Back in August, we had a period of cooler weather that made everyone around here think that Fall had arrived early. Suckers! The hot weather returned, not with a vengeance but definitely with persistence — it hasn’t left yet.
September has always been a frustrating and difficult month for us as CSA farmers. Although it’s officially Fall and we’re a few days past the Equinox, from the perspective of average temperature, it is still clearly summer here at least until October 1st. In fact, in 2022, the hottest three-day period in Sacramento history happened in mid-September. It was 100 degrees yesterday and we’re expecting more triple digits temperatures next week.
But summer crops don’t perform reliably for us in September. For one thing, by the time Labor Day rolls around, it’s been hot for most of three months straight. The summer crops we harvest in June and July were all planted in the spring and only lived the last part of their lives in the heat. But the ones we harvest in September have had to endure the heat for their entire lives. They look tired and beat-up by Labor Day.
Another problem is that the bugs and diseases that thrive on the summer crops have also been around for months. They’ve had lots of time to get established and reproduce. It’s hard to know if the September crops are just not as strong because they’ve been growing in the heat for so long, or if there are just more pests and diseases to infect them — or both. But the effect is the same: the vegetables and fruits in September have more insect damage and diseases, which means they don’t produce as well.
For example, we’re still harvesting tomatoes and zucchini right now. But for every pound of fruit we harvest, we throw 20% of more of it on the ground. Tomatoes have bug damage, mold and giant cracks; zucchini are shriveled up at the end where an insect chewed on them. Some years it’s worse than others, but this year it’s quite bad.
So what about Fall Crops?
Our Fall crops — leafy greens and related vegetables — aren’t affected by the same pests as their summer cousins. They have a complicated relationship with hot weather though. While it speeds up their growth, they are very sensitive to it when they are young. And of course, we simply can’t pick them if it’s too hot. That makes harvest stressful and difficult to plan.
Take the Kale that is in your boxes today as an example. We transplanted it just over 6 weeks ago on Saturday, August 10th. Like we always do in the summer, we started planting at 6 a.m. when it was 60 degrees and finished planting by 9 a.m. It eventually hit 98 degrees that day, which was the coolest day of that week. Luckily, the week that followed was less hot. The plants got acclimated nicely and grew quickly.
Fast forward to Monday of this week, which was expected to be 100 degrees here. The Kale looked great on Saturday when I checked it, but we knew we would have just a few hours — at best — to harvest it. We lucked out with a very chilly 53 degrees at 7 a.m., and the entire crew finished the task by 9. An hour later a hot wind blew in and the temperature jumped to almost 90 degrees. Your Kale bunches were safely in the cooler by then, having gotten a nice cold bath. But the Kale plants still in the field were drooping from the heat.
Obviously with the potential for conditions like these, we have to be very realistic about how many heat-sensitive crops we can grow this time of year. Years ago we gave up growing the more delicate greens like Lettuce or Arugula for harvest in September — it’s just too risky. And we can’t have multiple crops that all need to be harvested before 9 a.m.
As we move into October, every week will be a bit of a scramble as we figure out what summer crops we still have enough of for your boxes and whether or not we can get the heat-sensitive crops picked early enough. There may be a few surprises left before summer ends completely but I don’t want to jinx them.
Thanks,