Patchwork Green is a hillside and ridgetop farm overlooking the beautiful Canoe Creek Valley several miles north of Decorah, Iowa. Our family grows five acres of vegetables on a farm near Decorah, Iowa. We grow a wide variety of high quality, chemical-free vegetables using sustainable techniques.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Gardeners nightmare!?!

Twelve+ inches of fresh snow!?! Rain today!?! Gardeners nightmare!?!

Although it curbs a few projects I had in mind for this week, we really do need the moisture.  With so much worry about drought in the region, I appreciate every form of precip. we get at this point in the season. 

There are no crops in the ground yet (except fall-planted-and-mulched garlic, which has not broken dormancy yet), so the cold temperatures won’t hurt anything.  The heater in the greenhouse will have to work overtime this week to keep the onions, leeks, shallots, kohlrabi and early beets at 50 degrees, but this is not uncommon weather for March.  I may put some spinach and carrot seeds in the ground in an unheated hoophouse tomorrow, and they will slowly germinate and be ready to take off when the warm sun returns next week.

The teasing weather of March just makes all of us more anxious for spring greens (boc choi, lettuce and arugula), herbs (chives and parsley) and shoots (asparagus and rhubarb).  They’ll grow in April, and we’ll dive in when they are harvested in May!

Happy Spring!