Planting certainly has been a challenge this spring! In this picture our mud covered crew just finished planting the field behind them with broccoli, kale, collards, Swiss chard, Napa cabbage, and boc choi. They worked all day in the mud and rain and somehow managed to be in good spirits at the end of it when this photo was taken.
The wettest spring in memory has all of the farmers in the area behind schedule; some haven’t even been able to start yet. Sunny dry days are few and far between and most fields are way too wet to work. For us, there have been a few windows of opportunity to work some barely dry enough ground and do some planting but we are behind schedule like everyone else. There is still a good possibility of “catching-up,” we have well drained soil and all we really need is a few sunny days in a row and we’ll be able to work several more acres, but even so crops planted late are usually harvested late.
We have had late springs in the past, and we’ve always ended up with abundant seasons, but we also like to start off with a full selection, so we are considering starting our CSA deliveries one week later this spring. We haven’t made a decision yet, but If we do this we will also end the season a week later to give everyone the benefit of a full season
Crops that are normally planted in the field before May15th:Arugula, Boc Choi, Broccoli, Beets, Cabbage, Collards, Escarole, Fennel, Italian Dandelion, Kale, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Lettuce, Mizuna, Mustard, Onions, Parsley, Peas, Potatoes, Radish, Spinach, next seasons Strawberries & Raspberries, Swiss Chard, and Spring Turnips. Crops in green we have planted as of May 4th.
