Garden Preparation - October

Oh, October!  Sometime this month most of Rensselaer County probably will experience a killing frost. The historical average is still noted to be around  Oct. 15, but higher elevations can be at least a week earlier and the  areas closer to the Hudson Valley a week or so later.  Late in September,  many of the vegetables in my garden  had sprung into a renewed growth spurt   thanks to  good moisture levels and temperatures in the 70°s.  My peppers, tomatoes and beans are now  racing to bear more fruit in advance of the Mr. Frost's eventual grim reapings; and I am enjoying second plantings of lettuce, carrots and peas.

 But now let's  go  to  garden nagging...

• October is a good time to spread your compost onto the garden.  It will continue decomposing and give you a headstart next spring.  The down side, of course, is that you will need to turn over compost pile now.  You may even need to sift it...  

• Continue garden clean up. Hopefully, you have already removed all the weeds, but there are  probably  vegetable vines and stalks that need to  be removed.  

Napoli tomatoes racing to ripen a final crop.

• Tomatoes -  Keep checking those weather reports.  If the temperatures turn cooler and appear to linger in the low 60°s, pick your  remaining tomatoes. The green ones will ripen off the vine, and it's wise to check them regularly for signs of decay. 

• Kale  - Remember, even  those colorful "ornamental" varieties are  edible. When you get tired of looking at them, don't waste them.  Add them to an omlet.

• Leeks & parsnips - Protect these hardy plants with straw. The leeks will last probably through November or longer. The parsnips will be sweeter and easier to dig in the spring if mulched now.

• Garlic - Hardnecks vs softnecks: You should certainly at least now start contemplating planting cloves for next year.  For the northeast   hardneck varieties are hardier although they do not store as long as soft neck varieties.  If you are interested in garlic  options,  look at this post from thespruce.com about choosing garlic varieties.  Because of our warming climate, I have found that in my urban setting  it is better to wait until early November  to plant next year's garlic.  You do not want the cloves to sprout and grow too much in response to a warm October. Use plenty of mulch now to keep them cool as well as protected from  winter's frigit cold.

Rhubarb. Source: Creative Commons - Public Domain

• Rhubard - Now is the time to divide it. Maybe you can convince a friend that rhubarb is the perfect  ornamental plant to fill that  empty space in their yard.  In the Middle Ages rhubarb was  considered a medicinal plant - a diuretic; but considering that the stems contain a concentration of oxalic acid, rhubarb tea is not now to be recommended...    Good luck in digging it up. Although it is easier to divide than day lillies, you will need to dig deep because  rhubarb's roots are long and stocky. Fortunately the plant is quite hardy and can absorb and lot of abuse. 

Broad leaf sage. Photo: I. Stephens

Herbs - It is also time also to start dividing or potting those herbs  you want to take in for the winter. This year I planted about a half dozen  herbs in large pots directly in the ground.  In the past I've had mixed results trying to pot herbs for the winter --   most probably because I've been using small pots. 

We'll see how this works out. I'm hoping that not too many roots have discovered the drain holes to grow through.

Olla Update & Season Finale

This spring I said I was going to try using an olla - a buried container that slowly seeps water into the soil - and I did.  I placed an olla in the center of a typee frame I use for pole beans, and it did help to sustain the soil's moisture level.     

My backyard garden consists of 4 x 8' raised beds.  The soil is loamy, and I can easily dig down at least 24 - 30". However, ollas do take up space and are not practical for some square foot gardening situations.  My community garden plot is not suitable either because it is very clayish making  digging or tilling  extremely challenging.  Also, being clayish, water does not permeate well thorugh the soil.  

I created my olla from two 8" terra cotta pots lightly secured together with a bead of caulking around the rims.The caulking provided just enough adhesion to keep the pots together while I buried the olla. I  plugged the pot's bottom drain hole and used the drain hole on the inverted top pot to fill the olla.  I generally needed to replenish  water supply (about a 2 1/2 gal   watering can) every 2 - 3 days.  

And, most importantly, I remembered to dig up the olla this past week in order to avoid damage from freezing.  I will definitely reuse the olla next season for my cucumber typee. 

And remember:

"Rhubarb and patience can work wonders." - German proverb

Late Summer Garden Experiences

Late summer gardens, unfortunately, require sustained work.  If you didn't plant those second crops for   fall harvests, don't be discouraged by what now seems like just extra effort for clearly diminishing returns.  Gardeners, like old men planting trees, must be  optimistic in  believing that any work done now is really for the next growing season...

Brussels sprouts  Update

Sprouts forming in response to top pruning.
Source: I. Stephens

Three weeks ago I mentioned that my Brussels sprouts were not forming buds but exhibited extensive leaf growth due to the warm growing conditions.  I removed the top leaders; and presto, within two weeks the plants  refocused their energy into developing sprouts. The buds are now around 5/8"+ in diameter and still  growing. By sometime in October I'll have fresh sprouts ready to pick.  Occasionally some things I do, work out...

Are Your Tomatoes Ripening Poorly?

Two of my city friends this past week have asked me why their tomatoes were  not ripening completely.  The tops either remained green or just turned yellow.  [There is, of course, a lot about this topic on the Internet already, but we'll deal with their questions anyway...] 

The sympthoms are commonly referred to either  as "green" or "yellow" shoulder respectively, and both are temperature related.   If tomato tops, i.e. the stem ends, remain green, it indicates that  chlorophyll is not breaking down as the tomatoes attempt to ripen due either to prolonged high temperatures or simply too much direct sun exposure (but not enough to cause sun scorch). High temperatures  suppress the production of lycopene, the chemical that makes ripe tomatoes red.   If the stem tops turn yellow, it means that  temperatures have been sufficiently warm  to  inhibit  lycopene production but not so hot as   to stymie the breakdown of  chlorophyll. The result is that  the tomatoes' carotene [yellow]  becomes visible. 

Thus,  one of the interesting contradictions about tomatoes is revealed:  the vines like it hot to grow, but the fruit needs moderate temperatures  between 65°F and 75°F to ripen.  Backyard gardeners who over prune vines or remove foliage to "give the tomatoes more sun to ripen" are actually doing exactly the opposite of what the fruit needs to ripen fully!

FWIW:  Most plants produce carotene; most animals don't.  In plants  carotene absorbs ultraviolet, violet and blue light and  transfers that additional solar energy to the plant's chlorophylls that produce sugars from carbon dioxide and water via the complexities of photosynthesis.  Humans along with most  other animals  obtain carotene either from eating plants or other animals. The carotene then is converted  into vitamin .

You can attempt to  minimize your tomatoes' green or yellow shoulders either by providing some shade  in your garden or you can pick the fruit green and ripen it in your cellar as soon as  you notice that the  fruit is starting to look a little less intensely green. You can also just cut the green or yellow portions off of the fruit and devour the ripe red part.

Although it simply has been hot this year, I know of gardeners and farmers in  rural parts of Rensselaer County whose tomatoes have  ripened okay -- although they have not all escaped  the early onset of late blight. I suspect that we urban/suburban gardeners are just dealing with the effects of the somewhat higher  temperatures that occur in heavily built up areas.

Corn Stalks for Mulch

A community gardener I know this year planted corn mainly to use as a mulch on an adjacent abandoned plot.  She knew that raccoons would probably get most of the corn, and her expectations about the critters unwillingness to share her corn were realistic;   but her decision to use corn to suppress next season's  weeds  suprised me.

 

Corn - better for compost than mulch. Photo: I. Stephens

Because corn stalks do not compress  much, their fiber  does allow for good aeration in mulch; but unless they are chopped up (or put through a chipper), you will be stepping on the stalks and the cobs for a long time.  In a vegetable garden the problem is that  pests and diseases that are attracted to or reside in corn will be left in your garden.  For this reason corn stalks are better if removed to your compost pile.  Farmers simply either plow the stalks into the ground or use it as feed.  In your compost pile the fibrous corn stalks will also provide a lot of potential carbon. This can balance the amount of nitrogen that fresh green materials, like grass clippings,  abundantly supply.

If you are thinking about what types of mulch you want to use in your vegetable garden or around your ornamental plantings, checkout this U. of Missouri's website about the various characteristics of different kinds of  mulches.

Bags For Butternuts

Several years ago  when I first planted butternut squash in a new community garden plot, I lost a lot of squash to nibbling pests - probably an evil  combination of squirrels, chipmunks and mice.  An adjacent gardener suggested that I cover the squash with paper bags when they were starting to ripen as a means to discourage the nibblers.

Paper bags covering squash. Photo: I. Stephens

Given that I had lots of bags from various sources [because I never throw a good bag away], I tried it the following year.  To my surprise, it did dramatically reduce the damage from these competing harvesters; and I have continued to use the technique since with continuing good results.  The bags will not deter raccoons or the other usual critters from feasting once that the squash have been ripe on the vine for a while, but it buys the squash time to ripen and seems to give me just enough time to  harvest them.   Aestheticlaly, you really don't even notice the  bags while the vines are alive, and they actually keep their integrity through a number of rain storms. Although the bags are biodegradable and could be left in the garden to   decompose.   Because the bags might blow away if not secured, I remove them from the garden and add them to my compost pile when I detach the squashes from the vines.




And remember:

"We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman

 of the highest order, a kind of artist." - Wendell Berry, Author & Environmental Activist