Great fall

So far we have had a great fall.  A little Indian
summer, a little very cool, and a  little very nice
and warm weather.

Red and golden delicious apples are ripening
very nicely on the trees.
 
Maple trees are really dumping a lot of leaves,
due to the warm summer, hot weather and
lack of moisture.

Many deciduous and conifer trees have yellowing
leaves and needles, mainly due to the lack
of water and very warm summer temps. 

Fall

Grass seed showing new plant emerging.
Hazelnut crop - pretty much done.
some late apples.
Some late pers.
pumpkins - hammered with powdery mildew.
Some grapes hurt with rain, and powdery mildew
and I heard quite a stir about spotted wing drosophilia
affecting the damaged grapes.
Farm stands will strong with the good weather.

Indian sumer - continues

The Indian sumemrs continues.
Temps in the highs of 70-54 degrees,
the lows of 45 to 39 degrees.

Warm season plants will continue to ripen
during the day.  With the calenderis  heading
toward November, maybe time to think
about a tansition, just a suggestion.
  ::)

With this weather people can still transplant,
I wouldn't seed, but transplant cole crops. 
Anything that is leafy should get some good
growth.  The cabbage and broccolli, may be
too late but just depends on the temps.

 

Life and gardens

Family and friends are like a garden. It starts out young, very fragiile
and can be affected by many things.

Over time the garden grows, is watered, is fertilized, and
eventually produces fruit.

The fruit is picked, shared, and used for the benefit of our
family and freinds. In the spring it starts all over again.

Life is like that- take advantage of our garden (family,
friends) - they too grow old and move on. Sometimes that
 happens before we are ready....... and we have lost the
moment to cultivate -- those relationships.

Good weather until around Nov. 3. Continue to pick apples, Asian pears, winter pears. Hazelnuts should be close to being done, if not, get done by Nov.3. Continue to harvest, use and replant cole for the extended warm weather for winter usage. Store winter squash before the next rain. Wash with Clorox to remove the powdery mildew which will rot the the squash.

Apples - dry, juice or sauce

Indian summer

Our long awaited Indian summer is finally here,
or at least has been here for one week and looks
like it will be here for another 10 days.  Temps
look pretty good ranging from a high of 69 to
 a low of 40 degrees.  Day time temps will allow
for warm season veggies to continue to grow
but early temps are pretty chilly for warm season
plants.  Great weather for the winter garden cole
crops.

Hazelnut harvest - some waiting for a good wind
storm to bring down the last of the hazelnuts or
finish their third sweeping of nuts.

Cole crops doing very well.

Irrigation systems on the valley floor OK but
watch for temps reaching 32 which has happened
in the foot hills.

Red delicious apples - nicely ripening.

Third crop of figs didn't make it, boo.

Pumpkins- great crop this year and great weather
for visiting the pumpkin rides and local
produce stands.

Cold Indian summer

Looks like it is going to be a cold Indian
Summer.  8 more days of sunshine but temps
 in the lows of 34 degrees and highs around
60-65, so pretty cool.

The weather is NOT going to help  ripen
more tomatoes or warm season plants unless
they are put under plastic.

Great weather to finish the hazelnut harvest. 
Find the new hazelnuts at many of the local
farms stands.

Plant away at the fall cole crops.

The Indian summer is kind of here.
Hazelnuts still being harvested, a lot
have been harvested this week.

Cole crops going to seed again.

Anyone seeing any garlic emerging yet. 
If not, the garlic crop is slow at emerging
this fall so far.

Drying some great Walla Walla onions.

Sunshine on my face

It is sunny and I almost got a sun burn on my face.
Good weather for awhile, with intermittent drippings.

Harvesting of hazelnuts is in a flurry.

Some apples and pears, rain has just been a nuisance.
Farms that have hay rides has been really impacted
by the rainy weekends, few people coming out.
Pumpkin sales are down a bit but we have 2 weeks to go.

Corn season has actually been really good this year.
Ge your last seasons corn ASAP.

Lawn grass was too high, mower time.
Lots of weeds in the garden area, booooo.

Sunshine - in the future

I am sitting, writing as it is raining, again.
I was in Washington state yesterday and it
rained....really rained all the way to Corvallis.

As I am writing on the blog and FB group pages,
the rain is really coming down.  So much for the
Indian summer.  But wait, the next 5 days are suppose
 to be sunny with partial clouds.  Wow -------
the clouds just opened up for even harder rain. 
Maybe I had better stop talking about the R- word.

Lawns are starting to get a bit long.
Weeds are amassing on open soil again - time to do
some light soil disruption and then mulch with
 4-6 inches of mulch/compost materials.

Heard today that the spotted wing drosophila (SWD)
 is hammering the wine grapes.  The rain caused
some splitting so the  splitting made it easy for the SWD
 to enter  into the grapes - wine with protein, a
new product and new marketing opportunity!!!!!

Fall gardens

Great weather the last few days.
Looks like rainy weather for the next
two to three days.  Kind of light rain.

Time to start cleaning up the yard and garden. 
Looks like the Indian summer isn't gong to
happen this year.  Temps the next week, 42
low and 60 high.

Still time to get some cole crops in for
growing  this fall and winter.

Add mulch to any bare garden soil to prevent
 the rain from composting the soil. 
then add more compost/mulch in the spring.

Drain the hoses, irrigation system and sprinklers.
 Leave one hose set ans sprinkler out just in
case the Indian summer returns.

Weather update

Cold this AM, 43 degrees in Eugene,
colder in the foothills.
The next 6 days, lows of 39 degrees!!!
and the high of 50.

A lot of hazelnuts still on the wet ground,
we need a few more days of day weather so the
hazelnut growers can get the nuts harvested.

The warm season veggies, just not looking very good;. 
Most of the thicker skinned tomatoes are still OK
 and not splitting but that is due to the tougher green
or pink skins.  Once the tomatoes ripen or mature,
the skins split with the rains pretty easily.  A lot
of people are making green tomato products.

Chilly

More chilly weather, temps dropping into
the 40's, also more of the wet stuff.

Get the grapes off ASAP.  The more wet,
the riper the grapes get.... the greater chance
of the grapes splitting.  Plus the more rain,
the rain will cause the grapes to have less
sugar and acid - due to dilution by the rain.

Apples and pears - OK in the rain.

Hazelnuts - the soil will become more wet
and start to be picked up in the harvester..
it is called mudding the nuts.