Quote:
Originally Posted by Ben E Lou
Pretty much every remaining plant took damage from Michael. 4+ inches of rain just yesterday, and wind gusts of up to 50ish mph at our house. Three of the four tomato cages toppled over, some things (like tomatoes) were blown off the plants and into the mud, the young broccoli was no longer standing upright but was instead lying flat on the ground, etc. I attempted to prop up some plants by packing in extra dirt last night. Left the house before light this morning (still no power,) so I don't know how things are looking right now. It's possible that the 2018 garden is a total loss, though I'm guessing we'll recover at least *something*.
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Update on Michael damage...
- The tomatoes appear to be ok as plants (i.e. they're not dying.) It remains to be seen if they'll produce any more.
- The older broccoli plants (four of them) appear to be doing fine. Those are the main plants where I packed in extra dirt to make them upright again. (They were basically flat on the ground.)
- Just about every younger plant of the group I planted in August--other than the aforementioned broccoli--appears to be toast. Some of them were washed away entirely.
- The much younger broccoli I put down in mid-September is basically a washout as well. There's *maybe* one of the six or seven seedlings that may survive.
AIR/SOIL TEMPERATURE RAPID CHANGE
I suppose at this stage we're getting into temperature issues. We had a *rapid* move from full-on hot summer temperatures (highs upper 80s to low 90s, lows upper 60s/low 70s) down to mid/late fall temperatures (highs upper 50s/low 60s, lows upper 30s/low 40s for most of this week). Maybe it'll come back up a bit next week, but we've had little/no 75/55 kinda days. My understanding is that some of the summer plants will slow down/stop producing due to lower soil temperatures. Honestly, I didn't look up which ones. Doesn't really matter to me at this point; whenever I see stuff dying, it'll get added to one of the compost piles.
COMPOST UPDATE
Speaking of the compost piles, Michael was helpful to me in that regard in that there was so much debris on the ground that a lot of people evidently didn't bother to rake; they just used their mowers and bagged grass, leaves, and twigs together. So the stuff I gathered from the curbs Monday morning was wayyyyy more pre-mixed, chopped into fine pieces, and much damper than anything I've gathered. I didn't have to bother with layering or wetting as I dumped another full back-of-the-minivan load onto the piles, making it much faster and easier. And this morning, just 24 hours after doing so, pile #1 was in the mid 150s, and pile number 2 in the lower 160s.
BIG-PICTURE THOUGHTS FOR SPRING 2019
Moving forward, I'm thinking/hoping my overall plan to prepare for the spring is going to be along these lines. (I'm posting this also as something of a to-do list for myself, as I need to sort out the order in which I'll be doing some things.)
Now through Monday, November 5th--Continue gathering materials from kitchen, neighborhood bags on Monday mornings, and Starbucks, and add to existing compost piles. Turn piles weekly. Over the next three Mondays, I'd expect to be able to add enough materials to the piles I have to make the overall production somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 cubic feet of compost. That would be enough to cover the entire planned garden area with 2.5 inches, and leave me around 20-25 cubic feet of it for other projects--flower beds, adding small amounts to areas where seeds are planted, etc.
Also at some point in the next three weeks I intend to add lime to the area that I'll be gardening next year in the amounts recommended by the soil testing.
November 6th-December 31ish--No additions to existing compost piles. Let what's in them rot, only turning if/when temperatures fall below 140 degrees. Gather leaves as available but do not add to existing piles. After using them as a light mulch over the entire garden to inhibit weed growth over the winter, just throw the rest in a big pile for later use. (i.e. starting a new pile in spring/summer when all I have is grass/weeds and need that "brown" matter.)
Some time in mid/late November once lime is settled, re-test soil for pH.
January 1ish-February 28ish--Based on what I've read about time frames and how hot my piles have been, I'm hoping that at some point in mid to late December, the piles will be just about fully composted. Whenever they are, I won't need to do any more turning. If the outer stuff still hasn't fully rotted, perhaps one good turn during this time might be needed.
March 1st-March 29th--Gather/add kitchen scraps to compost piles once again, taking care to have a mixture of finely chopped and larger pieces. Basically this is where I'll be adding some free nitrogen-based slow-release fertilizer to the compost in preparation for planting.
March 29th-March 31st weekend--(Will probably have Friday off since the kids are out of school.) Spread 2-3 inches of compost over the entire 400ish square foot garden area, depending on how much I have. Till into the soil.
April 6th weekend --Prep garden for planting
- Fertilize
- Put down weed-preventing fabric, with mulch on top.
- Set up trellises for vines
- Lay out drip hoses and staple down
April 13th weekend--Traveling
(Last frost of Spring 2018 was the night of April 20th-April 21st last year.)
April 20th or 27th weekend, depending on temperatures--Plant!
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