Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 20 No 3–June 30, 2015

Rain Continues!

We continued to have more rain during the week. This helped out the newly planted crops though is not good for the crops in the wet areas.

 

We cleaned up the back field as some crops didn’t germinate such as ½ of the cucumbers and some beets. We planted to replace them by transplanting four different varieties. The beets that were lost were tilled up and we transplanted Brussel sprouts and cabbage (2 varieties) in their place.

 

Michael worked in the round field to maintain control over the weeds.  In our main field we were disappointed to find that the soybean seed never germinated as well as the Italian flat beans. The red noodle beans are growing nicely.

 

We have the following transplants ready to be planted this week:

• Lettuce
• Cucumbers
• Chinese greens
• Broccoli raab

We hope to seed this week as well. Seedings will include some more lettuce, cauliflower and oriental greens.

 

The garlic crop will start to be harvested in about two weeks. Though the bulbs appear small we are optimistic that the yields will be good. We interplanted potatoes among the garlic and they are all doing great. We will have some great blue, yellow and white varieties ready to be harvested.

 

Animal Report: Though our fence repairs have been working well to keep out the deer it appears that the rabbits are breaking in somehow

trellising tomatoes & tomatillos

 

Franklin Greenhouse Report:  All the beds are now turned over with new crops. The newly seeded arugula and radishes are already up. The tendergreen mustard in the delivery is thinnings from the greenhouse. We have seeded buckwheat for sprouts and they should be ready in about two weeks. The transplanted eggplant are doing really well and the fryer peppers are on track for harvesting in 2-3 weeks.

 

Weather Report:  About a 1 ¾” had already fallen during the week with more falling as the newsletter is being written. Our “wet” areas are now getting too wet. We are watching the garlic closely due to the wet conditions. If it gets too wet we will have to harvest early. The temperatures have been cool at night which is great for the lettuces, chard and kale. Though not so good for the peppers they are growing nicely.

 

From the Farmers’ Almanac https://farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names/

The Full Buck Moon occurs in July. July is normally the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, for the reason that thunderstorms are most frequent during this time. Another name for this month’s Moon was the Full Hay Moon.