Delicate fall greens in the hot weather

Even with the temperatures in the triple digits for the last 12 days and continuing in the foreseeable future we have one eye towards the fall leafy greens.

Over the last few weeks we have been seeding trays of lettuce, chard, kale, collards, broccoli, broccolini, cabbage, cauliflower, radicchio and bok choy in the greenhouse.

It is not ideal temperatures in the greenhouse evenwith a shade cloth for these greens but luckily most of the days have been only a degree or two over 100.

To have early fall veggies we have to seed them now and keep them watered to prevent them from getting stressed out.

A couple of years ago we set up small sprinklers in the greenhouse that hang down close to the trays and they are rerunning multiple times a day with a timer to keep all the small plants thriving.

In the trays there is only a small amount of soil so if we miss a watering or two the plants could die. We always seed extra in the trays as a buffer but if more than expected don’t germinate or die from missed watering that could have a large effect on what we will be able to harvest in a few months.

Once we get to November there is no way to quickly fix not having enough of a certain plant so we need to do a good job now of taking care of them.

This week is National Farmers Market Week that highlights the vital role farmers markets play in the food system.

Stop by the Davis Farmers Market today from 4-8 pm or Saturday from 8-1 pm or if you are in the Bay Area see us at the Marin Farmers Market every Thursday from 8-1 pm.

This past Saturday we had a few baskets of figs at the market as the main season crop has started to ripen. With this heatwave it will only be a couple of weeks we have the figs until the season is over.

After a challenging start to the season we are harvesting a decent amount of Striped Armenian cucumbers. They are a favorite with their delicious flavor and having no skin which makes them simple to snack on them.

Last weekend the season ended for the potatoes and olive oil as we sold all the remaining quantity we had.

All of the fall crops that are starting to grow in the greenhouse will need to be planted in the field by the end of the month. So we are busy preparing the soil they will be planted in.

We are spreading compost and then irrigating the ground so that the tractor is able to use its implements. These areas haven’t had anything growing on them this summer so the soil can’t be prepped without irrigation.

Additionally we don’t want to be planting into very dry soil so irrigating them starts the process to get the soil to an appropriate level of moisture for when we plant.

With lots of seeding in the greenhouse every week, we need to get a lot of area prepared as it will be large planting every week through the middle of October.