Oh the weather..

Living in Denver, Colorado we have the best weather!  However, this weather was particularly challenging for me this year as I know it probably is every year.  As a farmer, I never realized how much my dad had to pay attention to the daily changes that would effect his plan of action.  Being at the mercy of a weather front is a bit annoying, but it is something that I learned to flow with after a few missteps.

I do love urban farming because I can start my plants a little early, put them outside on warm days and bring them in during the cool nights.   I was eating lettuce in early May, and my carrots were sprouting by that time as well.   (I believe walls of water provide a similar environment while leaving the plants outside)  That part of the season made me the happiest, because the day time weather stayed fairly consistent.   

Ohhh July and August, you made me unhappy this year!  July started with torrential downpours which resulted in 5” of rain in two weeks.  The days were cool, so the plants didn’t dry out which resulted in fun stuff.  First, fungus gnats found their new digs in my lettuce.  Second, my plants were drowning in too much water.  OHHH what to do?

I started protecting my plants from the downpours which helped to revive them, but the gnats killed off my lettuce.  It can be challenging to bring them inside or cover them when you are away for the day and the rain arrives when you are gone.  I battled with the need for them to have sun, with the desire to protect them.  I didn’t quite figure out the best way to handle this at the time, but this is what I discovered after the fact:

1)   Breathable row covers or plant bags, such as what I used to protect my basil from the mean grasshopper

2)   Plastic sheeting or a tarp – not so breathable, but could definitely work as long as it was tied down to something so it doesn’t blow away

3)   Ensure containers have drain holes or rocks at bottom of the containers.  I have one container with no drain hole that I put quite a few inches of rocks at the bottom.  It was more water logged then the containers with drain holes.

4)   Soil mix – really?  Is all I could initially think, but it seems pretty sound and a lot of people on forums attest to it.

Then the sun came around and with so much love that my plants stopped producing.  Really?  A tomato plant or Jalapeño plant can get too much sun and heat?  It was a complete surprise to me because the garden I grew up with was in full sun.  Thanks to my dad for pointing out that my plants were overexposed on the roof.  It probably gets to 120 degrees up there on a 100 degree day, so it is no wonder my plants were trying to conserve themselves.   I am already trying to figure out how I can filter the light for next summer and these are some options.  I want to figure it out how to do it on a budget and with limited space.  There will be a lot of head scratching and money saving over the winter.   

The joys of winter, we get to dream of what we are going to do next year!!