It was a busy Monday here on the farm.

We had big picks of tomatoes and blackberries.

We accomplished some much-needed weeding.

We transplanted several beds of vegetables including lettuce, green onions, beets, herbs …

Picking, planting & weeding are our 3 main jobs for much of the summer.

Planting is the one that surprises a lot of people. They assume we plant the farm out once in spring and we’re done. Then we spend the rest of the season picking.

We wish it were so!

But it is a bit more complicated than that.

Some crops are indeed planted just once. Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers get started in the greenhouse mid-winter, are transplanted to the fields in spring and we harvest them until frost.

Most of our vegetables are started in trays – in the greenhouse in early spring & fall, and outside during the summer – and then transplanted into the field when they are a few weeks old. This allows us to control moisture & temperature and makes for better seed germination.

All the salad greens (including lettuce, spinach, arugula, baby kale, bok choy) and herbs (dill, cilantro, basil) are planted weekly. Green onions and beets are biweekly. Kohlrabi, fennel, edible flowers are seeded every 3 weeks. Edamame every 4. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage & Chinese cabbage are seeded once or twice in spring & fall, not in the summer – they don’t like the heat & humidity. We usually have 2 or 3 plantings of zucchini & cucumbers.

Radishes & salad turnips are seeded directly into the field in early spring & sometimes in fall – usually 2 or 3 times. Green beans are seeded into the field every week – usually 12 or 13 times. Sunflowers are seeded twice a week – 100′ of row every Monday & Thursday.

If it all sounds a little complex & confusing, it can be. We have spreadsheets, charts, calendars, notes. But mistakes still do happen. And of course the weather can mess things up as well – or fix things up!

But for those of us who get a thrill from planting seeds and watching them sprout and grow, it’s a wonderful time, a miraculous time … a busy time!

What’s in the box?

Green peppers, blackberries, head lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, shishito peppers, cucumbers, garlic.

Extras – Eggplant, jalapenos.

Fruit share – final week! – mixed fruit

• The 1st of our green sweet peppers are available this week. Yellow, orange & red peppers have been a struggle for us in recent years. They tend to rot or get eaten as soon as they start to colour up. We’re still working on finding a cost-effective and labor-efficient way to grow quality coloured peppers. Until then our peppers will be green!
• Our blackberries are amazing so far this season! Enjoy them for a couple of weeks yet.

• A beautiful patch of head lettuce is ready to harvest – including mini-romaine and summer crisp.

• There will be another bunch of carrots in the box. That will finish up this bed – more carrots to come hopefully before the season ends.
• Tomatoes of every size and colour, shishito peppers, cucumbers and garlic finish the box.
• Eggplant and jalapeno peppers are available for those who who like them.

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Around the farm this week …

The driveway patrol on duty!

Loving the dahlias we’re growing this year – not to sell, just for our own pleasure!