Flexibility

As all of you know, my home state is on fire. This is not a new occurrence. This is happening with regularity now, every single year. Many factors go in to why this happens; forest management is but one of those reasons. These particular fires were caused by freak lightening, something we almost never get here, and certainly not in August. This lightening happened during an extreme high pressure dome which had us experiencing very high temperatures for over a week (and are still lingering inland). The causes of the lightening and the heat dome are rooted in the same cause of the extreme weather that is happening everywhere. Climate change is here, friends; we are no longer simply anticipating it.

I stopped on the road yesterday as I was driving to the store, to take this picture. Smoke is just a very real part of our lives now, every August through November. We need one kind of mask to help keep us safe from Covid-19, but another kind of mask altogether to protect us from the particulate matter in smoke. We’re told to stay outdoors to protect ourselves from the virus, but to stay indoors to protect ourselves from the bad air quality. Choose your poison, folks.

image credit: Matthias Gafni, San Francisco Chronicle

Of course, there are some who cannot choose. California farmworkers are still laboring beneath the smoke-filled skies, to make sure the world has as many strawberries and almonds, and as much lettuce, as they would like. Climate change, like institutional racism, affects certain populations first and hardest. The definition of privilege is surely this: Me complaining about being stuck in my air-conditioned house, while distance learning at my expensive university, on my home computer.

These hard weather days have seriously affected our garden and livestock. Our oldest OG chicken, Molly, died very suddenly in the heat. I went out to spray the chickens with water one afternoon, pretty much the only thing I can do to cool them off (which they hate, but need), and Molly was lying, quite dead, under the quince tree. It looked like she went fast, which is a blessing. (Gertrude, the chicken with the bum eye, is much better and reintegrated with the flock, at least. I think she might be blind in that eye, but she is eating and drinking and managing very well.)

We found the world’s smallest swarm on the chicken coop door one night. Who knows if it came from our colony? Regardless, even the bees, who love heat and keep the hive around 93 degrees at all times, couldn’t handle the extreme heat and smoke and made a listless break for it. Tom scraped the swarm off into a box (receiving an inevitable sting on the wrist just above his glove), and placed the box under the oak tree. The next day, they flew off.

The plants, particularly the tomatoes and peppers which are under full sun all day, are quite crispy and no longer producing. Tomatoes, especially, cannot set fruit if the temperature is much above 85 degrees F. And their leaves are all very yellow and desiccated. I’ve noticed that some of the local trees have started changing color, several months before they should, protecting themselves by cutting off nutrients to the leaves.

All the seedlings I started in the greenhouse have been eaten down to the soil, I imagine by squirrels. This has never happened before. I cannot shut the door of the greenhouse because it would be a thousand degrees in there, but my light agribon cover isn’t doing anything to keep out serious threats.

red sunset shadows through smoke on the back fence

So, some flexibility is called for, not only in the humans, but in the garden. I have ordered more seeds and have decided to take the summer garden out early. I plan to do the season changeover on Labor Day weekend rather than the first weekend in October. I’ll take out all the summer produce (luckily our canning shelf and freezer are full, as I had more time this summer to preserve; one good side effect of being stuck at home) and get those fall and winter seeds in the ground, covered with low tunnels to protect them from those pesky squirrels and birds (who are also just trying to survive the horrible weather and smoke). I feel good about this decision.

Another good reason to do this changeover on Labor Day weekend is because the Friday before, we will be taking Adam to college. Or at least, that’s what we expect will happen (flexibility has been required in this department and more may be needed as plans change. UC Santa Cruz was just evacuated due to nearby fire). Staying busy in the days that follow that will be just what I need.

Meanwhile, we pray for the firefighters, one of whom lives on our block and has a toddler and another baby on the way. We pray for our leaders as they navigate a confluence of big, scary events. We pray for those that have had to leave their homes and go to live in shelters, many with just the clothes on their backs. We pack go-bags and make sure the emergency binder is updated with all the newest information and prepare to leave at a moment’s notice if necessary. Another lightening event is possible Sunday night into Monday as another tropical storm moves up the Baja peninsula, which also could cause high winds. We haven’t even had our usual autumn big-wind events yet. Fire season is just beginning.

Planning for the Seasons Ahead

For a couple of years now, I’ve been watching Gardener’s World - a fabulous show out of England that first I found on YouTube, and now we watch on Brit Box. It airs Friday night in the UK, and it has become a Saturday morning ritual for me and Tom to grab our coffee and watch it before we begin our weekend. The shots of the flowers and birds, the stray video of one of Monty’s adorable dogs in the garden, virtual tours of famous gardens and smallholders alike, plus a raft of ‘jobs for the weekend’ - we just love it and it sets the mood for the weekend ahead.

A common practice in the UK seems to be the setting out, in the autumn, of the ‘bulb table’ - an old table or plank, filled with interesting old pots that hold numerous spring-flowering bulbs. The table is set by the home’s back doors or windows, so that in the cold and grey spring, one can watch as the bulbs begin to emerge and flower, and therefore be cheered and assured that warmer weather is on the way. I think it is a charming tradition and very much wanted to join in. I don’t have a lot of extra old pots sitting around (I need to shop the sales when they occur and plan ahead for next year!), but I have a few. I ordered a bunch of spring bulbs and then last weekend, I got them planted and set out on an old bench that my dad made. It is, in fact, a bench he made for my brother and I to sit in when we were very small. A few years ago he painted it with boat paint so that I could keep it outside, and the paint has protected it well. I use it for perching and watching the bees fly in and out of the hive, or for watching the chickens. Now it holds my pots of bulbs.

We’ll be able to see this from our dining room windows and the blooms will be cheering in late winter/early spring. I have lots of different bulbs in the ground, of course, but this is a special display meant to be seen from the house. When the bulbs have finished flowering, they are then planted in the garden to fill out the beds in the following years, and new bulbs are purchased for fall planting in the pots.

There are other projects that need to be done now, if the following seasons are to be a success. It is time to plant seeds for winter harvest (or for fall, if you live in colder climes). Last weekend I seeded up trays of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kohlrabi, leeks, and beets. They are in the greenhouse, no door on the front, shielded by a thin layer of agribon (mainly to keep away the cabbage white butterflies). They will be planted out into the garden beds October 1 or thereabouts. At that time, I’ll also seed directly all the other veg that we like to grow in the winter time.

This means, of course, that now is the time to order the seeds you will need. If fall is anything like spring, with people continuing to explore home food production, you’re going to want to get right on that before the seed houses sell out.

It’s also a really good time to figure out your garden plan for next season. I have some very remedial blank layouts that I have saved on my computer, which I just print out and use to plan the seasons ahead. I try to allow for some crop rotation (if possible) and think ahead, even, to the season after the coming one. It takes some tweaking and sometimes several iterations before I feel like I’ve got it all just right.

Our daughter Rin, a senior in high school this year, has already started classes online. I begin next week, with three labs in person (though the class is split up into groups of nine) and all of the lectures online. We are still not sure if our son Adam will be able to actually go to his chosen college, and are hoping for news about that soon - it’s getting down to the wire. Meanwhile he is still working full time at the bakery, which continues to sell out of product early every day (comfort food?). Tom is still working at home and it’s a very busy time for him with his college. The logistic challenges of all of this are just enormous, and he really never stops working, trying to make it all fit and ensuring that the students get what they need in this confusing time. All four of us have our own routines for our off times, which keeps us sane and fit. Tom walks in the dark every night around 8:30, and I go hiking early in the morning when it’s cool. I generally spend the rest of the day in food preservation mode. Rin has been very involved with a daily protest in our city (with social distancing) and Adam has been trying to see friends (with social distancing) before they all go their separate ways for college. The four of us meet at the dining room table every night for a feast made with food grown in our garden. Neighborhood kids (the little ones) come by on their daily walks to visit the chickens. One of our chickens has some sort of an eye problem - I don’t know if she got scratched by a stick, or if some dirt got caught in there, or what - she’s been in isolation for five days as it heals, because the other chickens can be very mean to a sick or injured chicken and make things much worse. I’m hoping her eye does heal, because if she loses vision in that eye, everything will be very difficult for her and we’ll have to make some hard decisions.

So, life continues on no matter the challenges, or perhaps in spite of them. I’d love to know what’s happening in your gardens, what you’re eating and preserving, and how you are managing lives spent mostly at home.

Blueberry Problems

We had a lovely crop of blueberries this year, and in fact some of the bushes are still producing. However, Tom and I noticed that something was going very, very wrong on one of the plants. The leaves were looking like this:

First, only one plant was affected, and I went ahead and cut it to the ground, fearing a disease or infection. However soon an adjacent bush began showing the same symptoms. Then I got worried. I wracked my brain for blueberry information. I did a lot of online research. And I still couldn’t figure it out. So, I wrote to our local branch of the Master Gardeners (here, affiliated with the University of California system) and sent them a picture. The MG’s have a vast library with lots of resources and lots of experts with whom to consult. I wasn’t sure I’d get an answer, but yesterday I received a very excellent reply which totally blew me away. Here it is:

“Hello Elizabeth,

Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk and for sending us photos.  It sounds as though the management of your blueberries has worked well in the past, and has not changed recently.  I understand you lost a blueberry bush to a similar-appearing ailment, and now a second bush is affected. It does not look like a virus, and most likely is a fixable problem.  There is one less likely but potentially serious problem I will also address.

The pattern on your leaves is called marginal necrosis.  The simplest problem causing this is inadequate water.   Drip systems can clog up over time, and our weather has been very hot recently, causing more water loss than usual.  Gently dig down several inches into the adjacent soil and make sure it is moist.  If the organic component to the soil has broken down over the years, it may be draining too fast.  You are an experienced gardener and may have checked this already.  If the drip system is not working, I would try unclogging the outflows or replacing the tubing.

I discussed your problem with one of our “blueberry expert” Master Gardeners.  He also had a good crop this year, yet his leaves are showing a similar pattern to yours.  He thinks the most likely problem is either a watering issue, or a problem with the soil, which I will discuss below.  Also, has the afternoon shade increased too much, due to tree growth?  Blueberries are finicky and this might affect the leaves too.

There are several potential issues with the soil.  Marginal necrosis can be caused by high soil salinity, high chloride, high boron content, magnesium deficiency, or potassium deficiency. Typically, the older leaves are more affected.  Also, there is general agreement among us that even though you had a good crop, the soil may not be acidic enough.  As you probably know, the pH needs to be 4.5 - 5.5, and is very hard to maintain for plants in the ground.  Typically you need to acidify the soil at least annually.  All these factors can be checked with lab-based soil testing (see pdf link).  This will provide lots of good information and is well worth the price.

The less likely but most serious problem to be addressed is whether or not this is a fungal infection, such as verticillium wilt.  This is suspicious because you lost one plant with a similar condition, although blueberries tend to be resistant to pests and diseases.  This disease comes up through the soil, gets into the canes, and then spreads to the leaves.  Typically one or a few shoots will be affected first, often the younger ones, unlike with soil chemical problems.  If you cut through one of the canes with affected leaves and look at the cross-section, you may see browning or blackening of the water conducting system of the plant (the xylem).  This fungus lives in the soil, is easily transported through water splashes or contaminated tools or shoes.  

There are no sprays available that will kill this fungus.  Make sure you completely remove the other affected plant, including the roots.  I do not think you need to get rid of this current plant until we know for sure what this is.  In the meantime, do not cross-contaminate your other plants – wash your hands and shoes well, and disinfect your tools using a 10% bleach solution.  Soil solarization (clear plastic over the adjacent soil) may reduce the quantity of fungus, and that’s something cheap and easy you could do now with little harm done.  A cutting could be sent to a lab for diagnosis; I will include a link below.

Finally, has a neighbor been using herbicides, such as Round-Up, near your plants?  These can get carried on the wind and damage nearby plants, causing marginal necrosis.

Marginal necrosis

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/ENVIRON/marglfnecrosis.html

Tobacco Mosaic Virus

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/VEGES/DISEASES/tobaccomosvir.html

Soil testing labs – see attached pdf file 

Verticillium Wilt

http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/DISEASES/vertwilt.html

Plant testing lab

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/ppd/plantpath.html

Please contact us again if you have further concerns or questions.”

Isn’t that something? I was amazed.

So, today, Tom and I did our due diligence and performed inspections. We had forgotten that I had cleared a huge patch of parsley out, which had been next to these two affected plants. When I did that, I moved the irrigation line closer to the blueberries. Inadvertently, it turns out I had turned it off at the same time. DOH! Then, when we ran the drip system, another low sprinkler was in a place where it was covered in leaves, so the water was just dripping right below it instead of spreading out over the whole blueberry patch. So, with those two irrigation lines running correctly again, I’m hoping that solves the problem. We also discussed the fact that we had pruned a large branch off the tree above the blueberries about a month ago. Both removing that, and removing the parsley, had allowed more direct sun on the bushes, as well as allowed more evaporation around the bushes. With that plus the water deficiencies, the bushes were unable to keep the old leaves healthy and green, so the plant sacrificed them.

I also noticed that the soil below the bushes was hard, compact, and dry. Regular water should fix that up, but I also did as the MG’s suggested and added an acid fertilizer and watered it in. In the fall, when we spread compost everywhere, I’ll be sure to add several inches to this area so that the blueberries have better water retention.

So there you have it! Another reliable resource to contact if you have any burning questions not answered by your own knowledge or research. I’m so grateful to the MG’s for answering my question so thoroughly. They are all volunteers and I’m just amazed at this service!

Now I’m casting a more critical eye on other areas of my garden that have been looking peaked lately, and wondering if the drip is working in those areas. Tom and I check the veg beds every year, but we often just assume everything is working right elsewhere unless we see a problem. I think we’ve learned a lesson here, that we need to be more thorough.

Sunburn

Over the weekend, I asked Tom to build me a sort of shade covering for the peppers. This is what he came up with and I love it. The covering is agribon, the same stuff we use to protect from frost in winter. I didn’t want the peppers to be totally enclosed, I just needed a little light protection from the intense sun in the heat of the day. This is because my peppers are suffering (and suffer every year) from sunburn.

That whitish spot at the top of the fruit is the sunburn. It’s not the worst thing in the world; the rest of the pepper ripens normally and can be used, cutting away the damaged area. But it is a real nuisance when every single one of your peppers has it. It seems to affect the bells worse than the corno di torno types, but even those get it sometimes. And here’s the thing - peppers are sun lovers! Sun worshippers! They need heat and sun to be at their beautiful best. But in our area it’s a little different, and here’s my theory about that. As you can see from the picture up top, our pepper plants never really develop that full, leafy, luscious green look that plants in other parts of the country get. It’s because of how dry it is. I have drip irrigation on these plants as I do all of my garden, and while that keeps them alive and producing, it’s not enough to produce the kind of lush vegetation that would protect the developing fruit from the direct rays of the sun. As far as I know, sunlight on the actual fruit has no affect on ripening or sweetening - it all comes from the effect of the sun on the leaves. But the plant has to protect itself from dryness somehow, and it won’t sacrifice fruit because that’s how it reproduces. So what can it sacrifice? Some of the leaves. Hence, my plants are puny but still produce a good amount of fruit.

This is just a theory. You can help me by letting me know if you live in a rainy part of the country and grow peppers. How do your plants look?

Anyway, I’m hoping the light shade cover will take care of the sunburn issue. I get it on my tomatoes, too, but it’s impossible to provide any kind of shade cover at the moment because the trellises are too big. Maybe that’s a project for next year. Shade cloth every summer over this end of the garden?

Tom has also built me a stand for my dehydrator (in full use in summertime), which keeps it out of the way but convenient. He’s become quite a dab hand at these projects, and I’m so grateful!

A nerdy side note: Do you know what your state rock is? If not, you can look here.

Our state rock is Serpentine (or Serpentinite). You can find this all across the state and is a beautiful greenish color. It is formed from igneous processes, that is, volcanic, and then is metamorphosed. I was hiking in Sunol Regional Wilderness yesterday, and once I got up into the hills, there was lots of this stuff lying around, as well as degraded sheets of it on rock faces, which is basically asbestos. Asbestos is formed as the rock weathers and erodes. The dust, of course, can be quite dangerous, but I think the rock is really lovely. There are whole plant communities that thrive on this sort of substrate, a very specific list, which is helpful to know if you live in a place with a lot of serpentine. How will you know this? You need to look at the geologic map of your property. (I wrote a post about this in the Spring of 2019.) You might enjoy finding out your own state rock and how to identify it while you’re out hiking!

Kitchen Days

These are the kitchen days - days where we turn on the fan, heat up the oven, get out the food processor, the canning rig, the jam pot, the pickling salt.

Every extra moment filled with processing and cooking. Tomatoes into puree, salsa, paste. Peppers roasted and into the freezer.

Basil blended with garlic, walnuts, salt, parmesan, and olive oil. Pesto in little jars, into the freezer.

Cucumbers, picked when small, fermented into half-sour dills, or sliced and canned for bread n’ butter pickles.

Warm squishy berries picked in the hot sun, then cooked down with sugar into jam.

It’s hot work, and it’s persistent work. But our winter selves will thank us for doing it. Our stores are filling up! And tomorrow there will be more to pick….