Happy Summer Solstice!

Well, all our transplants are now in the ground. We planted out all of our tomatoes, our second round of cucumbers and melons, and our greenhouse is pretty much empty!! We have finally had some hot days on the farm; we had one weekend where it was in the mid-80's. The heat is great for sun loving crops, like tomatoes. A lot of our tomatoes were quite pot bound and nutrient deprived once we FINALLY got them in the field. They were turning purple, which is a sign of potassium deficiency. Potassium is released from the soil once it heats up, which has now happened. Our early girls, mortgage lifters, and all our other varieties are looking very healthy and happy. We do not expect to have a tomato on the farm until mid to late August, but at least they are looking much happier now.

Our tomatoes have now been staked, we are just tying them all up to the stakes. The system seems to be working good so far, but the real test well be when the plants are weighed down with fruit!


The staked tomatoes.


Our cucumbers from the first round have been staked too.

We have been direct-seeding into the field now for a month. A lot of people find it interesting that we plant every week, all through the growing season. This is very different from home gardening. On a farm, you must always have a fresh product for market. Every week we plant: lettuce (several varieties), filet beans (until mid-July), turnips, cress, spinach, mustard greens (3 varieties), and beets (3 varieties). Every other week we plant bush beans (3 varieties), dill, chervil, cilantro, carrots (rainbow), arugula, rucola, and radishes. We will continue this planting schedule until about mid-august, when we start seeding our winter crops. You have to get the winter crops in early so they have time to grow to a decent size before the days are too short and the weather is to cool.

Some of our crops that we planted on June 5th (our first planting) are almost ready to sell. We hope that by the end of next week we can take the restaurants some cress, mustard greens, arugula, kale, herbs, and possibly chard. I think at this point Brian and I will fell like we have really accomplished something!


Our first seeding into the field is growing!!

Other news around the farm: We got three new little hens on the 9th. They are only 2 months old and are very cute. We picked out a Welsummer (lays dark brown eggs), a Rhode Island Red, and a Ameracauna (lays green/blue eggs). They seem to be getting along with the older hens/rooster, but not really hanging out with them. They will not being laying until September.



Brian has been doing some fishing at the pond and has landed some very large bass (2 pounders), some of which we ate. Hanging out at the pond after working in the sun all day is the perfect way to end the day!