The heat of summer is upon us, and I am glad temperatures are near 90 degrees. Our crew continues to work hard to take care of our summer crops and coax them into production, and this hot weather helps a lot.
Tomatoes and eggplant have been slow this year—I think due to the cool nights in June and July—though now they are starting to produce in earnest. Although it didn’t seem cool to us, for a few nights in July, the temperature dipped into the low 50s. Nightshades don’t like that. Many of the “hot crops” stop growing, actually, when the temperature goes below 50. But I am confident that these crops will still give us plenty of fruit this year.
We also have watermelons and cantaloupes developing on their vines. When you walk by the next time, take a peek! They are on the right side as you walk down the main pathway. We are growing a new variety of watermelon this year, Quetzali. It is an open pollinated variety from Fedco, a seed company based in Maine, that buys much of its seed from small producers, including some home gardeners! Quetzali is supposed to be sweeter and have fewer seeds. We shall see.
If you have work hours you need to complete, please put some in before Labor Day. We could really use the extra hands in the field. When there are many people, the work is fun and the more cumbersome tasks are less difficult. Saturday mornings are a great time to get out to the farm, before the heat of the day sets in.
See you out there!
—Susan
