February 2014... and large cups of Canada have been spilling over our lands in bone-chilling quantities since the previous November, ending growing seasons early (for us in CenTX), loosening the very teeth of our creations with alternating Texas/Arctic temperature cycles and creating a bigger problem in garden disposition than in previous years.
What the Sam Hill's been at work here, o ye climatological Cassandras out there?
While not as hot and dry as in previous years, there just was not quite enough precip available to call it a banner year for the keyhole. The strawberries never got on track and were largely heat-stunted all season; bad labeling practices at the big-box home and garden stores meant that my chili pepper varieties this year ended up being not as hot (poblano vs. hybrid hot salsa chili as advertised) and not as big (ornamental chilis vs. serranos). The pole beans were jamming early, producing a steady volume through early summer, then flagged from the whole ''Two Miles From the Sun, TX" syndrome before a minor bounce-back in October / early November. Ditto for the cherry tomatoes, with even more volume to mid-summer, until the dog days dried out all the vines... no Autumn return.
The icebox watermelons? Watering and specific nutrients must have been a problem... we never did get a choice sweet one for the season, though a couple came close. And we never really did figure out what kind of things to do with the malabar spinach, other than pluck a young leaf now and again for a quick munch.
Then the November 'Norther brought it all to a saggy, mushy demise... the only survivors, to date, have been the stunted strawberries and (Surprise!) the veritably unsinkable Syrian oregano. I'd love to see that stuff take off and go nuts, come spring.
Last season's attempt to stent the effects of soil subsidence could rightly be considered a flawed enterprise, as the rope strap along the top acted more like braces on crooked teeth than a hoop on a wooden cask; since there wasn't a firm anchor board on either side of the notch, the soil continued its inexorable concession to gravity, causing the staves to bulldoze the stone ring at the base, obliterating the already-shaky mortar bonds holding the stones in place. Left uncorrected, I'm pretty sure that another good hard rain and cold snap could have spelled the end of the garden as currently composed.
So... once a Texas weather cycle fell on a weekend, I went to work.
What the Sam Hill's been at work here, o ye climatological Cassandras out there?
Before getting into all that, a review:
While not as hot and dry as in previous years, there just was not quite enough precip available to call it a banner year for the keyhole. The strawberries never got on track and were largely heat-stunted all season; bad labeling practices at the big-box home and garden stores meant that my chili pepper varieties this year ended up being not as hot (poblano vs. hybrid hot salsa chili as advertised) and not as big (ornamental chilis vs. serranos). The pole beans were jamming early, producing a steady volume through early summer, then flagged from the whole ''Two Miles From the Sun, TX" syndrome before a minor bounce-back in October / early November. Ditto for the cherry tomatoes, with even more volume to mid-summer, until the dog days dried out all the vines... no Autumn return.
The icebox watermelons? Watering and specific nutrients must have been a problem... we never did get a choice sweet one for the season, though a couple came close. And we never really did figure out what kind of things to do with the malabar spinach, other than pluck a young leaf now and again for a quick munch.
Then the November 'Norther brought it all to a saggy, mushy demise... the only survivors, to date, have been the stunted strawberries and (Surprise!) the veritably unsinkable Syrian oregano. I'd love to see that stuff take off and go nuts, come spring.
But I digress... what about the garden's corporeal integrity? Check this out...
Last season's attempt to stent the effects of soil subsidence could rightly be considered a flawed enterprise, as the rope strap along the top acted more like braces on crooked teeth than a hoop on a wooden cask; since there wasn't a firm anchor board on either side of the notch, the soil continued its inexorable concession to gravity, causing the staves to bulldoze the stone ring at the base, obliterating the already-shaky mortar bonds holding the stones in place. Left uncorrected, I'm pretty sure that another good hard rain and cold snap could have spelled the end of the garden as currently composed.
So... once a Texas weather cycle fell on a weekend, I went to work.
With shovel, spade, and bare hands I worked the downhill side of the garden, removing soil and fill down to the base of the staves, then gradually working them back up to a near-perpendicular attitude...
Once completed, I employed the services of youngest %1 (my beautiful, vibrant, nascent roller derby star) to anchor one end of the top rope as I pulled tightly on the other, and completed the circle as I should have on my first attempt at a fix last season.
Naturally, on first glance you see why I had a problem with this approach on my previous fix; there is now an impediment to full access via the keyhole notch. I'll have to stretch a little farther to put kitchen waste in the central column, and I'll probably shy away from placing taller, harder-to-reach plants along the sides of the column (where, accordingly, they become the best-fed of the garden inhabitants). Is there anyone out there with an idea of what to plant in that area, with easy-to-reach attributes?
So I did my best to restore the stone ring, but let's face it- it's little more than a cosmetic adornment at this point, as the tattered, beleaguered nylon rope atop the staves is bearing the heaviest load now. Perhaps if I try again with a barrow full of mortar, the buttressing properties of the ring will be restored.
So here we are as we round the final turn towards Season 3... again I solicit your ideas for this year's crops. What do you suppose would return a good yield in the often-fiery climes of CenTX?
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