Garlic Harvest Begins !
We have started the garlic harvest and about 2/3 is pulled. All of the soft neck varieties have been harvested and are in the greenhouse for drying and curing. We started on the hard neck varieties and hope to finish by the middle of the week. The garlic looks better than in years past, where it was on the small side. We tried something new this year called corn gluten meal (organically approved) as a weed suppressant and it work very well until we received the deluges of rain over the season. Then the crew hand weeded the rows. The corn gluten meal actually does two things, it suppresses new weed growth, then it breaks down into nitrogen to feed the plants and garlic loves nitrogen early in the season.
From the Fields: We seeded six varieties of cucumbers, more zucchini and four varieties of lettuce. We transplanted lettuce which will be ready to be planted in the field in a week or so. The lettuce we had just planted into the field beds is coming really nice despite the super hot weather we have been having. We have a row of husk cherries which are growing great which is a welcome change as the last few years we have tried them they haven’t done well. The tomato plants are coming along rather well despite the losses we had due to the heavy rains from a few weeks ago. The same with the pepper plants and eggplant.
We almost lost control of the small round field on Friday (tomatoes and peppers) due to weeds, but our crew came to the rescue and revived this field. Though it is a bit dry the plants are much happier.
Weather Report: After the heavy rains over a week ago, we are now into a dry period. We are running sprinklers on the beets, fava greens, squash and yard-long beans. Our drip irrigation that we set up in the spring was not working and John came to the rescue to get it back on track. It was tested on Sunday and is working great and we hope that we won’t have any more setbacks.
Animal report: We have a small rabbit in one of our fields and as embarrassing at it sounds it isn’t eating any of the crops! The crows are being pesky in that they like to peck here and there on the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. The groundhogs are interestingly absent over the past few weeks, which is a good thing.
Some sparrows are enjoying flying into the greenhouses and are naturally taking care of the bugs that get caught against the plastic. They all seem to find their way out safely. A dove flew into the Franklin greenhouse while Renee was planting sunflower seeds for more microgreens. They just love sunflower seeds!
Trip to the Farm – Scheduled for Sunday – July 24th Want to help out at the Farm?? We like to schedule at least 2 work-days at the farm during the harvest season where CSA members can come up and help us with some projects. The first work-day is scheduled for July 24th starting at 11:00 am. Some projects planned will be to help with some mulching & transplanting. More details to come over the next few weeks. Please RSVP (by July 22nd ) so we can plan on lunch, refreshments & get you directions. Give us your contact # via phone or e-mail just in case the weather is iffy (it can be a whole different world at the farm) so we can give you a call if it will be a rainy day.
Upcoming Events
· August 28th – 12th Annual Heirloom Tomato Tasting @ the Hoboken Historical Museum – 1 pm – 5 pm
· October 1st & 2nd 9th Annual Garlic Gathering @ Olde Lafayette Village 10 am - 4 pm Lafayette, NJ (Routes 94/15)
· October 16th 5th Annual Garlic Fest @ the Hoboken Historical Museum 1 pm - 5 pm 1301 Hudson Street – Hoboken, NJ
Week of July 18th - Pick of the Week: click on the links below or to the right to bring you to the delivery specific to your pick-up location. Deliveries will be of similar variety & poundage, but may contain different items at anytime during the season. Occasionally, some crops are ready to harvest but not enough to deliver to all our drop-off locations. What we do is start to filter them in each week to a different drop-off until there is enough to delivery to everyone.
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