After such a cold start to the season you can bet your bottom dollar that growers across the region are mostly jumping with joy at the warm up to come. Sure there will probably be a point over the next few days where we’ll be thinking “careful what you wish for” when the thermometer hit’s the 90’s and the sweat has soaked our clothes. But in the here and now we are welcoming the heat, after all Memorial Day is basically the unofficial kick off of Summer and what better way to get ready for Summer than with a mini heatwave.
Around the farms things are definitely looking good, with more in production than ever before and some systems in place to keep things running smooth. Despite the heat there are plenty of things to cross off the to do list and only so much time to them all done. With that being said we will be taking the heat into consideration and giving the crew the option to work a few shorter days as we acclimate to Summer like temps. Big action items for this week include both finishing the inside pepper planting as well an outdoor planting of hot and sweet peppers. Same goes for tomatoes as we hope to get the last grafted heirlooms in a tunnel in addition to an outdoor planting of some tasty heirloom varieties that we usually don’t grow. There’s also the first planting of green beans to get in not to mention a few hundred more cukes and squash to round out the initial plantings.
It is this early season work that set’s the foundation for an excellent season to come. Yes, there is always a rhythm on the farm of prep, seed, plant and harvest. Although early on it does actually look more like plant, prep, plant, prep, seed, prep, plant. However, with any luck soon enough it will be more like harvest, harvest, seed, prep, plant, harvest, harvest. Oh and those harvests we’re talking about will be all the sweet jewels of Summer we have dreamt about for months that are just right around the bend.
Have a Great Week