Benevolent Weather

This stretch of awesome weather is both invigorating and calming. We can work a bit longer, a bit harder, without worrying about succumbing to some kind of heat-related malady. Mid-week was a real challenge as temperatures soared into the 90s with high humidity but the crew persevered and accomplished much. Perhaps the only downside to this weather is the need to hook up and run irrigation but with everything looking so beautiful and peaceful it's hard to feel negative about the extra weekend hours required to set these systems up. When the weather is this nice all I want to do is be outside anyway.

Last week began the many-man-hour-continuous-job of tomato trellising. Seven foot t-posts are pounded 2 feet deep every 12 feet or so, 5 wires are installed every foot up the post, hybrid plants are pruned to 1 leader/heirlooms to two, then each plant is clipped to the wire as they grow up. We will be working on this system every week or two until late July. Pruning and clipping are good jobs for hot days, but carrying and pounding stakes not so much. Growing our tomatoes in this manner is a lot of work, but makes the fruit easier for find and harvest and has the benefit of increased airflow to hopefully ward off illness.

The potatoes were finally ready for their first round of hilling, which is basically mounding soil up around the plants using heavy-duty disks on a tractor pulled toolbar. If the plants don't grow too fast I'll probably try to get another round in this week. Since I hilled them last Tuesday it appears they've already shot up another foot. Hilling them gives the tubers more room to grow and increases yields. From the potato 'seed' (aka last season's potato) all new growth is above, so we plant the seed deep, then hill.

This is also the time of year when we can drastically reduce the amount of crops perpetually covered by the floating bug barrier fabric. Susceptible crops such as watermelon, zucchini, cucumbers, cantaloupe, winter squash, and eggplant have all been in the ground long enough so they're beyond the sensitive stage and are even beginning to flower. Removing the cover will allow us to view all of these crops for the first time since they were planted a month or so ago. We perceive and glimpse them through the fabric but once they're uncovered we can finally do a full check-up. It's also nice to clean up the field and put this infrastructure back in the barn. Some of the aisles also need mowing maintenance.

I hope you're enjoying this weather as much as we are. It's a perfect time to pick strawberries and peas and to come to the farm to work with us during a workshift.