June 3, 2024
June
by Farmer Derek

We've entered another busy but also transitional month at the farm. Harvests begin to pivot away from the quick growing early spring greens in the brassica family and we start to welcome more crops in the aster family, like escarole, romaine, Italian dandelion, and radicchio, as well as those in the amaranth family, like chard and beets, and eventually additional apiaceae folks, such as carrots, fennel, and celery.

Peas and strawberries will be peaking for another couple of weeks before we transition to summer u-pick crops like snap beans and eventually cherry tomatoes, flowers, edamame, blackberries, and tomatillos. Later this month we'll probably begin to see members of the cucurbit family, zucchini and cucumbers, start to trickle in followed by hopefully an almost-overwhelming bumper. In July, nightshade members tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant will arrive but won't peak until August.

In June, oddly enough, we also begin to think about autumn. Seeding and bed preparations start this month even though those crops aren't planted outside until late July on. Big plantings for this month include sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, next season's strawberries, and leeks (and of course weekly additions of lettuce, herbs, beans, and edamame). Towards the end of June there'll be a slight lull in transplanting until July and the start of the fall crops. July is also when we begin transitioning finished crop fields to cover crops for fall and winter fallow and rest. Due to the nature of the fruited summer crops we also need to mind water requirements and will need to embark on a regular irrigation schedule for optimum crop health and growth.