Pivot

The tunnels are continuing to slowly fill up with fall greens like lettuce mix, radicchio, endive, arugula, kale, mustard, chard, and bok choy. We've planted in the high tunnel, hoop house, both caterpillars, and one of four beds in the hoop tunnel. The other three beds will be filled this week, then it's on to the greenhouse. After that, planting will be officially wrapped up for the season. Crops are more densely planted inside due to the limited real estate. Beds require manual preparation and planting. Tidy, colorful, weed free rows are satisfying. Weed, bug, and disease (somewhat) pressure is less this time of year. Mammal pressure exists, as well as mildew on lettuce and spinach, but if we're lucky the indoor fall and winter plantings are pretty easy to manage.

Before temperatures drop into the low and mid 20s at night we'll set up small hoops inside the tunnels where we can add another cover to keep plants extra protected. These greens are cold hardy down into the teens and through the autumn months shouldn't need extra protection that frequently. For now, they just need to be watered in right after planting and irrigated once a week, eventually every two weeks. We're hopeful there'll be a nice slow transition to cooler weather to get these crops properly acclimated to the cold season and not just a sudden deep freeze. Some years we receive a light frost in early October (36-38 degrees) and a decent hard frost in late October (28-30 degrees). It feels as if this fall is warmer than past seasons and hope we don't have a sudden plunge. If we do we'll just cover them with heavier fabric or double it up. These plants are remarkable and many overwinter just fine even when the doors are left open and covers kept off after the Late Fall season wraps up. We wish them luck, and we wish for you to join us for the Late Fall CSA! Membership is limited to about half the Main Season. Thank you!