WOW! How many folks can remember such a wet and wonderfully green countryside in July? I can’t remember a time when we had temperatures in the 70’s, 80’s and now 90’s, but not in the 100’s this time of year. What a Blessing these rains have been. The gardens are going crazy and the waterways are a flowing, even the lakes are in great shape except Buchannan and it is in better shape than it was in August. Bob Rose our weatherman Guru nailed once again.

What Rains Mean to Us

When the rains do come here is what it means to your pocketbook. One inch of rain is equivalent to 27,154 gallons per acre. An acre is 43,560 square feet or roughly 208.7 feet by 208.7 feet or 0.62 gallons of water per square foot. So if you know what your yard size is and how much your water cost you can do the math of your situation. I figured it up one time, the cost of filling the average stock pond with your garden hose versus the rains from heaven and it was staggering.

If you have had an inch of rain and are sitting under a Ashe Juniper (Cedar tree) then only 20 per cent of that rain reached your head the rest was captured in the boughs of the tree and directed straight down the trunk for it’s own benefit. Which is why most folks remove them from the landscape.

If you are a rainwater harvester then you know that a home, barn or shed with 1,000 square feet of surface produces 600+ gallons of water from that same inch of rain.

July Duties

This is the time of the year that your birdbaths are earning their keep. If you have water available for the birds in your garden they are more likely to leave your tomatoes alone. They are just after fluids and the water source that is available to them in the yard and gardens is really helpful to them and to your veggies.

Hope that you are enjoying a bountiful harvest for sharing and storing for the Winter. There are all kinds of gadgets for accomplishing that task and most of us already have them.

The best thing to do in the garden right now is to weed and with all the recent rains that makes it easier. Also, check for areas in the garden that did not drain well and try to correct it for the next set of rainstorms.

All the same principles apply in preparing a Fall garden as it does in planning and preparing for a Spring garden. The soil has to be replenished from all that producing and the microbes need to be fed. A top dressing of organic compost of about an inch or so, plus soil conditioners and molasses will do the job. Now just let the soil rest for a while.

If you want big Pumpkins for Halloween then you better prepare and plant them now. I know it is too hot to be thinking about Fall but that is the way it works.

Start thinking about what you are going to do for the Fall planting which we will be preparing for next month.

Have You Noticed?

When you are driving through the countryside have you noticed the purple tops on fencing and on the trees? That is the International Sign for "No Trespassing". The law was put into effect here in Texas way back in 2001. It is in the Texas Penal Code, Article 30.5. The purpose was to make it easier to see and the signs were too easy to remove. The guide lines are: The marks, made with purple paint, must be at least 1" wide and 8" high, the bottom of the mark must be between 3 feet and 5 feet off the ground, and must be placed at locations readily visible to the person approaching the property, further the marks must be no more than 100 feet apart on forestland and no more than 1,000 feet apart on non-forestland. The reason I am writing about this is no one seems to know about this law or what all those purple marks are about, so how does that help people know where not to go? Well at lest now you all will know. Pass the word along.

A Real Truth

"The future of a seed is in the quality of the soil", Pastor Robb Thompson

Till Next Month!

Keep your souls and your soles in your garden!

Remember the True Master Gardener: Jesus said, "I am the vine; my Father is the Gardener." John 15:1

Have questions or comments? Contact Bill Luedecke at The Luedecke Group Realtors, P.O. Box 1632, Bertram, TX. 78605 (no Post Office in Oatmeal) or email bill@texasland.net. For additional gardening web sites, go to his web site; www.TexasLand.Net and click on links.