Random Ramblings on a Monday

Observation #1 

Last week was a teaser.  In the mornings, temperatures actually dipped into the 60's and it NEVER made it to 90.  In fact, by mid-morning, it hadn't reached 80 yet.  Humidity was low.  It was pleasant and a foretaste of fall.  This week, we have a high pressure sitting over us.  It is dry and temps are forecast to be in the upper 90's.  Ugghhh...

Last week we drove east on our road and took a left on LA Highway 102.  I looked out of my window and saw a large field of soybeans.  I remarked to my wife that they were ripe and needed to be harvested before rains set it.  Farmers are wrapping up the first crop harvest of rice and trying to get the beans in.

Well wouldn't you know it, we rounded the curve and a combine, two tractors with carts and two big trucks with trailers passed us.  In about 30 minutes on our way back, the combines were busy at work, bringing in the crop!

In comparison to other occupations, farming requires heavy labor inputs as well as unthinkable capital investment.  A brand new machine like the one you see below runs between $500,000 to $700,000 - maybe more.  That just makes my head hurt.  I know the guy on the combine.  I like how he has two big American flags flying on either side of his cutter bar.  He also has his last name on the grain hopper with a crawfish with pinchers raised making the 'I' in his name!

Fuel prices are up and fertilizer prices are at all-time highs.  I know there are a lot of very nervous farmers concerned about how things are going to work out.  

Observation #2   

When I was throwing my dirty laundry in the hamper the other day, I started laughing when I thought about what I was looking at:

Most folks probably separate out their 'whites' from their 'reds or blacks' when putting dirty clothes away for washing.  You don't want your colored clothes bleeding on your white clothes.  We separate between "regular" and "farm" clothes.  There's a reason for that.  The farm clothes are so doggone filthy with dirt, mud, cow poop, blood and other stuff, you don't want that touching your regular clothes.  Lots of times, especially after picking up hay or working in the garden, the clothes will be soaking wet with sweat and needs to be laid out to dry outside before putting into the farm hamper.  

Observation #3  

Take a look out on the back patio.  I've got some tomato seedlings and some squash that I planted from seed a few weeks ago for the fall crop.  I transplanted the squash this weekend into the garden bed.  The tomatoes will go in the garden this weekend.  I want to get through the high heat of this week before I subject them to the stress of transplanting.

The tomato plants seem to be really healthy.  I've been watering them with some fish emulsion mixed into the water.  They seem to like that.  I've got 29 plants, but I'll give some of them to my oldest son for his garden.

Hopefully we'll get a good fall tomato crop.  The fall crop is usually better for us with less bugs.  The trick is to get tomatoes harvested before you get an early frost!  We'll see how it goes.

Let's Start This Thing Over

He gave also their crops to the grasshopper And the product of their labor to the locust.  Psalm 78:46

Ever since the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, things have been tough in the garden.  Man was going to have to toil by the sweat of his brow to have the soil yield food to eat.  There would be briers and thorns and weeds and inclement weather and pests of all sort.  Our garden cannot even be remotely compared to the Garden of Eden.  Most of the time, it is more aptly named, The Garden of Weedin'.  Today's post is about insects, though, and how sometimes things just don't work and you have to start again from scratch.

This year I was scanning the Internet for different ideas for the Fall/Winter Garden and I stumbled upon a website specifically for Louisiana that had a monthly planting guide.  I've traditionally planted all the seeds for my fall crops directly in the ground in early - mid September.  This publication suggested planting the seeds in seed pots in late July - early August and then you'd transplant the young plants into the garden.  The idea is that you'd get a jump on the Fall/Winter crop growing season.

It sounded like a great idea.  We would be eating broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels Sprouts earlier.  I planted my seeds, watered them and they grew.  They got a little 'leggy' seeking the sun, because I kept them on the patio out of the blistering heat.  But that's okay.  I would simply move them into the garden and watch them continue to grow and we'd be eating fresh homegrown vegetables a little earlier this year!

Fall Seedlings ready to be transplanted

Or so I thought.  The very next day I brought my hoe out to the garden and walked around back to the patio to begin carrying the trays of seedlings.  I was surprised to see that some sort of insect discovered my plants  and at almost every leaf off of them!  Argghhh!!  Oh well.  I tried a new idea and it just didn't work.





Next year, if I try this again, I'll be ready with some sort of organic pest control spray like Neem Oil or soapy water to try to combat the bugs.  It is just doggone hard to try to grow anything in the hot summer months of July and August.  To be safer, I may just stick with my old tried and true plan of planting seeds directly into the garden soil in September.

Planting early to 'get a jump' on the Fall crops seemed to only succeed in giving the insects an opportunity to 'jump' on my Fall Crops.  Planting the seeds a few weeks later allows the heat and the insect pressure to subside.  But that is what gardening (and much of life) is all about - trying new things, sticking with what works and learning from mistakes.  In the next couple of days, I'll show you how we started again from scratch.