East Texas Gardening

[farmerjan]

There is as much a place for horses for meat as there is any other animal. In times of plenty, they weren't eaten.... in times of "poor" they were the hedge against starvation. There are a surplus of them in this country because of the bleeding heart "dogooders" that even took away the ability to kill them in this country. There are horses that should only be killed..... and the mercy of killing ones that have health, and age problems. And utilizing their bodies instead of wasting it.
Beasts of burden, companions, "partners" in war..... and providers of food in the end also. They were a form of "wealth" for the native indian tribes.... they were used for barter, better than "money".... used for transportation......used for food. They also added fertility to the grounds and utilized the grasses that people would not utilize.

Yeah, @baymule they might be for your pleasure, and "more useless" in some ways, but they are contributing to the fertility of your place. And your personal "psychotherapy" program.....

 

[Mini Horses]

Had to Google that real fast...it's A and due to a system of high fish and seal consumption. Can cause death but, nausea, hair loss, etc. Seems seal, walrus, elk or moose...has some liver issue, too. A is not water sol, so hard to excrete.

Weren't on my grocery list anyway. 😁

 

[baymule]

Ain’t that the truth! I’ve been fretting because I’m behind on my garden, now I don’t feel so bad. I got the disc ran around the garden last week, we got 3” of much needed rain, now here comes a frost! It did this last year too. After the ridiculously COLD winter storm we had, -6 F .......... MINUS SIX??? I’ve never done minus degrees in my whole life. At least it could’ve killed the durned fire ants!

 

[JanetMarie]

Even though temps were below freezing the past two nights, the peach tree blossoms look okay (most of them)!

 

[baymule]

I had just planted my mustard and turnips before Snowmeggdon struck. After the snow malted, they came up, but not near what it should have been.

 

[Alaskan]

Agreed, but during our mini ice age they were buried under about four inches of ice/snow and -6 F temps for almost a week. We also lost a lot of ornamental plants during that time. Our average lows are mid 20 F.

See, if they hadn't had the snow blanket it would have made more sense that they died..

The snow blanket should have been great protection.

Maybe it was more the drastic change from Texas hot to colder than ice that killed them.

 

[The Pagan Pig]

We need some of that rain here, bad! The effects of the drought from last year are still here, and now this year it seems that the drought is going to continue. Had very few walnuts last year, and no acorns, which is the first time since being here for 10 years.

East Texas does seem like a nice place, if one is going to be in Texas. Are there many or few creeks or rivers in your area @The Pagan Pig?

We suffered with drought for years here until last year. Now it seems to be the opposite with more rain than we need. At least the wild hogs have moved back down to the river bottoms and are leaving us alone .... hate those things.

Lake Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend are the two big lakes that are within an easy drive of us and we have numerous small lakes and rivers. We are up on a hill so we don't have to worry about flooding like the river folks do.

 

[Mini Horses]

In my part of VA it's been real dry for a couple weeks. I had to water the garden TO PLANT! Just so dust bowl dry. After watering, the color of dirt and chunks of debris became real obvious. 🤔 Way more to pick and burn. Bummer!

Did plant, after watering a long time.

 

[baymule]

They just announced here that there will be ZERO, ZIP, NADA irrigation water available for farmers in Klamath Basin this year... But nothing about limiting water to residential so they can have their green lawns and azaleas. What are they thinking?

We saw that on the news last night. Screw the farmers, let them go broke and sell out. Let their farms be scooped up for pennies on the dollar by real estate developers, who can then build more subdivisions for more people. Total insanity.

I don’t know why the west coast doesn’t have desalination plants to harvest fresh water. Then there would be enough for everyone. Oh, wait. What was I thinking? That would make sense and the governors of those states don’t have any.

 

[baymule]

Do you have that real sandy loam soil where you are? We do, so the garden drains fast and drys out fast but this is still just too much water for the plants. If it wasn't for the sandy loam we wouldn't have a garden left out there at all.

We have what is locally called, sugar sand. White, devoid of nutrients and humus. Think beach without the ocean. When wet, it is firm, when dry (2 minutes after it quits raining) it is dust. We moved here in February 2015 and put in a spring garden which was a dismal failure. LOL We have thrown everything at the garden we got our hands on. Sheep, horse and chicken manure, and compost. A power line cleaning company brought us 110 loads of wood chips and we let them park their trucks here at night. We used those chips EVERYWHERE. When the wind blew, it kicked up drifts of dust that covered everything. We covered the yard, horse barnyard, garden and driveway. Last year, that crew brought us 11 loads, we are almost out now.

Our garden is a foot deep in rich black soil. It takes continuous amendments to keep it going. We get nice harvests and if we can fight off the weeds, we get even better harvests. LOL

What do you use to amend your sandy soul?