Planting The Fall Garden

Normally we would have planted our fall garden two weeks ago, but there's no point in planting seeds in a drought. Then came Isaac and the gentle rain. Rain is again in our weather forecast, so we finally felt a fall garden would have a fighting chance. Out we went early this morning, before the heat set in. Dennis had already prepared a small plot, incorporating lots of compost.

In the foreground are a basket of seed packets and a tray of the most pitiful seedlings I've ever started. The almost invisible plants are escarole and radicchio, but they have not thrived and most of the escarole died of damping off. Still, we would plant them. Maybe they will do better in the garden soil.

First Dennis made the rows.

I followed along dropping seeds: arugula, turnips, and kale.

Next, Dennis dug holes for the pitiful escarole and radicchio.

After freeing the pitiful plants from their styrofoam containers, he firmed them into the soil. Because they are so tiny and vulnerable, we decided to shelter them with old, rusty coffee cans.

Finally, we covered the rows of seeds with soil, tamped it down, and set up a sprinkler to water them in. After all, sometimes the weather forecast is wrong. These tiny seeds and seedlings need all the help they can get. We are hopeful.

An Act of Faith

It's an act of faith to plant seeds when the thermometer registers 102º, faith in the life force resting in the seed and faith that better days lie ahead. Today I forced myself to stir from a lethargic state and plant escarole, Chinese cabbage and radicchio seeds for a fall garden.

Of course I didn't sow the seeds in the blazing hot, dried-up garden. I planted them in plastic egg cartons saved from the long-ago days when we didn't have chickens.

These egg cartons are perfect seed incubators. They retain moisture and admit light – two essentials for germinating seeds. I put them in the laundry room, which is the only place in our house that gets  sunlight during the summer months. (Deep eaves prevent solar gain during the summer, but allow for solar gain when the sun goes south for the winter.)

As soon as the seeds germinate I will open the egg cartons to allow the seedlings to grow and to prevent damping off. Damping off is a fungus that destroys the stem of a seedling in an overly moist environment.

The seed starting medium has extra phosphorus to stimulate root growth. I will be able to see the white rootlets through the clear plastic. As soon as the seedlings develop their first true leaves I will transplant them into potting soil in styrofoam cups with holes punched in their bottoms. By mid-August they should be ready to set into garden soil. They will need to be acclimated first by gradual exposure to outdoor temperatures and sunlight.

Our climate is changing, no doubt about that. Summers are hotter and drier. The traditional summer garden in Kansas may soon become nothing but a memory. We will have to adapt our gardening to meet these conditions. We will have spring and fall gardens, as well as winter gardens in cold frames. That's the reality we face.

I have faith we can succeed.

Ode to Kale

 

Here's to kale, ideal food.

It's so dark green it makes me shiver.

Eating it improves my mood,

My heart, my lungs, my tortured liver.

Now is the time when kale holds sway.

Tomatoes, green beans, peas, or corn

Could not survive this wintry day,

But kale just loves a frosty morn.

Mince a big, fat garlic clove,

Rinse the kale and chop a bunch,
Simmer them slowly on the stove,

And eat a healthful, tasty lunch.