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Post by johno on Aug 27, 2010 9:15:12 GMT -5
I talk from time to time about selecting this or that plant for extreme conditions - in this case mostly meaning drought tolerance, heat tolerance and lean soil. The area I grow on is adjacent to a small waterway named Barren Creek. Everyone has a good idea what barren means, but I recently discovered that barren is a noun as well as an adjective. It is the name for a certain type of geology. This use of the word was apparently more common in 'the old days.' In fact, the nearest town was formerly named Rapp's Barren. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service defines 'barren' thusly:
Barren. A General cover category consisting of nonvegetated lands, including alkaline barrens, unreclaimed mined land, and other barren areas incapable of supporting vegetation. Barren areas are nonvegetated either because the substrate will not support plant growth or because the area is subject to frequent disturbance (e.g., scouring, flooding) that prevents plant growth.
Barren land. A Land cover/use category used to classify lands with limited capacity to support life and having less than 5 percent vegetative cover. Vegetation, if present, is widely spaced.
* Typically, the surface of barren land is sand, rock, exposed subsoil, or salt-affected soils. Subcategories include salt flats; sand dunes; mud flats; beaches; bare exposed rock; quarries, strip mines, gravel pits, and borrow pits; riverwash; oil wasteland; mixed barren lands; and other barren land.
NASA is more generous with the definition, stating that barrens have less than one-third vegetation cover. I think the old local guideline was more forgiving yet, meaning something like a lean, rocky prairie. That's more like what we have here, although my soil tests have shown some alkalinity and salinity, and there is exposed rock and exposed subsoil in abundance. Anywhere you dig here, you find gravel.
It's perhaps difficult to complain also about the weather, as everyone has that problem. But, typically we have drought conditions in the summer following flash floods in the spring.
Planting fall crops at the correct time is almost an exercise in futility. Almost. For example, out of a few pounds of pinto beans I planted about three weeks ago (just before our last rain), one plant remains. That's a good plant to save seeds from.
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Post by ozarklady on Aug 27, 2010 13:49:32 GMT -5
Hey, Johno, Sounds like my gardening, especially this year with .27" of rain for the month of August. I am tired of watering twice a day, so I am prepping for fall, and calling it a day on all but a few crops. Mostly tomatoes, even zuchini can't take the drought! But pink eye purple hulls have 2 pods on them! Yeah! I have been studying the land to see what I have to work with, and figure out exactly what I need. I found some things of interest. Although you are not far east of me, we are on different plateaus, I am on the Springfield plateau, and you are on the Salem Plateau. I learned alot by reading about the archeology of the ground. I wondered how my elevation was so much higher, but it didn't seem so uphill when making the drive from N. central to N. western Arkansas. Check out this link: encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=440These plateaus extend into Missouri and Oklahoma so folks there will find these interesting too! It shows that we are fighting an uphill battle all the way to grow crops here. |
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Post by johno on Aug 27, 2010 16:18:35 GMT -5
That's a great link, thanks! Anyone who has an interest in the area should have a look. Watering twice a day, huh? I bet you are having better luck than I am, then. I water once or twice a week in the main garden at this point, but earlier I was watering even less. I don't water the field garden at all - rain only. I just have this thing about forcing only the strong to survive. It gives me good seed stock for the future (even if the seed is small), but not much food in the present. I think the wife is getting tired of this approach.  The corn is almost done, and the cowpeas are getting there. Tomatoes look pretty fair, but a close look this morning revealed little brown edges here and there that spell a slow death in the coming weeks. If it wasn't for the okra, pole beans, and a few little odds and ends, I'd be ready to call it a season, too. When it does rain some and the ground is workable, I'm tearing up the whole semi-formal layout and terracing the whole thing in wide beds to catch and hold rainwater better. I bought pounds and pounds of hairy vetch seed, annual rye and fall foodplot mix for green manures. |
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Post by ozarklady on Aug 27, 2010 21:42:40 GMT -5
Actually, it sounds like your garden is doing better than mine. I occasionally get a tomato, end of story! Tomato plants are slowly dying too.
Corn failed, zuchini failed, cabbage, broccoli, brussels harlequin bugs ate, potatoes failed.
Strawberries are all but dead.
I am also going to redo all my beds, reason being, the heat and drought has cooked every morsel of humus out of the soil... it is rocks held together by dust! My garden is a dust bowl, even with watering. So, I am simply going to double dig, again, enrich, enrich, enrich!
No greens to add to compost, all is dead, even trees are wilting. But the leaves will help!
Drought stinks!
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Post by mnjrutherford on Aug 29, 2010 18:01:01 GMT -5
What about agriculture in the area of Hot Spring County and Garland County OL and Johno?
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Post by castanea on Jan 24, 2011 0:05:32 GMT -5
Johno,
How are you doing with okra? I vaguely recall you were doing some okra breeding.
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Post by johno on Jan 24, 2011 23:37:46 GMT -5
You know, most years I'm eager to try new varieties, so I haven't grown out all the potential crosses. I should do that this year. But when I have grown saved seed that was unprotected from other pollen, I really haven't seen any crossing. I think this will be a good year to do some hand pollinating. I'm keen on the idea of crossing Cowhorn with Star of David, two of my favorites.
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Post by castanea on Jan 24, 2011 23:49:14 GMT -5
You know, most years I'm eager to try new varieties, so I haven't grown out all the potential crosses. I should do that this year. But when I have grown saved seed that was unprotected from other pollen, I really haven't seen any crossing. I think this will be a good year to do some hand pollinating. I'm keen on the idea of crossing Cowhorn with Star of David, two of my favorites. Do you like those two because of their growth pattern and productivity, or because of their taste? |
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Post by johno on Jan 25, 2011 1:08:38 GMT -5
You know, most years I'm eager to try new varieties, so I haven't grown out all the potential crosses. I should do that this year. But when I have grown saved seed that was unprotected from other pollen, I really haven't seen any crossing. I think this will be a good year to do some hand pollinating. I'm keen on the idea of crossing Cowhorn with Star of David, two of my favorites. Do you like those two because of their growth pattern and productivity, or because of their taste? Both. Cowhorn is crazy productive, and a little more forgiving than most if you miss a day of picking. Star of David is a robust plant and has rich flavor. I just think a combo could produce some great offspring with careful trait selection. |
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Post by castanea on Jan 25, 2011 1:38:07 GMT -5
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Post by johno on Jan 25, 2011 12:49:37 GMT -5
You might be surprised. I don't get them quite that size since I lost my source of unlimited free rabbit manure, but I used to. They respond very well to manure. |
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Post by bunkie on Jan 25, 2011 15:11:35 GMT -5
.....When it does rain some and the ground is workable, I'm tearing up the whole semi-formal layout and terracing the whole thing in wide beds to catch and hold rainwater better. I bought pounds and pounds of hairy vetch seed, annual rye and fall foodplot mix for green manures. johno, in reading this thread through, my first thought was to use some permaculture ideas, such as the swales. they help catch and hold water in the ground whenever it rains. they might help with the flooding problem too. have you read about them? |
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Post by johno on Jan 31, 2011 15:19:35 GMT -5
That's more or less what I'm doing. It took me until late fall to clean up all the boards, stakes, fencing, etc., then I plowed level across the slope. The cover crops are growing slowly; it would have been better to have planted them earlier. I was hoping we'd have more warm spells... But regardless of growth, I'll be tilling planting strips in a few weeks.
Uphill of this area, I've moved the (satellite dish) pond and am landscaping around it with limestone. Today I dug up some leaf mould and topped off some areas where I'll scatter poppy seeds when it snows. This general area will also be where I'll plant non-annuals.
Progress is slow.
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Post by johno on May 4, 2011 15:58:46 GMT -5
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 5, 2011 8:32:38 GMT -5
How come your lines are so straight?
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