5th week of Aug 2009
It felt like summer arrived late and now the chill of fall is sneaking up on us early. With temps in the 70s and evenings dipping to the upper 40s everyone is scrambling to find socks and sweatshirts. Along with cool weather come some fall veggies that are ripening like Chinese cabbage and baby bok choy. Other things like arugula and kale are looking lush but I'll wait for more cool days to help soften their spicy flavors. I'm working on planting more of these lovely fall salad greens plus plenty of spinach and mache that will go under plastic barrels or cold frames for the winter. I have piles of Winter Density lettuce seedlings to transplant into 6 packs as well. I also need to start planning my cover crops plantings, oats in areas that will be used for early spring crops next year and rye where next summer's crops will be planted. Planning ahead makes gardening much more efficient though I don't always take time to do this properly.
Pictured is our 4 year old in one of my experimental beds. The Bloody Butcher corn is over 10 feet tall, some with three and four ears, and there are pole beans climbing up a few stalks plus sweet potatoes down below. So far it is looking like a plan I'll try more of next year. Unintentionally, I planted some of my fall beets and bok choy in the shade of the Bloody Butcher and those greens are flourishing in that cool spot as well. So next year's plan will need to include a two bed system. Some experiments that didn't pan out so great were some new veggies I was trying. The okra never germinated - maybe I need to start it indoors or wait a little later to plant it in the ground? The Blue Hubbard squash sprouted well and the plants looked lush but almost overnight they succumbed to either bugs or disease. Since those didn't make it I'm glad to see plenty of butternut squash and spaghetti squash out in the patch that will make good winter eating. We finally working on weeding the fall beet and carrot beds which should provide more winter fare and I hope it wasn't too late for planting fall turnips last week since we love raw turnip sticks, especially as they sweeten after frost. It also looks like we'll have all the Jerusalem artichokes we can handle for winter eating also. I've planted these perennials in several locations and in just a couple years the beds have spread like crazy. So even though the chokes are not our favorite fare, I know we won't go hungry because they will keep well in the ground all winter.
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