Hello Everyone:
It has been a fortnight (archaic unit of measure equalling two weeks) of twos:
Two trips to the vet each week; two ticks removed from me, requiring two trips to the pharmacy, two swarms of bees from our two hives, two fifty foot rows of spinach bolting after producing two secondary leaves and attaining a height of less than 2 inches...
We carry on.
Deliveries for the season started with the usual collection of lettuce, mustard greens, green onions, pac choi etc. The first round of lettuce (mini romaine and green leaf were ok, but these were noticeably tougher (to meat any rate) by the second week. Seems I should be hand watering twice a day to help prevent this, though with the heat wave last week, even that might not have been helpful.
The third delivery commenced the start of our freckles variety mini romaine, which I always find dependable.
Australe is a red boston/bibb type lettuce with soft leaves. The leaves I tested from a stunted plant did not disappoint me. I'm a stickler for soft lettuce leaves with a somewhat strong though not bitter taste and the ability of this variety to withstand the heatwave really impressed me.
The goal now is to keep the mini romaines crunchy without being tough. I've been hand watering the lettuce almost every evening but I am wondering if a mid day watering would help the plants cope.
After they reach a certain size, lettuce does not do well with the irrigation, it promotes rot in the leaf ribs.
Taking the sting out of the failed spinach (not enough compost? Missing a micronutrient? The temperatures were perfect for germination and remained cool for the first two weeks, so that clearly is not the problem).
However, the peas rebounded from an average production last year and flowered a second flush. The pods are not quite as full as I would hope but full enough to harvest and having decent flavour.
Looks like enough to add some to the store this week-end, something we were not able to do much of last season..
With the new sandy loam beds now coming into production this season, I was hopeful we would have a decent crop of carrots this year. However, I needed to get a cover crop into the new beds to feed them after having grown potatoes there last autumn. So, the July and August carrots had to go in the muck soil where they grow well
if they germinate.
Incorporating ash into the soil immediately before sowing seems to be the necessary step, though I was full of trepidation as I waited for these to germinate.
Pictured here are the two beds in question, growing so well I'll have to thin them out a little. Success breeds more work.
No sooner than those carrots started to grow, I cut down the cover crop in the loam beds, worked it into the soil, let it soak up some rain and then covered it with a black plastic tarp to raise the temperature, effectively turning the future carrot beds into a composter.
After two and a half weeks (they say three weeks between turning in a cover crop and sowing seeds is necessary, but I did not have the time) I sowed yellow carrots, and then a week later white carrots. These have just started germinating. Next week, I'll be starting the orange carrots, which grow faster than the other colors I have. All should be ready by September.
So far, the tomatoes are doing well. The fish emulsion appears to be giving them what they need that the soil does not provide, and I am currently waiting for someone from the muck soil research station in Guelph to respond to my request for some information. I would rather be feeding the soil than the plant, so I am hoping that my new contact will have some suggestions.
Now that the solstice has passed, our onions should start to grow their bulbs. Our supply of frozen onion (from the imperfect or miniature bulbs rejected for customers) finally ran out last month and we had to trudge off to the store for their version of food.
The cippolini onions should be ready for harvest in July though there will be a couple weeks of curing before we can use them.
This year, I planted a long onion type that grows faster and is used while still fresh (no curing required). So we might not have to wait as long as August... Long Red of Tropea onions are an heirloom variety that I have planted a small amount of for the first time, so I have no idea what to expect.
One final note, I was informed that my hiring grant application was on a waiting list until/if new funds were released. As our country is floating somewhere between a trade war and an economic war, I assume that there are greater needs elsewhere.
In spite of that, I hired one of our candidates that we interviewed back in the spring.
We welcome Josee Michelle to our team (of two) at Whitsend and hope to spend as much time as possible keeping the farm fruitful and growing Josee's knowledge of agriculture and small scale farming - at least until my share of the hiring money runs out...
Help keep the money flowing in!
We still have room for a couple more shares. I have reduced the price to reflect our first three harvests having already been delivered, and we still have pork to sell.
Contact us very soon as the number of remaining harvest shares are limited.
