This week at the farm was all about transplanting. Our warm weather veggies came out of the greenhouses and went into the field. This included tomatoes (heirloom, cherry, and beefsteak), peppers, eggplants, zucchinis, cucumbers, melons & sunflowers. We planted another succession of our cooler weather veggies as well, such as lettuce, napa cabbage, and beets. Lastly, we direct seeded salad spring mixes, stir fry greens, arugula, radishes, green beans, and sunflowers.
The first half of the week was gorgeous weather, full of sunshine and moderate temps. It was truly a gift to be outside at the farm. After surveying the progress I ventured to the top of the hill at the edge of the forest to the site where we are planning on building a platform and setting up our canvas tent. I was met by a small herd of deer that bolted off through the woods as well as several pileated woodpeckers that remained and went about there business.
In the fields, the strawberries are ripening and I anticipate picking to start this week. We are also harvesting heads of lettuce and kale. As the weather turned to cool and rainy I began noticing the weeds starting to take off on us. Where the weeds are under control I noticed erosion washing away our soil. It nearly broke my heart to find the soil from one of our blackberry rows half washed away. The rows are in raised beds, and with half of it gone it resembles something like a canyon forming or a sand castle getting hit by the tide. The plants seem fine so far, and we have nine other healthy rows. We will need to think about our response this week. On a positive note, our low tunnels have withstood some severe storms and protecting the plants underneath. We are definitely noticing some positive results from our low tunnel experiment.
The seed drill is ordered, and once it arrives at the end of this month we will begin seeding our next cover crop, or technically green manure. We will plant orchard grass in between the rows of blackberries & raspberries which will help with erosion. In the fallow fields we will plant a mix of clover, oats, and field peas to prepare suppress weeds, fix nitrogen, and control erosion. That’s about it for this week.
