As we write this week’s newsletter we are having a nice cloudy day with a gentle saturating rain. We desperately needed this.  On the other hand, the tomatoes are exploding again. You may see some “split” tomatoes in your shares this week.   

The theme this week has been transition as we gradually switch to new crops. Last week was the last distribution of the Yukon Gold and All Blue Potatoes.  We also saw the last of the mature carrots. This week’s shares will have the last distribution of garlic, we need to pull the remainder to cure and then replant in October/November for next year’s season.  However, we are seeing the return of beets and radishes.  Tomorrow we will assess the growth of the cool weather greens such as mizuna and kale to see if we have enough to start including in the shares. This rain should give them a good boost. The rain will also help the new carrot seedlings, but they still may not mature in time for distribution. One thing in our favor-the growth rate of cool weather crops in the summer is astounding compared to their spring growth rate. Carrots that can take up to 21 days to geminate in the spring sprouted within 3 days. Compare their growth just since the last newsletter:

Carrots previously

Carrots today



Previous radishes

 

And today

Sadly, out of the 72 romaine lettuce seedlings planted in early July (so they would be mature now), only the 7 pictured survived the summer heat and drought. So there will not be large romaine lettuce heads for the final session. But we just planted other leaf lettuce. We’ll see if those will mature in time for distribution.

That’s it folks! This area should have been overflowing with lettuce!

 

Tomatoes, peppers, leeks, and weeds are all still going strong.

Lots of peppers

 

We have come to the conclusion that the potato box/bean/eggplant area was not a good idea (You didn’t know that we were growing eggplants, did you? That’s because they haven’t done anything until now). Every crop that we have grown there, with the exception of the lettuce in the spring, has done poorly. Potatoes? Rotted. Beans? Demolished by bean beetles. Eggplants? Growing well, but only setting one fruit each plant.

This is a member of the tomato/pepper family; it should be overrun with fruit!

We hope that the (single) eggplants will be ready to go in the following week’s shares. We may have to split them up, so if you don’t get an eggplant this week you will get it next week.   Then we will have to reevaluate our plans to make this our eventual greenhouse area.

Well, the sun is now poking out and the rain has stopped. Know what that means? Yup, more weeding. In the mud. We live for it.

Until next time,

Jeff and Sandra