Things are looking good in the field over the last couple weeks. We could use another good rain. We've been a little dry and plants always respond differently to rain compared to irrigation.
I planted leeks and green onions last week. This week I am setting the squashes and finishing the green onions planting. I am planting a few miscellaneous crops to fill in some gaps and then our plantings are wrapping up for the end of the season.
Strawberries are producing copious amounts of gorgeous fruit this week. Looks like one more week of starfruit before we finish their season.
Tomatoes are still green and ripening. I have never seen so many tomato flowers in the greenhouse. We should be in good shape in two months.
One crop of beans is finished and another is emerging from seeds. Onions and carrots are a few weeks out. Red potatoes are looking good but could use some rain.
The warmer weather is causing the lettuce to bolt so we might be wrapping up the lettuce season early unless we get another cool spell. I thought this full moon would bring rain and a cool front, but we missed out. We'll see what this week brings us.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
Saturday, February 9, 2019
'Bout Time
Well, it IS about time to write a post. It is also about time that I haven't posted in a while. Running around with six athletic kids is very tiring. Sitting down to write a blog post seems like an extra homework assignment. Finally thought I would summarize what's been going on at the farm.
This season has been one of the hardest seasons of our ten we have been growing. We have had very wet, very hot, very cool, and very damp- making for another typical, atypical fall/winter in the Bay area.
Ants are a real problem this year. They have been chewing the stems of transplants and killing them. We lost two crops of broccoli, one crop of kale, and a collard crop due to their behavior. This is the first time they bothered cole crops. Thankfully, we are finally getting things under control (even if half of the season is behind us).
This season we are growing on the eastern side of the property that borders Hwy 39. The soil has doubled in organic matter. This means our soil fertility has increased with additions of cover crops and organic soil amendments. Our annual soil test reported we only needed to input nitrogen this year. Looks like things are working out in building up our soil.
There are some growing changes this year. We are growing strawberry 'Sensation' instead of 'Camino' with much success. This variety produces berries earlier in the season and they are much larger than Camino. We added pole beans, baby bok choy, downy mildew resistant cucumbers, and screened our greenhouse so bugs can't enter. We have been late with tomatoes but they are growing with reckless abandon. We should soon be picking them. Pole beans did well for a few weeks but seem to have slowed down. They are very tasty and extra long and I can grow them in the greenhouse during the winter.
Snow peas are just starting to yield. Beets, beans, carrots, mustard greens, scallions, lettuce, and sweet corn are being planted this week.
Hope to keep you updated from time to time...
This season has been one of the hardest seasons of our ten we have been growing. We have had very wet, very hot, very cool, and very damp- making for another typical, atypical fall/winter in the Bay area.
Ants are a real problem this year. They have been chewing the stems of transplants and killing them. We lost two crops of broccoli, one crop of kale, and a collard crop due to their behavior. This is the first time they bothered cole crops. Thankfully, we are finally getting things under control (even if half of the season is behind us).
This season we are growing on the eastern side of the property that borders Hwy 39. The soil has doubled in organic matter. This means our soil fertility has increased with additions of cover crops and organic soil amendments. Our annual soil test reported we only needed to input nitrogen this year. Looks like things are working out in building up our soil.
There are some growing changes this year. We are growing strawberry 'Sensation' instead of 'Camino' with much success. This variety produces berries earlier in the season and they are much larger than Camino. We added pole beans, baby bok choy, downy mildew resistant cucumbers, and screened our greenhouse so bugs can't enter. We have been late with tomatoes but they are growing with reckless abandon. We should soon be picking them. Pole beans did well for a few weeks but seem to have slowed down. They are very tasty and extra long and I can grow them in the greenhouse during the winter.
Snow peas are just starting to yield. Beets, beans, carrots, mustard greens, scallions, lettuce, and sweet corn are being planted this week.
Hope to keep you updated from time to time...
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