The heat and lack of water finally got us, I can’t afford to irrigate and It isn’t helping all that much anyway!

The Spring garden is about done, we have a few cukes left, some watermelons vines and a few sunflowers still kicking but the rest is bone dry!

We did put up a good fight , we got alot of tomatoes , peppers, squash and onions.  The cucumbers didn’t do as well as I hoped, although we did get a couple batches of pickles! So for now mother nature , you win.

This sunflower isn't facing the sun, what the heck?

Bug Update

I found a large grasshopper in the tomatoes, it was black with racing stripes, red and yellow. I thought it was pretty cool looking.  Then I found this one later , it was larger and a whole different color. After a google search I found out this was a lubber grasshopper, they travel in packs and are darn near indestructable.

The adult version!

My knife for scale

If you want to read more see what Wikipedia has to say.

So for now, Im waiting to get the fall garden going, and doin the big rain dance!!

Later

Well it’s mid June and still no rain, the heat around here is breaking records and the tomatoes and squash are still going gangbusters, so is my water bill!

Just a little photo update until it slows down a little around here!

The Veggies

The squash is going pretty strong, it’s a yellow straight neck variety and it is good, also have some green zucchini mixed in there too.

Yellow straight neck squash

More Squash

Onion Seeds

I cut all the seed heads off the onions that bloomed, looks like a lot of onions next year!

Drying the Onion Seed Heads

Cucumbers

After a rocky start with the chickens, the cukes are really growing well, they are moving up the trellises as planned. we still have to keep the chickens out, they don’t stop!

This is the slicing variety Marketmore 76

The pickling cukes, forget the variety.

The Cukes climbing the trellis.

New Additions To The Farm

We had a few new additions to the farm last week, one was a new Jersey Heifer named Roxi and four new chicks hatched this week as well.

The newest addition

The proud mama

The new chixs

So there you have it, been real busy around this joint for the last few weeks!

Stay tuned for more.

Even with the dry conditions, the veggies keep growing. They don’t grow as fast or as big as we would like , but they still grow.

We did get a little rain this last week, but we are way behind so everything is behind the cure. We had a major water bill last month just to keep this stuff going.

The Beets

The beet looked real good, got some nice ones out of this bunch, take a look.

I think this bunch is going to be pickled, along with some of the onions we picked this week.

Peppers And Onions

The onions all started to fall over last week, so I started pulling, well Cathy and I started pulling, we got a few nice ones but most are a little bigger than spring onion size. Still good though.

The peppers are looking good, they love the heat, they almost grow like weeds!

Carrots

The carrots also stayed a little on the small side, most of the looked ok though. we made up for the lack of size by shear numbers!

That’s what we had going on this week, I’m also working on the Whizbang Chicken Plucker, check the story out on the other blog bearded-h.com .

As always, thanks for stopping by!

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.

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.

Hello again,

Well the South Texas heat has finally stopped the relentless assault on us and the rains have returned… we even had a few temps down in the 60′s , you can’t beat that!  So it’s been a busy few weeks around here, we have been horse sitting for a friend of my wife’s, we have moved cattle around to rotate pastures, and the garden work has picked back up.

After the Hornworm Incident last month, I had given up on the tomatoes, but there is one plant that still keeps chugging along.  So we shall see how that goes.  Mostly its been cleanup work, weeding , cutting back the dead stuff, you know how it goes.  We have also been filling up the compost piles, lots of goodies for that endeavor, old hay grass clippings and what not, so now we have two pretty big piles ready for next spring, if everything works as it should!

Now The Garden Plan!

Down here where we live we really don’t get winter. oh yea I hear ya , it gets cool, 40′ s maybe a freeze in January, but over all its more like a hard Fall season…I was stationed in Colorado in The Army, now it gets cold there!!  But that’s all the better for us , with the proper protection , you can garden dang near year round.   Most of your cool season crops just love the mild weather here from October until usually late December, even some root veggies and onions can stay in ground until spring, That is if the cold rainy days don’t get to crazy and it all rots.   So without further delay here’s what I’m planning for this fall season.

• Cabbage – some red and some green
• Carrots – can’t go wrong with carrots
• Onions and Garlic – Two more favorites around here
• Spinach and some Lettuce
• Broccoli – gonna try this again, I never have any luck with good broccoli

And whatever else I have a few extra seeds for , so stay tuned for the next installment now that things have cooled off a bit!

Here it is the end of April and I thought I better get an update put up.   Well with all the rain its a shock that everything didn’t float away.

The Asparagus bed is looking good, I can’t get a picture yet, it all blends into the green grass of the pasture at this point, but soon my faithful minions …soon!

Onion plants

The onions are looking good, they are shooting right up, no bulbs showing yet. Also have some Garlic right behind these.  The garlic is moving right along too, i know i need to get in there a weed. I mulched everything in these beds with some pine needles from the front yard.  Needs another layer before the real heat shows up… it wont be long.

Onions and Garlic

Here is the Garlic photo, I used construction fencing to keep the chickens out, works real good.

You cam also see the spinach in this photo, we have already harvested some spinach from this bed, It was delish!

Horseradish and Potato

This is a Horseradish plant, actually two, the other one is way smaller and is closer to the near side of the planter. On the left side is a purple potato that I planted in there just to see what it would do, guess we see.