Jumping at the first opportunity to plant

The weather initially forecasted yesterday to be raining all day long and and over half an inch but as it got closer the forecast kept changing on an hourly basis.

In the end the rain came late last night and it was only a little drizzle which meant we were not prevented from being in the field working at a crucial time in the season for field work.

With the morning free from rain yesterday we jumped on the opportunity to get in the field to plant some cabbage and lettuce along with direct seeding arugula, beets and spinach.

Those transplants have been wanting to be planted since last week but the soil was too wet until now.

Since last week’s big rain it has warmed up with sunny and windy weather which has helped the top of the soil dry out enough that we can get the tractor in to mow down more cover crop.

A few inches down in the soil there is still a lot of water being held by the clay soil which is perfect for the roots of what we are transplanting today and tomorrow.

We will be spending a lot of time this week and next on our tractors mowing the two properties we are growing vegetables at. The cover crops that are still growing are ready to be mowed down and in just a few weeks we will be doing the first planting of tomatoes.

Getting the cover crops mowed down early and disced into the soil helped the grasses and beans decompose starting to release their nutrients into the soil for the veggies to use.

Planning for the coming busy season starting in the next couple of months we are planning to hire someone to work on the farm full-time along with part-time positions. Please share with anyone you know who might be interested.

The abundance of veggies at our farmers market has declined a little bit in the last week as we are running out of certain crops to harvest. Two weekends ago we picked the last of the carrots that were ready and although we have more that we planted in the late fall they are not ready yet.

Just last week the bok choy started flowering so we have to stop harvesting and we have harvested pretty much every head of cauliflower and those plants only produce one cauliflower each.

Even with that the citrus is going strong and the head lettuces are loving this weather. The red butter lettuce is sizing up in this warmer weather and the red leaf lettuce has grown leaps and bounds in the last two weeks.

Additionally we are starting to harvest green garlic this week right as we have finished harvesting the leeks. Green garlic is immature garlic and has a delicious mild garlic flavor that can be added to any dish that needs garlic or leeks.

This warm weather will help our veggies we planted two weeks ago grow with the elongating days. Last year we were able to harvest some of the greens in early April, the brassicas will take longer to head up.

It will probably be a little later this year since it has been colder and cloudier but the veggies will tell us when they are ready to be picked.