Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 20 No 13–September 8, 2015

Shorter Days – Cooler Nights !

We had a busy week catching up before Michael left to go back to college. He will still be working at least one day per week for the rest of the harvest year. Lisa and Dory continue to work during the week and on the critical weekends for harvest.

Farmer Rich harvesting the peppers

Farmer Rich is contemplating where to plant the garlic for next season. In addition to a heavy harvest schedule this weekend we were able to perform some field maintenance during the week. Our cucumber, zucchini and tomato plants are starting to shut down as evidenced by the decreased harvest this week. Though some plants still remain, their production is suffering mostly due to lack of rain. The Jelly Bean Grape tomatoes were doing well and all sites will be receiving them this week. They were the “winner” of the Heirloom Tomato Tasting last weekend!

 

Franklin Greenhouse Report:   

The eggplants are still producing, but like the field crops of cukes and zukes their production is now about half of what it was a week ago. This is due to the shorter days and cooler nights. The eggplant production overall produced much better in the greenhouse this year than any field plantings in the past. Tonight’s harvest of escarole came out of the Franklin greenhouse. This will free up a bed to plant another crop for a late season delivery. This will probably be planted with arugula.

Escarole in Franklin – just before harvest

 

Coming along are some Oriental greens and Daikon radishes. These were all seeded by Michael about 3 weeks ago.

From the Fields: We are starting to harvest the winter squash varieties. Some butternut squash, onions and potatoes should be on the agenda for delivery next week. The cool weather crops; chard, kale and cabbage continue to do well. We also have Brussel Sprout plants doing well and we hope to get them into a future delivery. In season’s past we haven’t had good luck with them, but this year we are going to be optimistic that they will produce on schedule.

 

Weather Report: We still haven’t had any rain and it does not look like any in the forecast for the week. The local water utility made homeowner phone calls last week stating that the area reservoirs were less than 50% full and requested all homeowners and businesses cut back on water consumption.