Wow – what a truly wet last three days. There must have been 4 inches of rain here at the farm, and fairly warm at that. Weeds and crops all really jumped ahead; today was a weeding day before the afternoon series of downpours hit. Starting Wednesday things will warm up and dry out somewhat, which will be really good.
Meanwhile, seeds are showing, crops are growing. This week is a dreaded ‘tweeny’ week – the Broccoli and Cauliflower are nearly gone, and the next planting of excellent cabbage is not quite headed out. Close, but not quite. The lettuce is great, new potatoes are rocking it, and of course there is the ubiquitous Chard. One of the really good things is that our beets, especially the Avalanche and Bohan, have very nice sized greens. It is always a bit shocking when there are four or five varieties of say beets (and potatoes, and tomatoes, and lettuce) with wildly different vitality and ripening times.
Speaking of Tomatoes – there were exactly three early “gold nugget’ cherries this last week. The cool thing is that there are a lot of plants in the greenhouse with good fruit set. The two earliest slicers are “Oregon Spring” and “Stupice.” The best guess for now is that Tomatoes will show up in the general distribution next week, perhaps some later in week four. June Tomatoes are a real accomplishment, and a goal every year.
The annoying thing about all the rain is that the rather stellar bloom of roses is nearly wiped out, at least for Wednesday. It remains to be seen what ‘Farmer Deb’ will do – she was muttering to herself about the rain and how damaging it is.
The fruits that are coming on soonest will be raspberries, figs, plums and boysenberries. Strawberries are a failed crop this year; the bed has now become a reclamation project with new plants to be set out, and serious soil amendment and weed blocking with paper and mulch. Nice set of apples, Peaches are about half the set we wanted for some reason that still needs to be understood. There will be peaches for members, but probably not extra to sell.
So – Here’s what is in the box for week 4:
| Greens | Lettuce (Red or Green), Spinach, Broccoli or Cauliflower. White or Red Chard; Baby beets for greens |
| Crunchies | Snap peas. There are a few still left, and one or two sprigs of Asparagus. Note will be a ‘hole’ in crunchies till new carrots and beets are here. |
| Herbs | Arugula, Green Onions, Chives, Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Oregano |
| Other | New Potatoes – various colors. There are a couple of stray Cabbages still there if you ask. Flower of the week will be ??. No fruit this week. |
Next Week:
- Pretty sure a small number of Tomatoes
- Maybe some cabbage
On Deck:
- Raspberries, Figs, Plums, Boysenberries, Larger beets.
- summer squash (Zucchini, Hookneck, Patty Pan)
