August 11, 2016

Good morning, it is hard to believe but summer will be soon over. Fall sowing is around the corner. If the present heat level continues into fall, I am sure that with the larger seeds I will germinate and then plant. Germinating seed in the house can take advantage of cooler more stable conditions. To sow into a seed bed the best results could be enhanced by cooling the beds. Because I have root knot nematodes I would have to do this in several beds so as not to even further spread this pest. Cooling would be a lot of work. It would entail covering the bed of a morning and then remove the covers at night for at least a week or more. The soil temps could be lowered into the 80’s. I’ll just germinate in the house. Seeds wrapped in damp paper towels placed in open plastic bags. Great care must be made with germinated seed that the roots are not broken.

These seeds will grow, especially if only the germinated seeds are planted. Because germinated seeds will grow in warmer soil than what they will germinate in. Because germinated seed is planted there is not the need to use more seed that needs to be thinned. This is a good seed saving technique.

Of course after planting, it would be wise to mulch or cover them with fabric to keep the soil damp until the seeds emerge.

It is crazy but I have not given much thought as to where my fall crops will be placed. I have had a lot of distractions and it has also been a challenge to keep everything hydrated. Young seedlings are even more so since they do not have deep roots.

I will need to give this some thought because even though a lot of fall crops do well growing through our winter’s the maturity dates are extended because of decreased light and temperatures, there are cut off dates for some of the brassicas. An example is with cabbage: timing requires it to mature at or just a little before the winter solstice. If it ripens much past the solstice, it will begin to bolt and the heads begin to loose there density. We hope for lower temps because the soil was really quite warm into November last fall.

Fall rotation is coming and with any luck it will be a smooth transition.

I hope to start the sweet harvest soon. It has been an odd year and this continues. By this time I usually see ground swell around the sweet crowns where the tubers are enlarging, so far this is absent. Sweets like it hot and I would have thought this weather would be made to order. Just one more baffling observation for the year. Finally my last okra bed is maturing maybe I will have enough to pickle some okra, time will tell.

Probably the biggest thing that I will take from this year is that I will need to use thicker mulching so maybe with half a chance this will keep the soil marginally cooler and more evenly moist next year. This hopefully will get the garden through the extreme heat. Also hopefully I will not have a rodent eat seedlings so I do not have to reseed very close to this extreme heat. Yes having the garden fully planted by April 15 would make it a lot easier to get through the heat.

This week I anticipate harvesting: chard, kale, green onions, carrots, chilies, cucumbers, summer squash, butternut squash, garlic, bulb onions, green beans,  and some tomatoes.