Spring 2012

Hello all! Just wanted to update everyone on my progress this spring. We've had a tough spring believe it or not. The hot weather has made it difficult to start cold season veggies like peas, and a lot of my seedlings bolted while still in their starter cells.

I am going to have to start over with a few things but most everything else looks so good! This weekend is major planting weekend. I've gotten all the tomatoes in the ground and some squash, and about half the potatoes. It's hard to tell from the pic of the tomatoes, but there are about 60 tomato seedlings of every type. Cherry, pear, paste, slicer, stuffer, and even green tomatoes.

The potatoes that were planted about 3 weeks ago are looking really good. The Kennebec potatoes were the first planted and the first to send shoots up. The Yukon Gold just sent theirs up this week. The potatoes in the pic are the Kennebec. The straw is going to help keep some weeds down and to keep the soil moist.

As the potato plants grow, we will need to keep adding straw to keep the tubers in the dark, otherwise they turn green and inedible.

We are in the process of putting in the stakes and wires for the grape vines. We may actually get grapes this year from the new plantings. The table grapes have a number of babies already budding.

Next to the mini vineyard is the garlic I planted last fall. It's looking pretty good. I tested a bulb a couple days ago. No cloves yet, more like a small green onion, but the taste was very nice. I suspect it will be late May before they are ready to be harvested.

Squash is also ready to go in. The babies are looking very nice. I already have the Eastern Delight Summer squash planted (left) and tomorrow I am going to be planting my hybrid squash I'm calling "Blondie." It is a cross between Cocozelle and yellow straightneck. This is my third generation of seed production, and the babies look fantastic. First to germinate, I'm hoping they will produce early and have the pest resistance the last 2 years of plantings showed. They are the best tasting squash I have ever had, soft, buttery, much like a yellow crookneck but much larger in size.  I have 36 babies ready to go, so I am hoping my CSA members really like squash. :)