Fall Garden Update

It has been an extremely busy August on the farm. Our helper, Chris, moved back to Maine, and we have yet to even try to replace him. As a result, Bev and I are both very busy with our second jobs on the farm.

As to our summer crops, we still have abundant okra and peppers, the sweet potatoes are very close to being ready to harvest, and we still have some eggplant. It has been extremely hot and dry here, with temperatures in the mid to high nineties every evening. Watering has been a chore just to keep up. We are starting to have some form of blight with the okra, but we have been so busy that we have not even taken time out to figute out what it is. For any of you who grow okra, you know that losing a few plants is not all bad. There is still an enormous amount (gallons) to pick each day. But I would like to know what it is, if you know. The plants get all scraggly and bare in just a couple of days. Is it disease or is it a pest? I wonder.

As to the fall garden, our first beans broke through the ground today. Our peppers and tomatoes have mostly all been transplanted and are greening up after brief transplant shock.
We planted kholrabi seeds today, and started our broccoli and cauliflower seeds. Beans are planted, as are summer and winter squash -- for the second go-round. The rest of this month and next will bring much more planting, all the way into October. So far, so good.

That is about it from the farm. We are hoping for a break in the heat soon, as well as some rain. The four inches or so in the past two weeks greened everything up -- especially the second hay crop -- but there is no more rain in sight for awhile. Fall cannot get here soon enough.

We would love to see you out here this fall. And you probably would not be reading this if you did not want to come. Labor Day and Oktoberfest are right around the corner, as is better weather.

As always, thanks to those of you who follow what we are doing out here. Your emails to me keep me going.

Tom