Casual observations can discern a lot of valuable information. Once armed with this information, proper actions can be made.

January 19, 2017

Good morning, I remember that winters can have quite large swings in temperatures but this winter sure does seem to take the prize. It sure would be nice if it would hover in the 40 to 60 degree range.

Last week we were getting record high temps, so I thought it wise to check the veggies under the temporary greenhouses. Sure enough there was some sun scald. So I pulled the film back. As I did this I noticed on the north sides of the beds there was some freezer burn. And once again the temps are falling back to where I had to recover with the film.

The temperature swings seem to be crazy but the film is really helping to keep those beds much more moderated than the non-greenhouse beds. The fabric covered film works wonderfully until the temps surpass 75. 70 is questionable, but last week we were at the doorstep of 80. These temperatures for the first half of January? Crazy!!!

Long range forecasts, NOAA says we have a equal chance of having a decent rainy season. Time will tell. In the mean time I am making a concerted effort to have plenty of compost to mulch my beds on hand. Something I was a bit delinquent with last year. I am planning for a warm dry spring with a hot summer. Hopefully not as hot as last July. For now I am sure enjoying the rain. This last rain we got 34 hundredths with a yearly total approaching 1/2 inch. Nice for the “dry season”!!

Iam looking forward to using the agribon 70 on a tomato bed this year. I have noticed that it does have a cooling effect, most likely because it is white. This will be interesting. Not sure why I have not done this before. No better time than the present.

I must note that Deb has set up a facebook page for Red Wagon Farm. It is my intent to post regularly and also to exhibit more photos of the garden. If you have not been to the site I hope you go visit. Yes a work in progress.

Wednesday was harvest day, albeit a slow start with the near freezing temps and fog. I usually split the harvest for Wednesday and Thursday but Thursday is forecast to be a wind storm. 2O to 30 MPH with gusts to 45, starting around 9AM. I dislike wind almost as bad as hail. Such is life in Far West Texas.

I was able to harvest chard, kale, spinach, asian greens, turnip greens, lettuce, carrots, green onions, radish's, broccoli, turnips, sun chokes, and in storage sweet potatoes. Please email for availability.

Januray 2, 2017

Avalanche column December 8, 2016

It has been a few years back that I started using a temporary green house through the winter.

The reason for a temporary greenhouse is because the greenhouse season is so short in Far West Texas (from the middle of November until the middle of February). Some years it is even shorter.

Even during this greenhouse season there can be warm sunny days where the need to vent becomes crucial, otherwise the plants would literally cook.

I have used fabric for many years and have tested it under as many different conditions as I can. What I have found is that it keeps plants warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. This is even true with the real heavy fabric during the summer. Who would think that putting on a down parka on in 100 degree heat would cool you. I am not sure how it does this but it is true.

My temporary greenhouse is very simple to make. This year I have altered the construction somewhat.

In years past I have only used my heavy agribon 70 fabric. This year I have one bed that is using 3 layers of Agribon 19. This appears to be working and is only a couple degrees warmer than the single layer of 70.

The construction consists of 9 gauge wire hoops over my 4.5 foot beds spaced every 4 feet. The hoop curve is about 2 feet high. Over the hoops is spread a sheet of greenhouse film. Regular store bought plastic will deteriorate too quickly for this use. There needs to be at least 1 foot of film on the ground on all sides. The fabric then covers the film along with the foot on the ground. The film fabric then needs to be anchored . I use rocks. This will not work if the film is on the outside. The plants will bake. This film fabric arrangement does not need to be vented unless the temperature exceeds 70 degrees on a regular basis.

Some interesting temperature facts: on a 11.5 degree morning the inside temperature was 25 degrees. On 60 degree days the inside temperature gets into the mid 80's. But on an 80 degree day it was 100 degrees. As for normal winter conditions there is not much of a temperature swing and it does not freeze inside the greenhouse. I do want to purchase an indoor / outdoor thermometer with a bury-able prob to see what kind of soil temperature gain that is achieved.

Most years I have not sown seeds during my “greenhouse” season but I am experimenting to see if it will work. Sowing in my regular beds stunts the plant growth and seeds sown in late February surpass these winter sown seeds. This will be interesting. If the soil is warmed by the greenhouse, this could change everything.

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

January 12, 2017

Good morning, Double digging is the process of digging down the depth of two shovel depths. The idea is to give roots as easy environment to grow. Frequently when instructions for double digging are given they are explicate about not mixing the 2 layers. This has always baffled me. Why not, what would be the problem.

Depending on the crop these lower level soils minerals and nutrients will be brought to the surface.

This is very easily done with tap rooted crops like alfalfa. When the plant is tilled in these “lower” soil nutrients are distributed towards the soil surface. By mixing these levels would eliminate the “middle man”. This could be beneficial to shallow crops such as lettuce or broccoli.

I used to double dig when I lived in other places, in Alpine it really is difficult to double dig 12 inches of soil over a layer of caliche.

I often wonder what my crop production could be if I really had soil. A neighbor has enough soil where he piles up mounds and gives the soil away, the piles disappeared anyway.

It is this shallow soil that is a challenge to keep things hydrated during a heat spell. With lots of organics in the soil and mulching the surface, this hydration thingy is some what mitigated. I still wonder what it would be like with 2 feet of soil depth. Just the water holding capacity would be immense.

In the northwest where there is irrigation canal water most farmers are on a 2 week water rotation. Meaning they water every 14 days. With my shallow soils, I would be done during that time span. I water every 3 days. Last July I bumped up my water time and the evaporation / transpiration amount was extreme. I could barely keep my head above”water” so to speak. So much of my fruit blossom drop was a hydration issue. All driven by exceptional heat (that is for Alpine). What we experienced in July is a common thing in East Texas. Having not been able to have the joy of experiencing a summer there, I am told at a minimum the gardens go dormant. Just like what happened last July.

My game plan is to make sure EVERYTHING is mulched. I noticed everything that was covered fared better than uncovered. It is my intent to cover even the squash during the heat of the day. Most cucurbit flowers start closing around 10 AM. Which is when the mercury starts rising. At a minimum this would halt some of the squash wilt and thus help shade the soil better. It is amazing how little soil cover there is with a flaccid squash leaf.

I have no reason not to expect another hot summer especially if what we are experiencing now continues. We could have May/June surprise rain events, we can hope, it has happened.

I am going to plan for the worst case and with any luck I will be surprised. Hopefully I learned from last July.

January 5, 2017

Good morning, thought it would be a good time to give a veggie update. Even with the periodic cold snaps, this “winter” doesn’t seem to be much of one. It is giving me ideas that could really be pushing the envelope.

I got my second sowing of peas in. The first sowing is 12 to 18 inches tall. The tips of some of them got a bit nipped with that recent 17 degree morning. The second sowing is just now breaking the surface. My hope is to have a nice long harvest. My variety of peas is enation resistant so as long as I keep them hydrated just maybe a warm spring will not affect them too much. The last two springs have been very favorable to peas. Maybe 3 times is charm?

Harvested the first broccoli and it was tasty!! There are several more heads that are getting close. My hope is for lots of side shoots to prolong the harvest. The next crop to go into this bed is sweet potatoes, which will go in around the 15 of April. The cauliflower has not shown any signs of curd yet but I expect any day. Since the cut worms nailed both my kohlrabi and cabbage’ there will be a very limited supply of kohlrabi but I have diminishing hopes on the few cabbage plants. They just don’ look like they will make. Time will tell.

I have managed to get a couple successions of carrots this winter. Normally I do not make winter sowings but this year is different and I see that they are continuing to grow.

I put the Asian greens, green onions, beets, chard and kale under temporary greenhouses and they seem to be doing quite well. The production of Asian greens, green onions, chard and kale is slowly ticking up, whereas the beets are getting real close to being of size to harvest.

The garlic is looking real nice at about 8 inches tall. I got a very good germination for the bulb onions and they should be ready for transplanting by March if not sooner.

I also put the lettuce under greenhouse film and it really likes the added warmth. I may be able to offer lettuce soon.

The turnips are cruising right along. It is amazing how easily they still are sizing up. It has gotten to be a challenge to not let them get tooooo big. The chickens say “yum”

Since discovering the tomatoes under the film, I have spread out a sheet of film where tomatoes will be planted. Call me crazy but I am very soon going to out plant tomatoes. I am “patiently” waiting for a shipment of Agribon 70. Not sure how many will be planted out, but the weather seems right to push the envelope in a serious way. I am planning to have a double layer of fabric: a lower layer of Ag 19, then the film with the 70 over the top. This should be a warm bed. There will be a thermometer under the covers so that I can track this experiment. Not counting my “eggs” yet but I think I should be able to pull this off.

I am not sure what to expect this spring but for one thing it should be different.

I expect to harvest chard, kale, spinach, Asian greens, green onions, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, sun chokes, and turnips.

Please ask about availability and quantities.