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Hip waders, sickly corn and unripe melons: It’s been a weird summer

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

Janesville resident Janet Campbell spent part of Sunday morning working on her garden plot at the Community Gardens at the Rock County complex at Hwys 15 & 51. Campbell reported having mixed luck with her vegetables but good herbs in this her first year at the gardens.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

A wet spring, dry August and all-around cool temperatures has left some vegetable garderners scratching their heads and accepting unusual yeilds for many vegetables.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

The weather during the summer of 2008 has played roulette with some vegetable plants that need good, hot weather to peak. Many gardeners report mixed results this year with tomatoes, with the variety being an important factor.

JANESVILLE — It’s been a weird summer.

In June, the rain came down and the river came up, and residents wondered if they’d be wearing hip waders for the rest of their lives.

Then in August, drought conditions turned the ground to concrete.

And on top of those two extremes, temperatures stayed comfortably cool until after Labor Day—when Janesville experienced it’s first day over 90 degrees.

“It was the most challenging growing season I have seen in years,” said Jim Stute, UW Extension crops and soils agent. “It was abnormal.”

Mark Dwyer, Rotary Botanical Gardens Horticulture director, called it “goofy.”

And Mike Maddox, horticultural educator for the gardens and the UW Extension, declared the summer “horrible” for tomatoes, peppers and melons.

Here’s a rundown of the summer’s highlights:

-- June: Janesville’s wastewater treatment plant records 9.93 inches of rain, more than twice the average amount of 4.10 inches.

-- August: The wastewater treatment plant records 0.93 inches of rain, about 75 percent less than the average amount of 4 inches.

-- From June 1 to Aug. 31, Janesville had very few growing degree days. In the past 60 years, only 10 other summers had fewer degree days.

Translation: It’s been a very cool summer.

Growing degree days help gardeners and farmers know when crops or plants will mature or flower.

For example, tomatoes need a certain number of “degree days” to thoroughly ripen.

Wisconsin is considered “short season” in terms of crops, and gardeners know if they don’t get the warmth they need in July or August, they’ll be out of luck.

As a result of those three factors:

-- Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and melons might not reach maturity, explained Maddox. Or gardeners might find that they have a smaller crop.

-- Common garden fungal diseases such as black spot and powdery mildew are more common, Dwyer said.

“We’ve had a lot more mildew issues here,” Dwyer said. “With the rain—and then we segued into October nights a couple of weeks—fungal issues have been a problem.”

-- Farmers might need federal disaster assistance.

First, they planted late. Then the soil was so moist that crops such as corn never developed the deep root system they need to get through dry spells, Stute said.

Second, the moisture meant the nitrogen and other nutrients leached from the soil, and because of their shallow root systems, the plants couldn’t get the nutrients they needed from deeper in a soil.

Third, the cool weather added to plant stress.

“Corn wants 85-degree days, and about 70 degrees at night,” Stute said. “It was in the 50s at night.”

Finally, August drought hit plants hard. In June, fields were underwater. In August, the ground was dusty and parched.

Stute recently took a tour of the county in preparation for a visit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We’re going to try to estimate the potential impact on crops,” Stute said. “It may open up the potential for disaster benefits for farmers.”

Is there any hope?

It’s probably too late to boost corn yields significantly, but if the weather cooperates, home gardeners could see green tomatoes turn red and melons ripen to perfection.

The first killing frost usually is in the first 10 days of October, Stute said.

But this year, the first full moon is “right smack dab in the middle of September.”

A full moon can mean cooler temperatures. It’s not just folklore, science has proven it. And in the fall, there’s less moisture in the air to buffer temperatures.

“We’re worried about having a frost during the first full moon,” Stute said. “If we make it through the full moon, we might have another month.”

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

If your garden still is full of green tomatoes, fry them up. It’s ridiculously easy.

At Saturday’s Garden Fest at Rotary Botanical Gardens, members of the Janesville Area Herb Society fried up green tomatoes for visitors.

Here’s how they do it:

Slice tomatoes and coat them with Shore Lunch brand breading, which usually is used for fish. Place coated tomato slices into hot oil and brown on each side.