It's kind of a weird garden time for me. The week before last, we had four or five days with temperatures in excess of 100 degrees. I think the hottest it got was 106 or 107. Naturally, my garden looks terrible--the tomatoes are withering, the pumpkins and melons wilt from the heat every afternoon, and the rhubarb looks awful, even under shade cloth. I'm still getting purple hull peas and cantaloupe, but that's about it. So how am I reacting to this awful heat? Why, I'm working on cool weather crops, of course.
I have started almost the whole array of cole crops--broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale, and collard greens. All I lack are kohlrabi and turnips, and I will start those in the next couple of weeks. It feels a little odd to be working on winter crops when it is 100 outside, but I guess it's no stranger than starting summer crops inside while the lows are still in the high 20s.
Incidentally, the species Brassica oleracea and its sister Brassica rapa are one of the most flexible crops we have; every single part of the plant has a strain bred to produce that part of the plant. Bred for roots, it's called a turnip. Bred to produce a thick stem, and it's kohlrabi. Mature leaves are kale and collard greens; immature leaves (buds) are cabbage and brussels sprouts (terminal and lateral buds, respectively). The flowers are cabbage and cauliflower. Finally, let the plant go to seed, and you can harvest the seed used to make canola oil. I can't think of another garden plant that comes in such a wide array, with so many different parts that are useful.
Oops
I had a "learning experience" last week. It's time to plant my fall cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, etc.), and I wanted to re-use some old transplant pots. I washed them with the hose, then I set out to sanitize them. Trying to be organic, I avoided using a chemical sanitizer and tried to harness the power of the sun. "Solarization" is a technique that uses a sheet of clear plastic over a garden item to raise the heat high enough to kill all the bacteria and fungus spores on the pots.
I laid out all of the pots to be solarized (over 300), placed the plastic sheet over them, and weighed it down with rocks. Then I sat back and waited a few days to let the sun work its magic.
Did it work? Well, we had temperatures in excess of 100 three or four of the days the pots were out. I'm pretty sure the heat was high enough to kill the nasties, but it got a little higher than I intended. Just look at the pictures:
The layout--all the pots
Close-up. These used to be square.
Sometimes you can learn from the mistakes other people make, and sometimes you can be the other people. This week, I am the other people. Oh well.
I laid out all of the pots to be solarized (over 300), placed the plastic sheet over them, and weighed it down with rocks. Then I sat back and waited a few days to let the sun work its magic.
Did it work? Well, we had temperatures in excess of 100 three or four of the days the pots were out. I'm pretty sure the heat was high enough to kill the nasties, but it got a little higher than I intended. Just look at the pictures:
The layout--all the pots
Close-up. These used to be square.Sometimes you can learn from the mistakes other people make, and sometimes you can be the other people. This week, I am the other people. Oh well.
Peach Festival
Last Saturday was the Parker County Peach Festival. I had a booth at the festival, and did very well-I sold everything that I brought. My dad came up from Bryan to help out, and we had a good time working the booth. Here is a photo of us at the booth:
Harvest Time
Since I had today off from work, I was able to catch up in the garden. Here are some pics I took of the things I picked last week.
Tomatoes (clockwise from the big one): Mountain Pride, Mr. Stripey, sliced Mr. Stripey, Green Zebra, Arkansas Traveler, and Red Zebra.
Part of the week's harvest. Green beans, black-eyed peas, zucchini, and squash.
The variety of peas that I'm growing is called "Pink-eye Purple Hull." I like them (and Mississippi Purple Hull, too) because they are easy to pick. The pea patch is the dark green down the middle of this photo:
Unripe peas are green and hidden, like this:
However, when they get ripe, the pea pods turn a nice maroon color so they are easy to spot:
They also taste great. If you haven't had fresh black-eyed peas (or pink-eyed, or crowder or knuckle or cream peas, which are all pretty much the same) you are are missing out. And if you call them "cow peas," you just weren't raised right.
Tomatoes (clockwise from the big one): Mountain Pride, Mr. Stripey, sliced Mr. Stripey, Green Zebra, Arkansas Traveler, and Red Zebra.
Part of the week's harvest. Green beans, black-eyed peas, zucchini, and squash.The variety of peas that I'm growing is called "Pink-eye Purple Hull." I like them (and Mississippi Purple Hull, too) because they are easy to pick. The pea patch is the dark green down the middle of this photo:
Unripe peas are green and hidden, like this:
However, when they get ripe, the pea pods turn a nice maroon color so they are easy to spot:
They also taste great. If you haven't had fresh black-eyed peas (or pink-eyed, or crowder or knuckle or cream peas, which are all pretty much the same) you are are missing out. And if you call them "cow peas," you just weren't raised right.
