We have been planting, transplanting, weeding, trellising
and protecting all manner of wonderful vegetable plants through week after week
of cool, wet weather. Most of the crops
are looking OK, though many don’t seem to have grown an inch in the past
month! Apparently, plants need
sunlight.
The forecast for the upcoming week looks more promising: 80
degrees (and rain, of course) with a few days of sunshine. I expect the crops will take off. It’s about time!
Our new labor-saving technology this year is an EcoWeeder
cultivator, made in Canada and imported by Windridge Implement here in
Decorah. It is pulled by and powered by
the tractor. The operator controls two
basket weeders that spin small weeds out the soil on either side of a crop
row. It is working best on crops like
potatoes and Brussels sprouts where the tractor and cultivator drive over a
single crop row. We are still working on
perfecting the row spacing to allow for mechanically cultivating two rows (the
spacing we use for many of our crops).
Here are Meg and Erik cultivating young potatoes this weekend:
We plan to start vending at the Winneshiek Farmers Market
this Wednesday, June 12. We’ll have lots
of beautiful lettuces, a few fresh herbs, asparagus and rhubarb, radishes and a
few other spring treats. We don’t expect
to have large quantities of anything for a few weeks, so come down to market early
for the best selection.
The sugar snap peas and summer squash are beginning to
flower, and we hope to have them producing in two weeks. Also, coming soon we’ll have beets, kohlrabi
and broccoli. Bring on the vegetables!
Your Patchwork Green Farmers, Erik and Sara
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