Sadly, we missed out on any significant rain over the weekend, so things here remain quite dry. This is certainly the most significant dry spell we’ve faced this early in the season over the past 15 years. In fact, it was the seconds driest May ever on record. So, we continue to keep up with the irrigation the best we can but yields are certainly going to start suffering. We do remain hopeful that we will get a third and final week out of the strawberries. And some other early planted crops that received plenty of rain in April are now ready to harvest. The CSA list will be:
Strawberries
Broccoli
Red Beets
Spinach
Kohlrabi
Lettuce
Kale or Swiss Chard (your choice)
& Garlic Scapes – the pointed, immature flower bud of a garlic plant. We snip these off so the plant puts forth all its energy into making a bigger bulb. The scapes can be cut up like a scallion into any dish you would like to add some garlic flavor to. Also popular in pesto.
The herbs and flowers are still growing albeit slowly. It is now possible to pick a bouquet, however the stems will be short. Below is a picture of the many varietals of phlox we have. There is also plenty of Stock. This flower you can cut right at the base of the ground since it will not bloom again.
Despite the challenging conditions, onward we shall go. We have a greenhouse full of winter squash that is ready to be planted outside. We just did transplant the okra and eggplant out which had been waiting in the greenhouse for favorable conditions to return. And this week we will sew our final planting of sweet corn, which if all goes well, will be picked right around Labor Day. Hard to believe!