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.

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!

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.

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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Looks like some pickled green tomatoes are in my future! Last week a pretty good freeze came thru our area and wiped out the tomatoes, yes the fall tomatoes that were looking real nice!!  So it goes in South East Texas, just when you think its gonna stay in the 60′s …bammm a freeze rolls thru!

On the bright side, at least we knew it was coming and were able to pull them in time.  My wife Cathy was able to get out and pick them the Wednesday before Thanksgiving!

Green Tomatoes

Most of these were about racket ball size, about ten or so were baseball size, we fried those up along with some of our purple hull peas for dinner one night….good eatin Aunt Bea!

The Bigger Ones

So like I said looks like some chow chow or some other good stuff coming our way,   I sure can’t wait to get a green house so I can extend some grow time around here!

Well that’s it for now, another dip into the freezing range expected tonight, gotta go wrap some pipes up, stay warm ya’ll!

The Cabbage has taken off and is growing like gangbusters, it hasn’t started forming heads yet but looks like its coming soon.  I planted green and red cabbage , the green looks like it has just a little more uumph than the red cabbage, but the red is coming along too.

Green Cabbage

We just mulched the beds with some pine needles from the front yard, tryin to keep some of the water where the plants can get too it, our drought still remains in effect, hopefully we will get some rain this weekend!

The whole bed o' Cabbage

Those are the red cabbage in the middle of these beds, as you can see they are just a little slower than the green. Behind that is the Brussells Sprouts, they are looking good too!  We have another bed of those as well.

2nd Bed Of Sprouts!

The ducks like these too, that’s what happened to the front left plant there, looks like it will make a full recovery. We also hung the bird / deer netting up around both beds last weekend , for just such issues!

Tomatoes

The tomatoes are still holding on, we had some cool temps last week, down in the mid 30′s. So far the tomatoes are still looking peppy, maybe the daytime temps in the 70′s are keeping the growing, going!

Tomatoes Still Holding On!

Hopefully they will get ripe, but if not we’ll make some relish or chow-chow, maybe even some fried green tomatoes.

I hope your sstuff is working ok, leave a comment and tell me about it, love to hear from ya!

Until then, Take it Easy

I Wrote last time about the fall garden stuff being overall not that good, as I look back though it is doing as good as it can with the drought and all. Not to mention that I forgot about the tomatoes that were looking fairly good, when you keep the chickens off of them.

Fall Tomatoes

More Tomatoes

The plants look like they are growing just a little slower than they would in the spring, but they are chugging along, and they are loaded with blossoms!

Blossoms

The cabbage and brussels sprouts are growing well , along with the last of the peppers that were planted in the spring.

We also have a pecan tree as well as several wild persimmon trees that grow around here that are getting ripe and ready.

The pecan has started to look alot better from seasons past, I started a  fertilzer treatment this year and it made quite a few more nuts, and they started dropping this week.

Pecans

What can you say about the persimmons, they are a wild variety , so they put out a large crop darn near every year, but don’t try em till they are completely ripe….its an awful dreadful fruit until then hehehehe.

Persimmons

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.

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!