Whitsend Market Garden

 Oifficially in a drought.  There's been rain in Middleville and Perth over the past dyas but it continues tomissus.  Sometimes we can see the systems coast pass...

I keep watering and wondering what the well's limit is.

The bees are getting nectar from somewhere as they are filling their hives quickly and swarming before Julia can remove the queen cells from the hives.

We've retained three swarms and given them to bee keepers who needed new hives.

Here's one swarm resting while "scouts" fly about the vicinity looking for suitable living space.

That's about 5-7000 bees with one queen nestled on a branch.

Speaking of trees, here is a Grey Tree Frog that climbed out of my watering can the other morning.  I've heard these chirping at night but never seen one before.  

The night chorus, as I call it, is one o the benefits of living out here.  Frogs, crickets, bats (and racoons and coyotes) and our resident wipporwill make up for the long, hot day ahead.

The first round of potatoes are flowering, just a few weeks before they are ready for harvest.  

Dry weather causes the wire worms to look or the moistest roots or tubers to eed on (we lost a lot of our first round of potatoes last year ths way) but I did a test pull o two plants yesterday and found the tubers to be grub free so far.  

Maybe this variety is more resistant to insect damage?  Maybe the grubs have not found the tubers yet?  

Twelve years of experience and the questions keep building up...

Market day...extra lettuces that were ready to bolt early are sent of to McDonalds Corners, along with a sampling of other crops:  soon to bolt arugula, a ew green onions, and fennel thinnings.

We still have a lot o lettuce that won't keep until delivery day later this week, so the best goes off to a food bank and the wilted goes to the chickens and or the compost to become next years food.

I am astonished at how well the buckwheat is handling the lack o rain - evidentlay there is moisture down there somewhere within three to our eeet (the limit of buckwheat roots).  In the higher field the leaves look a bit wilted at times, but here in the newest growing field - least amount of moisture retaining fertility - the plants are doing well.  

These plants are preparing the soil for your carrots and autumn kale.

Tommorrow, I'll soak the beds, scythe down the buckwheat, layer on some plastic mulch, and wait or a week to let the ground soten up.  After a week, I'll turn in the cover crop residues and cultivate it a few times to prepare a seed bed.  

 

Most plants that grow deep tap roots appear to be doing ok.  The kidney beans are lush and putting out a reasonable amount of blooms.  

One o my water conservation techniques is to water the beans and potatoes heavily prior to hilling.  Ater hilling, the dry surace soil traps the moisture and prevents it from evaporating.  

Boston lettuce, or Bib lettuce, or buttercrunch.  The names are almost interchangeable as a lettuce type though not quite the same.   These are ready for harvest this week and will be included in the CSA deliveries and pick-ups.

For more info on the deliveries, check out "this weeks harvest" page.  

See you soon, 

Bob