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| | | Hutten Family Farm Newsletter for Monday May 2, 2011 |
We had a busy day in the fields today. It was quite sunny this afternoon but the wind was cold. We brought the artichoke transplants out of the heated greenhouse and planted them out in the cold wind. This would generally not be a good idea with most transplants but seems to work with artichokes.Since they are a biennial, we trick the plants into producing artichokes the first year by stressing them in the early spring cold. Last year we planted the bulk of our artichoke plants outside in early May. These plants essentially all produced fruit. A smaller second planting was transplanted outside in early June. This second planting grew big and beautiful plants but never produced any artichokes. I cannot make a living growing ornamental vegetable plants.Live and learn I guess.
We will plant several other vegetables this week. I plan to transplant the first zucchini, scallopini,eggplant, pepper, and tomato plants later this week. These will all be covered with row cover to help protect them. We may have to use some of the row cover that is currently on other crops. The peas, snap peas, and snow peas that I seeded on March 22 are now about six inches high under the cover. Salad greens and french breakfast radishes that we seeded the same day will be ready to pick either thursday or friday this week. This would be the earliest date that I have ever picked spring planted vegetables from seed. Very exciting for me.
We will put more shanghai pac choi in the boxes this week. Beet greens are also ready. There will also be paper bags of mushrooms from Valley Mushrooms in Waterville. It looks like rhubarb, kale, and some field grown radishes for next week. We will have more Asian greens each week but I will limit the number in the boxes to one or two types each week so you do not overdose. Some people are running out of ideas for spinach but the end is near; at least for a while.
You may also notice that we are trying to reduce the amount of plastic bags in the CSA boxes. I have had a few comments which I think are justified. Basically we will put items like spinach, arugula, basil, and salad leaves in bags and try to avoid them for other products.I hope this makes sense for everyone.
Have a good week. Ted
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