Getting Back on Track

Despite some recent improvements to the weather, the 2011 farm season continues to offer some challenging growing conditions. This past week we finally saw the return of the sun, but it was a long time coming. Here's an interesting statistic for May weather in Greenwich, NY. The average rainfall for the month is 3.75". This year we received 4.84" - about 30% more than average - significant, but not shocking. What I do find shocking, however, is the the fact that there was measurable rain on 20 of the 31 days of May. So, while it did not rain outrageous amounts, it did rain nearly continuously, never giving the ground a chance to dry out. The biggest casualty of all the rain appears to be the potatoes. After waiting and waiting for the leaves to emerge from the ground, today I finally dug around some of the rows. What I found was not good - liquefied goo, where there should be potatoes. I guess being saturated for weeks was too much for them and they rotted, rather than sprouted. Needless to say, we are bummed.

We are still trying to get in sync this season. After getting so far behind schedule, it's difficult to figure out what to do first when we finally get a break. Everything needs to be done at once - all the planting, the seeding, the weeding, as well as, all the regular jobs like watering the greenhouses, growing the sprouts, soaking mushroom logs, harvesting crops and going to market.

This past week we decided to focus on getting the tomatoes and peppers planted. For any chance of having a crop, these really needed to get in the ground sooner rather than later. Before planting we first put up the growing tunnels. This is always a major production, involving laying out landscape fabric, pounding stakes, putting up hoops, and covering with plastic. It's a lot of extra work, but the benefits of growing in a protected environment is worth the effort.

We also managed to get in a couple more lettuce plantings during the past two weeks. One improvement to the farm this year is the addition of a waterwheel transplanter. This is a common piece of equipment on vegetable farms that we have contemplated buying for years. Our farm is an in between size - really not big enough to justify the cost of a lot of mechanized equipment, but large enough to make doing everything by hand a real challenge.


We decided the transplanter was worth the cost. It probably won't be much faster than planting by hand, but it is much easier on the back and knees. Basically, it takes three people to operate, one drives the tractor and two sit in the back to punch in the plants. A spiked planting wheel for each row in the bed makes a hole and then waters the plant. It is a little had to get used to and we have not hooked up the water part yet, but I think eventually it will run smooth and efficient.

With any luck, we will get back on track in the next few weeks. We'll keep you posted.