First off , let me apologize for the lack of posts, it’s been a wild run the last few months. I changed jobs back in October, and the everlasting drought made it difficult to have anything to write about…or time to write it.   I hope that will change soon!

But with that said let’s get to it shall we?!

Compost Fuel

The guys at the courthouse were kind enough to let me take about 20 bags of leaves that they raked up, I jumped on the chance to bring them home for compost, and to work a bunch into the soil right now, that will give them time to break down and give a much needed shot of organic material back into the soil.

There were about 20 bags total , I shared with some other fella that wanted some!

I need to get the compost pile rolling again, It’s just a matter of some time to get it all together!

The Poor Cucumber Patch!

I have really let things get away from me in the cucumber patch, but like everything else, when I get a weekend free , It will look better.  This one isn’t so bad , just overgrown.

All my trellis’s are still in place it just needs some TLC!

Look at the overgrown mess!

This is the before Pic!

Oh well, can’t wait for the Spring time greenness !

And finally, the rain! We have been lucky the last few months, rain has come back in a big way!

Just last week we got around three to five inches , depending on whose rain gauge you believe.

We have so much rain lately our pond is almost full again!!!

Damn Near Full!

Back Pasture that mighty wet!

Well there you have it, Thanks for sticking around, If you’re still there that is!  Hope to see you as the weather gets better, should be a good year!

We have not seen any real rain in I don’t know how many months, A check of the NOAA web site says were are in exceptional drought territory and not looking good for precip until possibly next year sometime!  Whats a farmer to do?

Well this one is gonna hunker down and wait for it! , It will rain again I have no doubt, Its just when and how much patience do you have?  I have alot!

Just a Visual reminder .

This is circa 2007 , nice and green

Same pasture maybe 2008

Now fast forward to 2011 and take a look at the same pasture, brown , dry and brittle.  I’m afraid that the cows just walking across it will cause a spark and set the whole county ablaze!!

Look at this moon scape!

Same pasture, different angle! Not any better.

So there you have it, that’s why we are waiting for the rains to come back for a fall garden!

Pulled up some radishes this morning, radishes are the instant gratification of the garden world! These are crisp and delicious, gonna be replanting these every week or so.  We have the White Icicle and the Red Radish in these photos.

Other News

The green peas, onions and garlic are all chugging along as well as can be in this drought.  The cucumbers are coming up , I planted a second set to extend my harvest a little longer, we did gangbusters on the cukes last season!

So that’s it for now, it’s starting to get busy around here.

We spent most of the day last Saturday planting the tomato seedlings we started back in January, It took most of the day!  There were 72 in all plus two store bought yellow pear plants, and it sure got hot out there for late March. We also planted the chiles we had ready , also two sets of store bought Jalepeno peppers, our jalepenos didn’t sprout this time.

Once we got into a pattern it went much quicker, I would dig the holes while Cathy and my mom would drop in the seedling and back fill, we swapped out every now and then.

I’m keeping the water going pretty hard for the first two weeks until they get a good start , then i will back it down a little, and hope we get some rain!

Right now the pics of the plants aren’t that good since they are planted so deep but here are a few!

So now I need to start a few more for the second go round later in June, keeps us in tomatoes all summer long! Yay!

Once they fet a little taller I’ll pile a bunch of mulch around them and we should be set for the summer!

Summer Squash coming up.

On another garden note the summer squash are coming up, we direct seeded yellow and green zucchini , some strait neck yellow and some crook neck squash. They are all poking thru and getting ready to take off.

Well there it is for today, everything else is putting along, the corn had a catastrophe, I think squirrels got to it and pulled up most of the seedlings, so that will be a replanting next project this weekend. Anyone eat squirrel? I should have a bumper crop soon, lol, not!

Anyway , I’ll keep ya posted!

Ok so they are still small corn plants, they are corn none the less!  Came up in six days on the money!  Take a look!

Here is the row view!

A close up

Well there ya go, more later this week, been busy setting up the drip irrigation!

Corn Planting

After last week visiting Cathy’s family in San Angelo, we had to bring it on home to plant some corn!

We seeded two varieties , some yellow flint and Funk’s G90 both Available at New Waverly Feed and Farm supply, ask for Kim, she’s the boss!  Anyway we got the trusty seeder and the tiller out and got to planting.  Its only been a week and a few are starting to come up , but the lack of water may be slowing it down. We haven’t had any rain in a while, so it’s irrigation time…hello water bill!

As they come up , you’ll be the first to read about it ! Stay Tuned!

Other Seedlings in the News!

I posted a while back about the seedlings we started, here is the update on those very same plants. they are going gangbusters, I’m gonna try to get them in the ground this week, since them temps seem to be staying warm enough. Take a look at the tomatoes!

Ok that last pic is Shallots and Elephant Garlic that I have in a container as a little experiment.

The tomatoes are mostly Roma and San Martzano paste style along with some Bradleys and some yellow variety that I have forgotten the name of.  Also a few different types of Asian chiles for some Kick!

As for the rest of the Garden, it’s coming along, the onions, garlic and peas are  right on track, Keeping up with the weeding is a bear, you know the drill… never enough time to do all that needs to be done.

A while back I wrote about how I work my compost, That was a while back so I thought I would update you all on how its looking. This isn’t the same pile , but the results are the same.

I use the slow method where it just sits for a year or so, some folks turn the pile every week or two, I might turn it every other month or so.  The end result is the same, the dark rich compost,  just a different time frame.   I guess if I gad nothing but time, I might speed up the action.  Well anyway , this is the look after a year of breakdown.

You may have also noticed I have a newer cage to put the compost pile in, Its a hog pane wrapped into a cylinder and secured with some think wire, works better than the other fence material we were using.

Compost Pile Before

More Veggie Seeds Planted

Also got a few more veggies direct seeded in the proper places, the next few photos will be very boring, but they are the “before” in the before and after shots, so just keep that in mind!

In the raised bed section, we have two types of radish, red beets, and some bush type cucumbers.

We also put in two types of vine cucumbers, a slicer and a pickling type, we plane to plant a new set every week to keep them coming, the pickles went over real good last year!

These cattle panel trellises work wonders, you can walk right under and pick a bucket load.

We also started tilling up the second big garden this year , we are gonna do alot of corn for the pigs and for us too. No pix of that yet, I was to busy fixing the tiller, I ran over a t-post and busted the shear bolt, had to make a trip to the tractor store.

Well stay tuned, thing are really workin now, lots more to come!

I started a bunch of seedlings around the first week of February inside, they got a slow start, but now that the temps are in the 50′s or better most day they have really started to take off.

I started several different types of tomatoes, Roma’s, Bradley, and San Marzano along with a whole handful of different peppers , jalepeno, thai chile and a few others I can’t remember right now…and I have missplaced my list oops!

Along with two types of dill and other herbs and some marigolds and other flowers to add a little color to the mix.

So overall the whole bunch is looking good, after I put them out in the makeshift coldframe they have really taken off!

There is just no substitute for the good old sunlight and warm temps.

Peaches and Plums.

The peaches and plums are blooming and they look good, hopefully a bumper crop is in store this year!

Stay tuned for more garden goods, thing are really picking up around here.

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Last week we put in some onions and garlic, this week some spinach and swiss chard.  The onions survived the chickens and turkeys uprooting them during the week, I must have replanted them twice over, hopefully they have finally given up on that foolish venture.

Raised bed for spinach and chard

The spinach went into a small raised bed up by the house, my wife Cathy loves Spinach, so we keep it close for her, I think she would eat spinach at every meal if she could. Anyway, we did a few rows of Swiss Chard, rainbow colors of course, in the same bedding area. We wrapped the bed with bird netting so the chickens don’t eat it all.

We also tilled another row and planted two rows of Green Peas (Alaska Variety) so we’ll see how those work. The seeding was a snap with the Earthway Seeder, I’m really starting to get the hang of that thing.

Well stay tuned the planting and seeding continues, oh by the way, the coldframe/seedstarter is working like a champ, I’ll try to post some pix tomorrow, the camera went wonky today so it didn’t get any of the pix I took in there, but believe me the seeds are sprouting like gangbusters!

so until then, keep planting!!

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Well it’s official, the Spring 2011 season has started around here. After the coldest February I can remember we are starting this week with lows in the 40′s and afternoon highs in the low 70′s.  Needless to say the bus has struck around here, and we have started off with a bang!

Of Onions and Tilling!

The first thing I did last Saturday, besides a brake job on my wife’s car, was a little tractor maintenance, I did the 250 Hrs service on the Kubota L5740 changed the oil, lube job etc. After that was done it was off to the tilling, you gotta love a PTO driven tiller, I don’t know how we made it  without one.  Anyhow I started out tilling three rows wide which gave us enough for three rows of red and white onions, a ling row of garlic and a half a row of carrots,  Im trying the seed tape style, they look promising.

Large Garden Area

Here is the garden area I was working on, I’ll have to get out and measure it one day.  This was home to the Okra and Purple Hull Peas last year, so good rotation is a must,  gonna work alot of root crops in this area along with some tomatoes and peppers.  Anyway That will all come later!

the Tillage Begins

As you can see that tiller does wonders, that’s just four passes and already a loose, workable planting bed.  So after that we planted the above mentioned onions and garlic and carrots and everything looks good for the start! Now we just need to have this good weather last a while and things wil be well on the way to a great season!

Cold Frame from Scrap Lumber!

We started a bunch of seeds back two weeks ago and now we have a few sprouting, Since the temps have been so crazy around here I have started all the seeds indoors for now, but soon they will be needing more sun than a couple florescent light can provide!

The answer, a cold frame made from scrap wood and an old sliding shower door, that’s right you heard it and old sliding shower door!  Here , let me demonstrate…

Homemade coldframe

Here look inside and see what I’ve done, it’s just some 1/4 inch plywood nailed together to form a rectangular box with the shower door laid on top.  This isn’t going to be a permanent fixture for us, just enough to keep the cool nights not as cool and get my poor seedling the daylight they need!

Coldframe Interior

On the inside I have a few concrete blocks to soak up some solar energy and also for some shelving. So this took me about thirty minutes to hammer together and it should serve its purpose well enough to give the seedlings a boost, and If another ugly freeze heads back, I’ll bring ‘em all back in!

Well there you have it , the season has started , we look forward to a productive spring, and hope you have one too!