Wow, it's the middle of July already - how does that happen so fast? We've been focused on a lot of cultivating this week, and our efforts are paying off. The field crops, while late due to the droughty conditions, are looking pretty good. We've been really on top of cultivating to keep weeds down and reduce as much competition for water as possible, and to conserve moisture through that dust mulch effect I've mentioned before.
We even got .8" of rain (!!) Thursday night/Friday early morning, which is incredibly great timing now with field crops starting to size up and flower. Those are particularly important times in the lifecycle of a plant to get adequate moisture. Water is life, for plants and people alike.
Anyway, grab your virtual boots, and come take a walk around the farm with me. In the weeks prior, we've mostly focused on hoophouse crops, as the field crops weren't much to see. Now that they are finally taking off, lets see how those field crops are doing!
First up, the early brassica field. The first broccoli heads are beginning to form, and the early green cabbages are just starting to size up now too. Because of the inconsistent moisture, these crops are not going to be ready all at the same time - they will be ripening in more of a staggered pattern. The individual plants that were in a low spot or had particularly good root access to moisture will be ready first. I bet next week we'll have a little of each of those; in 2 weeks, we'll have twice as much; and in 3 weeks we'll have all the broccoli and cabbage you could dream of. 
The melons have really enjoyed this dry weather, and the watermelons are starting to form tiny fruits already. The cantaloupes are flowering and vining out as well, so I hope you are excited for melons in August!
This week the melons and winter squash really started to vine out of the rows, so in order to cultivate we had to go through the patch and put the vines back in the rows so we wouldn't run them over with the tractor. This week will likely be the last time those crops get cultivated for the rest of the season. Good early weed control is all we are able to get in most crops before they are too large to get through to cultivate, and I feel like this season we have been able to get most of the weeds out early on. Hats off to the crew! Maintaining 15 acres of veggies with NO hoeing or hand weeding so far is an accomplishment we can feel proud of.
Here's what the cantaloupes are looking like now, with the big Ro-Runner cleaning up the spaces between the rows one last time.
The winter squash field is looking top notch. The acorn squash are starting to make softball sized fruits, while the other varieties are in various stages of flowering.
Here's the view from the ground and from the tractor running through the second succession planting of sweet corn. This will likely be the last cultivation of the corn, as it's starting to get so tall I don't think it will fit under the tractor for much longer! I hope it helps you get a feel for what it looks like when we are cultivating.
Here's the view from the tractor seat. 
We use the same Ro-Runner behind the tractor to clean up the tire tracks/spaces between beds in small just-germinated crops as well. Below you can see the Ro-Runner going through the baby beets destined for your winter CSA boxes.
It is definitely a lot more nerve wracking than cultivating larger crops, as it can be difficult to see the tiny crops from up on the tractor seat. One swerve out of line can wreck a lot of beets! Even if you don't hit the plants with the sweeps, if you get too close you can bury the seedlings with dirt, so it's critical to (somehow!) watch both in front of you to stay nice and straight while simultaneously watching behind you so you can monitor how close you are getting to the crops.... Let me tell you, when I accidentally swerve and get out of line while cultivating, it's a good thing nobody is around to hear me cuss!
This week we transplanted our second to last planting of broccoli in the field - there's only one more planting of broccoli left in the greenhouse. While 3 of us were putting those plant in the ground, right next to us, farmer Ellen was cultivating the broccoli we planted out last week to keep the weeds down and conserve moisture in the soil.
The broccoli transplants she is cultivating are so small you can't really see them from this far away. It takes a steady operator to manage a cultivating tractor on new crops like that, and she does a fantastic job!
Here's a close up of farmer Ellen on the Cub, cleaning up the broccoli we transplanted 2 weeks ago, which are starting to size up compared to the ones we transplanted only 1 week ago. Look at all those tiny green weeds sprouting in the field! She spent about 7 hours on the Cub this past Thursday running through acres of crops.
Hoophouse-wise, we tore out the snap peas and got those beds seeded up with fall parsnips as planned. We are also trying for some fall snap peas in the hoophouses, so if like me you are sad to see them go, we may just have a second planting to harvest later in September. Cross your fingers and hope for peas!
Our first planting of parsnips is finally coming up, and we were able to get it weeded this week. Parsnips take up to 3 weeks to germinate, so practically every weed in the bed has had a chance to sprout before the parsnips. As you can see below, hand weeding is essential.
The hoophouse garlic is sizing up, and we'll begin harvesting that soon as well.
Finally, the cherry tomatoes continue to impress us! We'll be lowering and leaning those plants on their trellis lines next week so we can keep pruning the vines aggressively and manage to prevent disease. I hope you are enjoying all those tasty cherry tomatoes! The beets that we planted between the rows of cherry tomatoes are nearly finished now, but Farmer Brian at Northcroft Farm should have more beets for your boxes as the season progresses. 
That's it from the farm this week - have a great weekend, and we'll catch up again next week!
In community,
Farmer Chris
Great Oak Farm
