Well, we're glad that's over! I don't think anyone on the farm will be disappointed to see that hot, humid weather gone - even if only temporarily. The plants really grew this week and it looks like we'll be adding a bit more variety to the list this week. We're still waiting (like many of you, based on all the questions we're getting) for the tomatoes to really get up to full production - it looks like we'll be taking a nice step forward this week, but they're still way later than we'd like (and are used to, for that matter). With such a short season, losing just a few weeks to cold spring weather makes a huge difference, which is why we'll likely be heating our tomato hoophouse next spring to negate that effect. On the good news side of things, once the tomatoes start ripening, we should have plenty, we've never had such good looking plants and we've managed to stay on top of the pruning this year.
For those of you that were supposed to receive microgreens last week and received a substitute instead; this hot, humid weather has caused a bit of a downy mildew issue in the greenhouse. It's the first time we've dealt with it on the microgreens so we're still working through it - it's hard to eliminate a disease in a confined space like the greenhouse. We likely won't have much of our mild mix for the next few weeks as we deal with it, but hopefully we can get it resolved in short order - we know they're a favorite of a lot of you!
It looks like we're officially on the downhill side of the season already. We planted the last of the flowers for the season this past week and have only a few more plantings of lettuce left. The seeding schedule has virtually vanished and the greenhouse is as empty as it's been since early March. This time of year, the focus shifts to harvesting as planting slows down. At this point in the season, we also know which battles we've won and which we have to give up on from weeds, so we can focus our efforts appropriately. Luckily this year, more of the battles have been won than usual - likely a result of having more help earlier in the season. We've given up on a batch of multicolored carrots that's been weeded twice to no avail. Carrots are incredibly time consuming to weed and it's simply hard to find the time this time of year. The U of M students from the agroecology class helped us weed them a few weeks ago. This past week, we did a farm map with them with an accompanying farm tour and they couldn't believe how quickly the weeds grew back in them. It seemed to be a bit of a reality check for them; fast growing grass weeds and slow growing carrots don't make ideal partners. The good news is that as the season progresses, the days get shorter so the weeds start growing slower, which makes them a lot easier to stay on top of.
We apologize if we were a bit slow responding to emails this week - we got a lot more of them than normal this week and it caught us a bit off guard. By the time our day ends around 10:30; responding to emails gets tough, when in another 6-1/2 hours, we'll be getting up to start it all over again. Staying on top of the business end of the farm when the season is in full swing is always a challenge - someday we hope to step out of the day-to-day battles in the field so we can focus on the other parts of the farm, but we're not quite there yet.
Well, it's time to go pick the zucchini, squash and cucumbers before they all get too big - there's never a day off from the squash harvest!
-Brendan & Greta
