September 13, 2010

Where did the time go? The summer has flown by and most of our vegetable production went with it. Now it's time for the Fall crop. Here are a few pictures of the garden now and the latest on the high tunnel.

The frame on the left will function as a low tunnel to protect the fall tomatoes. I plan to use row covers drapped over the frame to protect the plants from frost. Usually we get a series of frosts around Oct 25th that last for three days and then it turns nice again. This is my attempt at protecting the plants. The squash on the right will just have row covers over it without a frame. The squash is almost ready to pick now so we should get a minimum of 6 weeks production before a frost.

This is a closeup of the squash plants.They are very healthy now. They seem to like the raised beds with cypress mulch and drip irrigation.

This is a longer view of the low tunnel. These tomato plants and the ones in the high tunnel were all propagated at the same time. The low tunnel plants are about 32"-36" high with 1/2" stalks and were planted on August 4th. The high tunnel plants are up to 6 feet tall with 1/4" stalks and were planted on July 4th.

This is the collard and cabbage patch. When it cools a bit we'll plant the broccoli.

In the background below is the turnip patch, a local favorite. We will harvest the tops for greens and then the roots later on for purple top turnips.

The tomato plants in the high tunnel are looking kind of spindly. The heat in the high tunnel has been a big problem. At times it reached 118 even with the ends open and sides rolled up. As I found out this year, tomato plants will not set fruit when the temperature is over 90 degrees. The blooms form and then they die. We have had record heat this year. During July the daily temperature was 4.6 degrees higher than the historical average. We had so many days over 90 during June, July and August I quit counting. I recently found a new weapon I'm trying - Purshade. It is a chemical coating of a calcium product that is harmless to humans and provides an SPF 45 when sprayed on tomato plants (and others). You can see the coating in the pictures below. It washes off easily.

The eggplant is doing well in the tunnel. In a few weeks it'll be ready.

Our recent activities have included canning Muscadine jelly and pickled okra. Both are quick sellers at our farm stand. If the cucumbers hold up in the tunnel, we'll be making bread and butter pickles real soon. Right now the cucumbers are fighting off powdery mildew. I hope they make it. Today I'm going to remove some old squash plants from the tunnnel and plant more cucumbers. These cucumbers are in high demand.

We are hopeful that by October 1st we will be selling tomatoes again. The weather is starting to cool down but it will still hit 93 today. Tomatoes are a definite draw for the farm stand. By next week we will be covered up in squash as the 80 or so plants we have start producing heavy yields.