A forecast of the time to come

I spoke to a fellow gardener on Long Island yesterday.  He told me he was expecting to dig potatoes within a week.  To someone who grew up on the Island, that was the equivalent of opening Jones Beach on St. Patrick's day and actually swimming in the ocean.  He planted the spuds on March 10 and the weather has been consistently and unseasonably warm ever since.  His tomatoes are blossoming already.   By comparison, my potatoes are about 10 inches high and I have not transplanted tomato  seedlings to the open garden.  A major potato seed grower in upstate N.Y. has not finished planting his potato crop.   This morning another friend e-mailed the news that late blight has already been seen in L.I. potato fields.  So I hope my friend enjoys his potatoes, but the warm weather that made them possible has also made the late blight earlier and perhaps more virulent than ever.  This ongoing climate change will also upset markets throughout the country.  Will the extremely warm weather up and down the east coast accelerate all the crops?  Will orderly marketing remain possible or will there be a wild scramble to sell at non traditional times in certain areas.  It will be an interesting ride as we begin to see the results of our experiment in human driven climate change.  I have a feeling that losers will outnumber winners.

Summer's coming

Weather we don't normally see until high summer; 90 degrees, wild thunderstorms, hail and torrential rains made an early appearance yesterday.  Some areas received several inches of rain and there was a tornado warning from the weather service.  On the NCR, we had a much milder ride, with about .4 inch of rain and some wind, but no hail or other damage.  I was even able to transplant some lettuce on a bed I had tilled last Saturday.  All in all it was good, but some lettuce growers in Quebec said they suffered damage from hail which will impact prices in the weeks to come.  New Jersey was suffocating in the heat yesterday, so its lettuce deal will wind down sooner than normal..  Although, who knows what normal is any more.   I was sad to hear Doc Watson died yesterday at 89.  Mrs. M and I saw him perform only once, and he was already into his mid 70s. at the time, but he was an amazing musician who brought the music of the mountains of North Carolina  to generations of Americans.  He interpreted that heritage in a graceful and articulate way that was far less traumatizing than the "Deliverance" soundtrack, but nonetheless aware of the power of the music.  We will not see his like again.

Winning battles, losing wars

In the weed wars, being proactive is the most important weapon.  By the time they are two inches tall, you have probably lost that particular battle, along with the plants you are trying to raise.  I tilled in a bumper crop of lamb's quarters in the back garden on Friday night and spent the weekend filling the resulting space with seeds and transplants, but with a good rain today or tonight, the next crop of weeds is waiting to spring up and smother my winter squash, zinnias, celery root, leeks, corn and fennel.  Meanwhile, the rest of the gardens need constant attention as the insects and weeds continue a frontal assault with undiminished vigor. 

Memorial Daze

Lest we forget, this weekend we celebrate or thank the veterans who have fought and continue to fight the sometimes vain and sometimes glorious wars our country has engaged in for most of it's history.  As a boomer who came of age in the cauldron of the Viet Nam debacle, I will be forever sceptical of any politician's plea for war, and having avoided the call by a series of fortuitous circumstances I never had to deal with the homecoming and the attendent shame and ambivilance so many of my generation faced.
I have always been turned off by the mantra that we must honor the troops.  Meaningless gestures of parades and applause and salutes don't replace closed or substandard clinics for the wounded and the dejure discrimination so many face as they try to reintegrate into society.  If I see a vet, I will thank him for his service, but I curse the idiots who send these men and now women out to die needlessly.  I will start believing in our nation;s wars when the politicians who are so ready to start them are leading the troops into battle.  Happy Memorial Day....

Making myself crazy

The last week of May and already I am obsessing about weeds, planting schedules, missed opportunities and coming problems.  Gardening is supposed to be a stress reliever, but somehow it brings out the very worst of my nascent O/C tendencies.  I guess there is no way to avoid the crunch time of early June when everything needs to get planted at once, while dealing with the ongoing weed and pest problems.  Then, there is the occasional family doings.  Wedding at the end of the month, Mother ill, children with meltdown moments, and so on.  Must deal with all this and still scratch the golf itch occasionally.  As Warren Zevon said, "I'll rest when I'm dead.".  Made the second planting of corn last night and weeded and fertilized the first.  At the rate it is growing, we'll be eating fresh corn by the middle of July.  Now that is some payback for the crazy time coming up this weekend.

Erasing the past

One of the biblical tomes I depend on for gardening advice, "The Four Season Harvest", by Eliot Coleman breezily says if a bed or field, or the entire garden gets away from you, just erase and start over.  I have a hard time with that particular bit of wisdom.  As with any investment, gardening and farming demand a certain level of committment.  You have to choose and order seeds and fertilizer, prepare the land and put the seed into the ground.  By that time, I at least have put my pride on the line.  When the seed germinates haphazardly and weeds begin to get the upper hand, it is a personal insult and a challenge to my manhood.  Not to mention the nurturing side of my nature.  The idea that I need to negate all that work and committment and start over again is, I can only imagine, like the decision to divorce you mate of many years.  Over the years, I have invested many a weekend in an ultimately futile battle with the forces of entropy.  Of course it looks like another day of decision is coming with several beds of direct seeded onions.  I have a feeling that maggots or other pests caused the very spotty germination, and the weeds are rapidly choking the few survivors.  As the angler's saying goes, it is time to fish or cut bait.  But it is hard.  Besides, this weekend will be a scene of frenzied planting at casa Monzeglio.  Corn, melons, carrots, winter squash,etc. need to go in, so the eraser will probably be left in the barn for another day.  I did get the first plantings of basil and dill in last night as well as another planting of beets.

Seedling dreams

I uncovered the last bed of carrots seeded using the new Jang seeder, and it looks good!  After numerous experiments with different gearing shoe depth, I think I have found the right combination, at least for carrots.  They are a little thicker than they should be, but thinning will be easy and the seed saved will plant another bed the same size.  Perhaps this minor mechanization of the garden will free up more time for other pursuits.  I feel the first tee calling.  Business is also about to intrude on the idyllic fantasy of weed free and perfectly spaced plants.  Romaine and leaf lettuce is starting, and pretty soon the summer will begin.  It is like standing on the 3 meter platform at a diving competition.  You know you will have to take the plunge, but there are so many things that can happen before you hit the water.  Safter to procrastinate, but the guy behind is going to shove you in if you don't dive, so better to display a little form. 

Good News and Bad

The good news is mom is doing much better after suffering a stroke last Wed.  Transferred to a rehab facility from the hospital over the weekend to work on fully regaining the connections between thought and speech, she has a really good attitude.  As my youngest daughter texted yesterday, "Go Grams".
 The bad news is the outside world is as stupid as ever.  Listening to NPR this morning was an excerise in frustration as the head of the American Enterprise Institute tied himself into knots while trying to simaltaneously disavow any role for government in society and grudgingly admit that in the case of global warming (which he hastened to cast doubt on) there might be a role for government.  Meanwhile, the myriad of Americans who would probably slip into poverty without government programs to counterbalance the effects of the depression we are now experiencing need in  his words to be "saved" from government's crushing embrace.  It boggles the mind.  On a more mundane note, last night's shower keeps crop seeds and weeds germinating and the coming week will be an excercise in planning and wishful thinking in the garden.

Summer Tease

It was a brisk 38 degrees this morning  on the NCR, but summer is promising a preview this weekend.  Temps should break the magic 80 degree mark on Sat. and Sun. so the planting season should shift into high gear.  My tomato seedlings are lagging, so I hope this heat will get them into growing mode by the first week of June.  Looks like the soil temperature will be hospitable for beans and some other heat loving plants this weekend.  I'll have to get the first plantings of basil, cilantro and dill in also.  48 hours is not enough time, and I need to travel  to L.I. to see my mom in hospital, as well as attend the graduation of the family's newest nurse, so most of my gardening will be the wishful kind. That and hoping I can catch up on everything during the coming week.  As the pundits say, if this was easy, everyone would be doing it.

Changing seasons

Gardening and farming, at least here in the Northeast reminds me of the cycle of life.  This resemblance was brought home to me in two different ways yesterday.  My daughter Merry completed the course requirements and will receive her nursing degree on Saturday.  A new chapter in her life now begins.  Meanwhile, my mother had a minor stroke which has left her confused and her children in distress as we wonder what will happen during the course of her recovery and whether she will be able to live on her own again.  You plant the seed and the crop emerges, grows vigorously and thrives.  But as every farmer knows, the crop will be harvested at some point and the circle of life will continue to turn.  My thoughts this weekend will be with the graduate and the invalid.  I hope for the best for both of them, but I know that the inevitable passage of one generation makes way for the successor.  Birth and growth, decay and death are the constants in gardening, as in life. 

The ethics of the carnivorous life

The Ethicist, a NYT column devoted to the ethics of diverse human endeavors recently sponsored an essay contest on the ethics of eating meat.  The winner was a former vegan who decided the meat raised ecologically in a pasture based system is probably ethically superior to tofu processed from soybeans raised in a monoculture, fossil fuel based farming system.  He goes further in exploring the ethics of taking the life of a sentient creature, and decides, much as the protagonist of Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land, that all of us on the plantet are just temporarily stored solar energy and we will all die sooner or later, so we might as well take nourishment from animals as well as vegetables.  ( Of course he doesn't carry it to Heinlein's logical conclusion that we might as well eat our friends when they die of natural causes).  The argument is persusasive, until you realize that the vast majority of meat eaters are trapped in the factory farm paradigm which treats animals as cogs in a machine to be fed and slaughtered in the most appalling conditions so as to maximize profit.  And of course, the health benefits of a vegan or vegetarian diet have nothing to do with ethics so that aspect of the debate was not covered.  Short of a complete rethinking of our industrial agricultural system, it would seem to me that by eating meat, we are probably encouraging a process which involves extreme cruelty to many animals and lasting damage to our ecology. 

gardening during the apocolypse

Maybe apocolypse is too strong a term, but having been a gardener and represented farmers in the marketplace for over 35 years, it seems working the soil has become more perilous as each year passes.  The extremes of weather become more and more commonplace and deadly.  Early blasts of heat, late frosts, torrential rains have always been a feature of our occupation.  However, during the last 10 years, it seems we experience these extremes more and more, sometimes several times each year.  This year is no different.  A record breaking warm and dry winter has been replaced by a cool/cold, wet spring.  I hesitate to predict the summer, but I don't doubt it won't be average.  Gardeners and farmers are perpetual optimists, but the sheer randomness of the weather on a daily basis is making even the most dedicated among us wonder why we continue to put seed in the ground.  More and more growers are experimenting with temporary structures designed to mitigate the effects of climate change.  These tunnels, cold frames, greenhouses, etc. are expensive and maintenence intensive.  I have a feeling people will have to get used to higher prices for their veggies, meat and dairy as Mother Nature, with an assist from human induced climate change continues to play havoc with supplies.

Rainy Respite

Once again into the breech, I came out last evening firing at the flea beetles and the weeds.  A little spinosad for the beetles, and dose of cold steel for the weeds.  Also planted another patch of spinach with the new seeder.  At $500.00, I am determined to make this Jang clean seeder work.  It is fairly simple, but there is a learning curve, and I have been behind it during the early part of the season.  The seeder depends on a system of spockets to speed up or slow down the seed rollers which drop the seeds into the furrow.  It is much more sophisticated than the old earthway models and it has the potential to save on expensive seed and cut the amount of thinning necessary after germination.  I keep trying and I think the latest combination is getting closer to the ideal.  We got a shower overnight which should get the spinach germinating.  The sooner I see the evidence, the better I will feel about the wasted time and effort so far this spring. 

Deadlines

We are now entering the sweaty unforgiving deadline season in the garden.  All the things you should have done weeks or months ago are constantly forcing you to fall further behind on garden chores that should be done now.  It is time to plant corn, but it is also time to finish potato planting and get the first plantings of beets and carrots weeded.  The grass continues to grow, and all the tree and shrub trimming await.  What looked like worlds of time 3 weeks ago now looms like Tax Day, but is even more unforgiving, since you can't get an extension from Mother Nature.  In gardening you pay your penalties immediately and hope you meet the next deadline.  On a more optimistic note, the cherry trees are in full bloom and apparently are being pollinated by a motley assemblage of bees and butterflies.  The weather is warming niceley.  The asparagus roots I planted 3 weeks ago are growing strongly, and I did get the first planting of corn in and covered so the local crows won't be snacking on the seed before it germinates.  Transplanted summer squash and cucumber seedlings on  Sunday.  It is still a little early for them, but the warmer weather we are promised this week should get them growing.  Unfortunately, the same warmer weather has gotten the flea beetles to start their usual mischief among the broccoli and cabbage family transplants.  Time to fire up the sprayer.

Reluctant summer

I guess it is human nature, but it seems when we experience what is probably a typical spring, we long for the summer that is supposed to follow and don't appreciate the season.  Spring is showery with cool temperatures and sometimes cold nights and frost.  The blast of heat we experienced in March conditioned us to think April and May would be sunny and warm with 80 degree temps. and warm nights.  Even here on the NCR, that weather is an anomaly, even in midsummer.  We are having a pretty seasonal spring this year and it is showing.  Most crops are about on schedule, with the present spate of cloudy weather threatening to put them behind, and the cool, wet soils are delaying warm weather crops which many planted on expectation of above normal temps.  This scenario is playing out across the northern half of the country as many veg growing areas struggle with wildly gyrating weather.  The southern half of the country seems to be firmly ensconced in summer, which should lead to shortages of some crops as we head towards Memorial Day.  Now if only there was some demand.  The farmer's market opens this weekend in Plattsburgh, and there should be good demand for my spinach and overwintered kale.  I hope the weather cooperates.

Wet and getting wetter

After the extremely dry winter and early spring, you just had to know that the weather gods would tilt the other way to even the soil moisture ledger.  The low spots in fields are now mini lakes and even the higher areas are wet.  My guide,  the 15th fairway at the local golf course looks like a water hazard.  I thought the subsoil would be dry enough to soak up the excess moisture, but I guess the heavier soils were not that dry after all.  So it will be a slow slog as everyone tries to get spring planting done.  The onions are mostly planted in Southern Quebec and almost half the carrots, so the veg planting remains on or close to schedule.  The cool weather and rain will certainly impact the growth and timing of harvest, especially the lettuce crops.  We need a week of warm, sunny weather to get everything and everyone into summer mode.

Timing

It is either timing or location that determines success or failure in most endeavors.  At least for one evening I was the lucky winner on both counts.  As soon as I arrived in the yard after changing, I was able to get a long row of potatoes planted, then transplanted broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage and six varieties of leaf and head lettuce before dark.  The weather remained cloudy, and rain started to fall this morning.  Not having to water that many transplants is a huge time saver in the spring, and as long as we don't get too much rain, the predicted nice weather for the weekend should allow me to catch up on weeding and fertilizing of the prior plantings of peas, carrots, beets, etc.  It's nice when Mom Nature cooperates with farmers and gardeners. 

It's the weather, stupid

Finally had a couple of nice days as the week ended.  Still a little frosty in the mornings, but warming nicely as the day progressed.  Today should be nice also, then the deluge.  Looks like up to an inch of rain tomorrow which will thoroughly drench soils that are already somewhat waterlogged.  That will put an end to fieldwork for the balance of the week and end the harvest for winter spinach for most southern areas.  I see some growers in the NCR are planting corn, but the soil temps are still fairly low, and with the rain, I hope the seed sprouts before it rots.  In the garden, the weeds seem to like the cool temps and are taking advantage to outgrow their more sedate competitors.  Since most of the week was spent on yardwork, the cool weather was welcome, but now it is time to get growing.

homework

Trying to get a jump on the spring planting this week, so as you can see, the posting is erratic.  The weather has not been ideal for planting, with showers and clouds the default weather option on the NCR this week.  I did start another round of seedlings in the cold frame and transplanted some broccoli raab and kohlrabi into the secret garden.  Took the reemay fabric off the first plantings of carrots, beets and peas and they look ready to grow if we ever get any growing weather.  The spinach remains the bright spot this spring.  There is far more than I can eat or give away and the farmer's market still has not started yet.  Better days are coming.