Not a lot of time for idle chit-chat. There is a lot of beautiful planting weather out there and a lot of planting to do.
Speaking of planting, our annual Potato Planting Party is scheduled for Sunday May 6 from 1:00 until done or 4:00, whichever comes first. This is a great event for kids of all ages, 2 to 92! There is very little stooping. The seeds (basically pieces of potato) are large enough for small hands. It is hard to make a mistake. So if you want to have fun, get some fresh air, and see how we plant potatoes please come out and lend a hand. This is a great time to meet fellow members as well. Please let me know if you can make it!
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Farm News
The rain we got last night was quite welcome. Though the ground does have moisture there is nothing better than planting transplants then having it rain — not too hard though. Last night seemed about perfect. So far this week we have planted onions, shallots, hoop house tomatoes, snap peas and snow peas. We are still quite a ways behind but hopefully this week we can catch up. If you are looking to get dirty come out and lend a hand!
We also still have quite a bit of greenhouse planting. This week in the greenhouse we need to plant watermelons, winter squash, and the first round of sweet corn. These all are pretty big plantings so there is a lot to do. If you want to get less dirty and do a bunch of work either standing or sitting come out and lend a hand!
Planting tomatoes in the hoop house is a pretty involved process. We first have to take out the cages and remove last year’s tomato bones from the cages. Then we take out the woven plastic ground cover and the old drip tape. Next we till the soil to get it ready for planting. Once tilled we roll out the ground cover and new drip tape. At this point we can finally start planting. We plant the tomatoes two feet apart, then put the cages back up with t-posts pounded in to support the cages. We do all this so that during the peak of the season when labor is at a premium we don’t have to fuss with the tomato plants. The ground cover, drip system, cages and hoop house provide a great environment for them to grow without a lot of human intervention. We almost completed this task this week but still have two rows to cage. If you don’t want to get very dirty at all but would enjoy some easy exercise come out and lend a hand!
That’s about it for this newsletter. Daylight is upon us and time is of the essence. As always, do not hesitate to send in questions, comments, jokes, brain teasers or come out and lend a hand!