Late August Planting

I have been doing some planting over the past week betting on a warm autumn. Yesterday, I transplanted a six pack of patty pan summer squash to the garden which had been started in the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago. Some went to a clearing in the middle of the broccoli patch which by the way still produces a small sack of spears each week. The remainder of the squash starts were transplanted into corn plot four which now has been completely harvested. Hopefully the combination of this summer squash and the winter squash which was companion planted with the corn will take over.

I planted a couple of short rows of Daikon radish from seed in a clearing in front of a shelling bean wall. I also planted a short row of White Lisbon bunching onions directly from seed. The Daikons are just now coming up.

Wild mustard is starting to germinate in the salad green area. These reseed themselves. I just leave plants which have bolted in the garden. Seeds from these plants fall to the ground and germinate in the fall when conditions are right.

Yesterday I started one six pack of fall cauliflower in the greenhouse. Most of the starts are Fremont white 70 day cauliflower with a few orange and light green varieties also 70 day. Note that I put two seeds in each of the six planting sections. If both germinate, the I carefully separate the two tender seedlings when transferring them to gallon pots. Note that I will start a six pick of cauliflower every other week from now until next May. Cauliflower harvest will start in December.

I also started a six pack of purple kohlrabi and Rutabaga yesterday along with a single fall chard cluster in a gallon pot all in the greenhouse. Note that I generally get three to four years of life out of a chard cluster. I plant the rainbow mix which is a combination of white, yellow, and red stemmed chard plants. The yellow and red are best for multi-year performance. Chard naturally wants to bolt (go to seed) in the spring. If the grower carefully prunes it back heavily before mature seed pods emerge, then the plants will often start growing again with brilliant clusters of leaves in a few weeks. After four years or so, the roots and base stem rot away. I used to dig out chard when it bolted in the first year requiring four new starts per year. With the multi year process I use now, I only have to start one cluster per year.

Corn harvest continues. Plot 4 is now completely harvest and corn stalks cleared except where beans are present as I have described in earlier posts. I picked the first two ears from plot 5 this morning. Harvest of plot 5 will be complete within two weeks. We've also had an abundance of pole beans but yields could start to drop because the hated finches have finally shown up. For reasons I don't understand, they love to destroy pole bean leaves by tearing them to shreds and biting off new growth which results in substantial drops in yields. Fortunately, they usually disappear in September. So I am hoping??

I have harvested several winter squash with many more in various stages of maturity. However, the crop is lighter this year than expected. Squash bugs haven't been bad so I can't blame them. There is a lot of root rot in the soil this year which has also plagued my summer squash. I think some of the winter varieties are succumbing to it also. Fortunately, I have plants all over the yard and a few of these are having a good time. We should get enough to see us through the winter. Note that we are still eating from last year's winter squash crop. When a fruit starts to spoil, I cut out the portions which are still good, and give the remainder to the composting worms in the worm bin. They love winter squash.

With so much corn coming out of the garden, I have a lot of raw material for composting. So the compost pile is growing and starting to replenish all I have used throughout the summer. The corn is run through an electric chipper shredder before being mixed with coffee grounds and other green materials. These are then stacked in a pile in the compost area.

Hopefully I will have time to post some pictures later in the week.

danh

Harvest and reconfiguration

I haven't planted anything in the garden since putting in 90 day corn plot 7 in early July. The starting of fall plants in the greenhouse, however, will start in two weeks with the seeding of the first sixpacks of fall cauliflower and Kohlrabi. These will be transplanted into the garden in the third week of September into what is now corn plot 6. I will write more about fall brasica planting later.

Now it's harvest time. I have finished harvesting corn from plot 2 and have reconfigured the plot for the pole beans and carrots which were planted with the corn. All corn stalks which don't have have pole beans growing on them have been removed. Those remaining are stripped of all leaves. They are just poles with tassles on top. The hope is that the beans will take over and produce a second much heavier crop. The first crop of beans started in June three to four weeks before the corn was harvested. The beans stopped producing three weeks ago. But most plants will find new vigor which will cause them to rapidly grow and produce from September through October. Meanwhile, the beans in plot 3 just quit but those in plot 4 are in full production. Plot 5 beans will be in full production in a week or so. The second crop of pole beans is often the best both in terms of quantity and quality. But there are no guarantees. I have had years where the second production just didn't happen. The bean plants slowly lost their leaves and new growth didn't happen. Each year is different. The picture below shows beans climbing on spent corn stalks. Note that some of these stalks will eventually break over if bean growth is too intensive. I will then position bean poles where needed and tie the broken corn stalks to them. As the season progresses, the stalks will form a random and quite beautiful array of twisted figures as they weaken and break over. Meanwhile, the bean plants will continue to thrive by climbing all over these structures while producing their tender and tasty beans. I will post more pictures over the coming months.


The carrots in plot 2 are still adjusting to having full sunlight. Some still look stressed which is common for a month or so after removal of the corn. The yellowstone and white Kuttigar carrots have taken off growing already providing a green carpet of lush growth. The purple and traditional orange carrots are still showing stress. The following pictures show beans and carrots in plot 2. Notice that plot 3 is in the background. Harvest of this corn is in progress. It will be complete in another week. The picture below highlights the Yellowstone carrots in plot 2. Notice the purple beans hanging from a spent corn stalk in the foreground.


Below is a photo of the last corn plot, plot 7. Notice that the corn is now growing up around the yellow Patty Pan squash plant which has been in the ground since early April and still a heavy producer. The dark material along the drippers is compost mulch which I added last weekend from a batch of compost which I made approximately three months ago.


And finally, the picture below is of an early girl tomato plant snuggled against corn plot 4. A Kentucky Wonder pole bean grows above it. Winter squash is in the foreground.


I should mention that corn plot 1, which was harvested in June and is now the property of purple bush beans, is scheduled for a 60 day yellow corn planting at the end of August. This will give us our Thanksgiving fresh corn. Meanwhile, the bush beans in plot 1 are into their second production.

The garden watering schedule is to run the drippers for 1 hour and 40 minutes once a week. As the days begin to shorten, the amount of water time will be reduced accordingly. By the end of August, I hope to be at a watering time of 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Because fresh water is such a precious and rapidly diminishing resource which must be imported into the garden, I continue to explore ways to further reduce watering needs.


danh