May 22, 2017

Since the man who would regularly bring compostable material by for me, it has been difficult for me to get into a new “rhythm” for garden fertility and mulch.

Last year was the first year that I had not mulched the surface of most of my beds. As the year progressed I really noticed the folly in this move. It was difficult to keep things hydrated especially during July. The garden completely shut down due to heat. I wonder if not having mulched the beds may have contributed to this.

Most years in the recent past I have done various things to combat the moisture issue here in West Texas. In normal years May and June are our Nasty hot and dry months. Last year they were very tolerable but it was July that seemed to be the trouble maker.

The first thing I find that works for me is to start the garden at the extreme earliest date possible. This gives the plants ample time to mature to shade the ground and to have deep well developed root systems.

Second is to mass plant the bed. At maturity, this acts like a living mulch.

Third is to use agriculture fabric. This does several things; cuts the wind, helps retain moisture, is an insect barrier, and most important reduces the amount of sunlight hitting the plants. I feel the intensity of our sun is much much more than what any of the plants in West Texas can use. I have used Agribon 70 (only 30 percent of the light gets through the fabric) on various beds year-round and have NEVER seen any signs of the plants underneath showing any kind of light deprivation! If only we could bottle, sell and ship this commodity!

Fourthly mulching the beds.  Especially in west Texas mulching and the use of fabric are important. It was when I was a very recent transplant to West Texas in 2003 that I learned how techniques used in one place are not applicable here without modification. Ah yesss that learning curve thingy!!! I had grown some very nice broccoli plants to be transplanted. This was before I had discovered fabric. I transplanted them, mulched them and then proceeded to watch them grow in reverse. Extremely perplexed I began to explore around each plant. My exploration did not last long before I discovered my problem. In the mulch around every broccoli were at least 3 of 4 cutworms. The mulch went by by! And Mulch around plants was in most cases discontinued until I discovered fabric. This happened within the first couple of years of gardening in Alpine.

It was the combination of ALL these things that allowed me to succeed during the drought in 2011. I might add this was when I was still hand watering the garden. With a drip system in 2011 it would not have been quite as exhausting.

Yes, learning to adapt to your conditions is paramount in order to have success!