Tag: indian summer

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Sweet corn needs more fertilizer next year

 

I just finished planting the cover crop for this winter in time for last week’s “heavy mist,” so we should see germination very shortly. Most of our plantings from June and July are coming to fruition and we should be able to harvest those in the next few weeks, except for corn. Ugh! Corn has been a bummer all season. It really needed a lot more summer than what we got this year.  The joke around here is that I have corn for the end of October, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  In a normal year we would have sweet corn by now, with the second planting close behind and the third planting for mid-October. This year hasn’t worked out as well. We got it in early enough, but it just didn’t get going. I am not giving up on it, but if that acre is going to pay for itself we are going to have to have the most incredible Indian summer ever.
 
If I could have gotten water on my last planting of corn, it might have done the best because of the hot weather that blessed us soon after planting it.  Of course, the third planting is always a gamble.  In hindsight, corn needs a lot more fertilizer than other vegetables, and based upon what I see, it needed a few more nutrients and heat units this season. Oh well, that is farming—not every crop pays the bills. We will have corn and it will be sweet, but a smaller harvest than planted and planned for. 
 
With that said, I participated in a WSU research trial using Cedargrove Compost this season. Here is what I have noticed. In the cover crop trial there was a noticeable difference in the compost areas to non-compost added areas. The potatoes were markedly larger plants and the corn plants are greener and taller where the compost was applied. 
 
Compost definitely works and I would encourage everyone to use it around your flower beds and vegetable gardens. We apply compost in the spring before planting and right now. Appling compost now will mimic nature because fall is the time that nature sheds its summer growth and the microbial and other ground critters make those nutrients available for next spring. In the fall we apply compost more like a mulch and in the spring we apply it more thinly and work it in. So after you clean those flower beds, muster the extra energy to mulch with compost. Your spring growth will be better and your soil happier!
 
 
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What a Season!

I am thankful for this Indian Summer. It seems like we haven’t had one for a few years. And this is the craziest of all seasons. Our fields are literally bursting during this harvest season.  I usually think of spring as the busiest season, but with spring the weather is heading towards summer, but with fall it is the opposite. With fall coming, we are trying to get the farm to bed for the winter. Which means that, unlike spring, when winter comes the game is over.

So as we get ready for our last dance with nature this year, we are harvesting, applying compost, and planting cover crops, as well as the last plantings of vegetables. I will be praying for a mild first frost this year. Oftentimes, with warm weather like this, the first frosts can really do some damage, especially to the squash, beans, cucumbers, and, of course, tomatoes. But on the flip side, the frost also adds a measure of sweetness to the greens and does signal that my family will get a winter’s rest.

Oh, but the frost is still to come and we have lots of harvesting to do. This year we have had the most beautiful green beans and incredible basil. Our corn crop is plumping up and our fall raspberries are coming on. Potatoes are ready to dig and the winter squash crop is late, but gaining steam. We are going to have lots of beautiful Cinderella pumpkins and sugar pie pumpkins, in addition to our favorites: delicata, acorn, and carnival squashes.

While the spring was difficult this year, as soon as the weather warmed up our farm has never produced better. We have healthier plants, more fruit set, and flavorful crops. After three years of compost, soil microbe applications, and cover crops, we are starting to see our field fertility management kick in.  It is very rewarding as a farmer to know that the long-term investment in the health of our land is paying off with healthy food for you and your family.

Our farm is a part of the Good Food Revolution and it is because of customers like you who care, we are encouraged to press on – and press on we will!