I was talking with an old farmer recently and we looked over his massive fields on a hot and humid day - and he remarked, "This is growing weather!"
I know it's terribly hot for us right now - blazing sun, almost no wind or breeze and long days. It's an annual heat wave and this year is exceptionally hot. The flip side is that plants, when well watered and fertilized, can make leaps and bounds in their growth. I have the irrigation water running 12 to 18 hours a day right now and the plants are loving it. It's tricky because it takes real care to make sure the plants are not too stressed. This year is the first year that we have been setting up the plant beds in a permanent no-till system and moving away from the plastic mulch system. The overall imprint of the land we are using is smaller but the first year or two are the hardest with weed pressure. Weed pressure is the number one problem for growing good vegetables but we are committed to seeing the no till system created and expanded on the farm. I will follow up as the year continues with how we are implementing these practices with videos and photos from the farm. I hope you stay cool this week. If you are near the farm be sure to stop by and take a dip in the spring out by the mailbox. With the water temperature at 54 degrees it's guaranteed to cool you down!
