Lost Valley Gardens
Songs In My Head
It must be the nature of the work that I do, solitary and not especially mentally challenging, that contributes to my brain deciding to entertain itself by playing songs in my head. They tend to be somewhat annoying songs like the theme song to “Green Acres”, or “On a Wonderful Day Like Today”. I try [...]
Anticipation
Hands down fall is my favorite time of the year. I love the cool, crisp mornings and the sparkling azure sky. It is also the time of year that we finally get relief from the long, hot, dry summer and can actually begin to grow things again. Suffice it to say that I am eagerly [...]
Out With the Old, In With the New
We are right in the middle of the dog days of summer which the hot and dry conditions of late reflect. This is a tricky time for Central Texas vegetable farmers because early fall crops such as tomatoes and winter squash must be planted now in order to produce before first frost, but the 100+ [...]
Hot Summer Days
Both the calendar and thermometer agree, it is officially summer here in Central Texas.
Summer Is Just Around the Corner
It has been a busy and eventful week here at the farm. We participated in the inaugural Dripping Springs Community Farmer’s Market, two new members joined the farm, our walk-in veggie cooler is almost ready for use and our summer crops are really starting to produce now.
What a Difference a Year Makes
We have recently completed our first year of organic market farming. Looking back over the year I must say that it has been full of ups and downs, but I have never regretted our decision to devote ourselves to farming full time.
Spring Is In Full Swing
We are already well into spring now here at the farm. We are harvesting onions and starting to harvest the first of the yellow finn potatoes. We have loads of not quite ripe tomatoes on the plants in the greenhouse and on the plants outdoors and expect to have ripe tomatoes in a couple of [...]
Farming and Marketing
Our winter crops are thriving and many early spring crops have been started. It feels a lot like spring already which is a bit worrisome. Spring seems to arrive a little bit earlier each year, but to have it start in January just seems a bit extreme. The crops, however, are loving the cool nights [...]
New Year Plans and Projects
With all the warm weather we have been having it doesn’t really seem like winter. Hard freezes have been sparse so far this winter and with the regular rainfall we have had all fall cool-weather plants and crops are thriving. It also looks like wildflowers will make a welcome return this spring after having almost none last spring.
The Garden is Giving
We had our first hard freeze last week, about two weeks earlier than average, and despite having covered all of our crops we lost most of the warm weather crops. This was somewhat frustrating because the summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and green beans were all just starting to bear fruit. Luckily, I harvested all of [...]
Night and Day
Up until today, October hasn’t felt much like fall, but that changed yesterday evening when our first strong cold front blew in. Later in the week we may be needing to cover our warm weather crops to keep them from freezing.
First Fall Farm Shares Delivered
Due to the brutal and extended heat and drought that we have been enduring here in central Texas our fall crops have been slow to start, but the recent moderation in temperatures has allowed our early fall crops to get going and has somewhat revived some of our late summer crops. So, we were able to deliver our very first CSA farm shares last week. We are now officially “in business” as a CSA farm! Last week’s shares included basil, okra, eggplant, southern shelling peas, peppers, pac choy, swiss chard, mixed greens and farm eggs.
The Wait is Over
Our weather has now moderated just enough to get our fall gardens planted. Our daily highs are now in the mid-90s and our lows are often in the 50s and 60s. This is perfect for tomatoes, peppers and the warm weather crops, but it is still a bit hot for cool weather plants like pac choi, collards and broccoli. Nonetheless, I planted both cool weather and warm weather transplants in the market garden last week. I also direct seeded some green beans, cucumbers and summer squash in this garden area all of which have sprouted and are growing well.
The Dead of Summer
Even the most established and experienced market and CSA farmers in the Austin and Central Texas areas are saying that this spring-summer season in our area has been the hardest that they have EVER seen.
Looking Forward
We have been keeping busy with harvesting, progression planting, fall crop planting and fall and winter crop planning. July is the critical time to get certain fall crops such as tomato, pepper, okra, and eggplant transplants in the ground to assure production before cold weather sets in. We also need to get pumpkins and winter [...]
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