Okay, I've been remiss to report in the last two weeks of June (and maybe into July). My Mother always said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." But, you have to report the good with the not so good. We have had a record breaking amount of rain in the past five weeks (over 10 inches). In the beginning year here, with not a lot of fertility and HEAVY CLAY soils many things were lost. Spinach turned yellow in the field and died. Turnips, arugula, mustard greens, radishes, lettuce mix were all in the soggiest field and some underwater, some still underwater. I'm thinking pond perhaps here. Onions are small and not very happy either. Needless to say, I have not been to market yet. Everything in the greenhouse looks wonderful. My transplants are gorgeous. Just the issue of getting them into some soil they can breathe in.The frogs are very happy... they've never had such a long season like this. It's amazing that such a loud noise can come from a small hidden creature.
Many things run through my mind... because I can't even think about getting into these fields before 5-7 days of just plain sunshine. So far, the longest we've gotten is 3 days before we got another 1/2" of rain. What's a farmer to do? Carry on, look towards the fall, and next year. Read a lot about soil fertility, compost, LOTS of greensand? Cover crops, subsoiling? Search out the wise and experienced and go work for them for a few days... since not much happening here until some major drying out happens. And, all the wise and experience have their hands very full at the moment. Short term memory and blinding optimism help in these situations. Thanks goodness for that.
Squash fields after 10 inches of rain. The mulch is still a good idea, but would have worked better had it not rained so much. Some of the "high ground" squash looks great. Raised beds are a must here going forward. I'll be looking into a bedding system that will incorporate that idea.
Lots of standing water... get your mosquito netting out!
