rain II: a Miracles and Mendel Hybrid

So, the last post featured pictures of my baked-to-a-crisp black-eyed peas. Prior to getting baked, they had some pods which escaped the gardener's picking hands. These pods went to seed under the circumstances. After about a month of 100+ degree temps in direct sunlight for 8hrs a day, the gardener took these seeds, pushed them about an inch into the soil and gave them a good soaking. Then, the Big Gardener in the sky did His work and added 5 more inches of rain and a touch of one of life's miracles (Mark 4:27). The result is a story of complete transformation. From life to death, and from death to resurrection into a new life.

2nd Gen black eyed pea sprouts.

2 week old 2nd Gen black eyed peas.

It wouldn't be right if I didn't give at least some credit Gregor Mendel for this little experiment. I am taking a genetics course this semester. Get out your Punnett Squares!

While these legumes may not produce much this fall season, they still can serve a purpose:

Legumes make excellent cover crop because:

• They germinate easily
• Require no application of fertilizer
• They form a complimentary relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria which, to make a long story short, take nitrogen from the air and make it into fertilizer that benefit the plants, which in turn let the bacteria benefit from the nutrient supply along their intricate subterranean highway system.
• They make exquisite shade for tiny fall spinach seedlings, giving them a chance to get going during these Texas fall days that can go from 45 at night to 90 during the day.

rain

or, the lack of it.

It seems like an odd thing to complain about. Born and raised in Texas, it seems to me that rain is always something to complain about. Most of the time it's because we have not had enough, but every once in a while we have a couple of houses float away. It makes for good news, good conversation with strangers and acquaintances. As of this post, we are in a drought that has people comparing the weather to that of 50 years ago. The water line out at my in-law's lake house is a good 400 yard walk down into what used to be 30 feet deep in Medina Lake. Walking around out there in the scrappy, dusty lake bottom - it feels like something has ended. Dried up fish bones half-buried in the dry mud. Deer and other animal tracks lead to the ever receding water-line. Trees, boats, and other flotsam drowned from floods in the past are now exposed, tangled in fishing-line and boat anchors. Farmers cautiously sip the remaining water for irrigation. Fishermen gawk at how blue the water is. Boat owners tear their propellers off on boulders that haven't touched the air since the dam went up in 1913.

The first chapter in Arthur C. Clarke's masterpiece is titled: "The Road to Extinction", and begins like this: "The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended." That should get you thinking. Things are slowly changing all the time. Yesterday the Sahara was a vast rainforest, and much of Texas was a shallow sea. The rain will come back, and it will go away again. As for now though, if you live in Texas and want to see rain you need to go on vacation to see it.

Rain, the miracle/phenomenon that it is, happens only on our planet in this solar system (in H2O form that is). Water is the solution in which life's chemical reactions proceed. Let us be reminded that we are a dirty little water droplet floating in an otherwise desiccated universe. A small speck where you can find vast oceans, great forests, big cities, frozen peaks, whales, birds, bugs, and people who like to talk about the weather.

fall leftovers

Here is what's left in the garden from last fall. I must say I am proud of the spinach, which wouldn't even sprout for me last year. Abbey and I have been picking and eating it for the past few months now, and it just keeps on growing. The trick with planting spinach seeds is weather-related. Last fall I planted it the first rainy cold-front and thats what did it. Also, we have snap peas which have sprouted and are sending out their little tendrils looking for something to grab onto. The broccoli is all gone, as I harvested what was left after taking these photos.

Sorry the posts have been both brief and rare, It's just that season.

Spinach

Last of the broccoli

Snap pea sprouts

Cilantro

Photolog 9/12/2008

Wow look at all the growth! Let's hope we get a nice soaking from Ike!

New this week:

+Black eyed peas have flowered and are making pods

+All the snap peas have sprouted

+First okra fruit has set!

Snap Pea sprouts

Black-eyed pea pods

Okra pod

"BRING IT ON"

It's been my motto for this week. 

I started my last semester of nursing school on Monday, and even though I know this is going to be a difficult semester, I'm ready for it. Word around campus has it that a majority of the senior class always fails their first exam (which for me is on Sep 8th). I plan to be ready for it, as well as the other five exams I will be taking over the next eight weeks during my critical care course. So if you don't see or hear from me for the next two months, just know that I am tucked away somewhere reading everything there is to know about how to fix really sick people. 

This motto of mine is also has something to do with the recent rain we have been getting, especially since I now have a way to capture it and put it to use whenever it's convenient. I put some gutters up last Saturday with some much appreciated help from Archie, and on Tuesday went out and bought a rain harvesting barrel. That 2" of rain we got in the medical center yesterday filled it up till it was overflowing (past 55 gallons!)

The cooler cloudy days and rain has also given the garden a nice chance to really grow, and everything has nearly doubled in size since the last pics I posted. The corn has sprouted, the tomatoes are looking greener and have been sending out new shoots, the okra is growing like crazy and is starting to put out tiny buds, and the peas are starting to take over my little side garden. The cucumbers I planted never sprouted, so I am guessing it's due to old seed. I think I will plant some snap peas there in the next couple of weeks. I am also going to try spinach and some of Pa Pa's elephant garlic.

I took these pics with my phone so sorry if they came out a little hazy...

Rain harvest barrel in place (still needs to be painted to match the house)

Peas are busy growing after the recent rains

Sweet corn is sprouting all over the place!

Tomatoes are looking greener than ever

Okra is on it's way

fall garden is underway

Fall tomatoes! Now which is which?

Side garden

This pic is an update on the poor guy in the last post... looking better!

The 4X12 raised beds

Corn hasn't sprouted yet

The okra is loving the heat

Gideon helped with the Saturday morning honey-do's

I decided to give the blog a face-lift to celebrate my newly planted fall garden. I am growing three different kinds of Tomatoes: Better Boy, Cherry, and a grape-tomato variety called Juliet. I planted two of each, and then forgot which was which so we won't know until they start to set fruit (how fun!). I have a variety of Okra called Cajun Delight which is busily sending out new leaves every couple of days. It looks like they have been planted too close (okra gets really tall and wide) but Abbey's grandpa (from henceforth known as Pa Pa) showed me a way to do this by cutting off a stem every time you harvest an okra (you know when to stop when you can't reach the tops of the plants anymore). I also devoted half of the other raised bed to a super-sweet corn variety called Gotta Have It, and after tasting some of what Pa Pa grew I must agree. I think I will have around 50 or so ears of corn in about seventy days, so we will have to have a corn-roast party at our house and celebrate before the raccoons do. Party details will be closer to harvest-time. In my side-garden I have a black-eyed pea variety called Early Contender which has done well despite the abuse I have put them though last week (see the previous post). Also in the side garden I have planted some Cucumbers called Sweetest Yet, and they should be hanging all over my energy meters and time warner cable boxes soon. 

In a month or so I have been thinking about planting Snow Peas and Spinach in the second half of the raised bed with the corn. I have also been thinking to interplant some elephant garlic cloves that Pa Pa gave me. Garlic is a pest and disease-free plant, and it can help keep bugs out of the garden if you juice it up and spray it (I hear it also keeps away vampires). Garlic is different from most veggies in that it grows during the winter. You plant it in the fall, and harvest in the spring.

I also must recommend a blog that I ran across by accident. Skippy's Vegetable Garden can be found in the continuously updating column on the right. She puts up new posts almost daily and takes really great pictures. I tried copying her picture-posting style for this post, we will see if it works.

Stay tuned!

Warm Sunny Days in Moderation, Please

This past week I burned my fledgling plants by accident with an organic fertilizer that I did not dilute properly. Seedlings that were already struggling to survive daily through the drought and heat were now subject to the near-toxic solution in my sprayer. It did not take long to realize what I had done, but it was too late to prevent any further damage. Healthy green leaves turned a crispy brown color before falling off. Entire seedlings fell over and have since turned into tiny shriveled-up twigs. Some leaves turned black around the edges, clearly signifying my caustic mistake. All was not well in the garden.

In an attempt to enrich and vitalize my plants in this time of stress I instead made life that much more difficult for them. Too much of a good thing had become deadly. 

You can take anything that was meant for good: fertilizer, TV, rain, wine; and in excess it is a poison, it is a flood, it is an addiction.

The balance of moderation is the story of life. The warm sunny days are only good because of the cold rainy ones, and vice versa. Thus everyday is good.

Life goes on, and often times is stronger due to hardship. If a plant is not killed by the drought, it will survive afterward having deeper roots. If it's first three leaves are not completely scorched away because of the bumbling gardener, then it will send up three new ones (praise the Lord).