What can we plant right now in case Covid19 disrupt our food

[BritDownUnder]

The peas are thriving but not yet ready to harvest. Efforts to grow swede planted direct into the ground are not so successful as we have had some unseasonably cold weather here in Australia. Savoy cabbage has been put into seed trays unlike the swede and is growing well and will soon be ready to transplant.

Inside the polytunnel all things are thriving including tomatoes but a nasty looking white mould has appeared probably due to high humidity.

[vtsnowedin]

We planted our potatoes today. About ten pounds and 100 feet of row.
There were pockets of frost two days ago so I have held off transplanting tomatoes etc. Perhaps tomorrow if things warm up.

[vtsnowedin]

I planted a row of green beans and one of beets today now that frost is unlikely. Also set out the first three tomato plants with several more to follow. This evening I fertilized and seeded a 0.6 acre food plot to soy beans with a few sun flowers and sugar beets thrown in. Not exactly a food for the emergency plot but I might harvest a white tailed deer or two out of it if all goes to plan.
Tomatoes, carrots, onions, and venison, the four basic food groups for a snowed in Vermonter.

[stumuz1]

There were pockets of frost two days ago so I have held off transplanting tomatoes etc. .

Out of interest VT, when is your first frost?

[vtsnowedin]

There were pockets of frost two days ago so I have held off transplanting tomatoes etc. .

Out of interest VT, when is your first frost?

Usually about September 15th.

[kenneal - lagger]

There were pockets of frost two days ago so I have held off transplanting tomatoes etc. .

Out of interest VT, when is your first frost?

Usually about September 15th.

Let us, in the UK, hope the Gulf Stream keeps going then!! Ours recently have been in late October, early November in the south of England.

[kenneal - lagger]

We've just had our first substantial rain in a couple of months; 5 or 6mm in half an hour. Torrential!! That should get the spuds growing.

Unfortunately, the grass has got so dry that instead of growing now it will probably go straight to seed. We'll have to wait for the seed to drop before we get another flush of the green stuff.

[stumuz1]

My tiny little island is bathed in the gulf stream, so no frost until December and then maybe a touch of air frost on 2-3 nights.

So practically year round potatoes with the help pf cold frames. The winters are warmer and wetter, since global warming kicked in, which i used to think benefitted me greatly. But, the pandemic has brought into sharp relief, that with a warming planet, shit will happen.

[kenneal - lagger]

We had another downpour this afternoon which bought the day's total to about 12mm. Little and often is what we need now as we used to get.

[kenneal - lagger]

Does the warmer, wetter weather cause any problems with blight in the spuds, Stu?

[vtsnowedin]

Does the warmer, wetter weather cause any problems with blight in the spuds, Stu?

Interesting point. I suspect the weather in July and August has a major effect on the spread of the blight but early summer weather should not as far as I know. But then again I actually know next to nothing about the blight that is useful. Mostly just hoping it stays away this year and will fight it as best I can with the best advice I can find.
If you have an expert that knows how to deal with it sitting on a huge crop of spuds or tomatoes point him or her out.

[vtsnowedin]

I compared notes with a fellow Yankee gardener today. She had planted the same variety of potatoes ten days before I planted mine but because there was no rain in the interim hers had done nothing as of yet so her's and mine might reach maturity about the same day. We will see.