Friday Fantasy: Automatic Watering

I posted some water management tips over at the Yard Farm blog the other day, including the recommendation to automate ones watering schedule. I have even been offered to have said system installed by Yard Farm's lovely entrepreneur and gardener extraordinaire, Zach Herigodt. I didn't want the yard all dug up while listing the house, however - and now the fact that we're moving in 2 months (most likely) prevents me from delving into a big project that i'll just be leaving behind.

Onions blooming and falling over, butter lettuce bolting before harvest and peppers very confused.

 The garden suffers.

Letting the Freckles Romain go to seed for saving.

This is one massive drought, and a timer hooked to water to all my gardens at once, with drip lines that are closer together would really help the garden out. As it is, i barely have time to water one garden once a day, much less all three plus the way-too-well draining planters in the front. Serious bolting, seriously bitter lettuce, seriously stunted peppers.

I have worked a few installs with Yard Farm and have gotten some experience with PVC cutting and connecting, so i think i'll be able to do the work for myself in the future. I'll need to rent a trencher, buy some weird pvc glue/poison, and invest in a pvc cutting tool. The drip lines aren't cheap, neither are their connectors or the timer - but i think i know enough about how to install the system that i'll be able to do it myself, saving on the labor to pay a crew to do it for me. (If only i could get Zach's crew to come out to Oregon with me, oh well).  For now, i'll go back to praying for rain and watering whenever i can. The rain barrel is officially empty and i continue to wish that i'd bought a nicer watering wand years ago. Off i go to turn off the drip system and spray about with my thumb at the end of the hose before i head to the gym. It's not the best system, but it's all i have the time for today.

The up side: I got a few peas to eat, and will be saving these heirloom pea seeds for planting at our next homestead.

Rain Rain come and play!!!!

What I've Learned This Winter: Cold Sensitivity in my Crops

This year was really the first real Winter i've had the pleasure to experience in Austin. The past 4 years have been uber mild. Even last year with it's 'NEAR RECORD LOWS' days were nothing to compare with the actual deep, hard freeze we experienced this year for several days. Bitter winds, cold days, even snow! This was a great year for me to sit back and watch the few veggie plants remaining from my Fall/Winter planting to see who would survive the freeze, and who'd wilt in defeat. Last year i covered everything with an insane amount of sheet, tarp and even heat lamps and christmas lights. I had harvested most my goodies this year, though and decided to see what happened to the remaining few. My future homestead will involve easily assembled floating row cover, some cold frames, and maybe even a green house. I need to know which veggies need to be protected, and which can be left on their own. This is what i observed this year:

Broccoli:
Broccoli can take a frost, even a hard one. But it needs to thaw out the next day. Several days of frozen to the bone was more than it could handle. First frost: still perked up. Second frost: frozen, but still edible. After a few days of frozen: wilty, burned, suitable only for compost and chicken feed (the eggs have been SO GOOD lately, btw)

Kale: Kale did great. I have some in raised planters that totally died a sad and uneccessary death. The plants that were in the main bed in the ground are still growing, with some frost burn on the outer leaves. I've read that a frost will make them sweeter. My plants are still oddly tiny, so not much has been harvested for report on that matter. First frost: just fine. Second frost: frozen, and perked back up. After a few days of frozen: plants in the ground: badly frost burned, plants in raised beds: dead and sent to the compost heap.

Cabbage: This one makes me sad. I've never grown a successful cabbage. The snails or aphids always get them. I had one beautiful cabbage head that is no longer beautiful. The chickens were sure stoked. First frost: perked back up. Second frost: wilty and upset, but still alive. After a few days of frost: total mush and frost burned.

Onions and Garlic: The real troopers of the bunch! They're still a bit wind burned, and some of the garlics are still droopy and displeased, but most will be making it through to June. I lost a few little onions, but most are just fine. The multiplying onions are frost burned, but just as vigorous as before and the bulbing onions seem to be back on their way to making bulbs. First frost: fine. Second frost: knocked over and frozen in the wind, but thawable. After several days: frost burned, wind burned, a few melted, most A. OK.

Flowers: Violas rock. Calendula not so much. The violas got some frost bite, but they're well on their way to filling in the gaps. The Calendula, very unfortunately, totally melted. The ones in the ground might spring back, but the planter housed ones are a loss. My soaps and lotions are sad to hear that.

Herbs: Most appear to be coming back. The lemon balm is singed, but has some greenery at the base. The sorrel is filling back in. Both of these were surrounded by multiplying onions that may have helped to insulate. Not sure about the thyme, they were tiny to begin with. My large sage is a little droopy and the rosemary even got some frost bitten leaves. The margoram is a loss, but it was recently planted and pathetic to start with. I think if there had been more snow insulating the plants, more would have survived.

Xeric: The Agave Marginata is not pleased. Frost bitten and stunted. It's had some strange set backs in growth this past year and we may pull it out and replace with the pups it's happy to clone. Smaller pups that had been transplanted melted with the freeze. All the native yuccas and agaves are totally fine (we harvested them a few lots over a while back). Prickly pear: no good, but will probably come back with new pads.

So, that's my report. It's good to know your plants: who can survive and who needs babying. Research and guidelines are great, but first hand evidence is the best. What were your losses and successes this year?

Time for the Fall Garden!

Ha, i think my mom will think THIS post is insane, as it only just warmed up at her home in southern Oregon - and is still dropping in the 40s at night. Oh how i wish for cool nights - but then i wouldn't have eggplants! The weather is really heating up here in Austin. My thai pepper is finally blooming. All the hot peppers are being pretty productive. The pests are out in force, and the cukes are much smaller and less productive. I have to water pretty often, but have lots of cover crop (purple hulled peas) stuffed in between my veggies, so the roots are pretty well shaded and most the plants are still happy despite the heat. It may be hot now, but Autumn is just around the corner - and that means putting in the fall garden. Instead of planting new tomatoes, my plants are healthy enough this year to be cut back and encouraged to produce for a second time. I cut back my heirloom plant a week or so ago (after the birds stole almost all the beautiful fruits) and it's currently showing little shoots here and there of new growth. Today i hacked my Porter Improved by about 50%. It is in a very sunny part of the yard, so i didn't want to cut it back the full 75% so that the roots remained somewhat shaded. That Porter is just covered in Leaf Footed bugs, but they're drowsy in the morning and easy to plop into a cup of water or cut in half with my pruning shears, mwa ha ha ha.

Before - big and bushy

After - thinned out significantly. 

Green tomatoes harvested and placed in a paper bag in the window with an apple to ripen.

Pests and diseases are often a big problem in the heat of the Summer. The plants are already stressed, so it's a great time to pounce for a garden predator. Give your veggie plants some TLC with seaweed/fish emulsion sprays and a little extra fertilizer and compost. You can dilute compost tea and foliar feed (water the leaves and blooms) - and remember to only foliar feed early in the morning or late at night as the heat of the sun combined with the goodies in the liquid fertilizer can burn the plants' leaves.

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Porter Improved tomatoes, little Matt's Wild tomatoes, and some ripe serranos

Squash vine borers devastated all my winter squash - i ended up with two tiny butternuts. So sad. So i pulled out what was left of them to go into the compost and will replace them with new hot pepper transplants. Again i will attempt to plant a cayenne - can i escape the curse!? I sure hope so, as my cupboards are bare of homegrown/ dried peppers. I happily have plenty of ripening jalapenos, serranos, whatever the not-cayennes are, and a few habaneros (more on the way, i hope). I use these fresh in salads and stir fries, and also freeze many for storage: you don't have to blanch or cook hot peppers before freezing - just pop them right into a freezer bag. They won't be crispy when you thaw them out, but they'll taste the same and be perfectly fine for cooking with (and easy to cut when still frozen).

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Serrano, Mucho Nacho Jalapeno, Habanero, 'not cayenne' mystery pepper hiding at the right.

harvest of cucumbers, purple hulled peas, red ripe serranos, and tomatoes

Are you planting a Fall garden this year? Here in Texas it's often our best season. Those plants that have made it through the brutal Summer will bounce back with joy for a respit from the heat and produce like crazy. I hope i have a good season. I didn't plant any bell peppers, and do miss them from last year - especially the Giant Marconi and Golden Bells. Maybe i'll stick on in along with the cayennes in my main bed. There's a bit of room since i along with the failed squash i've also pulled out the Mexican Sour Gerkins i planted and hated. They did nothing but vine and look pretty. The tiny fruits they produced were too insignificant to warrant keeping them around. 

The Natural Gardener has some helpful info on what to plant when - here's what they say about July here in the Austin area. Texas A & M also have a really helpful planting schedule that is usually right on mark.

Good luck bearing the heat, sun, and mosquitos that Summer brings, and happy gardening!

Feeding Mulch Recipe

My mama got me this neat gardener's calendar for christmas. It doesn't do me much timely help here in Texas as our planting times are so early most of the time - but it has great advice and info. I stumbled upon this recipe for an all purpose feeding mulch, and since it's just about mulching time here i hopped on it.
Stopped by the feed store to get bagged cow poo (sadly have no barnyards at my disposal presently), alfalfa pellets, and scooped my own mature compost from my nice heap in the backyard. Borrowed the neighbor's wheel barrow and this is what i got:

I also added a little big of Flower Power and Buds and Blooms since most of my plants are at or approaching the flowering/fruiting stage.

The pellets puff up when they get wet. This makes an attractive mulch, and i think the plants like it already. In some cases i put this mulch on top of the pine straw (needles) mulch i already had in place. I may top with more alfalfa hay later in the season when it really heats up. I'll keep you posted.

What's your favorite mulch?

The Curse of the Cayenne

I seem to have a problem. A Cayenne problem.

This is not a good problem for me to have, as i use cayenne in just about everything i cook, aside from breakfast cereal. Since i've lived in this house, ever Cayenne i've planted has died. Rotted, wilted, dried up: who knows.
This year i tried planting one in a pot. Clearly i did not mix up my purchased soil with my compost well enough: this guy seems to have suffered from overwatering. I learned my lesson too late:
ALWAYS CHECK THE DAMPNESS OF THE SOIL BEFORE YOU WATER!

Poor little cayenne: whithered from overwatering. It even had some little cayenne babies growing.
But try try again: i purchased a habanero, spontaneously chosen eggplant (who knows where i'll put that), and another cayenne. I hope this little guy isn't destined to be one of the fallen. Beat the curse little guy!

Have you experienced a variety or plant that just doesn't seem to grow for you, try as you might?

Lovely Afternoon, Preparing Beds and Weeding Around the Wildflowers

What a beautiful day! Normally I might not be so thrilled for a 70 degree, slightly humid, breezy almost stormy but sunny day in January - but heck, even if it's SUPPOSED to feel like Winter, that kind of day is perfect! Now if only we got more of those days in the middle of Summer when i'm hiding in my studio under 7 fans and misters.

The husband brought home a dolly yesterday and we moved some old planters to the front yard - i think they make a nice fence like border along the sidewalk, though i wish we had one more to make a nice odd number. Although it is a little early to plant most things, and theoretically too early to prune (i don't buy it: my rosemary has already put on 3 inches of spring growth and the pecan tree is budding) i took the beautiful afternoon off to get my hands dirty.

 

I weeded. Every last square inch. I weeded around the broccolis, lettuces, and herbs in the veggie garden, i weeded around all the little sprouting wildflowers in the 'strip', and i weeded any other weeds that i saw and fed them to delighted chickens left behind in the back yard. Belina and Soot laid this morning so they had the privilege of joining me in the front yard to snack on Elbon Rye. Lots of clearing as well as weeding helped to open up areas around the xeric bed and big herbs - the compost doubled in size!

 

I prepared the planters to receive onion sets: tilled, pulled the fava beans to compost, mixed in molasses and rock phosphate and a few handfuls of more compost. The raised bed that usually houses basil will be used for mustard this year: i am excited to make pickled mustard leaves and let the plants flower to make mustard from my very own mustard seeds.

It was a bit tricky weeding around the wildflowers, as they are essentially weeds themselves. But i was careful, and i was delighted to see little flowers here and there already blooming! I reckon This year is going to be a great wildflower year for me.

 

During my weeding and thinning i harvested a few radishes, overgrown but still perfect for soup, some kale and some sorrel and dill. I've never added dill to chicken soup before, and i don't think i will again - it added another dimension to the soup, but i'm not sure i'm a big fan of that dimension. The sorrel and radishes, on the other hand, were delicious and cooked to a perfect firm but not crunchy in about 1 hour in the soup stock. We enjoyed our soup while watching The Natural History of the Chicken, which is a completely ridiculous movie - especially enjoyable to those of us with chickens. Hilarious, and insightful. We caught part of this film when the chickens were wee chicks in a box beside us, and it was very neat to watch it now with older chickens and recognize in our hens the traits those in the film also recognized - they are such interesting critters!

 

Next on my list is a trip to the nursery to buy mustard seed, onion sets, borage seed, corn seed, and cucumber seed. My step mama is bringing me some green beans - not sure if they'll translate from Eugene OR to Austin TX, but i'm happy to receive. I would order my seeds from the many catalogues i receive, but my limited space requires limited seeds and my local organic nursery has a pretty nice selection of plants that do well in this specific area.

All in all, a wonderful 2-3 hours spent with my girls and my garden: some of my very favorite things!

Have you gotten your hands dirty yet this Spring?

"Near Record Lows" Predicted for Tomorrow

Lovely.

Even my car is helping the garden cope.

The cold is one thing: but these massive wind

gusts keep trying to knock over my tarp city.

 

The chickens want to know what this black monster is that's keeping the wind out.

And the husky-dog seems to finally be in her element.

It's broken out of freezing here at about 1:30, but this looks to be a long, cold weekend for the plants. They've been soaked, covered in sheets, covered in a big tarp, surrounded by blankets, lit with christmas lights and a heat lamp when it's under 30 degrees, and held together by my faithful car, Steve. I'm doing all i can, let's hope some of the harvest comes out the other side.