No frosts here yet, though I’ve seen them come as early as the end of October. Some of my kids are sick, and we’re having a day off school today, so I did a good chunk of work in the garden.
A few weeks ago we had a science lesson about seed germination, and in conjunction with that I let the six year old and ten year old choose some seeds that were appropriate for fall planting and get them started inside. They‘ve been up and outside hardening off for a while, and I needed to get them in soil. The kids are sick enough that I did it for them instead of having them help, but this morning I transplanted for them some carrots, kale, rhubarb, and hollyhocks. I also seeded some Austrian Winter Peas and Crimson Clover in other areas of the garden. Watering took a very long time as my transfer pump failed to turn on last Friday. Replacing the brushes and the impeller didn’t help. It’s still under warranty, so we’ll see what happens with that.
The carrots are in the front corner, and the kale is under the basket. The zucchini in the back is the one I started indoors in the summer. It has produced some male flowers recently, so I still have a chance at some fruit if it starts producing females.
I pulled out a number of plants over the weekend that weren’t going to produce much. I also chopped the Sunn Hemp cover crop. That pile got mulched with the mower and added to the compost bins.
Our mini patch of Glass Gem corn has been drying down. The stalks were actually breaking, so I’ve been harvesting as each one goes down. I only ended up with seven stalks, so I did lots of hand pollinating, and even then the results weren’t great. We are getting some small and partial ears, though, and my kids are excited about unwrapping each one. We plant to save our favorite seeds and plant a larger patch next year. These tiny ears are drying on one of the racks I made for hanging fireplaces tools and gloves. The gloves are just sitting on the hearth right now since I don’t need to keep that area clear at the moment.
When I was working the soil today I was marveling at just how dry it is despite all my watering this summer. I saw an article in the local paper recently that said that the airport in San Antonio has had only 8.2 inches of rain from January through September this year. We’re not in that precise location, but it gives an idea of our drought conditions. I added up all the moisture that I have recorded in my garden notebook this year, and it totaled 8.1 inches. No wonder the landscape is so brown and crispy.
I also set my Aerogardens back up again for some winter growing (though it still kind of feels like summer at the moment). I had some old seeds from a kit that my daughter had with tomatoes and a mini jalapeño, so I started those. I also put some Upland Cress in other sponges to see if that will germinate. I’m not sure any of it will come up as the tomato and jalapeno seeds are old and have been kept in warm conditions. The Upland Cress likes cooler temperatures to germinate. I did put ice cubes in the reservoir when I added water, but I’ll have to remember to keep doing that.
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