The one thing that stands the Texas heat and laughs is the Okra, when all else has shriveled and wilted the okra keeps on chugging. It has been way hot this last week and no real rain for about three weeks so everything is mighty dry, all except for the you know what…that’s right, the okra. it is just starting to really churn out the pods like mad, we are getting about 2 five gallon buckets a day now!  OK, OK I might have over done it this year on the okra, with three rows of about 50 feet each, but we all like it around here, fried, in gumbo, pickled, heck you name it we like it,  and our friends like it to, so it doesn’t go to waste!  And if we don’t eat it all the pigs and goats like it too, they get it raw though!  hehehe …

Yea so I over did it but using the Earthway Garden Seeder, over seeding is a breeze lol! So next year maybe i’ll cut it down to two rows, or maybe not!

Okra Rows

In this picture you can see down the length of the rows, I’m about to the end of the rows, for some reason the three plants on each row are a little shorter, must have gotten a slow start.

The okra plant is in the hibiscus family and they have a stunning pale yellow flower with a dark purple ring at the base of the petal, they bloom mostly in the morning.

After a day the blossom shrivels and falls off leaving a small green nub, This is the beginning of the seed pod, the edible part!

Okra Pods

In this photo you can see the maturing pods as well as the flower that has closed up and will fall off soon.  The pods will keep forming until the frost gets the plant, or you let them just go to seed, more for next year!!

Watermelon, another heat lover!

Just a quick note on the watermelon, it digs the heat too, I you can keep the chickens off of them!

Watermelon with chicken scratches!

Well that’s it for now, we’ve been busy with the garden and the canning lately, and the fall garden starts soon, I’ll keep you posted.

see ya soon

Well the vegetables have been coming in for a month or so now and I wanted you to see the laod of good stuff we have!

The Veggies

Here is a rack of stuff we picked from the garden, this is just a small portion of the jackpot. We have some green tomatoes, cucumbers, strait and crook neck yellow squash, zucchini , jalapeno and banana peppers,  green bell peppers and one lone butter nut squash that my nephew  picked , it wasn’t ready , but he couldn’t help himself!

Green Tomatoes

The tomatoes didn’t get to ripen all the way due to a chicken attack on them, so we had to salvage what we could. These tomatoes will give up their existence to make some chow cow, fried green tomatoes and relish, along with a wonderful salsa my wife made the other day …it was delish!

More Veggies

Here is just the up close of the other veggies, the cucumbers are doing well on the trellis system and the squash is really rolling too. The butternuts have a few more weeks to develop and there are some acorn squash out there waiting for the right time to pick. The peppers are coming in hot and heavy, get it? hehehe  We have a mess of Jalapeno and about twice that in banana peppers , we pickled several quarts of those, just like a major sandwich chain makes…you know the one, its named after mass transit!  Anyway they are good eatin, if I do say so myself.

Squash and Zuccini

And here is a close up of the squash and zucchini, these summer squash have really done better than I expected so we have frozen alot of it, along with making pickles out of the cucumbers and some jalapeno jelly and and a batch of basil/apple jelly.

The peas have really come on strong, we went out the other evening and with about 40 minuted of picking, we had a large utility bucket full, it’s about a bushel or so! Check it!

Bucket Full Of Purple Hulls.

And it don’t look they are stopping anytime soon!  We have Vacuum Sealed quite a few bags already. If you don’t have a food saver sealer or similar product, shell out the cash, its well worth it.

Anyway , like I said we have picked and shelled peas until were purple in the fingers..lol  couldn’t resist!

Cucumber Trellis

I set up two of these this year, one for the slicing cucumbers, and one for the pickling cukes!

The slicers have got a jump start on the others since the chickens got in the garden and scratched the picklers to death, they had to be replanted …dang chickens!

Cucumber Trellis

As you can see the slicers are on the left in this photo, and they have really shot up the trellis, which I made out of  4″x4″ goat wire and an old gate.

Pickling Cucumbers

This one is last years model, it is one 16 ft piece of cattle panel, bent into a gentle arc, works great, if you can keep the chickens off the seedling.

The Cukes are starting to get to a good size and I have picked a few already, they should start cranking out soon.

Well as I write this a well needed rain shower has started up, with lightning, so I’ll Send this on up to the interwebs for your viewing pleasure.

Good Growing to you!

The Purple hulls have really taken off in the last two weeks, we have pea pods everywhere!

I planted this patch with the Earthway Seeder, and after some tinkering I got the seed plates set just right. It didn’t take anytime for the peas to sprout and start growing, even with the rain deficit we are currently in.  And with a light application of 13-13-13 all purpose fertilizer, I know, I ran outta compost on the tomatoes earlier and I don’t have enough made up yet!  Maybe next time huh?, they are really greening up and growing up!

Anyway here is a before and after view of the pea patch, for your viewing pleasure!

Pea Patch Before.

Pea Patch After.

These pics are around three weeks apart, there are flowers all over and small to medium pods on most of the plants.  The weeds aren’t too bad , I tried to keep up but it just gets ahead of ya!

Note to self : next time space the rows better for easier cultivating!!

Anyway, enough about my laziness, I did find a few pods that were pretty good size.

Pea Pods

Again, don’t mind those weeds!

So i’m lookin forward to some purple hulls in a few more weeks!

The okra is coming along slowy but sure, it was also planted with the Earthway, and they went in very uniformly.  Looks like a pro planted it !

Okra Rows

I did leave the rows spaced so I could run the tiller through them, at least until they get up a little taller and can choke the weeds out themselves.

So there ya have it, we have been awful busy, but it looks like it’s gonna pay off soon!

Again thank for stopping by and we’ll see ya next time!

Wow! , I can’t believe it’s May already, we have been too busy around here.  With so much to do I have neglected updates to the blog, I hope you can forgive me?!  Lemme run down a few things that have gone on since last we spoke.

We have had another dairy calf born, SweetLily is her name!

Newest Calf At The Farm

We had a litter of pigs born, as well as picked up a Large Black Boar to breed back to the mama pig.

Fightin' for the milk

Large Black Hog

Ok Ok enough of the farm animals, if you want more check out my other blog here!  Now on to the veggies!

After the tillage and bed preps , using the Earthway Seeder , I planted a large section of purple hull peas and they are coming along really nice.

Purple Hull Peas

The Earthway seeder is nice, but it does take a bit of adjustment to get it working at it best, and I’m still learning the ins and outs of it!

We also planted around 20 or so tomato plants, mostly Celebrity, a few Arkansas Travelers, and three Yellow Pear… If you haven’t tried these little wonders, I highly recommend them , sweet and delicious with just a hint on acidity….ummmm ummmm love em!

Celebrity Tomato Plant

It was getting late so i couldn’t get a good picture of the whole bunch of em , next post maybe!

Carrot Bunch

Pulled up a few carrots that we planted late fall last year, My wife loves em, I’m not a raw carrot person, but we did slice up a few and drop em in a jar of pickled Jalapenos… now that’s a treat!

We also have the cucumbers out and ready to run up the trellises , also the  zucchini and yellow summer squash is in the ground and growing along with some purple potatoes and Yukon Golds.

Got some corn planted too, but again the Earthway Seeder was hit or miss, along with the fact that my step-daughter was helping me…  Thanks Julie  hehehehe

oh tea, and I’m trying some Diakon Radish to make into some Kimchi later!  I’ll let you know how that goes too.

So that’s the update for now, I’ll keep ya posted…stay tuned!

I picked one of these up at our local feed store the other day and I thought I would share the experience with ya’ll.

Assembly

It was pretty easy to put this together, it involved about 4 bolts with nuts,  a pin and a few wing nuts, I had it together in about ten minutes, and that included finding the tools.

Tools And Seed Plates

Here you can see the tools needed to put the seeder together, 1/2 inch and 7/16 inch wrench and a cresent wrench, thats it, very simple !  The seed plates in the picture are different sizes to plant the different seeds, there are 6 altogether , you can also purchase other sized seed plate to handle any possible seed you could want.

Still In The Box

Here is the box, to give you an idea of the size, 4 cubic ft bag of humus for reference!

Assembling The Seeder

The seeder comes partly assembled in the box, all you have to put on is the rear wheel, the handle and the row spacer, in the photo above I have the wheel on and I’m about to add the handle, you can see that in the left side of the photo.

The handle goes on with 4 nuts and bolts , its that easy , the row marker goes on with a pin and cotter key so it can move freely, very simple design.  Like I said it took maybe ten minutes total.

Complete Earthway Seeder

There is also a black plastic clip that the row marker folds up and tucks out of the way in, it just clips on the the handle , it doesn’t hold the marker very well at all, you may have to rig something if you want it to stay there when your done seeding.

Well there you have it , in ten minutes a time and back saving device for the serious gardener, next time a review of the seeder in action, and yes it does have some pros and cons, but i’ll let you know about ‘em soon, so stay tuned!

Ok folks, here it is, my homemade seed starting rack!   I’m going to use this to  get a little head start on my vegetable seeds this year. I tried to start some last year but it just wasn’t enough light is the house with out some serious lighting backup.  I think I have that problem solved this year, take a look.

The Parts

Wire baking Rack

We had this one already, They run about $40 at the Sam’s club, the good part about these is that the shelves are adjustable. There is also a larger rack that runs about $90 , if you need more capacity.

Fluorescent Shop Lights

I got these two shop light fixtures at home depot for $9 apiece, The rack has a total of 4 shelves so if you wanted to you could add four more lights for a total of three actual growing shelves, but for know I’m starting with one.

Rigging The Lights

The set up is pretty easy, the lights have some chain included with the, you just have to get the lights centered like you like them and hook the chain to the fixture and then the shelf.  I used two fixtures for the shelf for more light, but you could use just one fixture per shelf need be.  Once the lights are connected you’ll need to adjust the shelves so there is very little clearance from the top of your seed pots and the light base, you’ll need to adjust the light distance as the plants grow, but the closer the better, this keeps the plants from getting too leggy.

Final Configuration

Well here she is, for about 15 minutes of work and around $70 I put this lighted seed starting rack together, it should last a long time since it will be indoors for most of its useful life. I have a few flats of seeds ready to go, so that will be another post, I don’t have the photos ready yet hehehe.

If you needed to you could rig the shelf unit with some sheet plastic for a mini green house set up, I used this set up since it will be in the house where the temps are good but the light isn’t.

Well thats it, I’ll keep you updated on how it works, I potted up some roma tomatoes and some  Jalepeno and sweet banana pepper seeds for the first batch and we’ll see how they work!

Good luck with your gardening!!

Some Ideas For Your Spring Garden Preparations.

Here in my zone, it won’t be long until the cold weather goes away for a while, and will be replaced with the scorching temps that Southeast Texas is known for. In between those two extremes is the three week period known as Spring, when fair weather and sunshine prevail.

Until then the time is nye to make the preps for the long gardening season ahead. So here are some ideas to get you jump started.  Oh and If your are still under the 6 week sentence of  Punxsutawny Phil, adjust you times accordingly.

1. Order Some Seeds!

Get your seed catalogs out and order your new crops, get the beans, get the lettuce, get the melons , just get something! Also make sure you get the right crops for the right season!  There is no way I can grow lettuce  anytime after June in my area, its just way to hot.

2. Prepare the Planting Beds.

No matter if you till , or follow the no till, lasagna methods of bed prep, now is the time to start. I have loads of unraked leaves that haven’t made it to the compost pile yet, If you till, now is the time to work them in to the soil, They need time to break down properly.

Set up some raised beds, I have used concrete blocks landscape timbers, old tires, the possibilities are endless.  Also set up any fencing to keep the pests and varmints out! Bird netting too, don’t forget the bird netting! Its a life saver.

3. Start Some Seeds!

When the seeds you ordered come in, or the seeds you saved from last years garden, you did save some seeds didn’t you? You’ll need to start the seeds. Some plants do better being direct seeded, others do better with a head start, tomatoes are one example.

You can use the “Mini-Greenhouse”  kits you get at the box stores, or if you have a florescent light , and some space you can make a better homemade set up…Look for my post on this coming soon!  Anyway, use some loose seed starting soil and get to it, In five to fifteen days the seeds will begin to sprout, keep the grow light close to the seedlings so they don’t get to leggy!

Before you plant the seedlings, let them acclimate outside for a few days, wait till the weather will cooperate, this will keep the new tender plants from getting “weather shock”.

Well I hope these ideas get you started on the way to a great garden this year, lemme know what you get planted when the time comes, I’ll keep ya’ll up to date too!

And as always , thanks for stopping by!

We have had some pretty cool temps around here for the last month, also alot of rain too. Everything is one big, cold, mud puddle so doing anything around the garden has been difficult.  Today it warmed up to around 50 and the sun was out so I decided to dig up the Horseradish , which is better after a frost, we have had at least six in the last 2 weeks. I will grate this up later when I get a chance , I just wanted to get it out of the ground today since it was so nice outside. So without further delay here are the pixs!

Horseradish Ready for Harvest

Here is the plant about to be dug out, it looks pretty big from the top.

Horseradish Dug Up

Here I have chopped the tops off and dug it out, it was down pretty deep, there are alot of side shoots which will start new plants. I have to tell you that as I’m digging this out the smell is awesome, like really sweet horseradish sauce!

Horseradish Cleaned

Here I have hosed off most of the dirt and it looks good, there is one main root and a pretty good side root, I’ll grate this up later tonight and let you Know how it turns out!

And Have a good New Year BTW!!

The last three tomatoes of the season have turned red, and we’ll miss the great taste of a red, vine ripe summer tomato, oh well only 5 months till spring!

Now to clean out this area for the next round, or maybe I’ll let this bed sit for a while with a thick layer of compost.

First Sprouts Of The Fall/Winter Garden

So thanks to the extra mild temps we have had these last couple weeks, most of the stuff we direct seeded into the raised beds has started to sprout!

We seeded:

• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Oriental Cabbage
• Regular Cabbage
• Carrots
• Red and Yellow  Onions
• Soft Neck Garlic
• Beets
• Radishes

I’m trying to figure out my macro settings on the camera , so maybe soon I can get some better pics for ya’ll.

Until then Enjoy the Fall weather, it’s awesome!!!