Tag Archives: cultivation

Peregrine Farm News Vol. 13 #5, 3/18/16

What’s been going on!

Very close to the first day of spring and still feeling very spring like until Sunday and Monday night when they are forecasting a low of 29 degrees, never be complacent in March!

Another busy and productive week.  Two heavy downpours on Sunday and Monday with a total of 1.5 inches in a very short time but the warm weather and a little breeze has dried things out well for perfect cultivation conditions and excellent weed killing.  Jennie and our newest staff person Tricia have worked over almost all the spring plantings, just in time as the rains and warm temperatures have really made the weeds sprout too.

Another 1000 feet of new deer fence is nearly done with about 600 feet more to finish up the big loop, this coming week for sure.  We did have to spend yesterday sliding one of the little tunnels over the early cucumbers and off the first lettuces.  Today we will get all the beds and trellises ready for the early tomatoes so we can slide those tunnels on Monday.

Another sure sign of spring is the start of the regular work schedule when the staff are here every day.  We are fortunate once again to have found another great person who has jumped right in with energy and a smile.  Lacey has moved on to other non-farm pursuits and we will miss her but Tricia is not missing a beat.  Its official, here we go again.

Picture of the Week

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End wall off, tractor hooked up, ready to pull the tunnel over new beds for cucumbers

What’s going to be at the market? Continue reading →

Peregrine Farm News Vol. 12 #13, 6/3/15

What’s been going on!

A gray and drizzly Wednesday, unusual for June but that does not stop the preparations for market or the blueberry pickers from filling buckets.  We used to joke back when we were in the blackberry business that in June our table was comprised of beets and blackberries, tough combination.  Thankfully we now have a much wider array of crops to harvest from.

It is sometimes a hard part of the season as cool season crops are on the wane and the warm season ones are moving slowly without hot days and sunshine.  Betsy is out every day talking to the zinnias and gloriosa daisies, which have been tempting her for a week with some color but refuse to open more than a few a day.  She refers to this kind of harvesting as milking a chicken, hard to get much with so much effort.

Fortunately it was warm and dry enough Monday to get some cultivation done including the tractor cultivation of the winter squash.  Years ago we bought a special implement for behind the tractor to hopefully speed up our weeding chores.  Known as a tine weeder it has springy steel rods or fingers spaced every two inches or so that rake down the beds behind the tractor pulling the small weeds out and breaking up any soil crust.

The problem is that we usually have all the irrigation in place and so we can’t use it without removing all the water lines, it ends up being faster to just do it by hand.  The winter squash are generally the one exception and it does a great job if we can get to it when the soil is the right moisture level.  Monday it was perfect.  We will probably go over it one more time in a week and then they will be good for the rest of the season.

Pictures of the Week

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Freshly cultivated winter squash

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BLT’s anyone?  Tomatoes on the way

What’s going to be at the market? Continue reading →