Thursday, April 18, 2013

Growing Season

Growing season is well underway on Crandall Hill. In the high tunnel, heads of lettuce, rows of spinach and radishes are growing in preparation for the opening of the Farmers' Market on Friday, May 24. I'm also hoping to have some Swiss chard too.
Swiss Chard overwintered in the high tunnel
Lettuce planted in preparation for May 24 Farmers' Market opening
The rhubarb patch is looking promising too but the roller-coaster weather makes it difficult! The carrots, beets and potatoes planted in late March in the high tunnel are starting to take off though I don't think they'll be ready until mid-June.
In the heated greenhouse space, I have completed the re-potting of the tomatoes and some of the peppers. We have selected a number of new varieties of heirloom tomatoes for the market this summer. Of course, we won't see ripe tomatoes until mid-summer!
Tomatoes in greenhouse on April 11
Tomatoes in greenhouse one week later – April 18
I also have started a beautiful crop of basil, parsley and cilantro. There are eggplants, cabbages and broccoli starts coming along too.
It's a busy time on the farm but the Potter County Farmers' Market growers are taking time out to work together for enhancements to our local market. We're meeting again Sunday. We all appreciate your support as we work to provide wholesome, nutritious, high quality local produce.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This early production of market crops will be a big boost for the farmers market, the local community and local-food customers. Few if any crops that would be ready in mid-may without your greenhouses and tunnels produce. And, the short growing season here in Potter County makes it even more important to have early production of normally later season crops. Almost half of our season would be over before many of the crops that the customers want would be ready if we had to relied only on field production. Great work!