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!

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!

We haven’t seen any good rain around here in quite a while and the veggies are showing it. I got my water bill for last month, $100 just to keep everything alive. I hope we get some rain soon!!

Anyway enough cry babying , With the drought still on we do have some stuff coming in, although not as much as we would like.

Green Beans

The green beans are doing good, not gangbusters but good enough. We picked two gallon sized buckets full last week, gave some to my dad and cooked some up for supper one night, we also froze a couple bags for later.  Like I said there are enough for us for now, it would work better with rain though!

Bucket of Green Beans

Yellow Zucchini

The squash vines are starting to show some signs of life, they have been slow to get a good start. There are getting to be a foot or two tall and making fruit, so far just the yellow zucchini, that’s ok though, the green zucchini and the crook neck squash are starting to poke thru. Patience is what we need, along with alot of rain!  My other question is , why do the weeds do so well in these condition ! hehehe

Yellow Zucchini

Cucumbers

The cucumbers took a hit at the beginning when the chickens scratched them up, but with some fencing and stakes , that’s not a problem now!  the cukes are a little slow right now too, all we can do is keep the water going and hope for the best. I did see a ray of hope the other day though!

One lone cuke

Well I hope the weather is better in your neck of the woods!

Til next time, garden away!

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.

What do you do on a rainy and cold, 41degrees cold, January day??  You whip out the seed catalogs that’s what!

With a steady rain this morning and the cold temps, nobody wanted to get out today, luckily we fixed the fence we needed to yesterday when it was sunny and nice!

So today on this cold blustery day, I start the annual seed selecting ritual.

Cold January day

Looking through these seed catalogs reminds me of one thing, I don’t have near enough money as I do want for new seeds to try, so what ya gonna do?   Guess i’ll just get the ones I can afford and hope have way more money next year!

Seed Catalogs

The Catalog Review!

As usual Johnny’s Selected Seeds has the deluxe catalog, 205 pages of full color seedy goodness, they never fail to impress. Johnny’s has an awesome website too. I have ordered from Johnny’s in the past and  have never had an issue .

Pinetree Garden Seeds has a nice catalog , not as glossy and large as Johnny’s, but still chock full of seeds, info and tools.  One thing I like about them , they have sections of ethnic and region seeds for example French, Asian and Latin American.  They also have some seeds you don’t see in other catalogs, tobacco for one.

Willhite Seed Inc. is a Texas seed company out of Poolville, Texas. They have a well laid out catalog in full glossy color, they arent as big as Johnny’s or Burpee but they have what looks like the largest selection of watermelon varieties I have seen, along with several different sweet potato varieties.

Burpee has another very nice catalog, but then again, they have been around forever, they know how to do this stuff.  With 146 pages of stunning color photos, you will love this one, I know I do!

So there you have it, my list is long and expensive at this point, I will narrow it down soon and place my order, Can’t wait for it to warm up and the gardening can begin!

There are several other catalog that I order from, but they haven’t arrived yet…stay tuned!

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!

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!!