This has been the driest and warmest fall that I can remember. However, there was actually frost on the windshield this morning, but only on the window. This was the first frost of the season. The thermometer read 42F so I was surprised to see ice at all. The tomatoes, peppers and eggplants appeared unaffected by the cooler weather.
It’s odd, but great to still be eating fresh tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and now picking fresh greens like mustards, spinach and chard.
A lot of the bugs that usually plague the garden have disappeared. The Mexican bean beetle, the tomato hornworm, and the squash bugs are gone, but aphids, cucumber beetles and an unusual one for me outside of the greenhouse, the whitefly are quite prevalent right now. There are also a lot of honeybees still flying around. I’m glad the ageratum, mums, zinnias, pineapple sage and alyssum, among other flowers are providing pollen and nectar for the active bees.
It’s amazing to see plants and trees survive this drought we’ve been in. Our community has now been asked to conserve water. I’ve been watering only the raised beds in my garden and the Christian Care Center garden once a week. This has been enough to keep them producing. Weeds are at a minimal right now. One weed, hairy galinsoga, is pretty much the only weed in my garden. I think it must be one of the more drought tolerant weeds. In the past I have had very little galinsoga in the garden. It’s been too dry for me to try to get a cover crop established in the bare sections of the garden. I’m not sure it will happen this year. I still have more sweet potatoes and peanuts to dig. We boiled up our first batch of peanuts and they were amazing.
I hope by the time December rolls around; we will have received some much-needed rain and some cooler weather. As much as I have enjoyed the warm weather and the extended growing season, we need plants to go through their time of dormancy too. A lady from Iowa that I follow on Instagram recently posted a picture of blooming lilacs. I’m pretty sure that out-of-season blooming is not healthy for the plants.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and I’ll be back blogging again in December.
Leave A Comment