Another disappointment

In a season filled with them, it's just another in a series.  I should have realized we wouldn't get any rain when the sun popped out at 7:30 as the sky began to weep.  This morning  the weather forecast was updated to partly cloudy and no more threat of precip until the weekend.  At this point I am so disgusted with the weather I feel like screaming, but instead I'll just continue the triage of watering the most desparate crops and let the others suffer.  That's all I've got.

Death watches

One cabbage grower near the office said this morning if we don't get significant rain today or tomorrow on his non irrigated fields, there will be no crop.  Although he is a minority these days, even growers with irrigation are behind on many crops.  As I sweated yesterday while transplanting late lettuce, I had to re-water the transplants from last week or they would have been permanently damaged by the brutal heat and drying winds.  The plants looked much better afterward, but they are still somewhat set back and will probably show damage unless we get rain.  The later plantings of corn will not fill out correctly without moisture.   Even the sweet potatoes will not make much of a crop unless something besides relentless sunshine falls out of the sky.  Last year at this time, Irene decimated many crops in three day deluge.  This year's apocolypse is a slow moving disaster that some will avoid, but many will remember as the year that Mother Nature forgot to weep.

West coast hopes

The lettuce growers and shippers in California are eagerly waiting for the premature end of the lettuce deals on the East Coast and Midwest.  I believe they may be celebrating prematurely thanks to anticipation of warmer weather in this area.   Without firm evidence, I think many growers continued planting long after the normal dates they shut down their planters and transplanters.  Many were affected by early summer storms which wiped out early acreage.  Others may have realized the hot weather was accelearting crop development and would put an early end to an otherwise productive season.  In my own micro farm I still have two more weeks of transplants to set out.   Barring a hard frost, I will be harvesting the last lettuces in mid to late October.  I doubt too many commercial growers will follow that program, but as "climate change" continues on its merry way, more and more farmers will adapt and seasons here will get longer.  Meanwhile the California deal will have to wait its turn.

August doldrums

It's that time of the summer once again.  Business is dreadful and the usual complaints are trotted out:  it's vacation time, one last hurrah before school begins, too much local, too many gardens, and on and on.  Of course, there is truth in each of the above, and as the baby boom generation advances to senior citizen status these trends are likely to be amplified.  The children of the boomers are even less likely to buy and cook vegetables than their parents, unless driven by economic or health issues.  As a kid, virtually everyone I knew ate dinner at home, usually cooked by the stay at home mother.  As my generation came of age, the rise of women in the work force and the obsessive nature of our childrens' extra-curricular activities led to the truncated dinner and the fast food generation.  Many people resisted this trend, but all of us have been guilty at one time or another of choosing Mickey Ds over the healty alternative.  Add millions of these choices and the veg deal suffers, especially in August.

"Too many idiots"

That was one salesman's summary of his competitors in the pepper deal this morning.   If only these benighted growers and salesmen would see the true market, the prices would magically rise to the level they should be at.  And we would all be riding magical ponies.   The markets are almost always about perceptions.  All it takes is the feeling your competition is getting more for the product and you will raise prices.  You feel he is "stealing" your business, you drop the market to regain what you perceive to be your share.  Buyers play on these insecurities and the games continue all season.  The usual suspects drop and rarely raise prices and the rest of the marketers grumble and react. 

Weather anxiety

Speaking with a grower this morning who had just returned from a sortie to his most distant potato fields you could feel the angst.  "It's a good thing I'm not a depressive alcoholic", was his take on the dought stricken farm.  Just a shower at the right time and there would be a decent crop he said, but so far it looks like clear, sunny weather as far as the eye can see.  Local apple growers are saying they will have a decent crop, but small due to the dry weather.  In farming, the difference between making and losing money is weather.  Too much or too little of any of Mother Nature's offerings can be fatal.  Last year, after Irene, many growers wished for dry weather.  Now they have it and  most are probably sorry for the change.  As the climate wierds out on us, these swings will get stronger and stronger and will make farming more of a gamble than ever.

Dry Weather

For the vacationer in the North Country, the weather prediction for the week is an unmitigated blessing.  Dry and warm during the day with cool evenings.  Typical Chamber of Commerce weather for this time of year.  If you make your living growing corn, soybeans or veggies, this weather is a disaster.  Although pockets of the NCR have had some decent rains and the forecasters say we are not far from normal rainfall totals this year, I have seen many fields in desparate need of a timely shower.  The damage is not irreversible yet, but with no respite predicted for the next ten days, the clock is ticking.

Fridays....

Looks like the lettuce crops are still showing problems left over from the last heat wave.  The iceberg in commercial fields has excessive bottom rot from the increased humidity after the recent rains which unfortunately did not break the heat wave we were experiencing.  Combined with the rain, the heat caused the rot, which has cut yields.   Other crops are also hurting from the lack of moisture earlier.  Spinach and cilantro yields are down and prices are still only so-so.  The lack of markets are almost as distressing as the yield problems.  As the season winds down, we all need a big hit to pull us even or into the black.  Let's hope we get it.

Seedling anxiety

Watching the emerging seedlings from Sunday afternoon plantings it occurred to me that we have only about 6-8 weeks before the traditional first frost of the season.  Of course with the weather we have had this year we might be looking at an Election Day frost here in the North Country.  In which case the beets will be the size of baseballs and we'll be making borscht all winter.  I doubt the season will last that long, but who knows....

Late season plantings

ON the way into the office this morning I passed a flatbed trailer loaded with lettuce transplants.  If they go into the ground today, they will be harvested in mid to late September.  I don't know how much longer the commercial growers will keep transplanting, but we are now getting close to the traditional end of the season for this activity.  In my own garden, I will continue for another 2-3 weeks and will still have lettuce in mid October if we dodge the frosts.  I think some commericial growers are thinking along the same lines and we will probably see iceberg and romaine fields planted far later than normal.  Partly to make up for earlier damage and partly because with the unseasonably warm weather this year, the feeling is it will continue through Sept. and into October.  The reality is the large possiblity of a freak frost in the middle of an abnormally warm month, leaving the plants crippled but perhaps salvageable.  This is the new farming paradigm as we grapple with the threats and potential opportunities of climate change.

Getting there

Whoever said getting there is half the fun was less than half right.  Getting out of this drought situation in the garden and the North Country seems to be a series of half measures.  We got a little over an inch of rain on Thurs. and Friday and most years that would be plenty, but this is not most years.  On recently worked soil, the rain barely penetrated a couple of inches, but at least it kept most plants going.  More rain is predicted this week, so we may get back on track for a productive fall season.  Certainly my plantings on Sat. and Sunday would indicate my own feelings.  Spinach, beets, basil, cilantro, dill, radishes and lettuce transplants will keep things humming until frost.  The soil is very warm, so germination should not be a problem.  The bigger question for north country veg growers is will the markets begin to turn before September.  We have a long way to go, but the early markets are not encouraging.

Warm and Wet

It felt like a north country sauna this morning at 5:30 a.m.  After a 1/2 inch of rain on baked ground, the humidity is about 100%, but the plants are drinking it in and look quite a bit better than yesterday.  With two more days of the same predicted, we may get back to a more "normal" season.  There is still time for the late seedings of many veg crops to mature.  But let's not get ahead of ourselves.   Late blight will be rearing its ugly head and many leaf diseases will be in play over the next few days.  But with the Hobson's choice between moisture and disease, the call must go to more rain.  The showers will also bring on the crops which have been lagging for the past few weeks.  Peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and the lettuces will accelerate as we head toward Sept.  Many growers will count on the next month to recoup losses due to drought.   We can only hope Mother Nature is more clement as we head into the Fall season.

probably too little

And too late.  The weather service is predicting 3 days of showers and up to 1.5 inches of rain.  I'll believe it when I see it.  My own take is we will get three days of drizzle and high humidity which will get all kinds of plant diseases going but add little to soil moisture.  I'm afraid I already see symptoms of late blight in the tomatoes, even with the hot, dry conditions.  The winter squash has already been hurt by lack of rainfall,and the corn is rapidly approaching that stage.  The late season garden is looking fair to poor at this point and the flea beetles are rampant.  Would someone please remind me why I do this every year.  Meanwhile, among the farmers who depend on farming for their livelihood, tipburn is appearing in the lettuce crops, peppers are beautiful, but worthless and the spinach and cilantro crops are withering in the heat.  A late season extending into October is probably the only salvation for many. 

Silly Shipping season

Or the season when shipping becomes silly?   As the veg season reaches a somewhat muted crescendo this year, the usual antics at shipping point cause heads to shake each morning.  Under pressure, people put the wrong product on trucks, forget to put seals or recorders, short ship other orders and in general make a hash of customer service.  We forget that the last word on each shipment is had by a tired guy on a forklift truck who is hungry and intent on getting out of Dodge before midnight and by the trucker, another tired individual looking forward to harrassment at the border and then a long night on the road.  It is amazing that more screwups don't happen.  Meanwhile on the home front, the dry weather continues and amazingly enough most of the crops are hanging on and seemingly waiting for the rain which will allow them to mature.  I have noticed the carrots taste more carroty than usual and the corn is sweeter.  I am hoping the tomatoes and melons follow suit.  Rain is in the forecast for Thurs-Sat., so relief is in sight.

Another hot one

Weekend that is.   Plus 90 degrees with a strong southwest wind.  Sat. and Sunday were the kind of days that make you question your committment to gardening.  I exhausted the well I use in the back garden, just trying to keep the tomatoes going and water the transplanted lettuce.  We caught a brief shower on Sunday evening, but it barely settled the dust.  Ironically, all around the North Country, there were areas picking up several inches of rain, so it is a spotty drought up here and I seem to be in the epicenter.

Sunshine on my mind

No rain predicted for at least another week.  The 60% chance of rain turned into about a 2 minute shower at dusk.  It's depressing to see months of hard work wilt under the relentless dry weather.  I keep planting and watering seedlings and transplants, but at a certain point, there is not enough water to bring the crop to fruition without rainfall.  I have seen dry weather on the NCR before, but never for this long.  Even the farmers with the ability to irrigate are finding it difficult to finish their lettuce crops.  Tipburn and puffy lettuce will be with us until it rains.  Meanwhile, the vast majority suffer with each new sunny day.  But not to worry, it will probably rain every day in October and November so we can make our average for the year.

Heading for the finish line

The first of August and most people, if they think of gardening at all are thinking there is still plenty of time to start plants for harvest....  Not so, especially in the North Country.  There is still time for planting a few hardy crops like spinach, beets, turnips, and some short timers like radishes, but for most crops, it's too late baby.  The tomato crop is poised to start producing, peppers are ready, but we need the rain that is projected for today and tomorrow, or things will start getting crazy.