Two Feet in the Dirt

While we do a fair amount of work on our own to control insect pests on the farm, we actually get a lot of help from other insects. Most people know about the benefits of ladybugs, which eat aphids, a common pest in both vegetable and ornamental gardens. Our new favorite predatory insect is fittingly called the assassin bug. These guys can get quite big and go after many different crop pests that we struggle with on our farm. We became big fans of the assassin bug earlier this summer when the zinnias were starting to bloom and were being overwhelmed by the first influx of Japanese beetles. We were...

Even as the tomatoes are hitting their peak and the peppers are turning from green to red, fall is already on our minds. This week was a big one for fall planting, with lots of kale, chard, collards, scallions, and the first of the fall lettuce all going into the ground. In the next few weeks, we’ll continue to plant weekly rounds of head lettuce along with more scallions, escarole, and the fall kohlrabi! Fall is my favorite time on the farm as we move into cooler weather and the focus turns back to the greens and root crops that are my favorites to grow, so it’s something nice to...

It’s another scorcher this week, although we’re thankful that, unlike Fourth of July week last year, the humidity has remained pretty low, making the heat moderately more bearable. With the middle of the day fairly miserable outside, we’ve been aiming to get a lot of work done at either end of the day and fortunately this week we had several big tasks that we are able to complete in shady spots. This is our second week of the yearly garlic harvest. Our two earlier varieties came in last week and this week we brought in the final variety, called Chesnook Red. Although the actual harvest of the garlic of course...

It’s been the first week with temperatures in the 90s and both us and the plants are working on adjusting! With real summer weather upon us, it’s the perfect time to say good-bye to some crops until the fall. This will be the last week for head lettuce until September and it’s a good thing as lettuce won’t tolerate many days this hot. We’ll also probably be harvesting the spring collard greens for the last time, although the kale and chard should hold on a bit longer. Snap peas will also be making their final appearance this or next week, so make sure to grab some while they’re around! Fortunately,...

This week has been the most humid yet. Wednesday felt like we were working in a lake, with the humidity sticking around 90% for most of the morning. With this more summer-y weather, we’re starting to see the onset of more of the summer pests and diseases, the latter of which I always find incredibly stressful. It’s hard to watch once beautifully perfect plants start to show the signs of the season. Most of our disease management regimen concentrates around rotating our crops, removing diseased plants when necessary, and helping the plants be healthy enough that they can withstand and grow through certain levels of damage. But it’s still hard...