Hello Everyone:Garlic scapes are on the way. Weather permitting, I am harvesting Tuesday and delivering Wednesday.
For non CSA customers, I am charging a price of five dollars a pound.
Rain or shine, heat or cold - work continues at Lanark.Two thirds of our firewood for next winter.
Here I am driving a borrowed utility vehicle, used to transport the wood from where it was cut just down the road at a neighbors new home.
So hot the tomatoes are not turning red. I just learned this last week after an email from my folks. Their garden tomatoes are setting their fruit but then the fruits fail to ripen. I did some quick research and learned that when temperatures are consistently above 30 degrees Celsius, the fruits cannot make the red pigments that flavor the fruits.
I've never really noticed this before (though we have had bean plants go dormant in the heat). I did notice a lull in the amount of fruit a few weeks after our first harvest and assumed it was the plants gearing up for another flush.
Not that I am worried; we've usually had a good tomato crop, and if this one goes into a pause for a couple of weeks, so much the better - assuming the temperature moderates a little in time for the late July/early August harvests.
Might be time to look at purchasing heirloom tomato seeds from regions further south for a heat tolerant plant.
I spent the better part of a day pruning back the excess shoots and leaves on the tomato plants.
Makes them appear less lush than they were a week ago, but this will pay dividends in the coming weeks.
Opening up the under story allows for some extra air circulation and lets the birds have a good view of the soon to be hatching horn worms coming up out of the ground.
As well, their will be more light to help ripen the fruit, and the plant won't have to self excise leaves that are getting less sunlight. Leaves that are shaded are not really helping the plant - they require the same amount of nutrients and energy to maintain but don't photosynthesis as well.
In return for my efforts, I have several bags of greenery to add to my compost.
A nice break from seeing the millions of gypsy moths the past few days. No idea what this butterfly is. Neither of us have seen anything like it.