It's been pretty cool this week. It's lovely for working in and the lettuce really likes it. We planted a lot of lettuce, arugula and radishes in the last few weeks and they are all coming up nicely. If you are wondering about your greens mix lately, it contains the usual lettuce and chard with the addition of pea tendrils and arugula thinnings. Pea tendrils look a little like clover with arms (the tendril part that helps them climb) and the arugula thinnings have a lovely peppery smell and taste but are tiny and a little bug eaten. Don't worry the bugs aren't still on them and I read an article that said the bug eaten leaves are healthier given that they need to increase their defenses. I don't know how factual that is but it seems plausible. Perfection is only for the chemical gardener. As an organic gardener I've decided to put up with a few bugs. I know the predators will be along soon. In fact I've seen a few in the last few weeks. Spiders, lady bugs, praying mantis, toads and even a snake. I also saw the wrinkled skin of a caterpillar which I puzzled over until I found a description of what some parasitic wasps do to their prey. They lay their eggs in a caterpillar and then when the eggs hatch they eat the thing from the inside and leave a caterpillar husk in their wake. Brutal but effective. I've found a few squashes and pumpkins on the vines and the zucchini are finally coming along. Last week most of you received an eggplant and a large zucchini. Those were courtesy of Arden (of Lake Land Meats) and her daughter Elizabeth. The teeny, weeny zucchini are from our plants. The tomatoes are ripening nicely too. There are loads still on the vines and you'll receive more and more tomatoes in the baskets. You may notice that they aren't all completely ripe. There are a few reasons for this and they are all fellow tomato lovers. Everyone loves a ripe tomato including pests. The mice, slugs and two freedom-loving chickens have all shown me how much they love the tomatoes so I pick them just as they are turning. They will continue to turn red and I think they are just as delicious and sweet. You can leave them in a sunny window or just on the counter until they turn. Some of Wednesdays baskets received a small cabbage this week. Just a little one because that's all there is. I planted loads of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts in the spring but they haven't fared well. They like consistency (as most of us do) and it was just so hard this year. They were stressed after I planted them because it was dry in May (and we were still setting up our irrigation) and then stressed again because it got so wet in June. They never really recovered and have been ravaged by bugs. You may still see some sprouts and some broccoli florets but chances are you won't get any of these crops in your basket unless the new ones that I planted in July start to make something of themselves. This week will be the last of the onions and garlic. They've had a really good run. We are already planning next year's garlic crop. I'm planting enough to give everyone at least one bulb every week from mid-July until the end. When I planted last fall this CSA was still a bit of a pipe dream. A lot of the onions I planted drowned in the June rains and went all mushy. They will be replaced with leeks for as long as possible. My dad and I are working on getting an agreement together with a land owner this week. Thanks to everyone who sent me leads on land. I've learned so much this year and one of the things I've learned is to get things in writing. I did know that I should but I squelched that and just trusted that everything would be ok. Oh well, here we are now working on getting a place to plant 2000 garlic cloves.
1 Comment
Angela
8/28/2015 06:15:00 am
you are doing awesome! Not many things go perfectly the first try. I love that you are learning so much and making changes for next year
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