I'll take the plastic off in spring as it gets way too hot in summer and the hoophouse is full of trees and shrubs.  And gophers ...   It'll be moved down hill and the existing area will be a fenced garden and the entire area will be gopher fenced.  Just a little behind schedule!

So hopefully next year I'll get tons of berries and I want to take at least a hundred cuttings in winter.

https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/viewhtml.php?id=15

http://news.nau.edu/drought-re.....nt-2135576

... Led by NAU doctoral student Rachel Rubin, the researchers conducted a meta-analysis, reviewing more than 50 scientific studies from throughout the world. When plants in the studies were provided with growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), a diverse group of organisms known for their root and rhizosphere colonizing ability, vegetable and grain yields increased 20 to 45 percent. The benefits of rhizobacteria were even greater in plants grown in a drought compared to their well-watered counterparts. ...

A very interesting interview by Graeme Sait with Jeff Rasawehr, the founder of Center Seeds, a Michigan-based enterprise specialising in the supply of cover crop seed.

http://blog.nutri-tech.com.au/.....secrets-1/

Couldn't find part two.

The Beauty of Brix – Ten Things You Need To Know

2.  It looks like you are looking at a fuel gauge and in a way you are. A low brix reading is akin to a plant fresh out of fuel. The line that divides the two visible hemispheres can also offer an indication of calcium levels in the plant. If the dividing line is clean and sharp, this indicates a calcium deficiency. It can actually be a sign of generalised mineral deficiency, but as calcium is "the trucker of all minerals", this mineral is the chief suspect. The goal of all good growers is to fuzz up that sharp line. A fuzzy dividing line is an indication of mineral density and desirable calcium levels in the plant.

Since there's no line at all in a digital refractometer, it seems that the analog meters should be preferred.

Does anyone have SCIENTIFIC references to prove it?

Low brix levels are often linked to high nitrate levels in the plant. It is impossible to achieve nutrient density in the presence of excessive nitrate nitrogen. This form of N is only ever uptaken with water, so the higher the nitrate levels the greater the dilution factor. A watery, mineral deficient plant is a calling card for insects and disease, so this could also be called a stress meter. In effect, your likelihood of anxiety is all locked within this ten second measurement. The higher your brix levels, the greater your farming fun.

I'm pretty sure there's a relation between high brix and farming or gardening fun.

Good brix levels can confer enhanced protection against frost. Kelp is often used for this purpose, as it is a primary brix-building tool. Studies in Tasmania, several years ago, revealed that kelp applications before frost events could provide up to 3°C of frost protection. Of course, the most dramatic frost protection strategy involves removing the root cause of the problem. Frost crystals are created by a group of organisms called ice-nucleating bacteria. If you can remove these creatures from the leaf surface, you can minimise frost damage. Thankfully, there is a solution. Nutri-Life Sudo-Shield™ from NTS features massive numbers of a leaf-dwelling organism called Pseudomonas fluorescens. When applied to the leaf, this organism will improve the leaf population of non-ice-nucleating bacteria and subsequently decrease the likelihood of frost damage; these organisms can continue that invaluable service for around 4 weeks. We have had tremendous feedback from growers around the world who have escaped the frost damage that has decimated their neighbours, following a foliar application of Nutri-Life Sudo-Shield™.

Kelp has been our most used foliar spray ingredient and I've heard that it helps with frost as well as heat protection.

But I never heard of Pseudomonas fluorescens.  This summer we got the BioRed nitrogen fixing microbes and it looks like we ought to have a cocktail of microbes.  

We can get a hard freeze as early as late October and that just totally ruins our tomato harvest.  This year we've barely had any tomatoes yet because we were so late and then it got HOT.  The plants are looking good, but not setting fruit.  So we're hoping for a nice fall crop as we finally start to see little tomatoes. 

Usually everything freezes by Thanksgiving at the latest.  One year it got down to 9 F and we found the freeze plugs from our truck on the ground.  Nothing helps when it gets that cold.  But in some years the lows stay in the high 20s until January and most of the nights it doesn't freeze at all and the days are warm and sunny.

Just did some reading on Pseudomonas fluorescens and it looks like they don't like our heat.  I'll start a new topic on it.  So much to learn ...

Anyway, a great read on BRIX by Graeme Sait at The Beauty of Brix – Ten Things You Need To Know.

http://articles.mercola.com/si.....lture.aspx?

The article contains the link to Managing Cover Crops Profitably :

http://www.sare.org/Learning-C.....rd-Edition

I just got the FREE download, 248 pages.  Dr. Mercola rocks!

Squirt some vinegar on a small sample of your native dirt.  If you hear it sizzling and it bubbles, you have calcareous soil.

One of our local gardeners had poor results until he amended with gypsum after he got a soil test since we have so much excess calcium in the soil.

Our native dirt is extremely compacted (we now need to use a PICK to loosen up dirt piles that were excavated in spring before we can shovel it).

A comprehensive publication about gypsum by the University of Arizona Extension:

Using Gypsum and Other Calcium Amendments in Southwestern Soils, Dr. James Walworth, Revised 08/12

http://extension.arizona.edu/p.....az1413.pdf

A few excerpts:

...Gypsum is a good choice for Ca addition because it is inexpensive, non-toxic, and safe to handle, and it is relatively
soluble. We are interested both in solubility (how much of the salt will dissolve in the soil water) and the rate of dissolution
(how fast the salt dissolves in water). Mined gypsum is well crystallized, having formed over millions of years. Waste
gypsum, on the other hand, is formed rapidly during industrial processes, and is less crystallized. Although they have the same
chemical formula, the waste gypsum materials dissolve more rapidly than mined gypsum. Sometimes powdered gypsum
is prilled in order to reduce dust and to improve handling properties, and this slows its rate of dissolution.

A study that compared dissolution rates of gypsum sources found that flue gas gypsum dissolved 3.6 times faster than mined gypsum, whereas phosphogypsum dissolved 2.2 times faster than mined gypsum. The rate of dissolution is particularly important for treatment of soil crusting, which is caused by dispersion of clay particles at the soil surface. In this situation, rapid dissolution is critical to maintain a high level of dissolved Ca2+ in the surface soil as raindrops or irrigation water leach cations from the uppermost layer of soil. However, for general treatment of soil structure, the rate of dissolution is less important than the overall solubility. ...

I've been buying my gypsum at Star Nursery, the only place in Kingman where I found OMRI listed mined gypsum.  It's a nice slightly pinkish very fine powder and costs about $6.50 for I think 40lbs.  

Star has another brand that costs over $30 because it is fast acting.  I checked the label and it had identical ingredients.  I asked what the difference is, but they had no clue.  A couple weeks later I got more gypsum and inquired again with the same guy and he still had no clue.  And that's just how it is these days -- cheap help couldn't care less about what they sell.  Very disappointing for a "local" Nevada nursery.  You might as well be at Walmart or at the Home Depot.

I've read about people putting drywall scraps in their gardens, but that's not for me.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_drywall about toxic drywall.  Most of the drywall in our house came from Lowe's in 2006.  We've been using adobe since 2008, a much better choice for many reasons.

So, I'm certainly not paying 5 times more for what might be flu gas gypsum or whatever industrial waste!

As an organic grower, I wouldn't use it if it was free.

Currently there is the cheaper "Arizona's Best" gypsum at the Home Depot, but it's not OMRI listed and I've heard reports of people finding pieces of drywall in it.   No thanks!

The university publication contains a nice chart that tells you how much gypsum to apply per acre and per 1000 sqft.

I'm going to contact Dr. Walworth to see if he has recommendations for a soil testing lab specializing in our calcareous soil (our pH is 8.2 to 8.7).

https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=486

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Inter.....167287.pdf

Not specific to the SW, but I'll update with the Kingman NRCS cover crop suggestions.

... Then, at a meeting of the Arkansas Association of Grape Growers last November, Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Butch Calhoun was giving a presentation on the state of agriculture in Arkansas. After his presentation, Egan approached Calhoun and asked how to improve the chances of getting a grant.

“He said ‘give me your card and I’ll get back to you,’” Egan said. “He wrote the top seven folks in the NRCS in Little Rock and shortly thereafter, John Lee, the head NRCS agronomist for Arkansas, drove up for a visit. In a nutshell, Lee said to forget direct granting from the NRSC. You need to have your farm Certified USDA Organic and here is why – last year the NRCS received $250,000 to administer grants in a special program exclusively to organic farmers. At the end of the year, they had to send half the money back to D.C. because there were not enough applicants for the program.”

In April 2015, Egan’s farm was inspected for USDA Organic Certification. He applied for six grants and all were approved. The cost of the well, pump and 600 feet of underground irrigation totaled $17,647. In addition, the farm qualified for a $4,200 grant to have a Ph.D. agronomist travel from Kansas City, Mo., do a 50-page survey and recommendation for the farm. For 2016 through 2018, the farm received a grant of $3,786 to file two annual reports, one for nutrient management,one for integrated pest management. ...

There is an NRCS office in Kingman:

http://offices.sc.egov.usda.go.....OfficeLink

I think our place is too small to be considered a farm, but I'll check this out.

Unlike powdery mildew, downy mildew requires moisture and humidity and relatively cool temperatures.   While it's been so hot and dry the for several days, we also had a few days of very light rain every few hours, so that could have caused problems.

Excellent pics of infected leaves as well as the scientific explanation at Managing Downy Mildew in Organic and Conventional Vine Crops:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fa.....f/3127.pdf

For organic growers, there are several alternative fungicides labeled for cucurbit downy mildew, including copper-based fungicides. Growers should be cautious in applying copper, as it can be phytotoxic to cucurbits, and high levels in soil are toxic to earthworms and other beneficial organisms. Phytotoxicity is most common during cool, moist conditions, which are also the most favorable for downy mildew. A list of the other alternative fungicides can be found at the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Services “Downy Mildew in Cucurbits” web page at http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pu......html#ref4. Make sure to check with OMRI http://www.omri.org and your organic certifier to determine if the suggested products are currently considered acceptable for organic production.

In our dry desert climate we really shouldn't have to worry about it.

From http://homeguides.sfgate.com/n.....44863.html

Since many posts mention the addition of oil and soap, I might just add a little coconut oil and some yucca extract (as surfactant instead of soap.)

Also, for powdery mildew diluted milk and especially raw milk is often recommended.

Interestingly, home gardeners use 3 times as much fertilizers than farmers -- more is NOT better!

Joel C. Reid, Mesa Verde Resources:

What to Do

We know that nitrogen inputs are important in crop and turf production, however we suggest that nitrogen inputs be managed much, much more carefully and recommend the use of humates to restore soil carbon in its most active form. Applications of humates will not only increase soil carbon levels, but will improve water retention, drainage, soil tilth and nutrient retention. Humates also provide a healthy substrate for beneficial soil microbes.

Research has shown that soils with less than 3% organic matter can lose 15% to 40% of N in a growing season. Anchoring nitrogen in the soil is part of the important job of soil carbon/humus, as N binds readily with carbon-based acids such as humic and fulvic. This reduces the need for heavy, expensive inputs of N fertilizers. Moreover, the stimulation of symbiotic and free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria by humic substances adds to availability of N from the atmosphere, supplying, in many cases, up to 75% of a crop’s needs.

By applying humates to soils where synthetic N and other fertilizers are used, we can restore soil carbon levels, balance the ratio of carbon to nitrogen and break the vicious cycle we have created in most conventional production soils. Humates are a direct input of soil organic matter, providing the most important aspect of a healthy, productive soil.

I just purchased humic acid for the first time this spring and I still have a lot to learn about fertilizing and amending our desert soils for vegetables and fruit trees.  Recently we got nitrogen fixing microbes, mycorrhizae and minerals.  And of course I've done a ton of reading -- my head is spinning.   So much fascinating info, I'll have to elaborate in new posts.

Bunchgrass with germination in 5-10 days.
 One of the most widely used grasses and is adaptable to a wide variety of soils and climate conditions. It is leafy and fine stemmed.

20% Smooth Brome, Lincoln
Sod Forming grass with germination in 10-14 days
.  Smooth brome is resistant to drought and extremes in temperature. Lincoln smooth brome is the most widely used of the cultivated brome grasses.

15% Paiute Orchardgrass
Bunchgrass with germination in 14-21 days.
One of the earliest species to exhibit growth in the spring, making tremendous forage potential during cool conditions. Performs well on different textured soils. Is a great forage and hay producer.

15% Hycrest Crested Wheatgrass
Bunchgrass with germination in 14-21 days. 
A hybrid cross between Standard and Desert wheatgrass, resulting in a plant with excellent seedling vigor that establishes quickly. It is taller and has higher forage yield potential than its parents.

I'd like to see what the grasses look like, have to look them up sometime.

I wish we knew WHEN it will rain so that we could get seeds out then.  Like you, we got some rain too, but this last week was another scorcher. 

Spent all morning getting plastic over the bed where the vegs have to stay warm at night we are getting below 60 now

We're still in the mid to high 70s at night.  There's no way that I'd cover veggies unless I could keep them from freezing (tomatoes and peppers) or it's for pest control and I leave the cover on for a while.  Especially with plastic it would cause certain death for the veggies as the morning sun would have fried them by the time I get out there.  

I've covered pots with shade cloth or agribon, covered the pot with the lettuce seedlings yesterday again.  They're not exactly looking great.  Thought it was a good idea to plant them when it rained and was cool a week ago. Oh well ... good thing I have more seedlings inside and tons of seed.

I can't work when it's too hot I'm too old (60 btw) & still have too much Alaskan blood.

I'm 57 and I blame my German blood 🙂  Can't wait for afternoon temps to drop below 100 F again, low 90s would be real nice.  When I moved here I had no plans for ever spending a summer here.   Just glad it's dry heat!

We got more rain yesterday 1/2". Spent all morning getting plastic over the bed where the vegs have to stay warm at night we are getting below 60 now. Everything is really late since July was cooler with all the rain. Too much rain for the garden but great for the pastures! The best is to get a bit of rain spread out. The only thing doing really good are the sunflowers most are at least 8 ft tall. Hopefully they will bloom.

I can't work when it's too hot I'm too old (60 btw) & still have too much Alaskan blood.

I'll have to post a pic of the weed, the raised bed mostly have bindweed but it's not too bad to pull up.

Seems around here I need to lay eyes on most everything everyday, if I blow it off I always regret it!! I'm always saying something about learning a lesson then try to remember to write it in my notebook.

It sounds like you tried to post an attachment, but it doesn't show up.  Did you actually hit the "upload" button after selecting the file?  I have to add an FAQ here.

I can imagine how busy you are.  For us the problem is that it's so hot during the day, not only do I not feel like working hard (screening dirt etc.), but it's too hot to plant, transplant, water, etc.   Two hours at night just isn't enough time.   Just finished transplanting a few trees and palms into bigger pots (had a flashlight), no moonlight right now.  I'm determined to set up a new water tank with irrigation lines tomorrow during the day, we'll see how that goes.

Weeds: We've always hand weeded or used the hula hoe, but this year had so many weeds due to the nice spring rains.  A customer had already paid a lot for weeding and we were less than half done, so it was time to get a weed eater.  Promptly broke the customer's car's rear window with a rock!  The weed eater went back to Lowe's and from now on we'll pull the weeds.   Just got done with the customer's weeding (free of charge to pay for the window.) Fortunately weeds really aren't a big problem in most years.

We also got a lot of weeds in the hoophouse because we didn't pay attention and let some weeds on the sides go to seed ...  Learned a lesson there!

If you want to identify a weed, please post a picture or two.  

I think the main reason we haven't had much luck with cover crops in previous years is that we're so tired of watering by fall.  But now we have irrigation and timers, so we'll try it again.  Still don't know what to get though ...

the rain we had in July (5 3/4 inches )

Wow!  We rarely get that much all year!   I'm happy we got some rain every month this year.

So much to do I get overwhelmed. Lately I've just tried to stay ahead of the weeds. I don't know what this weed we have is but the stem gets 1/2 in. around unless you keep it down. I only have a battery weed eater now but I think we'll buy a lawn mower for next year. Been doing paths so I can at least see snakes (one thing I really miss about Kodiak AK no snakes!)

Everything is an experimental crap shoot!!