Re: [gardeners] Gardening NOT happening in Bastrop Co.

margaret lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 29 Jan 2000 07:22:53 -0700 

At 01:05 AM 1/29/2000 -0600, you wrote:
>Hi All,
>    I have been working slowly, and for me steadily in the garden until the
>blizzard blew in Thursday. Well, its a blizzard by Central Texas standards.
>Temperature dropped like a rock. We did get 1/2 inch of rain, which is a
>blessing. Rain has been scarcer than hens teeth, as the old folks used to
>say.
>    I managed to get 18 Rio Verde cabbages, 375 onions divided fairly
>equally between 1015Y, White Granex, and Green Bunching. I also planted
>about 14 feet of a row in carrots, Danvers 1/2 long and Imperator(sp?).
>Still looking for some Candy onion transplants locally. I will not pay 8.95
>per bunch + shipping. Judy brought home 10 lbs. of La Soda red seed potatos.
>We planted them last year with good results. La Soda's are advertised as
>producing a good crop in droughty conditions. It's true. Last year was
>droughty all right.
>    I checked the condition of the soil (sandy loam) Friday, the day after
>the rain. It's workable, just waiting for the weather to warm back up. The
>temperature hasn't been above 30* since the front blew through. Predictions
>are for about 20* for the next couple of nights. It's supposed to warm up
>again by Wednesday. I'd like to get in some collard greens, turnips,
>Kohlrabi, lettuce and snow peas soon. Beating the heat and bugs is why I
>have to gamble with our last frost date, March 10th.
>    I have the seed potatos in a brown paper feed sack trying to stimulate
>the eyes to sprout. I have enough wood ashes to dust them with after we cut
>the potatos.
>    I'm rarin' to go to get the garden planted. I had severe withdrawal
>symptoms through the fall and early winter. It was so hot and dry last fall
>that I didn't plant anything except for a few tomato plants. They just sat
>there, couldn't set fruit because of the heat. Just before our first fall
>frost, several of the tomato plants did set fruit, bingo frost. That's all
>she wrote for those tomatos.
>    I have a big problem getting the coastal Bermuda grass out of the garden
>that laid fallow all winter. The grass comes from my neighbor's pasture. The
>roots maybe as deep as 2-1/2 feet. I'm glad that the soil is so easy to
>work. If I had clay I think that I would be losing the grass fight. I can't
>use a herbicide, not sure just how far into the pasture it might kill
>Alvin's grass.
>    I had to give up about 1/3 of the garden nearest the house for Emu pens.
>The females apparently matured enough that they became territorial. The
>females will actually kill each other, much like queen bees. I sure was
>counting on taking advantage of the Emu manure in that part of the garden.
>The Emus had pretty well cleaned up the grass where they had been since the
>spring garden played out. I'm hoping for some little Emus sometime in the
>spring.
>    My neighbor had 18 little Emus hatch last spring, but no survivors. The
>loose dogs, coyotes, and Emu rustlers took all of them. I am going to have
>ours (hopefully) in cages in a pen inside a pen.
>    I'm going to sign off now. My back Rxs have me nodding off while I'm
>typing. Don't need a concussion to go along with the back problems. (;-}
>    Allen
>    Bastrop Co., SE Central Tx.
>    Zone 8
>
Allen, wood ashes on potatoes will be sort of limey, won't it? Isn't your
soil alkaline to start with? I've been told that scab afflicts taters grown
in alkaline soil. I added some peat moss to the trench a couple of years
ago, and did have less scab on spuds. Prices for spuds here in Idaho have
been so low the last few years I hate to take up garden space to grow them. 

Our farmers are taking a beating. By the time they spray for late blight,
it costs more than $5 per hundredweight to grow them, yet that's what
they're selling them for. And the alfalfa seed growers are getting screwed.
The dealer who buys seed is declaring bankruptcy. Not only then is there no
buyer for last year's seed, but also none for this year's seed (crop is
already in the ground). The rest of the country may pay dearly for alfalfa
seeds, but a bunch of idaho farmers are changing careers. Margaret L