It’s hard to believe it’s already July, and yet here we are! Summer started off with an unbearable heatwave, but most of our crops made it through in good shape. We’re noticing that the plants are ready about a week earlier than last year and we’re seeing pest pressure a week earlier as well.
Cabbage loopers and cabbage worms are showing up in our kale, broccoli, and cabbage and the Colorado potato beetles are having a grand time feasting on our potato plants as well as our eggplants. We’re hoping most of our eggplant crop will grow through the disturbance and start bearing fruit soon and that the potatoes have had enough time to develop before the beetles become too much of a problem.
The onions are looking good after their second (or maybe even third?) hand weeding and beginning to form bulbs. Some onion varieties will stop growing their greens and focus on developing bulbs after the summer solstice and once the days begin to shorten. We typically harvest our storage onions and shallots in early to mid-August when their greens begin to fall over, which indicates they are ready for curing.
Our garlic still has a week or two to go before we harvest it all and lay the plants on tables in the greenhouse. Since the space is so warm this time of year, we make sure to pull a shade cloth over the greenhouse to reduce the temperature inside. The garlic will dry out and cure for about two weeks before we distribute it to all of you.
Our beloved tomatoes are looking strong both in the greenhouses and in the field, but they still have a ways to go. While we were trying to fix our spader (a tractor implement that makes beds) back in May, we fell a week behind in some of our plantings. Thankfully, the heat and long summer days are speeding up the growth process and we’ll have plenty of tomatoes come August.
In addition to all of the crops we are harvesting or getting ready to harvest, we’ve already started seeding some of our fall crops in the greenhouse and in the fields. We’ve seeded another planting of kale and chard and are getting ready to plant our fall cabbage and beets soon. Just last week, we seeded our fall carrots which will hopefully emerge any day now!
Until next time,
Ember
