Fall gardening

Hard to believe it's already August. We picked our first tomatoes the end of May, so some of our plants have been producing for two full months. So have our zucchini and cucumber plants. We really hate to spray a lot of chemicals on our tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers, so the bugs have been having a time feasting on the plants. Most of our zucchini and cucumber plants that have been producing for two months have come close to dying, so Marge pulled all the cucumber plants out of one of our high tunnels. When we planted the cucumbers, there were close to 50 along both sides. They have produced a lot of 11- to 13-inch English style cucumbers.

About three weeks ago I planted probably 80 cucumber seeds, and they are ready to transplant. By planting the seeds into small seed trays, the cucumbers are at least three weeks ahead of where they would have been if we'd have been planting just seeds right now. This is a benefit to growing plants indoors and transplanting. But I think the greatest benefit is it gives the cucumber plant just over two weeks of not being bothered by bugs. Both are benefits.

We plant the cucumber plants about 18 inches apart. We try to be careful not to plant the new transplants any deeper than they were in the seed trays. We also try to plant them in the late afternoon so as to avoid the hottest part of the day. One thing that will help is we put a shade cloth on this high tunnel that blocks 30% of the sun's rays. It almost feels like when a cloud blocks the sun.

Marge helped me clean off our hill garden where we'd had our zucchini. Once it was cleaned off, I planted a good number of new yellow and dark green zucchini plants. I probably planted 40 or so zucchini, and I think we have lost a couple. It seems like we probably lose between 5 and 25% of our transplants. The heat is probably the major factor. We try to water them a little every day or two after we plant them. The plants need some water but not too much.

I've dabbled in the past at taking cuttings off of tomato plants and using them to start new tomato plants. I was reading an article that recommended using the sucker stems which grow in the intersection of the main stem and each leaf stem. So the other day I got 60 3-inch planting pots ready for cuttings. I mixed some seed starter and potting soil and filled the pots before watering them in so they are ready for the cuttings. My plans are to cut the cuttings with as few leaves as possible and then plant them into the seed pots as deep as I can. I figure about the only thing I can lose on the deal is some time.

One reason I want to try starting new plants from cuttings is it seems like about this time of the year the old tomato plants start growing right at the top and they seem to be more disease free. So my thinking is to take the suckers off the plants and start some new ones. Kind of curious as to how they will do, but also anxious and hope they work out. We'll see.

Using a cutting will knock, say, two to three weeks off the time required to grow tomatoes from seed to fruiting. I'm trying some Stupice cuttings for sure. Stupice takes an average of 52 days from seed to fruit, so if I can knock off a couple weeks, that would give me about 40 days to having a plant produce new tomatoes. Kind of excited to try it.

There is still time to plant cucumbers from seed if you so desire. Our English style cucumbers take 50 days or so with some of the short stubby canning types taking 45 days or so. I love going out and picking a cucumber in the fall when it's cooler. The cucumber plants have a crisp sound when you bite into them. Taste pretty good as well. I do need some salt though.

You can also plant zucchini seed. It takes about 50 days, so they should be producing towards the end of September. Our first average frost here is somewhere around the middle of October. There are times when the frost holds off until the first part of November. Then again, it may be early. Always a gamble as to when the first frost will be.

Our corn was a bust this year with the bugs and all, so we need to bush hog it and disk it under. Potatoes are all dug so we can disk that at the same time. Then we can scatter our purple top turnip seed. Always enjoy turnips in the Fall. It seems like many avid deer hunters snack on turnips while hunting. I know deer seem to like the tops and will eventually dig up the bottoms to eat. We also plant some salad type turnips like Hakurei. I like the small white turnips, but also the tops when cooked. They are milder than the purple top greens. Last year I had both, so I'd mix them and cook together. It was pretty good.

If you are growing open pollinated tomatoes, you can save the seed and use them next year if you want to. As I was picking tomatoes a week or so ago, one tomato plant had some really nice red tomatoes on it. They are totally different than any of my other tomato plants so I'm not sure what they are. The plant is indeterminate or semi-indeterminate. The tomatoes were close to 4 inches and not a really bright red like my other red tomatoes. They were also just a little flat and not really round. I haven't weighted them but I'm guessing close to a pound. There were two ripe ones at the time, so we are going to try eating one and saving the seed from the other. It may be a hybrid so this won't work but who knows. The seed came in a packet of heirloom seed.

We grow most of our tomatoes in high tunnels which gives us an advantage when our Missouri weather is less than ideal. We simply grow great tasting varieties in the high tunnels which assures us of tomatoes that taste good. We did grow one variety outdoors this year called Ivan. I ordered three packets of seeds and got maybe a dozen seeds to germinate so it had terrible germination. But the plants that did make it are growing some nice tomatoes in spite of the weather. Taste is pretty good with most of the tomatoes being in the 8- to 12-ounce size. We are going to save some seed, so hopefully our saved seed will germinate better next year. Might be a good tomato for those who grow tomatoes in an outside garden.

Love tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchini and peppers and all the rest. I enjoy the Fall and Winter, but I really miss the veggies. Marge has been canning a bunch so that will tide us over to Spring.

Happy gardening.