Sustainable Farm Journal

Today, the gourds were harvested, just before a quick rain. The vines grew in 10 Bato buckets in an outdoor hydroponic system. They were started as plugs back in late May and grew through the summer.

Despite the fact that the melon crop this year was almost an entire loss because of the rain that came in late August and didn't stop for two weeks, I was still able to harvest a dozen sugar pie pumpkins. These 12 pumpkins came from four or five plants only. I started them as transplants in late May when ongoing spring rains showed no signs of letting up. I planted sugar pie and Howden pumpkins but the Jack O'Lantern pumpkins only produced two fruits that were taken by rot and insects. I planted the transplants in mid June into a hydroponic Dutch bucket system where they grew for 3 months until the pumpkins were ready to pick and cure.

Despite my thorough preparation the growing season of 2016 and my optimism which led me to expand the amount of coverage I gave to Israeli melons, heavy rains in the last two weeks of August have destroyed my harvest. I've never seen this much rain in the summer before and I had no way to imagine two weeks ago when my melons first begin to ripen that they would now be rotting in the field with as much as 2 inches of flood water surrounding them. In the last several days I've harvested 10, 15, or 20 each day only to throw all but maybe one or two out in the field because they had split open and begun to rot.

Last night, about 2 inches of rain fell. Today's highs were in the 60s, and tonight will be chilly but well above freezing. The soil is too wet to work in the field or in the raised bed garden.

For two weeks now winter precipitation and light rain fall has been frequent. slowly the moisture has penetrated the soil and is now beginning to saturate it, which should provide some relief from the continuing drought this summer.

I planted four varieties of pumpkins on June 11. The next day, 1/8 inch of rain fell. The following day, a little more rainfall brought the total of to 1/4 inch. I planted the pumpkins by mid June this year so that they will be ready for harvest at the beginning of October and therefore suitable for market. Last year, I planted pumpkins on July 4, and they were not ready to pick until a few days before Halloween. More became ready in November, which was too late for seasonal pumpkin buyers. The varieties in 70 basins are: Cinderella, Big Max, Howden, and Halloween, all from Willhite Seed Company. To prepare each basin, I added Texas green sand, Sul-Po-Mag, soft rock phosphate, and Agronomic Partner's 14-0-0 sustainable nitrogen from soy.

On Monday morning, June 9, 2014, 3 inches of rain fell over the course of a few hours. Standing water around the raised garden bed eventually percolated into the soil, charging the soil with a healthy water content. All crops thrived in the days after the rain, except for tomatoes. The row of tomatoes planted in the row area near the raised garden beds show a sort of curling in the leaves and stems that I usually associate with herbicides. In the week prior, a crop duster was spotted upwind, and drift may have indeed affected the tomatoes.