Weekly update week 2

Whew! We made it through the first week of pick ups with the new traffic pattern and through this last series of Rain. Now that we are drying out we will focus on pulling all the weeds that are overtaking most of our fields. If you would like to help with that, let Amy know.

Before the rains came we planted the first round of corn planted and all of the beans - green, yellow, purple, and lima. I expect to see sprouts in the next day or two. We have never done well with early corn since the Japanese beetles are usually out and about when it is pollinating and they eat all the corn silks off. (In case you didn't know, the silk carries pollen from the tassel to the kernel and only then will the kernel form. No silk, no pollination. No pollination, no fruit.) We are tired of trying to grow early corn only to yield a bunch of empy cobs. Our cucumbers have some blossoms, and are looking good. The tomatoes are doing well, and are sporting blossoms also. They are really starting to grow really fast. We must get our tomato stakes in this week. Today we planted more summer squash plants. The last round that we put in were transplanted from starts that we sowed in the greenhouse. They seemed to be doing poorly, so we are going to the old standby of planting seeds directly in the garden. I think it will work much better, and can't wait till I can have some summer squash. Our watermelons should be planted out this week, and if all goes well we will put out our potatoes. Usually we plant them really early and by now the potato bugs are eating off all of the leaves. I think that by waiting, we could miss the majority of the bugs and wind up with many beautiful late potatoes.

All of the spring crops are doing very well. The bugs are a bit annoying (slugs and flea beetles in particular), but the moderate temperatures have helped the cabbages and broccoli grow beautifully. This has been the best pea season in many years. The shell peas will be ready in a week or two and I suspect that we will all be tired of shelling them.

I posted a poll about lima beans on the right side of the blog. Please take it. My mom and I have always disagreed on the popularity of lima beans, and you can settle it for us (at least for this year). I can't wait to see the results. See you around the farm!