Howdy –
Winter Season wraps up this week – which is good, since winter wraps up too, we hope! The early part of Green season will start adding more options – bok choi, two more lettuce types, radishes and salad turnips – more green onions, chives and sage. The eight weeks is fun – lots of things change, and things come forward. Our shell and snap peas are coming along really well – best guess is late may for them.
The cabbage which was over-wintered decided to skip forming heads and will be going to seed directly, which is a big disappointment. The horse is glad, but she is the only one. A new crop will need to be started which won’t really be ready till June. Sigh. There are some broccoli coming on as well, but it remains to be seen if the rodents that patrol the greenhouse have been defeated for now.
This is the time of year when seed starts happen for main season crops – tomatoes are all seeded, and a couple of the peppers. More peppers and then things like chard and warmer season lettuces to come – potatoes should go in the ground here when we get a bit of dry spell.
The climate prediction center is claiming an El Nino summer – which if so will allow us to grow melons again. That and summer squash are much happier with warm and dry!
The fun thing about Tomatoes is that they have done remarkably well year after year. We are shifting our planning this year with more of an emphasis on cooking tomatoes and higher quality slicers. In 2025 there were large boxes of Tomatoes when they came in, which at least we here at Shilofarm turned into soup, mostly. The soup was fun – easy to make and freeze, and the varieties of flavors in the pick of the week made each batch unique. If it goes well, the smaller membership will allow the same high level and quantity per member as 2025.
The lack of a good way to do garden prep hurt us last year – that and the rodents eating all of our melon and winter squash seed – but once burned, twice cautious comes to mind. The volume on Squash and Melons should be large – which means a likely ‘roadside stand’ sale may happen come fall. Members, of course, get delivery. Squash are fun to grow – they are pretty tough, and have great taste and are interesting to see!
in any case – if you are interested in the Green Season – please let us know. We need a few members! If you are interested – in anything about the CSA let us know!
Doug
