Pick up Sticks — Knuckle Down News, Week 6

image - Pick up Sticks — Knuckle Down News, Week 6

Note that the thumbs are not green

 

I wonder if the term “green thumb” was coined after someone was trellising tomatoes! I’m always late getting the trellises up, and the tomato jungle is already very impressive.  Only the Cherry Tomatoes have started to turn colour, but it’s August now so the rest won’t be too far behind.

It’s still dry, dry, dry out here on the farm, and on top of that, the pest pressure has been some of the worst I’ve ever seen. Pests are attracted to plants that are stressed out — which most are this season due to the heat and lack of water. It also seems that some pests enjoy the hot and dry conditions. Among them, the ever pesky cucumber beetle, which enjoys all of the plants in the cucurbit family: cucumbers, squash, melons, zucchini. I’ve had to focus my efforts on saving those plants that were doing well, and unfortunately that means some others (especially the squash and cucumbers) have suffered, in some cases fatally.

I have a new planting of both cucumbers and zucchini waiting in the wings and I’ll do my very best to use every method I know of to keep them protected. I am hopeful we will still get a good (if late) crop of both.

In other good news, our first planting of beans have begun to flower after a little rain and irrigation and should be making little beans soon, and this week at least some of you will get the first baby beets. After two failed attempts, the third charmed planting of beets and carrots was spotty but seem to have finally taken hold now. Fingers crossed for the fall planting, I have been trying to keep it irrigated, but this heat, sheesh.

 

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Among this week’s line-up:

Cabbage (on farm)
Beets
Chard
Cipollini Onions (often roasted whole)

Herbs

Probably Kale, I’m sorry if you are all sick of Kale!

Hopefully Cherry tomatoes

 

Sincerely,
Jenny