Getting Ready for the Season Ahead

by Glenn I Teves, Puakala Farms, Ho’olehua Molokai

I was recently asked, “When is the best time of year to plant vegetables?” This is a loaded question since a lot depends on your localized weather conditions, including rainfall, day and night temperatures, and soil conditions. For some of the red soils, the hot dry conditions have created cracks in the ground and ripping this soil will yield giant blocks of red clay that are difficult to prepare for planting. Hawaii has over 160 soil types with at least 10 climatic zones. Multiply these two numbers and there you have all the possible microclimates that theoretically could grow just about any crop. But are you ready?

We are in the midst of a brutal summer, traditionally known as the dog days of summer. It has nothing to do with dogs per se, but refers to the brightest star in July and August, Sirius in the constellation Canis. Canis happens to be the Latin name for dogs and yes, even the dogs are looking for shelter from the sweltering heat. We should be so lucky not to experience 100 to 120 degree heat in Hawaii, but it’s still hot by our standards - breaking records for the hottest recorded temperatures almost on a daily basis.

We’re presently in the midst of a season where only the toughest will survive and thrive, including watermelon, some squashes, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, okra, swiss chard, asparagus, cow peas and a few select others. The leafies will wilt under these conditions without supplemental irrigation of more than once a day, while even root crops will be strong tasting from the summer heat.

I usually break the seasons into quarters. This is governed by the moon cycles - including solstices and equinoxes - with the next important event on September 21 -

the autumn equinox, which usually signals cooler weather (if all goes right!) and

the start of shorter days and longer nights.

We can plant year-round, but do we want to?

I call it garden addiction, always having fresh vegetables to eat when you want them. Nothing can touch a cold, sweet, crunchy, and juicy watermelon exploding in your mouth and before you know it the season is over, like mine was this week. If I had my druthers, I wouldn’t plant in this season and this is exactly what I did when I was in college, but it was for a different reason. Back then, we grew tons of snow peas and the mainland crop was bombing the Hawaii market - driving prices down to the lowest level of the year.

Besides, it’s a good idea to practice crop-free periods to send diseases and insects packing, seeking greener pastures.

The best we can hope for is to prepare for better weather - and this means prepping fields.

This can include building up organic matter, setting up your seedling propagating area, and ordering new seeds for the next few seasons. During winter months, mainland growers obsess over the latest seed catalogs when there’s little to do in the frigid weather than to cozy up to your favorite vegetable pics. We can do this before every season like right now.

In Hawaii, the real issue in the dog days of summer is a combination of hot days with warm nights. In this scenario, plants are unable to recover from the days heat stress and build up needed carbohydrates that come with cool nights, so they experience what can be described in human terms as cardiac arrest.

Lettuce is a good example of this and responds with a bitter taste, tip burn, and early bolting or flowering. Lettuce is native to the Mediterranean area with its characteristic hot days and cool nights, and doesn’t like this tropical stuff so you have to find varieties that will survive in these conditions, such Batavian or summer crisp types of lettuce.

Finding the varieties that thrive in the different seasons is key.

I try to grow more than one variety of a crop, and some instances a handful of a crop, such as tomatoes. I’m always looking for that special one that tastes like sweet and juicy ambrosia and can withstand all the elements that next season will throw at it.   

Now is the time to plan for tomorrow, getting ready for the perfect weather because better days are right around the corner.