Today is also the first day of fall. It is like a switch was turned as we went from the super‑hot 100°F heat dome to fall weather. Would you believe the low was 64°F and the high — I can’t believe I’m saying this — 78°F. The muggy meter is nonexistent. A great day to finally plant the cover crops and the rest of the fall veggies. Best of all, the 26th of September is a full moon. My sowing always seems to coincide with the full moon. If there is an effect, then all the better.
This week I designated as my fall cover crop week and next week fall veggies. The several days I have been prepping all the beds that will get the early cover crops with a final scalping and leaving the boxes off to dry.
Tuesday was my short day, so it was copper fungicide spraying. There was a little bit of disease, but not super bad. When I get a chance, I will snip the diseased limbs off. I am hoping I am setting up these June and July tomatoes for their final push. I actually have been harvesting a few tomatoes.
This heat dome of over 40 days really stalled the tomatoes, but they are blooming now, so I have several options to encourage pollination — shaking the cages gently, rubbing two blossoms together, or using blossom‑set hormone. Bees and wind are also good. If I can get them pollinated, I have just enough time to get ripe tomatoes. And even if I don’t, green tomatoes depending on the size can be used for fried green tomatoes, and I’ve also used them to make salsa verde.
Today I started tilling, and I got some of the big beds’ first tilling done. The Pickle Patch didn’t take too long; it was the Back 40 that took me the longest, as these areas had mulch and boxes. They were on the beds a long time, but they were still time‑consuming to break down and till in. I applied water to the beds several times each round they worked in. Since I have never done this, I wasn’t sure it would work. As long as I can get the boxes broken down to smaller bits and into the soil, the microbes and worms will do the rest. I am very pleased the soil is no longer orangy, but a darker soil color. I am so excited to plant tomatoes here next year, as this is some of the best‑looking soil I have made. I guess sometimes I can toot my own horn.
Tilling took me most of the time, and before moving on to harvesting I sprinkled the Back 40 again to help soften the boxes for tomorrow’s tilling. I did a quick harvest of tomatoes, yellow and zucchini squash, and okra. The okra is now in its final days of production. It had a good run, and I made what I wanted and gave a lot to the church drive‑thru pantry. The little bit I am picking I need to IQF to have on hand when I make my winter melon soup again.
Other patch happenings: Tracy gave me three winter melons. I gave one to my neighbor as they love trying new veggies, and one will go to my daughter. I will use mine to make soup tomorrow and IQF the rest for future soup. The most time‑consuming part of the soup is cutting the melon and other veggies. Other than that, it is a very easy soup.
Yesterday James the tinkerer came by as he wanted to test his theory on why my mower keeps stopping. His test was to start the mower and unscrew the cap to give it some oxygen. He said to run it for 20 minutes, and I did. He tied a rope to the safety handle so it would stay on. It never conked out, so he plans to drill a tiny hole in the cap.
While we were getting the mower out, we saw a rat run to cover where I store the straw bales, which are covered with black plastic. James kicked the pallet, and instead of the rat, guess who popped out? — Yep, Peter Rabbit. I am not sure if my husband is kidding about making Peter a proper home. I like Peter, but I am tired of making Fort Knox fences. I’m not sure if he’s stuck in my garden or just using it as his home base.
Once I am done with fall cover crops and fall planting, then I will take the time to do a perimeter overhaul with landscape pins, boxes, and wood mulch. I just hope that when I do this, Peter Rabbit is on the outside of my garden, where there are plenty of hidey holes he can call home.
Growing in the Pickle Patch can’t get more real than this. I blog it like it is.