Good morning farmies! For those of you who have already received your share this week, I hope you all had a chance to take a big bite of watermelon while sitting in the sunshine this weekend. I did just that yesterday after arriving home after a sweaty run; it might have been the best moment of the summer thus far.
We’re thick into the tomato and sweet pepper harvest and have added these crops to our twice-weekly harvest list that already includes summer squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. In addition, the red noodle beans are coming on strong along with our most recent succession of green beans.
Monday’s crew began the shift by hilling the leeks (about 400 bed feet); a task that we regularly completed in the spring leeks earlier in the year. We also finished leaf mulching the last succession of tomatoes (about 66 bed feet). We were also able to get a lot of weeding completed Monday afternoon including 200 bed feet of the most recent succession of summer and winter squash, about 150 bed feet of green beans, as well as about 400 bed feet of sweet potatoes (mainly pulling out foxtail, pigweed, and quickweed).
Tuesday’s crew spent the morning harvesting for two wholesale orders; Local Harvest and PuraVegan Café. We also completed our weekly sweet pepper harvest. When picking sweet peppers we have been harvesting any peppers that are halfway ripe or more. We give out the ripened peppers in that week’s share or wholesale accounts while letting the less ripe peppers spend a few days to continue their ripening in the basement.
Tuesday afternoon’s shift seeded about 440 row feet of sugar snap peas and 450 row feet of provider green beans. We used the remainder of the leaf mulch in the sugar snap peas, but were only able to cover the pathways of half the bed. Growing sugar snap peas at this time of the year is an experiment for us; we’re eager to see what we are able to get off a fall harvest. Typically sugar snap peas like the damp, cool condition of springtime, so a fall crop is a bit of a risk.
Friday morning’s crew harvested for CSA shares and Tower Grove Farmer’s Market. Friday also marked the first watermelon harvest of the season – hoorah! In addition to harvesting, we began mowing down the sorghum-sudan grass in the spring brassica area. We’ve mentioned on a few field walks that sorghum-sudan grass will tiller upon being mowed; meaning that side shoots will grow off the main stem and thus ensuring a dense second stand of sorghum-sudan grass.
Saturday’s crew spent the morning harvesting for CSA shares (and eating watermelon!). We also transplanted about 210 row feet of scallions as well as 100 row feet of cucumbers. We hooped and covered the cucumbers to protect the seedlings from pest pressure. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing a little farm clean up which included removing the shade structure used for lettuce from the field as well as cleaning some more garlic.
See you all this week!