Well, wonders never cease. We actually had a nice constant rain this weekend. Not a deluge. Not a rain with a 70 mph wind. A constant rain that just fell from the sky – a true soaker. I’m very thankful and I’m sure you are as well. Throw in 80 degrees during the day and 60 at night and we’ve got some serious growing weather on our hands. I expect plants (including the weeds) to really go into light-speed growth stage.
Our history of rain so far this season hasn’t been the best, in keeping with the bad pattern of no precipitation followed by downpour for the last 5 years or so. Last year the rain gods were simply on strike with no rain at all. One big issue with rain and vegetable farming is the timing. A big downpour when corn is waist high is not nearly as big of a deal as those May and June rains we got when most plants were the size of my fingernail. The crops can’t deal with that much water at that stage – it’s like blasting a toddler with a firehose. If a crop is big when the rain comes, lots of water can be taken up into the roots and into the plants.
So, here we are in the first half of July and these beautiful rains couldn’t have come at better times. The beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes are flowering and corn and squash are getting into their big growth stage. These major crops are getting ready to produce and a well-timed rain together with pretty good control of weeds to date should make for some serious production. Stay tuned!
- Salad mix
- Romaine Lettuce
- Dino or Curley Kale
- Green Onions
- Kohlrabi
- Zucchini
- Cucumbers: A variety called Diva, which is an English type grown in the high tunnel. The recipe below uses the same variety for a simple cuke salad.
- Parsley
Lida Farm 