Lots going on right now. The weather has been challenging to say the least. We’re 1-2 months behind as far as the temps right now, which is why I haven’t removed the film completely from the tunnels. Sun comes out and the film is pulled back, and if it’s going to be a cloudy cool day all day, the film goes back on.
Due to the cool wet weather, I’m still starting seed in the greenhouse that I should be planting directly in the ground. But ya work with what you’re given when dealing with mother nature. Fortunately I have a greenhouse. You pretty much can’t do this kind of work without one unless you plant to buy all of your seedlings from someone else (I offer that service by the way). I’ve resigned myself to only planting root crops dirctly in the ground (and I’m actually growing the smaller crops like radish and carrots in containter this year too).
Last week I was able to transplant around 200 plugs/tubes of snow pea seedlings, and I have corn seedlings that need to go in the ground this week. There are also cabbage, kohlrabi and lettuce seedlings that will be transplanted this week. The hail we got last Saturday really beat up the lettuce that was looking so nice. The hail also beat up the microgreens that were to ship on Tuesday. I’ll be eating a lot of radish microgreens this week, or I may just go ahead and plant the plugs for cooking greens. The mizuna microgreens that got beat up will be planted for salad greens this week as well as the garden cress.
I’ll be planting bean seed this week as well. Yard long beans and pole beans of several varieties. And there are summer squash, cucumber and melon plants to get int he ground. The winter squash seedlings are coming up like gangbusters (finally) as well as the final group of pepper seed (better late than never I supose). Because I had such problems with the peppers this year, and being as how the little things are coming up all over the place now, I’ve decided to do an experiment with those particular peppers this year. I’ll be planting them in a special tunnel this fall, I’ll grow them out in containers during the summer, then planting them along with the cool wether crops of lettuces, kales, and other greens. If the tunnels work this winter as they did last winter, I’m hoping that the peper plant winter over which will give me an early crop of peppers in the late spring.
I also have a lot of borage, herbs, and tomatillo plants that need to get in the ground this week. The tomatillos are still in their 4″ pots in one of the tunnels and have flowers all over them.
The tomato that were transplanted in tunnel #2 are begining to flower and look pretty good. With the film, I should be able to have a pretty good harvest of tomatoes begining in July. Cross your fingers. These plants, along with some pepper plants that I purchased at a local garden center, are interplanted with mustards right now, and I’ll be interplanting more leafy greens crops around the remaining tomato, pepper, tomatillo and eggplant as well.
In addition to seeding 1 gallon pots to large green onions last week, I’ve seeded 36 trays to microgreens and will be seeding another 30-50 trays to microgreens this week. Some new microgreens are fenugreek. The greens are used quite a bit in Indian cooking and I’ll be working with other types of microgreens as well.
The goats are doing well. The kids are growing like weeds, and the adults that will be culled for slaughter this year are fattening well. Those goats are currently being used for brush control, mostly eating blackberry bushes. They should have the planting areas cleared in another week or so.
Well, that’s about it for now. Busy, busy week ahead.
