country n news-its a strange one

COUNTRY N NEWS-ITS A STRANGE ONE

this has been a strange winter
we have set several records highs this winter
and
have had some near record lows

the cold we had a few weeks ago did a lot of nipping of
things that have not been touched by the winter cold
here in a few years

the bay shrub got nipped good on the top
all our monterey white oaks or mexican white oaks
lost all their leaves
last winter they didnt lose any
dont worry the leaves will all come back this spring

then in the garden going from near 90 to 12
thats rough on veggies
i have had trouble getting my lettuce and spinach to grow
now my first crop did ok
but the next ones they just struggled

our plum tree blossomed out in december
of course all of them died
not sure if they will pop out this spring our not
looking at them yesterday
i dont think they will

our peach trees half of them have decided its spring
and
have popped out blooms real early
if a hard freeze comes there will be no peaches on those trees
now these always bloom early but not this early

heck even our asparagus has decided to start producing
it delicious spears
its usually april when they pop out

i also saw cucumber beetles on our blooms
to me they look like ladybugs but are green

there also is a lot of bees butterflies and ladybugs everywhere
especially ladybugs in the house

since we seem to be having a mostly warm winter
i went and bought some large 1 gallon pots of tomatoes
then transplanted them into 5 gallon pots
i also got some peppers and transplanted them into 1 gallon pots

i plan to move them in and out of the greenhouse on nice days
which have been almost every day and night recently

i am hoping to get them in the ground in late march
so they will get a head start on producing tomatoes
earlier for us

i got celebrity early girl and juliettes for this early start
if i plant others i will plant heirlooms later
directly in the ground

our citrus bush is even starting to bloom out
we keep in in the greenhouse all winter
i use a small small paint brush to pollinate the blooms

so
its definitely a strange one
who would have thought i could leave tomatoes outside
for 3 days in february

i am no longer sure what  a normal winter is suppose to be like
here in central texas anymore

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-late winter plantings

COUNTRY N NEWS-LATE WINTER PLANTINGS

we just finished this week eating our onions from last year
we planted them in mid january 2016
we harvested them in late april 2016
we hung them like onion chimes in our garage
we ate them gradually over the months since

well
if you havent done it yet its time to plant them again
i planted ours about 2 weeks ago
sometimes i wait unitl the end of january
but since its been so warm mostly this winter
i planted them early this year

heck we just had our first peach bloom this week
not good
the blooms will probably freeze
one year i wrapped it good with row cover
put in a warming lamp
it kept them from freezing
even when we got down in the 20s
but
this year ive decided to put my efforts elsewhere

so for my onions
i prep my raised beds
making sure i dont plant where i dd the last 2 years
so
i rotate all my crops

i rake off all the mulch and debris on the bed
i add 3-4 inches of my country n compost
that our chickens make from the leaves some of
you give me
then
i use a garden fork
drive it into the bed
work in back and forth
this allows the compost and fertilizers to get a little deeper
then
i add an organic fertilizer
i use either ladybug 8-2-4 or medinas growing green
both are good ones to use
then
i add a dusting of cottonseed meal
which provides a quick access to nitrogen when the onions
start to grow
then
i add a slight dusting of stuff called rocket fuel
from gardenville
it has a lot of minerals etc the plants need
last year i planted purple hull peas in this spot
so i cut off the plants at the ground so they would
breakdown and leave the minerals stored in their roots
for the onions to use
then
i soaked the bed good with liquid molasses
which provides food for the good organisms in the soil
then
i covered the bed good with a layer of leaves for
mulch
this was allowed to sit for a few weeks to cure

so on onion planting day
i raked off all the leaves
the onions plants i use are 1015s
they well have an almost sweet taste
and
they dont burn my eyes when i cut them

i plant the onions down about an inch or two
one hook em horn sign apart which is about 6 inches
then
i water them in well

i fertilize them about once a month until they seem
to quit growing

we pull the smaller green onions as we need them

we harvest them in late april or may whenever there
stalks fall over

this produces some hand sized sweet tasting non eye burning
onions

then
its also time to plant your potatoes around here
i use red lasotas since they seem to grow well here
at the country n

i use the same bed prep as above for the onion bed
i dig an 8 inch deep trench
in our beds which are 3 ft wide
i make two rows about a foot or so apart
i use uncut potatoes
i never mess with cutting the potatoes and dusting with sulfur
its too much work
i just get the smaller ones and junk them in the hole
scattered 1 foot apart
i put down my organic fertilizer in the trench between the
potatoes
i cover the potatoes with just a few inches of dirt
then
as the plant grows out of the dirt
i keep it covered up
this mounding technique produces more potatoes

each potato will produce about 8-10 potatoes
i planted 22 potatoes
you can do the math

i fertilize them about once a month with my organic fertilizer

they are harvested in later april or may whenever the plants
above the ground start to die

we pick new potatoes when they are smaller
in fact i tend to harvest about a third of them this way
since like the green onions i just cant wait to eat them

then
yesterday i bought my tomatoes
warning dont even try to get tomatoes and plant them
around here right now

this year
i bought i gallon containers of tomatoes
i plan to transplant them to 3 or 5 gallon pots
keep them in my small greenhouse
putting them outside when the days are warm
otherwise keeping them in the greenhouse when
its cold running a heater with a thermostat

i plan on not planting them into the ground until late march
seeing if i can avoid that freeze that seems to kill mine
off each year

oh
for that first early tomato

the organicgreen doctor

country n news-winter gardening

COUNTRY N NEWS-WINTER GARDENING

last may
the school i have helped some with their gardening
was getting its garden cleaned up for the summer
any plants left in the garden wouldnt get watered
or cared for
so if you wanted a plant you could dig it up
so
after the students parents and other teachers got what
they wanted
what was left was two peppers
one a jalapeno
the other a bell pepper

so
i dug em up
dumped em into a 5 gallon bucket with holes in the bottom
i then placed em on the patio with 5 other 5 gallon buckets
growing different plants like tomatoes swiss chard kale
peppers

now
this bell pepper liked it there
so all summer and fall
it grew bell peppers
but
well
these were different looking
at first i thought they had stayed on the vine too long
and
had rotted

nope
they were just chocolate bell peppers
no
they dont taste like chocolate
i just pretend they do
they are just dark brown in color

when the cold spell hit recently
i moved my peppers into my small greenhouse for the winter
it gets the south sun
and
has a heater in it set on 50 degrees

well
that chocolate bell pepper
loves that greenhouse
as does a juliet tomato

these will be adorning a salad soon
in the country n kitchen

thanks to the phe school for donating the plant

later as i was walking around our property
my wife she said
you know the jonquils are blooming

so i went over to see for myself
not in december i said to myself

yep she was right huh

egg update
the added light in the early morning
plus
adding 4 new laying chickens
seem to have stimulated the older chickens
to get going
i guess they didnt want those youngens to
outdo those old ladies
our egg production has increased dramatically this last week

the organicgreen doctor

cover me up

COVER ME UP
usually around here we get a freeze about this time
sometimes though its been way into december
however
this year its coming early
probably if you are reading this blog in the us
then you are feeling the effects of that first
polar vortex they call it hitting all of us everywhere

it looks like it will be around here for 2 weeks
so
since we mainly heat our house with wood heat
i gathered all my wood in to my woodbox inside
and
loaded up my woodburning stove
we purchase a cord of wood each year
sometimes we need more and sometimes we have
some left over at the end of winter

so this morning i loaded up the wood stove after
running it at a low burn overnight
sturred the coals up real good
and this above is what i am looking at
as i write this blog

yesterday outside since i knew we would be getting
freezes i harvested all of my fall stuff that i could

most of these are pabloma peppers
for some reason they liked the weather this year
and went crazy growing
mixed it with this are
okra green tomatoes bell peppers jalepeno peppers
and banana peppers

fyi i will wash the bell the pablaoma and the jalepeno
peppers off well
put them in labeled ziplock bags
suck out all the air with a straw then seal them up

are you reading this my wife she
properly labeled and DATED

taking them out over the next year as i need
we just finished last years crop last month
i just take out the pepper i want
and
chop it up its so easy since its frozen

then out to the garden where we have a bed of
winter stuff
garlic arugulas kales asian greens broccoli brussel sprouts
the bed is 14 ft long and 4 feet wide

this stuff is cold hardy but a deep freeze can destroy them
so
i take floating row cover
i use the thick version in the winter
it allows light through
and
allows rain to go through
it povides about 8 degrees of frost protection
these plants will like this cozy environment and
seem to just grow faster

on a sunny cold day it feels warm in there
if it gets warm the row cover needs to be opened up

i start with the grey 10 ft electrical pvc
it seems to weather better
i cut off the ends at a sharp angle
then shove the ends down into the ground
some folks just use 18 inch rbar and slip the
pvc over it
i also run a pvc down the middle and tie it up
with zip ties
this seems to hold it all together better when the
heavy winds hit

i then slip the row cover i get at a local nursery
its 12 ft wide and longer than the bed

i them clamp the base of each pvc pipe with
these clamps i get at home depot for a dollar

so now i have a toasty environment for these plants to
grow

i also have this salad garden which has beets carrots
lettuces spinach peas swiss chard cabbage asian greens
cilantro in it

i made hoops like that above and covered it with row cover
fyi that spray bottle on the little windmill is bt spray i use on
my plants that have holes eaten in them
it kills the insects that do that

last weekend the cental texas gardener on klru the austin
pbs station had a section that lasts about 5 minutes
done by the guru organic gardener john dromgoole
on how they do this at the natural gardener
one of the top rated nurseries in the us

if you click here
then go to about the 21:55 minute
you will see an excellent video on how to do this
by the expert

bon appetit

the organicgreen doctor

dreams, tomato, winterize garden, dental fu

DREAMS
one of the side effects of taking aricept (donepezil) is that you
have these fantastic dreams
the dreams are vivid hd dreams
they are never violent or disturbing

last night in my dream my wife she and my cowgirl sisterinlaw she
went horseback riding
my younger son he went to work out at the gym
my brothers and i and my parents were staying at a cabin in the
mountains somewhere am not sure where
it was a beautiful place

they were all late getting back from their rides and gym and our
meal got cold
it was raccoon cooked with an apple in its mouth
(i ran into a racoon early the morning before getting into
our cats food-teach him huh)
there was dressing and greens and veggies surrounding that
old raccoon
i got mad cause they were late but didnt yell or throw things
just gave them my stare that im told i have
no violence

later we all got together again at a mountain resort that had an
alzheimers center and we had a similar meal that was enjoyed
by all
although i dont remember eating any coon in my dream

woke up and felt like i was still in that resort
just hope my wife she didnt leave me there

TOMATO

this is the tomato called the taylor mater since it is from taylor
it was left in a house this summer when the air conditioner
went off
when the family returned when the ac was fixed the
tomato had begun to sprout things all around the tomato
that made it look like it came down from outer space

so my wife she was given it by her friend and i and others recommend
she plant it in a pot

so she did and put it in the garden (of course its organic) that she has
at school
he has grown it all fall in that pot
now that it is cold she moved it inside and put it in her window that
gets sun all day
its thriving
she had sent progressive pictures to me and to the central texas
gardening show on klru here in austin
they plan to show the pictures and talk about it on their jan 7th show

here is the link www.klru.org/ctg
check it out on saturday january 7, 2012

now wonder if it will produce some tomatoes
hope they arent all knarley and warty like

WINTERIZE GARDEN
if you live in this area or where its cold you need to winterize
your garden
ive covered all my veggie beds with row cover that will provide
several degrees of protection

ive add mulch to a lot of my plants in the landscape
those susceptible to freezing that are in pots have been
moved inside or into a small green house ive made in my
garage
have my lemons and oranges in there and they are producing ok

when the weather warms up some i will take the row cover off
then replace it when the cold weather returns

DENTAL FU
well that wasnt bad
in and out in 15 minutes like the burger place with that name
only slight pain with application of the new crown

maybe ill return again if its going to be that easy next time
maybe its like having a baby
where you forget what it was like so you have another one

supposedly theres a chemical that is produced in females that
causes them to forget what it was like

maybe that chemical could be used after you have a dental procedure
dont think i want to have a baby to find out

the organicgreen doctor

frozed, post interview, bluebonnets

FROZED
every fall i battle the temperature as it starts to fall
trying to inch out a few more days of growth so that my
tomatoes, christmas limas, peppers, basil, egg plant and
malabar spinach can provide a a slightly better harvest

we live here in the country n in a bowl where the land
slopes as it goes down to the river
because of this the night time temps can dip down several
degrees more than nearby communities

should learn my lesson watching the news and seeing the
predicted temperatures as we also always get slightly
colder than they do

this year saw the temp was going to go down so went
out and covered my maters, peppers etc with good thick
row cover that gives 7 degrees of protection

was afraid to look for several days but when i peeked under
that row cover
i was real disappointed because all of my nice green tomatoes
were mushy and light green
should have picked them and wrapped them up in newspapers
like i did last year (had maters past christmas last year)
wont happen this year
chickens loved the frozed maters though

my christmas lima beans  i was so proud of them were growing
great and had a lot of maturing pods on them
they look so sad now
wilty light green drooping bean vines
no limas this year

next year im determined to grow those damn limas i nurtured since
april and used a lot of precious rainwater on them this summer
to keep them going
disappointed but more determined as ever to grow those thangs

(did give some seeds to my rainwater brother he  maybe hell grow
some next year in his slightly warmer climate and share with me)

glad im not farming for a living

do have cole crops, asian greens, arugula, swiss chard, lettuce,
spinach, turnips, carrots, beets (for my wife she not me) and
garlic in my winter garden

all is not lost

POST INTERVIEW
have been interviewed twice about azheimers
the 2nd was yesterday and will be interviewed again on
thursday in dallas

am impressed at how good these reporters are in the jobs
they do
in both of the interviews which lasted about 2 hours each
the reporters were able to understand and get the essence of
what i feel, my family feels, my patients feel, my fellow employees feel
by asking the right questions and picking up sometimes on a single
word then developing more about it

am impressed
we dont give these talented reporters enough credit
these are real reporters not just someone who spits out
what others have written
we need more of them in the news industry not less of them

am pleased with yesterdays interview as the essence was caught
it should be published in sundays austin-american statesman
here is their website www.statesman.com

BLUEBONNETS
this year was an awful blue bonnet season here
was the worst since we have lived at the country n
the drought took its tool as we got little rain last winter
i was disappointed as i had put out a lot of new bluebonnet
seeds last fall

guess they saved themselves for this coming year
we got 4 inches of rain here last month and the bluebonnets
have responded like i have not seen here before

they are so thick in my pastures that i hate to even walk
anywhere because they get crushed
individual plants were so rare last year i tried to protect
everyone of them that came up

if we get enough rain this winter we should have a bumper crop

cant wait
know lady bird would be happy

the organicgreen doctor