Monthly Archives: December 2010

Wind chill on December 31, 2010

Temperature-14° on December 31, 2010 at 12pm noon

Here it is, the last day of the year and the outside temperature is 14° F (-10°C) at 12 NOON! We are having a bitter cold snap here in Santa Fe and that doesn’t include the wind chill factor. What is wind chill? It is a measure of how cold the atmosphere feels, taking not just actual temperature into account, but also wind, which can make the air considerably colder. So I was curious (as I always am) and found a wind chill calculator on line to see what the wind chill temperature was. Image my surprise when it said -3.2° F! (That’s -19.6° C)  Now I can figure out the real temperature when I go feed the barn animals and dread it more for them and me!  You can figure out how cold it is wherever you live too. I always get a little antsy about this time of year to get planting and then I go outside for a reality check. I think it’s a good day to stay home and go through the seed catalogs coming in and dream of what will be…

Xmas day with the goats!

Took a Santa’s hat down to the goats and gave them a special treat-Fritos! They love corn chips and raisins as treats! Still trying to figure out if Wee (small white goat) is pregnant. The friend we got her from said they thought she is but she is still not getting big and we’ve had her since Oct so who knows-there may be a surprise later on in January or Feburary! Wanted to see if the goats would keep a hat on and Bear and Sonny liked wearing it. The girl goats said “no”!

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Cold Frame Winter Gardening

Growing Spinach and Lettuce in a Cold Frame in December

Checked my cold frame today and my winter greens are coming along. I’m growing spinach in foreground, and oakleaf lettuce behind it and behind the lettuce is some little Swiss chard transplants and a few onions from the summer garden. There is not much to do except give them a little water when the soil dries out which is about once every week. I haven’t been paying much attention to them. I’m not the best winter gardener. I don’t always open up the cold frame in the day or shut it down completely at night. It’s interesting to see how much neglect they can take and still produce in winter but it is nice to see something green.

2011 Baker Heirloom Seed Catalog Arrives!

2011 Baker Heirloom Seeds Catalog

My 2011 Baker Heirloom Seed Catalog arrived and just in time for me to cuddle up by the fireplace with it and a hot Mexican coffee while it snowed outside. If you are a veggie/flower gardener, this catalog is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen and has a wealth of information. It’s pictures inside are big and gorgeous and make me want to buy everything! It is by far my most favorite seed catalog and if you want to order one, it’s free here at Baker Heirloom Seed (www.rareseeds.com). I get many seed catalogs every year but this catalog is always the best one-year after year. Did I say  it snowed? Yes, snow! We haven’t had any measureable snow here in Santa Fe until yesterday. We got 16 inches of snow (that equals 1.6 inches of rain-10 inches of snow = 1 inch of rain) where I live and I’m so glad because we really need the moisture right now. Hasn’t felt like winter here till this weekend. Now we don’t have to water for awhile!

Don’t Forget to Water in the Winter!

2010 winter precipitation forecast

We haven’t been getting a lot of rain in the Southwest–in fact almost nothing for awhile. That’s because we are in the middle of a La Niña weather cycle, which means less precipitation and warmer temperatures this winter. This means we have to remember to WATER MORE. How much more? Well I WATER EVERYTHING EVERY 2 WEEKS: the perennial gardens and trees (not the dead veggies!), and if we do get a decent amount of snow I water less. I actually write down when I water on a calendar otherwise I could never remember. Last winter we had an El Niño which resulted in more rain and snow, but not this year.

So what is La Niña and what does she have to do with weather in New Mexico? Well, La Niña is caused by colder than normal subsurface ocean water temperatures that start in the tropical Pacific. This cold water is pushed by waves and easterly trade winds towards South America, and results in an upwelling of cold water off Peru and Ecuador that travels north off the coast of South America.

2010 winter temperature forecast

La Niña often creates drier than normal conditions in the Southwest in late summer through the next winter, whereas the Pacific Northwest is likely to be wetter than normal in the late fall and early winter. If you watch the weather, you’ll notice the jet stream, which brings in the storms, gets pushed north of us in the winter and thus we get less rain and snow. So don’t forget to water!

Testing Your Garden Soil

Not having great soil is really a problem here in Northern New Mexico and makes growing anything a challenge. Having good soil where you want to plant veggies is the most important thing you can do. People ask me all the time how do I grow such great veggies and the secret is-it’s all about the soil!  So the more we learn about how to improve our soil the better our growing results will be. So read on.

Here is an excerpt from Payne’s Nurseries site here in Santa Fe on ‘How to Build Your Northern New Mexico Soil’ which is worth reading in it’s entirety.”We have three basic types of soil here in Northern New Mexico: caliche, adobe and sand. All are alkaline, with a pH often over 7.0, and tend to contain abundant quantities of sodium, calcium and potassium. Caliche, adobe, and sand all lack organic matter, the nutrients and organisms of which are essential for sustaining high quality plant growth and production. Caliche is made up of sand, gravel and clay. Adobe is essentially fine clay. Neither soil type is easily penetrated by water. Sand, on the other hand, allows water through but has a limited ability to hold nutrients or moisture.” Check out the article. Most of us have some combination of these 3 types.  Fertilitzers feed the plant but not the soil which also needs to be fertile and more and more people are just learning that.

One of the things I mentioned in an earlier post is I’m getting a soil test specifically for growing my giant pumpkins and I will get one for my veggie garden where I grow tomatoes also. I researched where other pumpkin growers are getting their soil analysis done and I will use A & L Western Laboratories in Modesto, Ca for mine as they can test for any crop I specify versus a general soil test. My fellow pumpkin nuts tell me to get the  S3C COMPLETE Analysis package from A & L and to get the recommendations as well. The soil sample collected should be a composite from 10 to 20 locations within a selected area; a sufficient number to “average out” variations. You can learn how to properly take soil samples from them here. Other soil testing companies may have other protocol so check with whoever you use as to how they want you to collect soil samples.

There is nothing wrong with getting a general soil test (instead of for a particular crop) and that is what I would get if I didn’t grow competitively but I want to get the most out of my soil for my pumpkins.

You can also get a general soil analysis from a NMSU laboratory here and you can go to NMSU Soil Test Interpretations site to learn what your test means. Reading the tests isn’t easy but once you get one done you’ll be better able to understand what needs to be added to your garden for next year’s growing season so you can have a wonderful lush, productive garden next year. I’ll post what the results are as soon as I get them back.