Late harvest this year.
We are getting a late harvest so our home is getting filled with veggies to be canned every day. My wife is a champ and working hard at it. I do what I can but I am doing construction right now and finishing up fire wood.
!
Well, it does seem late for all of that. But, "late" seems to be the story in the Pacific Northwest this year.
Things were late here, also. Fortunately, the 1st frost was also late.
The coast weather only reaches this far inland, at times. My 1st gardens, for which I was responsible, were in northern California on the coast. Growing in such cool conditions slows everything!
Here, my cherry tomatoes seemed to ripen on time but the larger tomatoes were, at least, 2 weeks late. They were in no rush to ripen even after that. Meanwhile, the cherries did not "play out" but just kept plugging away . . .
During a hot, dry summer -- tomatoes can pretty much ripen and be done by September 1st. Of course, that may be necessary IF there's an early frost. There was a "threat" of frost about that time but mid-30's was as low as it went. Nevertheless, that cooler weather further slowed the tomatoes. (It killed the watermelon vines, but that's another story
.)
Accumulative heat over the entire season makes an important difference in crops maturing. If a variety needs 2,000 Growing Degree Days to ripen and temperatures drop before we get to the goal, delay is what we can expect.
We can only spread the harvest so much in seasons like that by staggering plantings and choosing varieties with different days to maturity.
Hang in there
! The 1st frosts were late, but they came here. Jack Frost will be getting around to your neck of the woods before too long. That may be your season-closer.
Steve
Things were late here, also. Fortunately, the 1st frost was also late.
The coast weather only reaches this far inland, at times. My 1st gardens, for which I was responsible, were in northern California on the coast. Growing in such cool conditions slows everything!
Here, my cherry tomatoes seemed to ripen on time but the larger tomatoes were, at least, 2 weeks late. They were in no rush to ripen even after that. Meanwhile, the cherries did not "play out" but just kept plugging away . . .
During a hot, dry summer -- tomatoes can pretty much ripen and be done by September 1st. Of course, that may be necessary IF there's an early frost. There was a "threat" of frost about that time but mid-30's was as low as it went. Nevertheless, that cooler weather further slowed the tomatoes. (It killed the watermelon vines, but that's another story
.)Accumulative heat over the entire season makes an important difference in crops maturing. If a variety needs 2,000 Growing Degree Days to ripen and temperatures drop before we get to the goal, delay is what we can expect.
We can only spread the harvest so much in seasons like that by staggering plantings and choosing varieties with different days to maturity.
Hang in there
! The 1st frosts were late, but they came here. Jack Frost will be getting around to your neck of the woods before too long. That may be your season-closer.Steve
Wow.. I can't believe how much later your growing season is than ours even though we seem to be at the same latitude. Gotta love that warm ocean air huh? : ) Our apples and pears only have a week or two left and BLUEBERRIES?! I'm so jealous! Our were done months ago!
I know how your wife feels though.. our peppers this year are like a high school foot ball jock on steroids. They never stop growing! We're still blooming on the japs and bells which seems totally weird. I can't make enough salsa to keep up with it all! Sometimes I feel like if I see another tomato I'll spit! I just keep trying to think about how grateful I'll be this winter.
I know how your wife feels though.. our peppers this year are like a high school foot ball jock on steroids. They never stop growing! We're still blooming on the japs and bells which seems totally weird. I can't make enough salsa to keep up with it all! Sometimes I feel like if I see another tomato I'll spit! I just keep trying to think about how grateful I'll be this winter.
When I got my blue berries I got a few kinds, early season, mid season and late season so that I would have crops all summer. I also got large plants at a good price from a blue berry farmer so I got fruit the first year. This is the second year the berries were in the ground and you can see they are getting bigger.
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