Beausol Gardens 2009 CSA newsletter #15

Greetings Beausol locavores:

I'll be brief again this week. My location in the fourth dimension seems to be nebulous.


I looks like we are in for it now! At least one one-hundred-degree day is upon us, they predict. It came close yesterday, I have not checked the min-max thermometer but it was hot. When the mercury expands that much, there is danger that nightshades loose their fruit - the fruits cook on the vine and their flowers drop. The biggest danger is with the tomatoes. Hopefully, the temperature will not remain so high for so long that our second tomato planting does not suffer.
The first tomato planting is nearly kaput. Here in the Southeast, more than six weeks of production from a tomato plant is extraordinary. There are so many ubiquitous indigenous diseases of tomatoes it is a wonder we get any crop at all.


As planned, the second planting, though not as large, is beginning to ripen. A fungal disease called late blight has been a big problem all across the eastern US this year. There are news stories about the disease in the Northeast and Midwest. The disease that brought so many Irish to America a century and a half ago caused a little damage to our crop - not bad. But our tomatoes are succumbing to early blight, I think. The cucurbits, as mentioned in a previous newsletter are being hard hit by downy mildew. It's a tough year to be a Solanaceae or Cucurbitaceae family member.


It appears we were blessed (and maybe cursed?) with more rain in the last month than most folks, from speaking with CSA members and other farmers. The rain was good for the plants and diseases. As mentioned above, the first tomatoes are about done. So are the squash - though this may be GOOD news for some of you. We did make another planting of summer squash, so hopefully by the time that is ready to harvest, you will have overcome your saturation of the stuff. We made another planting of snap beans and edamame, though they did not come up as well as hoped.


Some good news: the melons are beginning to ripen - even as the vines begin to die. And the winter squash are of a harvestable size. We just need to let them ripen. The eggplants are chugging along nicely. And the okra have now gotten their stride and need to be picked every day. The peppers are all doing well also.


More good news is the birds and bees are doing very this summer. Lots of hummers have joined the goldfinches, bluebirds, cardinals, woodpeckers, etc. The Japanese beetles have, thankfully, nearly finished their annual invasion. But the grasshoppers have followed in their wake.


It's time to start planting fall crops: lettuce, greens, roots, etc.


Since my beautiful bride, Deb, is in Ohio visiting family with her youngest offspring and one of our employees is on vacation to be with his family, "us chickens" left to "hold the fort" will be a little busy.


This week the shares will have cherry tomatoes, sweet, Anaheim, and jalapeño peppers, green onions, eggplant, okra, melons (cantaloup or muskmelons - I can't tell the difference), cucumbers and herbs (basil, oregano, dill).The bouquets will have gladioli, zinnias, celosia, gomphrena, asters, grasses and sunflowers.

See you soon. Stay cool.
Harry