farm diary 9/6/11
September 6th, 2011 by caitlyn
August was a long month! The farm seemed even more demanding than usual with beds of bolting kale waving their little yellow flowers around for attention, newly seeded beds needing constant hand-watering, and loads of summer squash growing faster than anyone could keep up with. But, I suppose no summer farm is complete without a couple wheelbarrow’s full of comically large zucchini! All in all, it was a productive month, thanks to our good friends Heather and Joel. I really don’t know what I would have done without their steady help.
We’ve been noticing that some of our crops are growing less vigorously lately. A combination of foggy cool days and declining soil fertility is causing our salad greens to grow more slowly than the previous round, and some of our recently planted fall brassicas are suffering from some kind of rust. The rainbow tie-dye effect on the leaves is lovely, for sure, but it’s not exactly what we’re after! As we near the end of our Summer CSA, we’re eager to start focusing some more energy on soil fertility, bringing in manure and planning our fall/winter cover-crop schedule. The beds have been generous all year and now it’s time to start giving back. (Note: the above photo is a bouquet of just the worst affected brussels sprouts leaves — one bottom leaf from every three or four plants. The plants themselves don’t look quite so colorful.)
The farm has also become completely inundated with cabbage moths, particularly because we grow so many brassicas (even some of the site’s long-established weeds are brassicas). Â The little white moths flutter around looking sweet from a distance, but the moth larvae is really chewing up our kale. We’re keeping our fall brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, more kale) protected with row cover as we put them in the ground so the moths can’t lay their eggs on the leaves.
Despite all this, summer on the farm is going well with beans, turnips and beets galore. We’re planning to start digging beds for a third field so that we can potentially accommodate a larger CSA next spring. It’s exciting. We’re growing into this space, slowly but surely.
Brooke is back from her time away. I missed her!
