As I mentioned in my last farm update, this spring has been a funky one! That hasn’t stopped us from getting everything in the ground more or less on time, but you can tell by the growth of the plants in the fields and in our greenhouse—which is unheated—that it has been a cold (and with the exception of that one rainy week we had), very dry April and May.

Despite the weird weather, we’ve had a very productive past couple of weeks at the farm. Last Tuesday, we got all of the crops we planted in mid to late April uncovered, fertilized, hoed and weeded, set up with irrigation, and recovered! This past Saturday was gorgeous, and with the help of some folks who were completing their work hours and a group of enthusiastic Boston Cares volunteers, we completed our leek planting and our potato planting up at the parkland field.

We got all of our scheduled plantings in this week except for our cucumbers and summer squash. They don’t tolerate temps below 50ºF very well, so we are planning to get those in later this week, when the threat of low temps is reduced. We had enough time left to get much needed irrigation out on some important crops, and we felt good about ending the week by giving our plants a good drink.

Earlier in the season, I sprayed the blueberries with an organic treatment for winter moth, a common pest that devours blueberry buds. They appear to have fared well and are covered with beautiful, healthy looking flowers. (You can see the blueberries in the photo behind Katie, who is prepping the tomato beds). The next pest we’ll have to deal with are the gypsy moths…we will continue to scout the bushes for signs of those guys and treat the plants accordingly.

Our plant sale begins later this week. We’ve got nasturtiums, kale, lettuce, spinach, and some other goodies ready to go. In a week or two, our warmer weather offerings—tomatoes, peppers, cukes, and basil will be available for purchase as well.

A big thanks to everyone who has completed their work hours so far! We’ve appreciated your help and look forward to meeting more of you!

Be well,

Mel and the crew.