Here in CT, the weather has been nuts. 80+ degree days followed by frosts and 25 mph winds. Before the broccoli, beets, lettuce, onions, fennel, etc. were transplanted into the field from the greenhouse, they were "hardened off". Luckily, the days following their exit from the protective womb of the greenhouse were mild, cloudy, drizzly, 60 degree days. Mother nature was kind, but she's not holding back anymore.
Today, as we hoed beds of broccoli & fennel for about 5 hours, we noticed the leaves of these crops were slightly purple. This, I learned is a sign of stress. The plants are still able to photosynthesize at this point, but to help them along, we sprayed algae onto their leaves. "Foliar Feeding" = feeding through the leaves. (It was funny, for a moment this afternoon, it smelled as though I had been transplanted to the ocean. Wishful thinking.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foliar_feeding
All very fascinating. I'm curious to see how the plants respond.
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