Fall

[talon]

While Fall officially arrived on August 1, the first glimmers that summer is finally relenting have appeared - we had dewfall this morning for the first time since late May.

The "cold front" that dropped temperatures down into the 90's is also a clue that Fall is coming in.

The leaves of trees aren't just drying off the trees and dropping from dehydration and heat, some of them are starting to edge up in the barest trace of red or gold. Others are getting their second greening. Fall fruits are starting to ripen, and it's time to put in the late fall/early winter crops.

Tomatoes, peas, beans, carrots, parsnips, spinach, lettuces, radishes, fresh hills of delicate summer squashes, and cucumbers should all be planted or transplanted now for lush fall crops.

Peppers need to be clipped back and pruned - get rid of those under-sized malformed little pepper pods. The plants will sprout new flowers and bigger peppers very soon.

Tomatoes green up and set more flowers now, too. When the nights get cool, covering tomatoes with a high row cover will let them set and ripen fruit clear until January.

Within the next week, planting kohlrabi, turnips, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, beets, and potatoes will give an early spring crop, and possibly a late fall one, too.

Nut crops are looking really dense this year - the pecan trees are heavy with green pecans, the oaks are practically bending under their acorns. I expect to get enough nuts from the pecan and oak trees to last nearly 2 years if I vacuum freeze them after shelling them.

The persimmon is filled with fruit, too, almost three times what it produced last year. I'm thinking persimmon butter and little jars of diced persimmons for persimmon-nut bread and puddings.

I noticed the dandelions are blooming again - the leaves will be too bitter to eat in the fall, but the plants that have fall blooming often have the bigger roots - ideal for harvesting.