Off to an Early Start

Last week was cool and moist but provided endless entertaining skies. We also began transplanting warm season crops like zucchini and cucumbers (above) as well as cherry tomatoes.

Officially this is our earliest start to a harvest season. Except for this past week, overall it's been a warm and dry spring. Every season is markedly different, sometimes to the benefit of the farmers and the plants and sometimes not. We were plowing the fields in February, a first. We planted tunnel crops on March 23rd and direct seeded carrots on March 22nd, the earliest for both. This year we devoted four tunnels to early spring crops instead of setting aside two of them for the first round of tomatoes. Our goal was to harvest earlier this season and the weather has helped make that possible. Besides allowing for earlier harvests, the tunnel crops, particularly the brassica family ones (arugula, kale, choy, radishes, turnips) look the best they ever have in the spring. Covered production can make a huge difference and inspires us to erect more tunnels in the future.