December 20, 2018

Good morning, NOAA is hinting that there will be some major weather changes coming our way after Christmas with no details. I did read an exert from the Farmers Almanac that from the end of December to the middle of January there is a good chance of wintry weather. Here again no details. I do find it interesting that The Farmers Almanac makes their forecast a year in advance and is reasonably accurate. Maybe as good as professional weather forecasters. Go figure. Anymore all I really care for is notification of a weather change and to what temperature direction we will be headed. Any more it is the huge swings that catch me off guard.

It seems every year I get lulled into a sowing after the first hard freeze. I sow and then winter hits. 

The seeds germinate and emerge and then they sit, until the customary warming that happens around the middle of February. Maybe because that first freeze was on the heals of that chilling rain I decided to re seed. Because there was no real warmth in the soil, the fabric couldn't do its magic, and the garden was nailed. If the above mentioned change turns out to be towards wintry conditions we will be limping along for awhile longer. If it is to warmer weather then the greens will make a wonderful and welcome recovery.

It is nice to note that soon there will be green onions once again, I made a light harvest of lettuce, have managed to keep the guineas out of the spinach so there will be spinach soon. So everyone hurry up and wait. 

I appreciate everyone's patience. Please place your orders and I will do my best to fill them.

December 13, 2018

Good morning, This week I got my second bed of peas in. Trying a little something different. Most of the bed is germinated seed and planted. I am going to try transplanted seedlings. I am curious if transplants will result in more fully stocked beds.

While harvesting greens I do see some of the kohlrabi starting to mature.  I am noticing there are also a few cabbages that might make too. If not, there is next year.

It really is not very long before I begin to start my first nightshade seedlings. And with that so will begin the next season. I so hope that this coming year will not be quite as challenging as this past one. Time will tell.

Considering that we are moving into the cooler time of the year, the freeze shocked veggie greens are making a decent comeback. Although I see where the guineas got into the spinach bed. They did not kill any of them but they destroyed this week’s pickings. It is always something.

The harvests are increasing. Please place your orders and I will fill what I can.

December 6, 2018

Good morning, it was nice not to see any additional mortality from the first freeze. It was also nice to see some of the kale “nubs” actually survive and are growing. My other fall greens are looking nice too. Things are coming back I just need patience.

Talking with a fellow gardener and we may have figured out why there seemed to be more damage with a 17 degree low than with thee 1.5-degree low back in 2011. The big difference was, this year preceding the freeze we had an intense cooling storm. There was a week of overcast skies with close to freezing precipitation. There was no heat in the soil. I expected to see all the uncovered plants fry (the 20-degree mortality rule), but I was surprised to see destruction in covered beds both with light and heavy covers.

One of the qualities of fabric is to maintain the present temperature of the soil. It is good insulation. Because of the cool down there was not enough reserve heat to buffer the plants from the 17-degree morning. No practical amount of fabric could have changed this. The fabric does not generate heat it only conserves it. Any well-established plants under the covers did fine, leaf burn but nothing serious.

On a heads up note, tomorrow there is expected to be a weather event to arrive. Looking at the low temps, this could have freezing precipitation. I mention this because it was a couple years back that a similar event happened. My bulb onions were germinating, but not fully extended above the ground. Cool damp conditions and 90-percent of the onion seedlings died from dampening off disease. Sooo, this time I have drenched the seedling bed with an organic fungicide and covered the bed with some greenhouse film. The idea is not to have another deep cooling of this bed and have the dampening off thingy once again. Ah yes, the best laid plans of mice and men.

Oh, and bye the bye, I did harvest a parsnip that had been sown last spring. I roasted it in a crock pot along with a couple butternut squash. It was tender and very sweet. The one I harvested was nearly a pound. I did harvest some for bags. These all appear to range in ½ pound up to 1 ½ pounds. Not as big as what I imagined. I think I will repeat this this spring. The germination was nearly 90-percent.

The garden continues to heal, greens harvests are on the increase. Please place your orders and I will fill what I can and only bill for that portion I do fill.

November 29, 2018

Good morning, luckily last September when I sprained my ankle that there was a consistent amount of moisture. This allowed me to not to have to make trips to the garden to run the drip tape. The down side was that the weeds and grasses took over the garden. This caused a problem that I did not expect.

My garden was carved out of the natural grassland on my property. This is the home for any number of "would be" garden pests. Thrips and click beetles are a couple of them.

Thrips is only a problem when we experience a very dry spring and when the only green around is in the garden. This year I battled them all year. At best this was a draw. When it is warm, the egg to adult time is very short and it is measured in days not weeks. Row covers and a regular spray program will control them. For me it was the click beetles that will be the worst problem.

Click beetles are those guys that if you place them on their backs will “click” and this movement will right themselves. Like with butterflies and moths the adults are very benign, it is their larval stages that the problems develop. 

There are several different “varieties” of click beetles. With each of them there are different maturity time lines. This means it can take from one to seven years for them to mature.

When I experienced wire worms aka click beetle larvae, I could not figure out what was putting holes in all of my root crops. It wasn’t until I harvested a sweet potato with a wire worm diligently eating a hole in the side of the sweet. A google search enlightened me as to what the critter was. Besides the above-mentioned maturity time line, I discovered that they are active at two different times of the year. In the spring and in the fall when the soil cools below 85. It is very easy on the spuds to determine as to when the damage was done. Early spring attacks are callused large monstrosities up to ½ inch in diameter. Where as the late attacks are maybe a 1/16 in diameter.

I had “matured out” my wire worm population and have not had any for several years. But this fall as I was harvesting sweets I noticed the tiny holes and several small cream colored “soon to be dead” wire worms.

Luckily, I only noticed them in a small portion of the last bed that I harvested.

There are various traps that can be used to lure them. I found, by accident, that if I keep grass in the garden area under control, that there are not adequate breeding grounds for these guys. Grassland is these guys “home turf” so to speak.

This is only an observation and speculation about the wire worms “maturing out” and not continuing to propagate. It is not something that I was hoping to test my theory but with a sprained ankle and abundant moister to get a fine stand of grass that has put me in this position.

My game plan is to not plant any root crops or cover crops in this particular bed for at least a year or two. This should not be a problem with the number of different veggies I grow. With luck they will be starved or matured out.

This could take up to 7 years to play out. Such is life and if agriculture was easy everyone would be doing it.

Last week I did get my greens cleaned up from the freeze damage. The boc choi, spinach, and Asian greens are making a very nice comeback. With luck they will soon be up to full production. The older chard bed will be making its next rising from the ashes. Last time it was caterpillars (darn ankle). Maybe start harvesting next week. My new replacement bed of chard/kale was not totally frozen out and will provide some harvest in the near future. I usually do not sow seeds in late November, but I had the seeds and thought "what the hey". The beds can't get any barer than what they already are. The jury is out on the cabbage and it looks like there could be some what of a harvest for the kohlrabi. Peas, carrots and green onions are doing fine. I am about ready to sow my second pea bed Next weekend. Long range forecasts have cool and most weather the last of December and first of January. It would be nice to have them up before this  happens.

Who knows, I might get lucky. As for my  ginger and turmeric, I did get some to grow for me this year.  I plan to give it a whirl again next year and use the tubers from this year. Funny how they were doing "well" until our kitten really took a liking to that foliage. It looks sad now. He had a blast.

It has been a challenging year and it is nearly over. Ah yes there is next year!!!!!

Please place your orders and I will fill and only bill for what I do fill. Thank you for your patience.

November 22, 2018

Good morning, yesterday I did manage to get into the garden and start cleaning the carnage. I mentioned that the broccoli and cauliflower are toast. No change there but as for the cabbage and kohlrabi, I have more hope for the kohlrabi than the cabbage. The cabbage has no size to it after the freeze. No need to pull them so we can take a wait and see posture. The snow peas are looking good. The chard looks pathetic but I expect a recovery, it is a tough green.  As for all of the surviving greens they have been cleaned up and there also was a light harvest. There are small amounts of boc choi, Asian greens and spinach.

One thing for sure everything is hardened off now. As long as it does not get really cold these greens harvests will get better.

I do plan to fill bag orders and with luck I will fill them but if I don’t I will only bill for that portion I do.

Due to Thanksgiving, there will be no Friday deliveries. Orders can be picked up at the market Saturday..

I wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving !

November 19, 2018

Sunday was not a good day to venture out into the garden. A bit of a cool start today. Had to let the rocks break loose of the fabric.

As noted it was a extra hard first freeze Monday a week ago. Once the dust settled the thermometer was setting at 17. Uncovered plants at that temp do not survive. I had a bed of chard / kale that fit this category and it is dead 100%

Everything else was covered. There were well established seedlings and not so established. In the not so established, most of these guys are has beens too. With the well established seedlings everything got leaf burn. It does not look like any of these will die but they are set back or even possibly stunted. If we do not get any more mornings in the teens for awhile all of these may come out of it.

It does look like the broccoli and cauliflower is a total crop failure. The jury is out on the cabbage and kohlrabi. We will have to take a wait and see posture. My older bed of chard had developed stalks and even though it was covered there does seem to be some mortality in this bed too. Once again that time thingy. My sugar pod peas look to have come through fine. The strawberries are unscathed in fact they look the best of everything. The older carrots were uncovered and the foliage is fried but I suspect the roots are fine. They are mature. The young carrots were covered and look quite happy. The Brussels sprouts, boc choi, spinach, Asian greens and the lettuce trans plants look good. Leaf burn but will all comeback nicely.

I had gotten the cabbage, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts all in what I consider late and with them all getting older leaves burned I am not sure if these crops will make. I have nothing for a long time to go into these beds so we can just see what happens.

Save for sowing peas in the next couple of weeks I find any other sown veggie (sown between Nov and Feb 15) just sits and I feel they get stunted. Seed sown after February 15 out performs all of these winter sown veggies except the peas.

I think  these real strong temperature swings has become the new normal. It is because I use floating row covers that I still have a garden. It is taking a little bit for me to get used to the fact that the fabric instead of preventing a growth slow down that it is now preventing plants from being frozen to death. With out fabric the garden would be finished.

November 15, 2018

Good morning, sometimes I can be so brain dead, especially when you know a cold front is coming my way. My focus was to harvest all the summer veggies and root crops, because I knew they would not make it through. The fall and winter veggies, once they have hardened can take cold, but not the first real hard freeze. I have noted that for most veggie that are not covered 20 degrees is the death temp. We had a low of 17 at 4.5 feet (I need to lower the thermometer for winter position). It is likely that my Kale, carrots and green onions will survive, but they sure look bleak today. No big deal with the carrots, they are mature and are quite safe in the ground, as for the green onions time will tell if the tops need to grow back for harvest. Now the kale may be a different story, the growing tips look good for now but all the harvestable foliage is chicken food. If the tips have survived, there could be kale in the near future just not this week. My chard and lettuce seedlings were covered, didn’t check, but experience says they are fine. On the bright side, if this cold did not kill the veggies they are hardened off now.

Welllll after looking under the covers on Wednesday, This first real heavy freeze took its toll. It  has set me back. A person can try and be prepared but Mother Nature gets the last call. Sunday will be clean up day. Like last year, the covers are the difference of plants being dead or able to have new growth.  This year has been a real challenge.

There have been a number of distractions this year and man have I dropped the ball. Ah but this year is nearly done and next year will soon be knocking at the front door. I believe I am ready to greet.

For anyone interested I do have sweet potatoes for $4.00 per pound,, butternuts for $3.00 per pound and garlic for  fifty cents per bulb in storage

 With luck and a little warmer weather the harvests will continue.

November 8, 2018

Good morning, fall plantings by and large are doing well. The stocking in the pea bed  is not full cover but it does look to be about 50%. This should still make for decent harvest, especially since the coverage is well spread out across the bed. Next week it looks like there will be Asian greens, some spinach, and boc choy. There is lettuce to be transplanted, most of the older lettuce has bolted. I am optimistic about harvests for Brussel sprouts, cabbage and kohlrabi. Not sure when they will be ready but they are doing well. As for the broccoli and cauliflower, it looks like a cut worm or more have been having a bit of a party. I had enough replacements but this is a set back for them. With luck the cauliflower will head up after any severe cold this winter but before it starts to get warm. Time will tell. I have only about 15 feet of sweets to harvest. This bodes well for sweets being around for quite a while yet.

Bulb onion seeds have been sown and garlic will be planted this coming weekend.

As for the jungle of weeds in the garden, once the sweet harvest is done, I can work on them. I am thinking of getting a burn nozzle and fry seedlings at a young age. It is with hope by not disturbing the surface that maybe I can prevent some of the seeds germinating. Sounds good on paper.

It has been a bit of an interesting garden year and I am ready for this one to end. With luck next year I can be a bit more focused.

Follows is an updated list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, butternut squash, garlic, beets, sweet potatoes, and beans.

November 1, 2018

Good morning, it is nice for the rains to continue. The garden is just about sitting on average rainfall for the year. We are close to 16 inches. This is nice.

Most of the summer veggies are gone except for beans and poblano peppers. Sadly, the beans are slowing way down on their blooming. With luck there will be beans for a couple more weeks. I expect a hard freeze soon.

With luck as the last summer veggies go the fall and winter greens will come on line. It looks like there will be Asian greens, boc choi and spinach soon. My old chard bed has recuperated from the grasshoppers and caterpillars. My new chard and kale bed have a few weeks before harvest can begin. I am curious to see what kind of emergence there is in the snow pea bed. The 2 weeks of clouds and rain cooled the soil nicely so I am optimistic. I have more pea seeds to do a late planting of peas. With luck March will bring bountiful harvests. This weekend I plan to sow my bulb onions and next week garlic. I am not going to make the same mistake as last year with the onion seeds. This year they will be covered with the edges buried. This seed bed will be several feet away from any known harvester ant nest. One curious observation, what with my ankle thingy this past fall, I was not able to keep weeds from going to seed (this will be a problem next rainy season), this seed is being stashed by the harvester ants. I wonder if they may be overwhelmed with seeds and would leave garden seeds alone. Or does the CO2 given off by germinating seeds act like magnets to the ants. With burred covers I hope not to find out.

Any way it is all good, and I am sure that next years gardening experiences will be totally different from this year. One thing for sure there will be new lessons to be learned.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onion, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, butternut squash, garlic, beets, sweet potatoes, and beans.

October 25, 2018

Good morning, pretty wild ride for a week and some. Amazing cloudy weather. I was very curious to see what veggies did not like the 31.5-degree chill down. It took a few days of warmer weather but the damage did eventually show. I think what was the biggest surprise were the veggies that it did not affect. Which was everything except okra and sweet potatoes. The two veggies that abhor cool to cold conditions. They really do not care for temps below 60 degrees. Storage of sweets below 50 degrees, quickly degrades the spuds. The older okra was already showing the signs of cooler overnight lows and was shedding leaves and the 31.5 finished the okra off. As for the sweets, since they were covered, are doing fine. It was just the portions that were not covered that got real burned. Next week is forecast to be warmer and I am hoping to finish the sweet harvest. There is about 40 feet to go. The harvest got side tracked a little bit due to the rain, which ended up being 1.41 inches total. Save for the last installment, it was all nice and slow with little runoff. But it sure did a kibosh with the sweet harvest. It is really hard to push mud.

Spot checking the fall veggies that I planted somewhat late, seem to be doing fine. I feel a little more confident that they will mature with a harvest. What with the cool rain, the soil got cooled and I am hoping that the snow peas that I did sow will do fine. Time will tell.

I am not looking forward to next rainy season what with ALL the weeds, due to my ankle down time, that have matured and dropped their seeds. This could very easily be a nightmare next year. Oh well, such is life.

I did manage to harvest most all of the tomatoes and they are ripening in a back room. I am not sure if there will be anymore eggplants but they are blooming. Also there are some chilies to harvest. This early light frost did come incredibly early, so this will affect the seasonal change of veggies. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Always a challenge.

Follows is an updated list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, sweet potatoes, and beans.

October 18, 2018

Good morning, it was a strange day last Monday, the forecast high was supposed to be 38. And through the course of the day it would settle down to near freezing at sunset. This caused me to think with covers the garden would be fine.

I still had my eye on the thermometer.  Monday was not one of those days that I wanted to be outside, overcast, drizzle and 33 degrees at sunrise. No prob because at sunrise the temp would rise.  When it started to slowly drop, I did not know where the bottom would be.

On Sunday I had harvested the okra down to small pods and all the toms that had a blush. I did think that even though it would be cool to cold that everything else in the garden would be fine. No big deal since it would be overcast. This changed on Monday when at 9 AM the temp started to drift downward. At 32.5 I decided that the rest of the garden needed to be harvested. There were eggplants, chilies and a ton of green tomatoes. And the task was completed as the thermometer settled at 31.5 for the rest of the day and through the night. Of course, this whole time it was drizzling, overcast and a cutting north wind. All good indicators for not having a hard freeze. Having been burned with surprise deep freezes I was glad I had decided to finish the harvest.

Wednesdays are my usual greens harvest day. It was plain nasty out. I wimped out as the forecast was predicted to have improving conditions for the rest of the week. The cool damp was fine but the north breeze was cutting. So, I did decide to postpone the greens harvest until Thursday. I did look under the covers and it looked like there would be a normal harvest of chard, kale, lettuce, green onions and carrots.

The thermometer never did slip any further than the 31.5-degree mark and I was not sure what that would do to the summer veggie plants. A day of warmth and sun may cause the plants to wither. But at this time, I do not see any freeze damage. I am glad that I did harvest none the less.

Now it will be interesting as to how long until a real hard freeze. There are all kinds of blossoms out in the garden, and even though everything of size has been harvested, there is no need to rush on pulling plants, so, I think we will see how long until a freeze. There just might be more to harvest or maybe not. Time will tell.

I did get most all of my winter greens planted. There are a couple of different items that still need to be planted. What with my ankle in September I missed the sweet spot for planting. I am not sure how this will affect these plants that I like to harvest during the cooler West Texas time. We will just have to see what happens. Never a dull moment. I am ready for a change in the weather.

Follows is an updated list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

October 11, 2018

Good morning, it is nice to be able to get my fall veggies planted. What with my ankle being sprained in September, I missed the September / October sweet spot but such is life. I will just have to see how they do.

On another note, I have started getting the question of what to do with all those green tomatoes. A person needs to stop watering and if the foliage is dense, it needs to be prune some to let in more light. Don’t go to heavy because the foliage will help the plans to develop sugars. Once we start getting frost threats, blankets or sheets need to be put over the plants. The idea is to keep the tomatoes on the plants as long as you can. Once you have had too much of the covering game, the tomatoes can be harvested. I then like to lay them out on newspaper on the floor in a coolish room. This way you can spy on them and collect the tomatoes that have ripened or even more important collect and remove the nasty ones. Depending on how many tomatoes you have, there could be a supply of tomatoes for 2 to 3 months. Of course, if it is your thing there is green tomato chutney or fried green tomatoes too. Any way you look at it, a person can have a bit of summer in late fall. Enjoy!!

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

October 4, 2018

Good morning,  what a sweet success to have gotten the siding and the new windows on the house along with the hole in the deck that I so casually walked into installed and covered back up. Yes very nice.

As for the weed jungle in the garden it is a step at a time. Soon I shoulld be ready to plant the winter garden. Just a little behind schedule, but such is life.

2018 has had its challenges  and I really  am looking forward  toward next years garden. I will have to say that the nematode resistant tomatoes have been a success. I am cureous to see what their roots look like when they are pulled. It is nice to have tomatoes all season for a change. The other day I harvested about 2 pounds of spuds from a russet potato. With a sustained harvest like that I might be able to offer Irish potatoes in the future.. Time will tell. The sweet harvest continues and I should be able to finish it before the first freeze. Just a bed and a half to go.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

September 27, 2018

Good morning,yesss my ankle continues to improve. I am beginning to beat back the jungle in the garden. I don't think I have ever had the weed patch that I have acquired as I have this year. Such is life. 

Such as it is the garden is doing quite well. I have been able to start harvesting sweets again. I definitely see signs of root knot nematodes but it looks like the fungus that in years past that has given them a russet look is gone. This really did not effect the taste but it did effect the keeping qualities. What with the freeze and hail last spring my butternut harvest is but a shadow of itself. It has been one of those kinds of years.

As for pests save for cucumber beetles most pests have not been a big deal. Although I am seeing the signs of sucking insects on the tomatoes. There are the tell tale blotches on the sides of tomatoes. I suspect his is from stink bugs.  These have been most prevalent in the okra but I have also seen them in the toms too. They are slow movers or at least my fingers easily catch them. 

I just have not felt the need to spray. I have noticed a lot of beneficial insects in the garden this year This is good because I have left the covers off most beds this year to take advantage of this. And a plus the two remaining guineas have not gotten into the garden and wreaked their special kind of havoc. They are ancient as far as fowl go. Because they are so mean to the chickens they no longer are allowed in the coops, so they are out all the time. They are so mean the hoot owls seem to even leave them alone. Such as things are I am grateful to have gotten them because they took care of getting rid of a huge grasshopper problem several years back. Without them the garden would have been toast. Even though they are nasty old men, they still have a small place in my heart.

One last note I continue to be gobsmacked by the recovery of my eggplants after spraying them with fermented garlic. I mean it totally either killed the flea beetles or they went packing. I am going to see what other bugs this may work on. Garlic is an amazing plant. 

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

September 20, 2018

Good morning, it is nice to be back from “vacation”. The swelling is way down and since last Wednesday I have gotten rid of the walking boot. I am now wearing a real boot. It is still stiff and painful at times, especially if I twist thing on ground obstacles. I sure find a lot of them that I did not know existed. Getting up and down is getting easier and not having to think “is this going to tweek my ankle” quite as much. My ankle seems to continue to have thoughts on what is the proper way to squat down. Time and patience.

The garden survived my absence and I have been able to harvest this week. A very nice change. Summer squash and cucumbers are finished. The beans are blooming and I hope they make a crop soon. The lettuce has not bolted. It looks like I should have tomatoes up until freezing weather. The eggplants have made a huge recovery from the flea beetles and harvests will resume shortly. The strawberries have enjoyed the moister weather and have sent out a ton of runners. I plan to transplant a bunch of these to fill out the whole bed. Maybe strawberries next year. Fall crops are about ready to be transplanted. Indoor survival has been very good. With over 300 plants there has only been a bout a dozen mortalities. Mid October is approaching and fall peas will be sown followed by onions and garlic the first of November.

Soooo all is well and it is so nice to be mobile once gain.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill

August 30, 2018

Good morning, the rain this year sure seems scattered and hit or miss. It sure would be nice to have a hurricane remnant to dwell over the area for a few days. There still is a chance since hurricane season goes to November. We did get a tenth of an inch yesterday and was very welcome.

This year instead of small seed beds out in the garden, I sowed the fall veggies in the house. Yesterday I started potting on the tray of seedlings. My light table will be quite full with nearly 200 plants. It will be nice to have fully stocked beds. The outdoor sowings of recent years have not done too well for a number of reasons. Probably the biggest is the harvester ants. Brassica seeds seem to be the perfect size for them to excavate and transport back to the nest. It is interesting to watch the ants after I have “chummed” the chickens, there is a lot of the chicken scratch that is the perfect size for them to carry, and you can see caravan lines of ants packing seeds heading back to their nests. Especially in the hen houses. I throw scratch in the bedding so that chickens mix up their bedding. This helps when I clean out the hen houses to make compost. I remember watching the harvester ants packing mulberry seeds from under the mulberry trees. The chickens have so willingly cleaned the seeds from the fruit. Sometimes I am dismayed with the ants that is until I see some of my resident garden hornytoads. Not seeing my bigger guys only 3 or 4 smaller ones. I like having the hornytoads so I suffer the ants and will more than likely keep sowing the seed in the house. It is amazing to see a seed tray expand from 12 inches X 18 inches up to over 16 square feet. A very nice sight.

I am going to give Brussel sprouts a go this year and with luck they will ripen during our coolest time of the year. Root crops and brassicas have their best flavor at that time. My spring planted parsnips are looking the best I have ever grown. The tops are nearly 2 feet tall. I am hoping that they do not get too huge, but they just might. I look forward to tasting them this winter.

The sweet harvest continues. The first bed is complete and 2 more to go. The next two beds should produce some larger spuds. My butternut harvest is going to be much diminished from years past due too the hail storm that pretty well destroyed the first crop. Such is agriculture. For the first time in a couple years it is beginning to look like I will have tomatoes to freezing weather and maybe beyond. Not going to count that “chicken” until it is in storage.

The blooming of the cucumbers and summer squash has nearly ceased. Not sure exactly why maybe it is due to the weird year that we have been having. It has had its challenges. I am looking towards not having to harvest every day.

So needless to say, the transition towards the next season is on the way. Hopefully it will be smooth and the harvest will continue.  

 Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, snow peas (October?) and beans (new planting for fall, late September?). Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

August 23, 2018

Good morning,  I am impressed with the eggplants, by getting the flea beetles off the eggplants , they are beginning to look very nice. In fact, they have really gone to blooming. I do plan to garlic spray them another time. Just for good measure.

Curiosity makes me wonder what else fermented garlic may work on. It is looking like the butternut harvest this year will only be a shadow of what I have grown in the past. The frost and the hail really did a job on setting them back. The second growth spell and blooming never did fully materialize. This was pushed back at least a month and a half and the plants do not have the vegetation to support a second fruiting. It is very interesting that I stumbled onto the right growth cycle by sowing the seed in March, with the first harvest in May and June, then the second crop developing in July and early August. Oh well such is agriculture.

I must say I am very impressed with the new growth on the tomatoes. I feel the added expense of nematode resistant seeds is well worth the expense. The first tomato planting has grown and filled the bed and there appears to be a pretty fine fruit set. The indeterminant tomatoes are just now really making a showing. My thought that they were not worth the trouble has been revised and I am beginning to think having both determinant and indeterminant plants may be the way to insure a continuous supply of toms. Especially since it does appear that the heat of early summer really slows the second growth spurt and blooming of the determinants. Having not grown indeterminants for several years I had forgotten how big they can grow.

The sweet harvest continues. The first bed is nearly complete. It will be interesting to see if the next bed provides some lunkers. The largest spuds so far are maybe a pound and a half. It has been a bazaar growing year and it will be interesting to see what the final sweet potato harvest looks like.

The fall brassica seedlings are looking good. Hope for well stocked beds looks pretty good at this time.     

 Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and beans (new planting for fall, late September?). Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

August 16, 2018

Good morning,  I had sown some germinated peas, this did not work out as well as last year. I will wait for my normal time to sow. This will be in October. Hopefully the soil will be cooler. I did plant two beds of beans and they all are up and looking very nice. With luck there will be beans starting in late September. Maybe a little sooner. As expected the cukes and summer squash slowed way down. The quantity discount on cucumbers is discontinued unless warmer weather pushes the cucumber production over the top. Three or four pounds a day is manageable. My last planting of tomatoes is doing well. They are blooming and have set fruit.

This has been a real challenging year   what with the freeze, hail, and the intense heat. The butternuts were set back pretty severely with the hail. This is showing with the second bloom and fruit set. Time will tell but it is not looking like we will have near as many for winter storage. Although with my eggplants, they are beginning to look better. They have been infested with a nasty outbreak of flea beetles. Normally I get them when I mulch the ground. This year I never did get them mulched and the flea beetles were over the top. Also, in previous years the beetles have only been cosmetic. Not so this year. I do find it interesting that a couple of my other sprays just did not work but what appears to have chased the beetles off was a spray of fermented garlic cloves. I have found that this potion has worked miracles in the past too.

The fall brassicas have been sown, I did this inside the house this year. This way I hope to foil the harvester ants. With luck I will have well stocked beds.

Powdery mildew hit early this year, like always I can beat it back but it always prevails in the end. I suspect because it started showing in July it is affecting most of my cucurbits. That is except my Yellow squash which is a mildew resistant OP and has no mildew on any of its leaves.

I do find it funny that Heat loving okra does not mind the air cooling as long as the soil is warm. As the other summer veggies have slowed with this past cool down the okra have continued to produce. With luck all the way up to frost.

By this time of year, I am looking forward to the season change and the intensity in the garden slowing too.

All said things are pretty good.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, snow peas (October?) and beans (new planting for fall, late September?). Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

August 9, 2018

Good morning, it will be nice if the forecast cool down comes to fruition. I believe I am more than ready for it.

It was amazing to see my first tomato bed coming back to life. It has had a very rough year. What with being hammered by a freeze, then hail, followed by so sever heat which all let the root knot nematodes (RKN) have their way. This them made them real susceptible to spider mites. I managed to beat back the mites and gave the bed a shot of fertilizer, and low and behold it is like a Phoenix from the flame. Bed wide it has started new growth and flowering. Sur would not have given a plug nickel for this bed. But it appears that the RKN resistance of these hybrids is paying off. We just might get a late fall harvest?

The sweet potato harvest has begun. First ones tend to be smaller with a fair number of fingerlings. The lunkers will come with later harvest. There are three beds and I expect to finish the harvest sometime in September.

I attempted to sow some fall peas but what with the recent heat, most of the germinated seeds rotted even though I used my organic fungicide. With luck the next sowing will be a take. It is getting late and I suspect it could be iffy to get a harvest before the first freeze. If not, it is great biomass for the beds.

With the cool down, it is very likely that I can get a decent take on some late summer parsnips. Be nice to compare with my spring planted ones.  This could be interesting. The succession carrots are doing well and I am ready to sow another succession. With luck nice sweet carrots to go through the winter.

The cucumbers are still going crazy with the warm weather. This will more than likely change with this cool down. Time will tell.

What with cool over night lows all of the summer veggies will start to slow. This is to be suspected. The start of fall veggies is at hand. We can always hope for a smooth transition from summer into fall veggies. Time will tell.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

August 2, 2018

Good morning, I had suspected that the late freeze and then the hail storm had set back my cucumbers and summer squash. Once my succession beds came on line, I felt this suspicion was true. My cucumbers are going crazy. I am nearly harvesting 10 pounds a day. I think not only was this bed never put under any kind of weather stress but also  this cucumber crop follows a snow pea crop. None the less there are a lot of cucumbers. Normally cucumbers are $4.00 per pound , but if a minimum of 5 pounds is purchased, I will sell them for $3.00 per pound. As for the summer squash bed, it is not as prolific, but none the less it is out producing the old bed very nicely. It does look like I will be able to pickle okra this year. I have planted 5 beds this year of which 3 are being harvested and the other two are just beginning to have some spears harvested from them. Deb has dried some. Not being a fan of okra, I must say they are pretty tasty. The butternuts continue to ripen and are being harvested. I have noticed that they have begun to sprout new growth and I hope they will ripen for a second harvest later this fall. I also did a spot harvest on the sweet potatoes. The spot I harvested, they had not enlarged enough to be harvested. They were all fingerling sized, a popular size but I do hope to get mostly 1 to 3-pound spuds. I will spot check again in a week or two. They are just about ready. The tomato harvest has slowed, my root knot nematode (RKN)resistant tomatoes have had a real challenge this year. They were intentionally planted in a known infected bed. Here too the late freeze and the hail added another level of stress to them. I have noticed where the heavy concentrations of RKN has really stressed the tomatoes, but it was exciting to see new growth on the tomatoes located in these areas. So, it looks likely there will be a second harvest from this bed. I look forward to pulling these plants to look at what kind of knotting is on the roots.

Garden wide I will be interested in root inspection, I have not seen the decline like I did last year. RKN did ever so slowly take its toll. Last year I only used the thyme oil extract but I also have added a nemacide and an organic fungicide. Ah yes, life after RKN infection, a challenge, but it looks like there is life afterwards.

All said the garden is doing well.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

July 26, 2018

Good morning, I follow a couple of veggie growing sites for Far West Texas on Facebook. It was sad to see that a fellow gardener had acquired Root Knot Nematodes (RKN). I have found that this has complicated my gardening experience but by no means is it the end of this experience. There are a number of things that can help mitigate this nuisance, what follows are a number of things that I have done.

The first thing is to note what areas of the garden are infected. These areas need to be treated different than the rest of the garden so that the spread can be slowed. Washing gardening equipment between beds is very helpful towards this end. This is most likely the easiest thing that can be done.

One thing I have found that really sets them back is to solarize the bed. The bed is prepped for planting and a 6-inch trench is dug around the bed. Very important the bed needs to be well watered, this is what will conduct the heat down into the bed. UV resistant film is spread over the bed and is drawn tight as the film edge is buried in the trench. It is recommended to leave the film in place for 6 to 8 weeks during the hottest time of the year. This will kill the RKN in the top 6 to 8-inches of the soil. This is good for a few years.

The addition of extra compost to the bed does have positive effects on RKN.

Planting as absolutely as early as you can guarantees a harvest before the RKN become too active. They become active when soils are 66 degrees and warmer.  

Crop rotations are a must.

I have found okra and tomatoes to be the most susceptible.

I have used a product called Promax that is distributed by Huma Gro. I have found that this product allows the plant to develop new roots and will allow the plants to mature and produce a crop. I administer this through my drip system. Along with Promax I also apply AzaGuard (an organic nemacide) a Actinovate (an organic fungicide that has shown some benefits of RKN reduction).

When I pull the plants at the end of the year I dispose of as many of the galls as I can. This is where the eggs can be found.

I highly recommend anyone with RKN to do a Google search to learn more about these pests. I have noticed diminished crop harvests but the garden remains quite productive.

And yes there is life after being infected with RKN, but maybe a little more complicated.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

July 19, 2018

Good morning, all the rain has been real nice. I was just beginning to see some rain induced chlorosis. Since the rain stopped this has self-corrected. Looking on Weather Underground we may be in for another round of moisture in the near future. Be nice if this cycle would continue, even if it gives all the weeds a real kickstart, just can’t beat the qualities of rain.

I am going to see if I can match a summer snow pea planting with the next rainy period. Last year’s attempt was a reasonable success. It is worth trying a repeat. For some reason it appears that the first planting of cucumbers has just about petered out. The second planting has just started to bloom. My timing is impeccable. Same way with my summer squash succession. I suspect the decline of both these crops is due to root knot nematodes. I will know once I can pull some plants to look at the roots.

It is nice to see the strawberry bed putting out a lot of runners. This will enable me to plant out the bed very nicely. We have had the chance to taste test some berries. They are quite nice and they seem to be bigger than some other everbearing strawberries in the past. August is almost upon us and I will be digging a few sweets to see how they are sizing up. The amount of ground cracking is favorable.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

July 12, 2018

Good morning, it was nice to have a say off from rain. Yesterday was the first day that we have not received a measurable amount of rain. The ground is saturated and I am beginning to see the signs of rain induced chlorosis. This is where the available iron in the soil has been temporarily washed away from the roots due to rainfall. This is a self-correcting condition with a day or two of drying. It was enough of a concern that I did not continue with by by-weekly root knot nematode chemigation. I felt there was no capacity in the soil to hold 2 ½ hours of drip irrigation to administer the nemicide materials. With a day or two of drying this will change.

I still plan to germinate some peas to sow for a fall crop of peas. This worked well until spider mites took them out. Last fall was so warm, which really gave the mites the upper hand. They very quickly took out the peas. With all the rain they may not spread as quick, especially since they thrive in hot dry conditions.

That all said, the garden is cruising right along. We finally harvested the first butternut squash. Presently they are curing and will be ready for sale. While weeding the sweet potatoes, I noticed that the soil is cracking around the root crowns. Avery good sign that the sweets will soon be ready to harvest. Finally, I have three of my five beds of okra mature enough to harvest. With luck I hope to have enough to enough for Deb to dry some and for me to pickle. Last year I was only able to put away 10 pints of pickled okra. And finally, it looks like it looks like I will have lettuce. The way the spring was hot and cold, the weather drove the lettuce crazy. It seemed if you looked at the lettuce cross eyed and it would bolt. I got some summer crisp to grow and it is looking pretty good. I have a second sowing that is ready to transplanting. Finally, I have cleaned the garlic and have set aside next years crop. The sizes have been graded and we will start by selling the smallest first since they do not keep as well. I do have bulb onions but I am going to keep them for bag sales and for canning purposes. They will not be available at market. I am hoping next years crop will be better.

That said all is pretty rosy in the garden.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

July 5, 2018

Good morning, how surprised I was to see the first signs of Powdery mildew (PM). I was surprised because it usually does not start showing until the middle of August. What causes it to start showing at that time is hot days and cool nights along with high humidity. I guess these conditions are raising their head a little early. It has been a very strange year so why not add another surprise. Usually with PM there are some things that you can do to slow the spread. Most of these thing just slow the inevitable and the plants wither and die. I think the "whiting" of the plants inhibits photosynthesis, and the plant cannot supply itself with food.

I have discovered an organic control that actually stops the spread and prevents the demise of the plants. This wet able powder is called Milstop and has many out lets but I purchase mine from  johnnyseeds.com.. I was impressed at how well this product works.

There are two other pests that also start to show themselves around the middle of August. Fortunately I have not seen them yet. Both of these pests are in the lepidoptera (moths and butterflies.). These two pests can reek havoc on  squash and tomatoes. These are melon worms and tomato pin worms.

The melon worms are the larvae of a unique looking moth. this is a tropical moth that has to retrace its path each year because most of the US is too cold to survive year round. Ah, but this not the case of South Florida. Each year it takes several generations but it does arrive around the middle of August. The moth is a small 3/4 inch affair and has a very recognizable appendage  jutting out from the rear of the moth. it is the caterpillars that do the damage. Mature ones are about an inch long with green and white stripes that run the length of the body. They first start with eating leaves and then move onto the fruit (I have only seen them on summer squash). When they move to the fruit they bore holes into. The number depends on population density.

The pin worms are "supposed " to die out in the winter due to cold. I am suspecting that they are similar to the melon worms, because of their late summer arrival. These guys can very easily go undetected and the unfortunate gardener will be lulled into believing that their tomatoes are tired and just doing the the end of season death spiral.  It is paramount to notice that pin worm infected plants die from the growing points back word. A truly fading plant would wither from oldest to youngest. 

Things to look for when you notice the fading. Observe the outer most leaves, you will notice what appears to be leaf miners, they are.  You will need a hand lens and then you want to separate the area that appears to be mined. It is best to do this over some white paper (in case it falls out and you do not see it.) these guys are tiny around a 1/32 of an inch. Much smaller than the print on this email. they are darkish in color.

The cure is simple. Bt will work on both of these guys. other contact sprays will work too, but Bt will target these bugs specifically. With the melon worm, the squash need to be bee pollinated so covering is out of the question and spraying will need to continue as needed. As with the pin worm, once sprayed if the tomatoes are covered and then continue the spray program for at least 2 more weeks, this should take care of them. Of course keep a vigilant eye for more pin worms. 

I encourage gardeners to google pictures of these bugs so that you will be ready for them.. Good luck and happy gardening. 

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

June 28, 2018

Good morning, to say it has been a challenging year is really an understatement. Everything started out fine but I think the wind was over the top. This has been my nemesis for both of the times I have had set backs. The first time was when it was blowing all day for a couple of days and I neglected to completely cover some beds with a second layer of fabric. This allowed a convection freeze to really to travel through the fabric into the plants and set my early tomato bed way back. Then there was the 60-70 MPH wind storm that preceded profuse pea gravel sized hail storm that proceeded to eviscerate the portion of the garden that the wind had blown off my covers. All the beds that did remain covered were severally bruised. One blessing was that I was able to clean up all the damage before any insect hordes arrived. Then came many consecutive days of triple digits. I was able to keep everything hydrated but I did notice the lower fruiting wood on my indeterminate toms got nailed just like in 2011 thus destroying the first crop. I was thinking since I had a drip this time all would be well. I evaluated the errors of my ways and have added another 2.5 hours of watering time to them. I hope this corrects that problem. As we all know it was a very dry start to the year and this really effected my onion crop as far as how large the bulbs got to be. This in reality was a two phased problem. Last fall was a very warm one and all the harvester ants remained active pretty well into early winter. We did have a brief chill down and I thought yes, they have gone to nest for the winter. This was not to be. I sowed my onion seeds for bulb onion transplants during this chill down only for another heat wave to arrive.  Just as the seed was germinating the ants came in and harvested the majority of my seeds. Normally I bury the edges of my onion seed beds to prevent them from doing this, I was lulled into their temporary absence. I did re-sow the bed but the new plants were so much smaller than the first planting. This may not have been a problem if it had not been also such a dry spring.

I have always known during extremely dry springs that the native thrips population that thrives in the grassland around my garden migrates into the garden because it is the only thing green for them to feed on. I have found that permanently covering onions forces them to mature way to early and therefore except for extreme chill downs they remain uncovered. Likewise, with the garlic. Due to the extremely windy conditions I was unable to effectively start a spray program to squelch them and thus they got a foot hold into the garden. With extreme diligence I have turned the corner on them. They are a formidable adversary.

I must say even with all the challenges the garden is doing quite fine even though there were some real setbacks. As I say if agriculture was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Follows is a list of what I am growing, please email as to availability and prices. Chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, okra, tomatoes, chilies (several varieties), eggplant, butternut squash, garlic, beets, bulb onions, cucumbers, summer squash, sweet potatoes, and beans. Also, there is volunteer basil and dill.

June 21, 2018

Good morning, last Sunday’s rain was just a little touch of heaven. It also appeared to be a general rain for the area. I was noticing that the native grass on the property was just showing the signs of drying out and sure enough everything got a nice boost of moisture. I was so glad that there was no hard water with this storm.

Looking ahead Saturday is supposed to hit the century mark. Sunday was too but it looks like there may be a reprieve and Sunday may only get to 99. Somehow, not sure why, but saying 100 makes my gray cells want to flow. NOAA hasn’t mentioned yet but Underground is showing rain chances from Monday on. Ah, forecasts are just that, we will cross our fingers and hope their “crystal ball” is based in reality. A moist summer would be nice or even a bi-weekly 1-inch rain storm would be very welcome.

The garden has shown its appreciation for this “mana from heaven” and the growth has been very nice. The heat and moisture are suiting the okra well, more of the okra is maturing each day. With 5 beds I hope to have plenty for the table, enough for Deb to dehydrate and plenty for me to pickle. Finally, the sweet potatoes have filled their beds and give me hope that the harvest will start in August, some of the butternuts are starting to mature. They seem to me to have made the greatest come back from the hail. I did have half a bed give up the ghost and I had to replant. But the rest has filled in nicely. I have been fighting a little iron chlorosis in the new chard/kale bed. This is because there are mature plants mixed in with seedlings that replaced hail thrashed ones. Due to the shallow roots seedlings need to be watered more frequently than the mature plants and thus the iron problem. This will soon pass. Finally, the strawberries are sending out runners. This should fill the bed in nicely. These should give me enough to extend the bed and with any luck start producing strawberries.

The battle with thrips, spider mites, and cucumber beetles continue. It is a little early but I may be winning.

On soooooo many fronts this has been a n extremely challenging year but I am still holding out hopes that the finish will be nothing bur awesome!!! I have been filling some of my canned goods coffers and hope to be offering several veggies soon. Both the onions and garlic have cured and are being cleaned to be put on the table soon.

June 14, 2018

Good morning,  as it stands NOAA is saying by this weekend we should  be enjoying the remnants of a hurricane that has hit the west coast of Mexico.  with the best chances being Saturday night and Sunday. Remnants give us some of our best rainstorms. They are calm storms that hang with us but leave behind  lots of moisture. Lets hope that this is the case. I have been fortunate to have received moisture but there are so many places in West Texas that haven't. This could possibly end our fire season. We can only hope.

The garden is doing well. I think I may have thwarted the spider mite and thrips infestation. They quite frequently migrate into the garden from the surrounding range land. What with the heat of late their populations can very easily explode. I hope to have dodged this bullet. I haven not experienced the Harlequin bug infestation  that a lot of other folks have although I noticed an increase of cucumber beetles along with a few squash bugs. Spraying for thrips and spider mites should bring these guys into check also. Even with the winter chill we received there seems to be plenty of bugs to go around.

June 7, 2018

Good morning, two weeks on from the hail event and the garden is mostly back to where we were before the event. There are exceptions such as my new chard bed and the second bed of okra. These two beds were hailed back to the stone age and needed to be sown once again. All things considered, I really dodged a bullet. The event set me back but didn’t take me out. Gotta love fabric.

I am starting to get cherry tomatoes; some okra and it looks like some green chilies are maturing. It is time to harvest some serrano peppers. First eggplants will be harvested next week. My second planting of beans are 6 plus inches tall. Some beans in the portion that got hailed look to be making a comeback while the rest of the bed is doing fine. I was planning to pickle some beans but will have to wait until the new bed is being harvested.

The onions and garlic are hanging and should be ready for sale soon what with the hot weather.

May 32, 2018

Good morning, well the rain spell may be ending but BOY HOWDY was last Thursday night’s storm a doozy.  It had that color to it where you think “yup this is going to be a real hail event”. We have been most fortunate to have missed most of the severe hail events. Every dog has its day and Thursday night was our time. I will also say if I was not a huge fan of row covers before this storm I surely am now. With out it I would have bought the farm and would be back to ground zero.

The vast majority of the storm was horizontal. I do not have a wind gauge but the airport recorded 35 mph winds with gusts up to 55. Fortunately for at least half the garden there were enough rocks in place. Not so good for the other half. These beds were all but bush hogged into the ground.

Going into this storm I was prepared as well as I could be. The only thing I would change is maybe have new fabric on all the beds.

It was as intense of a storm as I have ever experienced. I do not think there is anything else I could have done to prepare for it.  Because of the pounding horizontal wind and the driving hail. No bed went unscathed. Those beds that were uncovered by the wind were chewed up by degrees as to what time during the storm they became uncovered. The covered beds instead of chewed up vegetation were bruised by the wind and the hail. I thank my lucky stars that half the garden remained fully covered. It is truly amazing that it did.

After the storm that evening I drudgingly took a tour of the garden. It wasn’t pretty but I had to wait until after deliveries on Friday to do the cleanup.  I remember when I was still working for an employer and was unable to start the cleanup until the weekend, all of that shredded vegetation was a calling card for bugs. I vowed never to do that again.  This time I got everything cleaned up and at least out of the beds so that I could recover the beds. This was as much to protect against bugs but also from the intense sun that was expected to come.  To not have covered would have allowed the scalding sun to sun burn the denuded and healing plants.

The only bed that I see with the most mortality was my new Card/Kale bed. I was hoping that most of the plants would do a “phoenix” thingy, but there is a point that where there can be no recovery. Luckily there are some more chard and kale transplants that can fill in the holes. The old chard bed, that I was a thinking of taking out of commission, was cleaned up and will take up some slack until the new bed heals.

This year has thrown me some real screw balls that have set me back. All of these events if it were not for my complete and total embracement of row covers, I would have been destroyed and left to start over completely from scratch. What an amazing tool and invention. In the past I have thought I could garden with out it, and that it really helps level the playing field. As the weather in far West Texas gets more flippant I am not sure that I could garden without it.

Please place your orders and I will fill them as best I can. I expect to have this event with Ut most haste become only a small image in my rear-view mirror!!

May 24, 2018

Good morning, how wonderful to get .91 of an inch of rain last week and then this past 

Tuesday night get another .41. Then again on Wednesday night another .82. I am beginning to see some greening on the property and especially on the right of ways. It always seems every spring that it will never be green again. Looks like chances for rain continue for a couple more days, then the heat returns with a vengeance. Weather underground has triple digits for most of next week. Not looking for that but it is approaching June and it is notoriously HOT! This too will pass. With any luck the heat will pull in rain from the gulf or Mexico. Everyone limit time outside and drink lots of water!!

I did purchase a shade cloth to erect over one of my Tomato beds. Instead of just laying it over the bed, I plan to suspend it on “T” posts and wire. My thoughts are with shade and an area for air movement, the temperature can be kept bellow 100.  Temperatures above 95 force the toms into dormancy. Temperatures much above 100 can even cause flowers to abort and in worst cases fruit to abort too. This is what I experienced in 2011 with my Arkansas Traveler (indeterminate) tomatoes. I was strictly watering by hand, a thing of the past since I now have a drip system. The last couple of summers the tomatoes have completely stopped due to excess heat, it will be interesting to see how the shade cloth performs. I do plan to have a thermometer under the shade cloth and one not, so I can compare the difference. If June is true to form there will be high heat and low humidity so there should be a noticeable difference between the two.

Speaking of drip systems, they can be very useful to re hydrate wilted squash. With excess heat the evaporation/transpiration rate is too great for the squash even if the soil is moist. I like to turn it on for them so that they do not wilt so badly. I have experienced sun burn on the plants where the leaves have completely wilted. In worst case scenarios I will place some fabric over them. This appears to help boost humidity and leaf turgidity.

The garlic is harvested and curing, I have some volunteer garlic that will be in bags, bulb onion tops are falling over so this harvest will be starting very soon. Not so pleased with the bulb sizes, they are smaller than last year. This reflects how dry it has been, even with them being mulched and dripped on a regular basis. There are a lot of okra blooms so this harvest will begin soon. Chilies didn’t get clobbered with aphids like they did last year and there is an abundance of Big Jim’s sizing up. Tomatoes are covered in fruit. Most likely the cherries will ripen the quickest.  Sweet potatoes are sending out runners. Lots of butternut squash sizing up, hope for the first harvest in June. Pleased with my spring parsnips, they seem to be happy. I am really curious as to how big they will be come December. Might need a backhoe to harvest them. I planted the second bed of beans so soon there should be plenty of beans for market and to pickle too. Peas pretty much have stopped blooming and the last peas will be harvested within the next week or so. The cucumber harvest has begun and the summer squash are cruising right along.

It is amazing what a little bit of rain can do. Life is good.

may 17, 2018

Good morning, it always seems that when the chance for rain, especially this time of year, is high it usually is  pie in the sky. Although the last time we had  high percentages and we got some, but a lot of other folks didn’t. This seems to be true even during decent rain events, we may or may not get a lot and places less than a mile away may be growing gills or just knocked down the dust. There has been many a time where town is being hammered and the closer we get to the house there is nothing. Thunder clouds are very interesting.

As always in these events during the spring, my guard is always up due to the ever-present chance of hard water. Not many weather events in West Texas make me cringe,  but hail makes me feel so vulnerable.

I make a point of covering everything. This time of year, the okra still short, is not beyond covering.

Hail size doesn’t matter, it is all about volume and duration. With covering, my fingers are crossed for low volume and short duration. The fabric doesn’t stop all the hail, but it is my hope that it slows the decent and the plants are bruised as opposed to eviscerated.

As I was watching the path of Mondays storm I paid very close attention as to the direction it was coming from. It was coming from the SW. This is the direction when there is hail, if we get rain it WILL have hail too.

It was a few years back and there was a storm raging from the SW. Because I could see its approach I was able to cover all the garden. This storm was accompanied with some very strong wind. It felt like the storm was riding the surface of the ground. I felt I had enough rocks on all the fabric, but it became apparent that I was lacking with my summer squash bed. The wind was strong enough to lift the fabric and nearly through it out of the garden with several rocks tangled in the fabric. My squash bed had two rows of squash that ran east and west. After the wind the hail was not far behind. Due to the angle of the wind, the south row of squash was decimated. Fortunately, the detritus covered the northern row and was minimally harmed from the hail.

There have been other storms from the SW, but this was the worst. For some reason, knock on wood, storms from the NW tend to, regarding hail, miss us and only give us rain. Many of a NW storm has left the town in a pile of confetti, broken windows and damaged roofs.

We are half way through May, it looks like there is another month and a half of hail season. The rain is good, but I feel so helpless in the middle of a hail storm. My fingers are crossed that the Alpine area misses the devastating hail of the recent past. Ah yes, this too will pass.

I keep expecting to see cucumbers begin to ripen, but to no avail. Although with the high heat of last week, I am glad that there was none to harvest. Heat will make them bitter, but this is easy to remedy when preparing them to eat. I will hold off on these details until there is another bittering spell. I expect okra by the first of June. The eggplants should be blooming within the week. Jalapenos, chilies and poblanos have set. The garlic harvest has started and finally getting tomatoes to set. My little test plot of parsnips appears to be doing fine. It was nice to see more than 75% emergence. Now it will be interesting to see how big these puppies get before harvesting next December/January. My strawberry bed seems to be happy. It is with hopes that they put out runners so that I can expand the bed. Maybe I might have enough for sale in the future.

All is doing well as long as the hard water stays away.