It is hard to believe we are already half way through June. Where did May go? After scrolling through my Instagram feed, I have my answer.
May brought us dry enough weather to finally prepare our field for planting which involved mixing and spreading amendments like humic acid, epsom salt, and gypsum (I take a soil test to figure out what is needed). Then the field was disc, rototilled, and beds were made. All this work was spread over about two weeks because of labor but more importantly needing the soil to be the correct moisture to properly work it.
By mid-May we were finally able to transplant tomato, tomatillo, and pepper seedlings. A little behind my original schedule but with a cool wet spring I just had to wait. I also seeded a bed for the pollinators. A mix of buckwheat, cosmos, bachelor button, sunflowers, mustard, and phacelia. Right in the middle of the field as the second half of the field still needs to be planted with our second planting of tomatoes (which I will hopefully get in soon).
Since the end of May I have been trying to get the planted half of the field mulched with straw. The straw keeps the weeds away, helps keep the soil cool, and adds organic matter into the soil. But you can’t really do it on a windy day so mulching can be a kinda start and stop process.
All the while, seeds are still being started in the greenhouse and seedlings are still being taken care of. We do multiple succession plantings of most of our crops so that we have a steady supply of healthy happy seedlings until early September.
Now that we are in June we are putting tomato stakes in the field and tying up plants using a variation of the Florida weave method. Before I tie up my tomatoes I go through the plants doing a little pruning removing leaves that are touching the ground and any big suckers. During this up close and personal time with the tomatoes I spied many green tomatoes which is always incredibly exciting.
So right now there is always something that needs to be done at the farm and most of the time it is behind schedule, meaning … we are in the busy season.