March 7, 2019

Good morning, this past Sunday a strong cold front clobbered Far west Texas. I knew it was coming and I made proper preparations in the garden. All of NOAA's  forecasts up until the event was in motion predicted the temps in the Alpine area to be in the low thirties. A very light freeze.

As I was making final preparations on Sunday evening, I felt a distinct chill to the air. I was feeling at that time that if we only had a 27 degree morning that would be warm.

Mondays low was 24, Tuesdays 21 and Wednesday 30. As always, I get a bit antsy how things made it through the chill. Days prior to the freeze I had sown germinated  summer squash, germinated beans and germinated cucumbers.

Prior to the chill down were several days in the upper 70's and low 80's. This put some welcome warmth into the ground. Unlike the first freeze last fall that was preceded with a very cool rain which very effectively chilled the ground and thus there was very little reserve warmth for the 17 degree morning. Fabric conserves what ever temperature is in the ground and there was no reserve warmth to help plants get through the chill and thus there was plant loss. I digress. Just the opposite happened with this freeze and there was bountiful warmth for all plants to use.

My cucumbers were under one layer of 70 and came through with flying colors. Summer squash was under 2 layers of 19. The seedlings that had emerged had dark colored rocks placed by them. All plants that did not have rocks by them may have expired. A few days of warmth will determine their fate. Whereas the rocked plants have superficial burns and look like they will be fine. On to the beans. a large  part of the bed had 4 layers of 19 while a smaller portion had 2.  The 4 layer section had no burn while there does look like the double  layer part has some "has been's". There were no rocks used in the bean bed. As for all the other plants, they are cool season plants and did very well. My pea plants are fine, it is the flowers that took a hit, once again.

I mentioned that I sowed  germinated seeds. There is a reason for this. let us take a look at a Johnny's Selected Seed catalog. In the catalog it has germination graphs for all the seeds in the catalog. Cucumbers have a range of  61 to 95 with the quickest germination at 86. All seeds have their preset temp at which they will germinate. For seeds to germinate they need moisture and temperature. Proper temperature and no water, the seeds set. improper temperature and moisture, the seeds rot. 

These are genetics and is a safeguard so that it insures that it can propagate. As with all organisms, reproducing itself is the sole purpose. By germinating the seeds it unlocks the temperature switch. Once the switch is off, MOST germinated seeds will grow in less favorable temps. There are three plants that WILL NOT force. They are okra, watermelon, and sweet potato. These plants WILL NOT grow in cooler soils. I do not even try to, that is anymore. Soooo a thermometer that I had stuck in the ground showed the soil temp at 50. Cool but not a game changer. As noted above, the main purpose of plants is to reproduce itself. Once the temperature switch is off they will grow. In the open very slowly, but with fabric, they will flourish. This time of year,  daytime temps are perfect growing weather it is just the night time temps that shut everything down. Fabric allows for the conservation of this daytime heating and makes available for the tender seedlings at night. 

I like to force  summer veggies. I find seeds to be the very best value these days. Especially when you think what bounty ONE seed can add to your table. Forcing, . aka. season extension, is a gamble I am willing to take. With the use of fabric this "gamble" is nearly 100% in your favor and that things will work out in your favor. I did say nearly! But, It needs to be said, you need to ask yourself "am I willing to lose everything and forced to start over?" If you can ask this question and answer without hesitation "yes" , then season extension is a good match for you. It is always a goal to try and have a high summer garden by end of May or early June. This has happened and what joy it is.

Lucky for me the chill down happened at the end of my growth week. harvests are made on Wednesday. The harvest was the best since things got nuked back last fall. This week I did harvest Asian greens, spinach, boc choi, lettuce, green onions, chard, some kale (there appears to be either a rodent or a cut worm nailing plants, leaning towards cutworm), and carrots. There still are sweet potatoes in storage. Please place your orders and I will do my best to fill them.

February 28, 2019

Good morning, it was back in the 60's while in the 4th grade that my Mother introduced me to gardening. Through the years it has always been a constant. Save for a few years in college, I have always had a garden.

 I like to just observe things because I am curious. This has served me well too. This is why while in high school geometry was my favorite class. It helped me  hone what would be "trouble shooting' skills.

Over the course of my life, I have lived in many different places. From living on both coasts and several places in between. This afforded me a living geography lesson. One of the most amazing drives I took several times while living in Kentucky, was driving Interstate Hwy 40. These days I find interstate highway travel boring but as a teenager I was enthralled. Starting in Ky and traveling west it was like a slow motion film of watching the countryside go from dense deciduous forests, to tall grass prairies, followed by short grass prairies, and then climbing into the mountains just to the east of Albaquerque, NM pine forests. This was a living example of the significance of the 100th meridian. To the east wetter and acidic soils, to the west drier and alkaline soils. Little did I know that just this simple action has helped me to interpret gardening books from any location in the country to where ever I lived.

Of course, like even with cookbooks, by following these gardening books you will be successful. By being  observant you can  adapt them to your location. 

Most gardening books are written in wetter climes, This fact alone makes it difficult to adapt them to the Big Bend of Tx.. Besides being drier, our gardening seasons are also different that the rest of the country. Case in point, what are considered spring veggies in the rest of the country do very poorly because we really do not have a protracted spring like elsewhere. Once we get through winter (usually half way through February) the temperatures steadily and with haste climb. Our spring is usually a month and a half long. Then it turns to extreme winds with May and June being a blast furnace approaching the century mark with single digit humidity. This can be formidable for first time arid land gardeners. This has been where my trouble shooting skills have paid off. Trial and error along with making notes of what works and tweeking those things that have potential. 

Gardening in far west Texas is difficult to master. No other place I have ever lived have I experienced  the extremes that we have. Difficult does not mean impossible. Learning how to adapt affords greater success. There are many adaptions I have made. It is my intent to share these successes for anyone so that they can then tweek them for their specific garden. Every garden is different. I have no trade secrets and since the time  my Mother gave me the gardening bug, I hope to inspire other would be gardeners. There is no reason to continually "reinvent the wheel". My only request is to pass on anything  that a person may have discovered and works well for them. We are all in this together.

Such joy to see many blooms on the peas. One of our recent cold spells of 18 degrees burned all the blooms. I am optimistic that there will be peas very soon. spring planting is coming along with bot zucchini and cucumbers up. Lettuce seedling and chard seedlings are ready to transplant. Tomatoes are ready for the garden. It is a wonderful time pf year. with more "bounty" i should be able to fill all orders.

February 21, 2019

Good morning, it has been a few years back that I had a fellow gardener ask me if using fabric was cost effective. Without hesitation I said yes!!! Fabric allows me to easily garden year round here in Alpine. Most years I might not need to use it, but it makes gardening a lot easier and as we get more extreme weather events it is looking like I may not be able to garden without..

A few examples: I can start summer veggies much earlier. The first tomatoes are planted by the middle of February with the remainder of the summer veggies less okra and sweet potatoes by the first week in March. The fabric is a great excluding barrier that keeps out insect pest. Tomato pin worm and horn worms are no longer a problem that is as long as the fabric is in tact. The fabric is good for retaining moisture and with the use of mulch the wet dry cycles are nearly eliminated. Depending on the thickness of the fabric there is a 4 to 8 degree frost protection per layer. Fabric is great for hail protection. I have found 2 layers of my lighter fabric will repel decent sized hail if 2 layers are used. 2 layers also works best in wind too. Fabric helps keep greens nice and tender from the wind. Sun scald on larger fruits like eggplant tomatoes and peppers is eliminated. West Texas has too much sun and I have never seen any light deprivation even with the heavy fabric (AG 70, excludes 70% of the light). I have grown broccoli full term from September to April with no ill effects. The fabric makes starting mass plantings of seeds or seedlings real easy by laying the fabric directly on the planted bed. During early spring plantings I mulch after the seeds and plants are established. Mulching before has a tendency to cool the soil. The fabric is great for retaining warmth or cool. It does not generate warmth.

This past year the fabric paid for itself with 2 events. One at the beginning of the season and the other at the end. At the beginning of the season  there was a huge hail storm that nearly defoliated our large mulberry trees. The hail was driven by 60 to 70 mile an hour wind. It ended up blowing nearly half of the fabric off the beds. There were multiple pounds of rocks to hold the fabric down. A case where most likely nothing was good enough due to the wind. That portion depending how quickly the fabric was blown off was pulverized into the ground, gone. that portion of the garden that remained covered was severely bruised and responded nicely to pruning and fertilizer. The second event happened was at the end of the season. This event was preceded a week earlier with a cool rain (45 degrees). This had the effect of cooling the soil. As mentioned above, fabric maintains temperatures  and does not generate heat. The event was a very strong early cold front that provided a killing freeze of 17 degrees. It is to be noted that MOST veggies are killed if uncovered at 20 degrees. It needs to be noted that this was the first freeze and nothing was hardened off. All uncovered veggies were killed out right. Most of the seedling that I had planted and were not yet fully established bit it also. All established veggies survived but had freezer burn. Her again the fabric performed spectacularly and prevented the total demise of the garden. It is not to say that it limped along through the worst of the winter.

Without fabric year round gardening may be difficult. But is worth every cent. this is where I purchase it. I usually purchase in 100 ft roll  for 70 and 500 ft roll for 19. http://www.environmentalgreenproducts.com/store/agribon-m-9.html   Smaller rolls can be purchased at Amazon

Sadly this last low twenties morning eliminated all of the pea blossoms. Once we get into March the harvest should begin. It looks like going forward is a warming trend. The second planting is looking nice. This week the onions were transplanted. Germinated beans were planted. Soon summer squash,winter squash, and cucumbers. Tomatoes are hardening off and will soon be joining the party. And of course they will all go under fabric!!

Sadly the kohlrabi is done, I do see some Brussels sprouts developing. Spinach.Asian greens, boc choy, lettuce, green onions, turnips, carrots, radishes, chard and kale are maturing nicely. The harvest continues to improve and I am optimistic that I can  fill all orders.

February 14, 2019

Good morning, it is almost hard to believe that we are through  January and half way through February. The time is flying.

I finally got my cold frame back together and the first toms are hardening off. Soon will follow the peppers and eggplants around the first of march. it time to also sow beans, summer squash, cucumbers, parsnips,  and divide and transplant the onions.

I so hope that we do not have any of the unprotectable weather weather  this year. It was quite humbling two events last year. One just as the year started and another just as the summer veggies were finishing. Two events where I am not sure what I could have done different.  When ever some event happens in the garden where outcomes are less than desirable I like to ponder  "what could I have done different?". Both events I had done everything possible and in both cases there almost was total crop failure.  In any case it is full speed ahead and we will deal with anything that comes our way. Fortunately I have lots of seeds.

It was lovely to see the first pea blossoms.  What with the last few very chilly mornings I would be surprised to see blossoms turn into peas. Ah where there are flowers there will soon be fruit.  The second sowing is nearly 8 inches tall. So look forward to pea season. The plan is to be more prompt on spraying and controlling spider mites. This year it is not quite as dry as last year. In dry years there is nothing green except what is in the garden and the mites  and thrips make a beeline. The fabric helps but is not bullet proof. There again we will cross that bridge when we get there. 

One thing I did with the second sowing of peas was to start a few peas in containers inside the house. I wanted to compare direct seeds to transplant. It sure does look like for my July planting that I will do transplants. Peas abhor warm to hot soils. Two years ago I got lucky and planted into a cool rainy spell and got a good take. Not so last year. I will give the transplants and with luck there will be fall peas. It does seem to be very doable it is just figuring out how to make it so. It took me several years to finally figure out how to grow bulb onions. Trial and error along with discovering a garden book almost explicitly told me what I was doing wrong, that changed everything. So it will be so with peas too. Cool season veggies can be a challenge in Texas

The garden continues to grow. Normally winter sowings just sit until warmer weather but this year I am seeing weekly growth and each week is just a little more greens to harvest.If the weather acts like it has most years, we have the worst of winter behind us. Now that we are in mid February the warming will increase and the cold will decrease. Perfect conditions for the fabric to save the daytime warmth for the night time. It is all good.

Please place your orders  and i will do my best to fill them.

February 7, 2019

Good morning,yesterday  it was nice to see the greens in the garden actually grow enough to have a reasonable harvest. After all it is still February. Looking forward there does not appear to be any deep freeze coming out way. I am glad that arctic vortex staid clear of our area.

This weekend I will start hardening off my first tomatoes to go into the garden. It is hard to believe that January is already through.  By the middle of the month the garden season will kick into full gear. Bulb onions will be transplanted, strawberry bed runners will be divided so that. I plan to expand the bed. I did get a little of a preview on size and flavor last summer. The flavor is very good and for ever bearing strawberries they are bigger  than most that I have seen.

With the recent warmer weather I expect the peas to start blooming. Most years I do not try to sow seeds during the winter months because most years those seeds get stunted and mid February sowings out perform. This year all the seeds I have sown are performing nicely. With this I have been able to fill out the greens beds. It also looks like radish's  are ready to harvest and at least in the near future there will also be some turnip greens. I have not divided the greens yet so I am not sure of quantities but I did harvest Asian greens, spinach, kohlrabi, boc choi, carrots and some chard an kale. Please place your orders and I will do my best to fill them.

January 31, 2019

Good morning, it was nice to have that few weeks to get new seedlings established. Looking at what the Midwest and the Northeast are putting up with the last few mornings of subfreezing lows even a low or two down into the teens, we are having a cakewalk. Needless to say the garden has not been growing much. After all it is January.  With luck February will be true to form where the first 2 weeks are cold and then the spring warm will begin. The first toms along with peppers and eggplants are beginning to look nice for out planting.

My experiment of over summering parsnips worked very well. I was afraid that they would get huge. I think a pound and a half was the biggest one. They do develop nice tap roots of which a few have lost a portion. Has nothing to do with rocks. But last springs sowing went well with a very nice germination rate. Well above 80%. parsnips are a long crop to harvest, in some cases over 100 days. They do not germinate in soils much above 80 degrees, or at least I have not had much success at those temps. Parsnips thrive in cold weather and it makes them sweet. This year I will give them their own bed instead of piggy backing in with the okra. It will be interesting to see if it was the okra that controlled their growth. Time will tell.

A lot of the Cole crops (brassicas) like with the parsnips develop their best flavors during the cold part of the year. this is why I like to plant them late summer to early fall. I really missed these dates due to my sprained ankle last fall. I am surprised to see the kohlrabi maturing and it also looks like a few cabbages may also make. Underneath the Brussels sprouts cover I am seeing the first vestiges of sprouts. the plants are not very tall but we will see what they do. Because I plant in the fall, I have noticed a bit of a solstice effect on the brassicas. This triggers elongation as they prepare to bloom. In some cases it makes them woody  like kohlrabi, or the heads become very loose like in cabbage. Save for broccoli I like to have all the brassicas  harvested just as thing start to warm. with my late plantings this will be interesting.

The first sowing of peas are looking good and with luck the harvest will begin by the end of February.

The harvest this week was real low amounts, please place your orders and I will do my best. One real upside the hens are starting to have their combs getting bright red, so there is an uptick in egg production. Spring is around the corner and I am soooo ready.

January 17, 2019

Good morning, It has been a couple weeks now that I clipped the guinea's wings. It has been two weeks that the greens have not been predated.  Looking forward, there is a little bit of a cool down next week. Just not seeing the warning signs of a deep freeze. Harvest quantities are reflecting this.

This week I did harvest some kohlrabi,  a nice amount of lettuce along with some spinach and a good a mount of Asian greens. It is becoming much easier to fill bags.

My first pea bed looks to be on the cusp of blooming, garlic is up about 6 inches, bulb onions are ready for transplanting  in February. Radish's and Turnips are doing nicely. 

I will be expanding my strawberry bed, it looks like they did produce an abundance of runners. It the strawberries do well there is a chance for these to be for sale.

Soon I will do some  succession sowing's of beets and carrots.

It is all starting to look very nice. Just like a plan coming together.

January 3, 2019

Boy Howdy, saying it is a bit of a cool ending of last year and a cool start for the new year is some what of an understatement. Throwing in on top of that a power outage kinda is  topping it off with frosting.

Since Christmas the weather  has not been that conducive to growing. With the Ice I have not been able to check under the fabric. Things have been well hardened off, so with a low of 21 I do not think there will be any veggies lost. Just not too much growth. Presently it is 25 up from a low of 21. Once we have sunrise it will  take awhile for things to thaw and I can see if I have anything to harvest.  

Please place your orders. With luck I will have more than parsnips, sweet potatoes and butternut squash.

I will send an email latter today if this is the case.

I hope that we get all of this out of the system before we go into February. January, most years, is Our coldest month.