Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[Bird]

Yeah, we sure don't need a hurricane, but sure do need rain.

 

[Lou66]

The Airport is about 4 miles from my home north,, My ranch or land as I call it is 4 miles east of the airport.. Lou

 

[Lou66]

We are do for a strong storm,, maybe it will be a small one,, cat one.:thumbsup:. Lou

 

[txdon]

Lou, I just read you post and boom, we had a mini shower. The sun was out the whole time but the raindrops connected and it will settle the dust for an hour! humidity up 90%.

 

[Western]

Been busssy!! and it has been HOT!

Almost have given up on the garden, time and heat have been taking it's toll. Did ask the nieces to pick a few ears of corn on the 4th, they picked the whole dam thing!! :laughing: Just as well anyhoo. The tomato fight they had, didn't sit well with me though:mur:

 

[jinman]

Dennis, if I wasn't retired and have time to spend 3-4 hours each day tending my garden, I'd be in the same boat. You have my sympathies. There are places that have soil that retains water and can support a garden with several days between watering, but they are few and far between. Even the watermelon growers try to get their crops to market by early July, not only because of the 4th, but because late July and August are hard on plants without irrigation. I know you are familiar with that big melon patch on hwy 114 down in the bottom land. That's one of those magic places that can grow a good crop without irrigation. I'm sorry you are struggling, but this has been a learning year for you and next year you'll build on what you've learned. I have yet to turn a profit on my garden, but the money I spend for watering apparatus and shading is paid back in good flavor. How is your okra doing? Are any of your ****** melons surviving. I may just have to bring you an ****** melon if yours don't make it.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Jim, how is that shade cloth working out? Can you tell any difference?

OTOH, no rain for us by the Lee County Airport... ;(

 

[Western]

Jim, this is the sandiest property I have ever had, it does have it's challenges. The Okra looks super!! I have added some soaker hose and straw mulch, so that made a HUGE difference. Squash and zucs look poor and I may let them go if they dont "perk" up . Melons are hanging on by a thread. Picked a few c antelope, but haven't opened one yet.

I passed that melon field today going for pipe in Paradise, for a job tonight in Irving. They seemed to plant late this year, but each row looks great with nice "perky," green foliage. They sure have some prime bottom land there!!

 

[Bird]

The City of Denton has a little Farmer's Market on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays in the summer so if we find what's expected, we'll have a big vegetable dinner with cornbread tomorrow evening.

 

[jinman]

Kyle, the shade cloth works wonders on my tomatoes, but it doesn't seem to be helping the beans yet. I have beans still covered in blooms, but they aren't making beans. I suspect the heat is causing the blooms to not set little bean pods.

Dennis, We used to grow huge watermelons in bottom land with deep sandy soil. I dug down 8' once and it was still the same kind of sand as on the surface. Of course this was on a place in Denton where we had wells less than 30' deep and a spring that never stopped running in the driest years. I remember planting big gardens and never watering a single thing. The gardens never burned up until late August. Now, my uncle had a place higher in elevation in the same area and he watered his garden and fruit trees every year.

My squash looked really bad for awhile until I started heavily watering. Suddenly, it perked up and started growing like crazy with blooms everywhere. Now, I did use Sevin and Malathion to kill off the squash bugs. I hardly ever see one anymore and I think I prevented the squash from getting the viruses they carry. This is just anecdotal, but it seems the Spinosad made the squash taste bitter. I don't know that for sure, but I discontinued it and the bitterness went away.:confused3:

Bird, is that farmer's market near downtown? Way back in the old days, there used to be what was called a "Trade Square" off the southeast corner of the square. You could buy produce, animals, or almost any farm related product there. I know at one time there was a farmer's market on the old K-mart parking lot, but Razor Ranch has taken over that area.

 

[Bird]

Jim, the Farmer's Market is on the east side of S. Carroll Blvd. between Mulberry & Sycamore (the paved parking lot in front of the Bayless-Selby House Museum), so just a little southwest of the courthouse square. It's 7 a.m. to "sell out". I guess it was year before last that I bought a yellow meat watermelon there for $7 and it turned out to be so green it was inedible, but we've been happy with everything else we've gotten there. Of course they have all the usual fruits and vegetables so of course you could get most of those things at the grocery store, but I really like fried white squash and I like fresh figs and that's two things I've gotten there in the past that I never see in the grocery store. Anyway, we haven't been there yet this year, so we're going in the morning.

 

[Bird]

I just decided to check online just now and sure enough they have a little website: Denton County Farmer's Market

And of course, they usually have more than what's listed on the website. Anyway, I hope to get a few fresh blackeyed peas, some okra, white squash, and figs at a minimum; probably some other stuff, too.

 

[txdon]

Kyle did you sign the petition to re-name Lee County. Every big wall of clouds and rain that approaches the county divides and goes on either side leaving us dry. The new name will be Moses County.

 

[bindian]

I had bunion and hammer toe surgery on my right foot 3 years ago. I was told to get kructhes before surgery and was fitted with one of those huge ski boots after the surgery. The pin in the toe that was a hammer toe stuck out for anyone to hit. I asked for a handicap tag and my surgeon said NO. So I toughed it out. I have no sympathy for tunnel carpal hand walker girl.

Got to my daughter's at 5 yesterday, itching to get her truck fixed and over with, so I could enjoy my vacation. I was dumbfounded when my SIL wanted to work on his VW first. Worked 9-4 today and one side of her truck is ready to go back together and the other side's lower ball joint is waiting to be pressed out. We had a lot of head scratching today on why one ball joint seperator was not enough. I had one for a air hammer and bought a fork you can hammer. So I ran the air hammer while my SIL hit the other fork with a two pound ball peen hammer. We pointed them towards each other and hammered away. It finally took "wacking" the (beat on) seperator with an eight pound sledge hammer. Then it all fell apart in one joyious crash. I should be back home tomorrow after finishing up and taking the truck to get aligned.

We only got a few drops of rain today here. I don't know about back home.

Oh year, we stopped early today so I could pick up my daughter at work and then get ready to be treated to a birthday dinner. Yippee!
hugs, Brandi


hugs, Brandi

 

[sseelhoff]

Kyle did you sign the petition to re-name Lee County. Every big wall of clouds and rain that approaches the county divides and goes on either side leaving us dry. The new name will be Moses County.

I'm renaming my farm "Under the Dome." I can pull up the radar and see a big green blob directly over us, and not a drop hitting the ground.

 

[Lou66]

I had bunion and hammer toe surgery on my right foot 3 years ago. I was told to get kructhes before surgery and was fitted with one of those huge ski boots after the surgery. The pin in the toe that was a hammer toe stuck out for anyone to hit. I asked for a handicap tag and my surgeon said NO. So I toughed it out. I have no sympathy for tunnel carpal hand walker girl.
hugs, Brandi

But Brandi that girl was in a lot of pain.. cause she told me so.. She looked to be in her late twenty early thirty,:drool:, I hope she get well soon.. cause next time a maybe by myself.:shocked::laughing:. Lou

 

[Western]

Well it was a toasty 85*, sure it was closer to 125* standing on the asphalt!! I also found out that using a jackhammer is not nice for my lower back. After feeling better the last 2 weeks, (after 14 months of Hydrocodone), I went and done it again Had to call off the 2nd job for last night, which sucks.

BTW, we got down to around 24" deep before we started getting "cooler" earth, it is amazing how much "baking" goes on under a parking lot!.

Jim, this is the 1st time I have had to water to this degree, even in sandy gardens before. I did dig a few rows up and am pretty sure that the moles still effect me even after not seeing sign for almost 3 weeks. The trails they made under my rows are still there and there is little doubt I am fighting that. I will be on them suckers like you know what next year.

So far I really like the soaker hoses and will get more, they are convenient, especially added with the straw mulch. I dont know if I will get enough to have an official "hose array", but I will get enough to get the job done

Tried the 3 cantelopes the wife picked, 2 where PAST their prime, but one was not half bad:thumbsup: Have had better though.

Time for painkillers and an early bed, you guys do good in the heat today, sure "aint" Disney land out there!!!

 

[farmgirl19]

Oh year, we stopped early today so I could pick up my daughter at work and then get ready to be treated to a birthday dinner. Yippee!
hugs, Brandi


hugs, Brandi

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRANDI!

I understand that you will be 29! That's a great age! I hear folks say "Life begins at 30", but I'm not sure if I'll ever find out.

 

[jinman]

Happy birthday(belated), Brandi. I'm always happiest when it's somebody other than me havin' a birthday.:cool2:

You folks in CenTex may want to start using names like Sahara, Gobi, and Kalahari to define your desert counties. If the winds get up, you're gonna have a mini-dust bowl like normally blows in from west Texas. At least you still have some living trees to keep your topsoil local.

Lately, I've been again testing the capacity of the Trinity Aquifer by watering my yard and garden. It's a yearly water well test for me in July/August. I dug up some St. Augustine sod and replanted it in an area of lawn that had trouble getting grass started. The St. Augustine is now twice the width of the sod squares and is the happiest grass in that area. By next year, it will cover the whole area.

Dennis: I'm sorry you threw your back out again. I hope it's a short recovery this time. Jackhammers (especially the 95 lb variety) are NOT good back therapy, but you know that already.

Edit: Oh! I forgot to add that I've made up 3 gallons of salsa and a half-gallon of pico de gallo the last few days. Food processors are a gift from above. Our 1st load of dried basil is due to finish at 11 AM this morning. The new dehydrator works great.

Edit 2: Yes, I just keep babbling. . . I got one of those pepper corers for Christmas and it is terrific. It works best when turned CCW. I started out turning CW and it did okay, but not great. When I reversed rotation to CCW, it works perfectly. It's a great gadget.

 

[Bird]

We just got back from the Denton County Farmer's Market. There were only 4 vendors there this morning. One of them told me some others had signed up; didn't know if they're coming or not. We did buy white and yellow squash and zucchini, okra, peaches, tomatoes, and purple hull peas. They didn't have any watermelons, figs, or blackeyed peas. The purple hulls and cream peas were already shelled in zip lock bags. They did have cantaloupes, onions, corn on the cob, potatoes, round and yellow zucchini, as well as the regular zucchini.