The ten day weather forecast calls for 95 degrees today (Sept. 1), 93 degrees tomorrow and 98 degrees on Friday. The weekend cools to the low 80’s and next week shoots back up to almost 90. There is no rain called for, despite the coming hurricane. This is going to bring problems for the garden. Pollen does not set well above 90 degrees and the soil will be too warm for most of the crucifers from the fall planting to germinate.
What should be done about the fall garden? The beds or rows are ready. The seeds have been bought. Everyone is excited. Maybe a mixed approach is best. Planting half of the seeds now and leaving the other half for another couple of weeks. It should be ok to put out the cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts plants. They will need lots of water though. Spinach and lettuce will be a waste of time, space and seeds. It will be better to wait a week or two before planting them.
My dreams have been haunted with fresh spinach ever since the spring crop bolted. The mesclun did not die. It just disappeared. The complete salad will not have cucumbers, because the battle with the spotted cucumber beetles was lost. There are new plants coming up; but they are ragged. Extensive research on the internet has yielded quite a few organic remedies for these little buggers, but none of them are better than about 60% effective.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/
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