I can always tell when Fall begins in the Napa Valley. Sometimes is it before the Autumnal Equinox and sometimes it is after. This year, Fall seems to be starting early. The light has changed, shadows are longer, mornings are cool (42 degrees this morning) with warm afternoons and the smell of the wine crush in the air marks the transition for me.
The vegetable starts I planted in April are looking very tired and for good reason. My zucchini plants were great producers this year, so much so that I felt compelled to pull the plants as I was so tired of eating zucchini. It is the same for all my pepper plants, but I am going to give them a couple more weeks. I probably have another month of production from some of my tomato plants and have eaten so many tomatoes this year that I am surprised that my skin has not turned red.
Time to plant the fall garden. I pulled out all the zucchini, cucumber, and green bean plants I had in the garden, plus 2 tomato plants that got smothered and really did not produce fruit. I was not careful enough when I was planting my determinate and indeterminate tomato varieties last Spring and the I’s always beat the D’s when it comes to grabbing room and sunlight.
In case you don’t know, which I didn’t until a couple of seasons ago, determinate tomato plants tend to be compact and smaller. They bloom on the main stem, which stops the upward growth and reminds me more of a bush than a vine. On the other hand, indeterminate tomato plants can take over a trellis or climb high into a tree if left unchecked. The indeterminate plant does not bloom on the top of the main stem. It keeps growing on side branches as well as on the main stem. My optimistic Spring self, planted too many tomato plants in one of my raised beds and planted my indeterminate plants on the south and west side of the bed where they took over not only the space, but also the sunlight. Lesson learned…I hope.
I amended the newly cleaned bed with more soil and chicken manure. I then planted Blue Curly Kale, Dinosaur Kale, Marathon and Destiny Broccoli, Ornamental Kale, English Peas and companion plants of Rosemary and Sage. I plan to add a row of cabbage to the bed as soon as the nursery receives some starts.
Last April I installed a hog wire trellis to support my tomato plants and decided just to keep it in place for my english peas.
