This Week on the Farm 9/4
Wow has it been humid this week! This level of humidity makes it very uncomfortable to work outside. Within fifteen minutes you are drenched in sweat. Thankfully the weather is supposed to turn cooler later this week so it won’t be so unpleasant. I am super pumped that there isn’t a frost projected for the next week. This time last year we were out at 3 am protecting the tomatoes from the frost. Thankfully we can get a little bit more sleep this year.
All of our high school workers are back in school. We would like to give them a big thank you for all of their help this summer. We had an excellent crew who worked well together and we got a lot of things accomplished. We will really miss all of their help in the next couple of months, but with academics and athletics there is no time for gardening.
Last Friday we managed to catch up on our direct seeding list and get the overhead irrigation system installed again. We planted two types of radishes, turnips, beets, and pac choy. We have two more weeks of fall plantings to go in, mostly radishes and spinach, and then we will be done with planting for the fall.
On Monday Tyler and I spent the morning tilling and planting under the high tunnel. Since we were planting looseleaf lettuce we had to till and then rake the area to make a smooth seed bed. I have giant blisters on my hands now since we, in general, don’t do very much raking. We planted four types of looseleaf lettuce and a type of romaine. We also planted arugula and spinach. Hopefully the spinach germinates better than our spring plantings.
After we seeded the area under the high tunnel we laid drip tape and turned that on right away. A nice, gentle soaking should help boost germination rates. We did get some rain last night, too, so that should help.
The high tunnel doesn’t have a cover on it yet. In the next couple of weeks we will put clear plastic over the hoops to help keep it warm at night. If there is a chance for a severe frost we also have a frost blanket that we can unroll that gives several degrees of frost protection. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a later frost since that means things aren’t quite as frantic around here.
We did go and get a 3 pt rotary mower this week. It is still sitting on the trailer. They put it on the trailer with a skid loader and now we have to figure out how to get it off of the trailer. Hopefully the 3pt arms on the tractor are long enough we can just back the tractor up to it and hook on. Otherwise we might need to ask one of our neighbors who has a skid loader for some help unloading it.
It seems like this is the year of Beans. They just don’t stop producing. The fall planting is flowering profusely and the second spring planting is still producing beans. Thankfully beans are one of those crops that you can easily blanch and freeze to enjoy later this winter. Keep that in mind if you are starting to get sick of beans! Although I can never get sick of garlicky blackened beans, yum!
The Third Annual Farm Stop and Barley Pop tour is this Saturday. There are still tickets available if you are interested. We will be one of two tour stops before the dinner portion at Lapacek’s Orchard. I am really looking forward to the food. It is always excellent.
Remember to mark your calenders for our harvest potluck on September 23 from 12N to 6PM. We will have food and tours of the gardens. Let us know by September 20th if you will be coming so we make sure to have enough food.