Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 20 No 16–September 29, 2015

Autumn is here !

Autumn arrived on September 23^rd with the autumnal equinox at 4:22 am.

 

The harvest went very well on Sunday as it was perfect weather. The cooler temperatures are almost hinting at an early frost, though we should be ok for awhile. Most of the warm weather crops are now gone-by and the cold weather crops are enjoying these cooler temperatures.

 

The autumn colors are just starting at the farm, though we are a few weeks off from “peak”.

 

We ventured to Saugerties on Saturday to pick up some new garlic varieties at the annual Garlic Fest. We noticed that the garlic bulb sizes were smaller than in years past and this is similar to what we have this year as well. In speaking with other garlic farmers they all had similar growing conditions with the early dry, then too wet, then too dry. We have Turkish Red in the delivery this week and this was a new variety that we picked up last year. It is a fairly spicy garlic and you should enjoy it.

 

We are trying to merge two fields into one large field. This we have been planning for a number of years and we started on this project this week. The round field will be merged with the main field and the hill will become another contained field. The hill will be ideal for a fruit crop such as blueberries or paw-paws (custard apples).

 

Franklin Greenhouse Report:  We are happy that the eggplant continues to produce even with our shorter days. The seeded greens are up and growing well and will be harvestable within a few weeks. The hot pepper plants also continue do well. There still are about 6-7 different varieties still producing.

 

From the Fields: The sweet peppers are planned on being harvested next week and we may actually have a few more harvests before it gets too cold. It all depends on the weather. The spaghetti squash went well and they are in your delivery this week. We plan on delivering Kabocha squash next week. Other winter squash varieties will include butternut, delicate and acorn.

 

Weather Report: It has been dry all week and we anticipate some rain this week as long as the weather reports hold true. We have been irrigating the fall crops and they have responded well. Rain is forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday. This mid-week rain will be perfect.