July 31, 2017

So nice to be getting the rain. This year I do  not intend to let the weeds get out of hand. For the most part my beds are weed free since they have been mulched. It is the paths that concern me the most.

Recently I purchased a battery powered weed eater. It is a hole lot quieter than a gas powered one and it does not seem to bother the fowl as much although it does get their attention. It is my desire to keep the path weeds burnt down until such time that I can hula hoe them. My main objective is to keep them from going to seed, unlike last August's weeds.Yes I am paying that bill!

It is very nice to see all the sowing's that I did just before the heat broke are now starting to mature. I will soon have lettuce even though part of the bed got uncovered and the guineas made a presence. The summer squash are just about to start blooming. Even though the peas have gotten a little chloritic from all the rain, I have given them a shot of iron and nitrogen, this should boost them right along.so far so good for September peas. Since it has cooled off I am not as concerned that they will not be sweet. Guess we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Both my early squash and cucumbers are making a bit of a comeback. I think the late freeze and then the heat combined with the  RKN,  their new found production will be limited. I have pulled most of the yellow squash and found their roots to be completely covered with "knots". Exactly what I suspected. 

It would be nice not to have RKN but such is life. Challenges are always there to be navigated around.

July 27, 2017

Good morning, Because it has been such a warm year I think my pet root knot nematodes (RKN) have been very active this year. More so than any other year.

I am using a new soil treatment called Promax (a thyme oil product) and I feel I am getting some positive results..

Last year I used a product called Aza Guard (a neem oil derivative) and was having some decent relief. When it started raining in August I discontinued out of over watering fears. In hindsight I should have administered  the potion and then let the rain do the rest.

With new plantings I am alternating weeks of using these potions. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I did a little experiment to see what would happen when I re planted in spots that an okra and a cucumber had died due to RKN. I had recently applied some Promax, followed by a soil drench with a  .5% solution (may try a 1% or a 2% solution)  of cold pressed neem. Both of these plants are growing although not as robust as the other plants in the beds. The cucumbers seem to be doing better than the Okra. This could mean a couple things: the okra bed has a more severe infestation of RKN or that the cucumber variety I grow is more tolerant of RKN. I am not sure how I would quantify that.

Anyway we will see what the roots look like when I pull plants later this fall.

Of all the treatments that I have used the most effective one is solarization. This is where some clear greenhouse film is laid over a perfectly flat bed and the film is buried around the edge. The bed then heats up to 130 + degrees and fries the RKN. The last time I did this I neglected to note the dates. I feel it is 3 + years of control. Not too bad of a return.

I have not done this because it is very labor intensive. Next May and June (the best month to solarize),I am will do a modified approach. Instead of burying the edge I am just going to cover the edge with soil. I have not seen any literature on this method. I am sure some of the heat will be lost but I will be interested to see what the sustained heat will be at 4 to 6 inches. 

If it works it would be prudent to ad this to my RKN treatment regime. 

It is with great hope that at some point the RKN and I can have a truce.

This week I harvested chard, green onions, beets, chilies, zucchini's,   and in storage onions, garlic and butternut squash. Please email for availability. 

July 24, 2017

Recently a fellow at market said that he felt using row cover would be problematic. The problem being taking off and putting back on as the weather dictates.

This seems to be an on going thought with folks that are unfamiliar with fabric / row cover. This could not be further from the truth. Save for the cucurbit family, all veggies can be covered full term. The only time the covers are removed is to harvest along with any other bed work. If it wasn't for the need to be pollinated a gardener could leave the covers on  squash, melons, cucumbers and any of the other members of the cucurbit family. Okra just becomes a problem when it gets too tall to cover.

Fabric lowers the light intensity of our abundant West Texas sun. This year I have covered one of my tomato beds with Agribon 70. 70 is the heavy fabric that I use. It only allows 30 percent of the light through. I have not noticed any signs of light deprivation such as leggy plants that are yellowing. I have noticed that it appears to slow the ripening of the fruit. This has not been a problem. The reason for this is that 70 lasts longer and it is a better hail guard too.

The way fabric is designed actually prisms the light around underneath the fabric. This allows for light to reach all surfaces of the leaves. I like to say the light underneath the fabric is superior to natural light.

Folks are afraid of leaving  the fabric on, thinking the covered plants will burn up. In fact the fabric usually cools the leaf surfaces. This year is the first year that I have noticed any sun scald under the fabric. I was very surprised. Giving this occurrence some thought, my suspected reason was like what happens to leaves that are in contact with the fabric when there is a freeze. The temperature is transferred through the fabric and directly into what ever is in contact. Leaves can dissipate this heat but with the size of a fruit the heat transferred into the fruit interior and thus the fruit was cooked. This is just a theory.

Fabric has so many uses besides frost protection. The two biggest downfalls I have with fabric is that it makes perfect aphid habitat and the other is that I have not found a way to recycle after it has finished it useful life.

I may solve the aphid thing once my guineas are gone. Greens are where I have the biggest problem and to leave them uncovered with the guineas on the loose would just not be prudent. As for after use uses the search continues.

A short list of why to use fabric, frost protection, heat protection, moisture retainer, insect and other  pest exclusion, allows for extreme season extension(both spring, fall and year round growing) , hail and wind protection, and it can isolate cross pollinating plants for seed collection. These are but a few reasons.

July 16, 2017

Good morning, It has been a few years now that I have noticed 3/8 inch holes in the garden that have soil bermed up around the hole. The bermed soil is maybe 1/2 inc tall. I have seen at least 10 to 20 of these curious looking holes. Never saw the critter that made these holes.

Recently On Marfa Public Radio they had a Nature Notes article that was about Squash Bees. They are a native to the Southwest. It was said that these bees followed the squash as Native Americans cultivated squash throughout the Americas. The bees migrated with the  squash as the Indians spread squash across America all the way to the Northeast.

The cultivation practices of by the Native Americans appeared to be conducive to the Bees spread along with squash.

Once modern cultivation practices were introduced to squash culture there was a noticed decline in the diversity of these bees.

This was happening because the bees burrow into the ground and lay there eggs. The plowing and disking destroys these egg burrows.

I found this to be very interesting and it also solved my "hole" issue. 

This discovery adds to my desire not to turn my beds every year. I use a minimum till method. I started to use this method when I noticed that I had a spade footed toad population in the garden.

This was a two fold discovery. First I would on occasion "turn out" a toad as I was turning the garden. On occasion I would inadvertently kill a toad during this process. The other discovery  of how big a population of toads I had was also with a very curious hole issue.

After very violent thunder storms with heavy rain I would see holes throughout the garden. Maybe 50 plus. Slowly I put the toads and the holes together on the same page.

I am trying to be a good steward of the land. I am sure the bees are in the garden due to my squash plants but they found my garden because of buffalo gourds. The toads have always been in the garden. Most likely both of these critters populations may have increased because I turned the soil and made it easier for both of these creatures to burrow..

I am sure if I were to rototill the garden I would destroy most of these creatures as I tilled. The tines would be right at the level in tho soil where they are .

The bees pollinate my squash and I am sure when the toads are present they help with insect control.

I started to change my cultivation practices because of the toads and the discovery of the bees just inforces this decision even more.

July 17, 2017

It is funny how Okra does not respond to pruning like any other plant. This may have to do with the variety that I am attempting to prune. The variety is Ever Tender. Ever Tender will form pods up to 8 inches and still be tender.

Usually when you top a plant, apical dominance is lost. This forces the next three buds to try and out compete each other. These three sprouts grow  in a very acute angle.

Okra seems to have its own drummer and does something completely different. Instead of the the top most three buds sprouting it is most common that the bottom most bud forms a new top along with on an occasion the second bud from the bottom.

There is the occasional Okra that has a propensity to branch and will have several branches. 

Now one would say what's the bother, just let it do it's thing!

Generally speaking Okra grows like an arrow with only one central leader. Being able to prune the plant and get it to regularly form multiple branches could double, triple or how many branches formed would boost the production of that plant by how many branches formed. Just two branches would double the production. think what 4 branches would make?

I am thinking that selecting seeds from the plants that have a propensity to branch might over time develop this trait.

Something that I have noticed about okra is that it does not mind being crowded. I have sown 3, 4, or five seeds in a hole and all seem to grow equally well. This may be the best solution.

I plant my okra in a double row 18 inches apart with the okra being planted 1 foot apart within the row. 

Sowing three seeds to the hole would form a virtual wall of okra. It would be interesting to see if this would fly. Too late for this year maybe next.

July 13, 2017

Good morning, I do believe that between the last freeze and the hissy fits in June have  the summer squash and cucumbers have been severely effected. I see them slowly waking up but the new plantings are really out performing them. The squash was planted before the cukes and are nearly of size to start blooming. Both of these veggies have never really recovered from the freeze and it showed in their foliage. These new planting will do much better. 

The beans have experienced spider mites and were looking pretty bad. With a couple of sprays of cold pressed neem oil I hope to have the mites in control. I am seeing some clean new growth, but because of the heat and nematodes I have sown a new bean bed. 

With any luck we will have cukes, squash and beans up to freezing in the fall.

I have never sown okra in late June or early July, It will be interesting to see how it performs. Sweet potatoes, another hot loving plant took off real nicely with an early July planting but took offence to the mid August night time cooling and the tubers never sized up very well. It appears that the cool night  temperatures was more important that warm soil temperatures. I will be curious to see how my fall okra does. The variety that I am growing for fall has shown as long as the soil is warm it will produce. My hope is that the Lee okra will be mature when Mid August arrives.

As for the peas, I am amazed at how well they are doing. Most are nearly 4 inches tall. I did not get a 100% take. It looks closer to 60 or 70 percent. This should provide for a nice harvest. As these guys were emerging it was hitting the century mark. I am very pleased. One note I have read about late season peas is that they do not germinate well (sprouting took care of this) and that they are not as sweet ( I am hoping the cool nights of fall will help with this).

Ah yes one would never know until you try. As My Old Man would say "can't never did anything!"

This week I harvested chard,kale, green onions,carrots, beets, and tomatoes. In storage there is garlic, bulb onions and butternut squash. Please email for availability.

July 10, 2017

How wonderful it is to have mid nineties and lower temps. The cool down during and after rainstorms are to die for. Simply just a little piece of nirvana.

I thought I was handling the heat, until I realized I was dropping the ball on several occasions. I do appreciate everyone's patience.

The heat along with RKN played havoc on my summer squash and cucumbers. I had planned to sow a second bed of both of these veggies. They were mature when the last freeze hit. This stressed them pretty severely. It was because of this the RKN was able to get a foot hold on their roots. This caused them to be even more susceptible to the heat. And thus the need to sow more squash and cucumbers.

My observation with the use of the Promax, is that it is very effective at allowing plants to grow in favorable conditions. As with any tool one needs to learn how to use it. 

It took me several years to learn the limits of the use of fabric. With trial and error I have built my confidence of what it can and can't do. 

This winter was exceptionally warm and it encouraged me to force veggies to grow on the fringes of adequate conditions. For the most part I was very successful. This has shown me that unless there is some how that I can  adequately warm the soil for okra, it will be a veggie that cannot be forced. Okra does not stand for cool soil. My subsequent plantings in warmer soil has shown this to be true. This is one veggies that does not work with the premise that veggies will grow in cooler or warmer soils than what they will germinate. That live and learn thingy. Funny that I would put such effort into a veggie I am not fond of. It is very popular though.

July 6, 2017

Good morning,  It is a little early but so far so good with the fall pea crop. How funny was it to sow the germinated seeds in a brief cool down, only for this period to be  followed with a couple of 100+ degree days. 

When I looked under fabric to check on them this past Sunday they actually looked to be growing, the fabric was pulled back so that the fabric could be raised and It looked like there was a pretty good take. I thought for sure those real hot days would have done them in. 

The long term forecast seems to be cooler than June. it would not take too much  to be so.

I feel that this past June has been the hottest weather I have experienced as a gardener. It was very surprising to see some of my summer squash and cucumbers instead of just getting leaf wilt, the plants literally burned up. This really perplexed me because I was even covering them to help reduce some of the heat stress. As always I pull plants to check what kind of condition the roots are in. In most cases the roots were highly infected with RKN and the galls were very prevalent. Although there was a cucumber that had clean roots but died any way. For the most part the galling explains most of the plants that just burnt up.

In the cucumber bed there were a few plants that had died earlier from RKN. With the replacement plants I did a soil drench with cold pressed neem oil and then followed this with an application of Promax ( the new RKN soil treatment). These plants have matured and are producing. So far these plants appear to be growing in known RKN infected soil. I will be interested to look at these roots when the plants are pulled.

If it was not so labor intensive, I think solarizing the soil with greenhouse film gives the best relief from RKN. It is just a pain to dig a trench around the bed and bury the edge of the film so that the soil can cook. It would have done some magnificent cooking with this past June.

It really gets back to that serenity prayer thing. Although it does seem that the Promax does give me some relief. Maybe with the use of my other neem oil products there can be a little bit more control..RKN world wide is one of the biggest pests in farmed land. 

This week I harvested,chard, kale,green onions, beets, beans, chilies, and tomatoes. In storaage bulb onions, garlic and butternut squash. Please email for availability.

July 3, 2017

There have been a number of "first's" this year starting back in January.

It was the first time I planted tomatoes in January and have the survive. First time most of the garden was planted before March.

June was so hot it was the first time that I have had sun scald go through two layers of fabric. Also it was the first time even as I was dripping the roots of my yellow squash the tops actually got burnt by the sun. there was no water except down by the roots delivered by my drip system.

I have been trying to keep everything that I can covered. The sun has been nothing but brutal. Friday June 30th is forecast to be 100 with decreasing highs the first week of July. Funny how 90 almost sounds cool June 29th my thermometer read a high of 102. A week or so back I briefly had a high of 106. Maybe  the 102 did more damage because the plants had been tenderized and were ready to be cooked. lets hope July will be more benevolent!! I am so glad I am not a plant out in the sun.