In between rain storms this week, I actually managed to get things planted. Hooray! The tricky part with all this rain has been getting into the gardens to work the soil without ruining its structure and creating big clods of concrete-like dirt.
On Tuesday I planted the third and final planting of sweet corn. Succession planting helps us to extend the harvest by spacing out the maturation date of the plants, so by doing three plantings of corn, we hope to have an early, mid, and late season corn harvest. Sometimes the corn ear worms throw a wrench in the plan, but we deal with that. Pests are an inevitable part of organic farming, and I'd rather deal with a little bit of insect damage than contribute to the pest resistance by overuse of even organic insecticides.
I also finally got the Amish paste tomatoes in the ground that have been languishing in a seed flat for the past couple weeks waiting for a break in the rain. We'll see how they do. The tomatoes that are already in the ground are setting fruit and growing nicely with all this rain, showing little to no signs of disease as I had worried about at first. The healthy dose of compost mulch helped on that front, I'm sure. I also planted several rows of watermelon and muskmelon, hoping that a slightly delayed planting would help starve some of the emerging squash bugs that plagued us so badly last season.
The beans plants are just beginning to flower, and the first round of squash plants are about to do the same. So, those veggies are just around the corner, and they got a healthy does of compost mulch yesterday and should be very happy. Potatoes, too, are looking good, and we may begin harvesting the first new potatoes soon, depending upon how they're sizing up. Raspberries should be ready for harvest next week, as we're already enjoying the first few ripe ones of the season. Yummmmm. So look forward to those in your share and enjoy them while they're here.
The large head lettuces are just about spent with this warm weather, bolting and turning bitter. So it's back to the mixed greens for a while. Harvesting greens while young with multiple plantings helps extend the green season into warmer weather. We'll also be growing our summer lettuces under shade cloth, helping to keep them cooler and happier.
The weeds, too, are loving all this rain, so there's much work to be done in the garden. In particular, the first plantings of carrots and onions are overrun, so if there are any weeding volunteers out there, we'd welcome the help. It's buggy and tedious work to find baby onions, so be forewarned.
- farm fresh eggs
- napa cabbage (L)
- English peas (1 qt L; 1 pt S)
- drunken woman head lettuce
- red lollo head lettuce (Monday share)/ red salad bowl lettuce (Thursday share)
- winter density head lettuce (Monday share)
- garlic scapes (L)
- spearmint sprigs (L)
- chives
- rosemary
- sage
