Catalpa Ridge News–September 4, 2017

Colder Temps still @ the Farm

We had a low of 40 degrees on Saturday morning. Fortunately it was dry all week and only rained on Sunday morning. We actually had to use some irrigation during the week (only about the third time this year), to keep the crops from drying out.

The eroded field from earlier in the year has finally been put back together & we hope it won’t be a problem again. We were able to lay down new beds and actually used the bed wrapping attachment to the tractor to install the plastic and that will be used for garlic. We will also use some of the beds for spring onions and will transplant some of our perennials herbs into them. As autumn approaches we start to plan our fields for next season. Some of our beds have been tilled already and we just need to add soil amendments and fertilizer to prepare them for next year. The soil amendments add minerals and nutrients for the succeeding crops.

The Jerusalem Artichoke (Sunchokes) plants are looking good this year. We anticipate harvesting them in about one month. Winter squash may be limited to Spaghetti, Butternut and Acorn this year due to the excessive rain ruining some plantings.

The final steps to complete the repairs on the greenhouse were delayed as we had to harvest on Saturday due to the forecast for rain on Sunday and of course we had rain on Sunday. The crew did some inside work in the greenhouse

Upcoming Event – we will be at the:

Sussex County Harvest, Honey & Garlic Festival

Celebrating the best in Sussex County and Northern NJ Agritourism, Ecotourism and Heritage Tourism

October 7, 2017 - Sussex County Fairgrounds

10am-4pm