Respite from the Heat

I haven't checked the rain gauge yet this morning, but I'm almost desperately hoping we received something close to the amount that was predicted (1-2"). I didn't hear any heavy rain overnight, so I'm preparing to be disappointed. I spent a lot of the weekend doing this week's worth of tractor work and field preparations anticipating wet soil all week. We have about 5000 feet of winter squash, melon, summer squash, and cucumber to plant this week, along with 800 feet of edamame and the weekly 175 feet of lettuces. To stay on schedule, which is of the utmost importance for farm sanity, all of the planting space had to be readied prior to the rain event. For all of the crops that means mowing cover crops, chisel plowing once or twice, raised bed shaping three times while adding soil nutrients, drop spreading minerals, laying plastic mulch for the vining crops, and then pre-making holes in that mulch for water penetration. Even if the rain turns into a dud and disappointment, at least some work is checked off the to-do list. And at least the heat wave is over. And strawberries are here. And peas will be here soon, too!