A beautiful fall day. For the last two days I have switched to, yep, my overalls and long shirt. I didn’t switch because it’s officially fall. I switched because the low was 55, and it wasn’t going to warm up fast, even with highs in the low 80s.
I need to catch my readers up on what’s been happening in all my gardens I am working.
I have several planting phases. The first phase, the fall greens bed, was started during the heat dome.
I have to say I am about ready to pick some greens.
I also redesigned part of the fall bed since I had some squares open for succession planting. I bought some different seeds that need to be in the rabbit‑proof fence because of my resident rabbit, Peter Rabbit. I made room for kohlrabi and parsnips. I really don’t have much hope for the parsnips — I can’t seem to grow them. So far not up. If any of my readers grow parsnips, please contact me with your method of success.
The daikon and mustard seeds I took out will go into the old India and Armenian beds. According to my AI Copilot, aka Bluebee, he doesn’t like mustard, and my plan was to alternate the seeds using my planting square.
Anyway, there will be a lot of daikon all over the PP, B40, and the quarter plot, so I guess he will have plenty to snack on.
Last week I started phase two — getting as many beds as I can seeded with my cover crop blend. There are so many seeds out there that are good cover crops, but I like to use daikon radish, aka tillage radish, as its long taproot, 1–2 feet long, helps if your soil is compacted like my clayish soil. It also adds mass.
The next seed I started using last year was white mustard. Its benefit, if used right, is as a biofumigant. If you grow it in the spring and before it flowers you chop and drop and let it sit and keep moist, it will have the full benefit of biofumigation. The way I am using it now is called passive — when it dies from the killer frost, the tissues break down slowly and release the biofumigant over winter. It also helps suppress weeds and improves soil.
The last seed, crimson clover, fixes nitrogen in the soil and produces good biomass, plus I can get this seed for $2.99 a pound, which is a very good price. That is why I go heavy on crimson, next is daikon, and last is white mustard. Using Bluebee, we came up with my rate as I wanted a thick coverage because being out in a big open field, the birds and rodents love it too.
Last year in the quarter plot there was a flock of birds eating, I think, the daikon seeds, as that area really didn’t have any daikon growing there. This year, with my darker enriched soil, I haven’t seen the flock of birds — maybe they know my gardening schedule.
You might be wondering what my plans are for what is still growing. Even if tomatoes start forming, they will not be big, and I will hopefully have enough to can something. Not sure if it will be salsa verde, as now I am spoiled with tomatillos. Honestly, the plants look great, but they just got zapped from the forty‑something days of the heat dome — so I planted seeds around the stems and will cut most of them out at soil level at the end of this week. Auf Wiedersehen, tomatoes.
The same goes for the peppers, squashes, and eggplant. They will be played out in a couple of weeks, just when the daikon taproot really starts growing.
Since we are in October and getting ready for Halloween, here is something scary I came across when moving my cardboard. Usually when working with cardboard I wear gloves, but on this occasion I forgot. It is a good thing my hand didn’t touch it.
Why is it nobody else talks about black widows in their gardens? I have had them for, I think, three to four years. I first noticed them on the handle of my big rotating composter. I hope I didn’t scare you too much that you stop gardening. Black widows love damp, dark places like the corners of my raised beds, my rolling seat, and under boxes. Just remember to wear gloves and be careful, like I know where mine like to hide.
To end my log on a more positive note — the other day I was looking for music for the perfect gardening post, or as I would like to think, a song that sums up my gardening and would be my theme blog song.
—So, inch by inch, row by row…
