July 1, 2024
So Long, June
by Farmer Derek

Wow, that was a tough month! I really hope July is a bit more mellow. We fortunately received almost an inch of rain total last week from two quick showers. That's not enough to fully quench the farm's thirst but it should be enough to temporarily satisfy most unirrigated crops. It should also be just enough to momentarily pause the irrigation of bare ground crops but most grown in fabric will still require their weekly dose. I'm just hopeful we get back on a regular rain event schedule (but not too much too fast, please). Enduring two separate 3-week dry spells this early in the season is pretty stressful. Overall, that was our 2nd driest month of June in 16 seasons, with 1.75" received, the majority just last week. I don't have temperature data recorded, but it's probably safe to assume it was also one of the hottest months.

Just before the rain commenced last week, we did manage to transplant the 7,000 strawberry plants for a 2025 harvest. That's always a daunting task and it feels good to have that accomplished, especially so with the rain that followed. We've now entered a brief lull in transplanting for a few weeks, until the first wave of fall plants start going in, including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, rutabaga, beets, chard, kale, and arugula (we still have weekly lettuces and herbs to plant, however).

The gap in large transplanting projects will allow us more time for crop maintenance and harvesting. Big crop harvest events this month include garlic and carrots in the first half, and probably onions and early potatoes in the second half.

This period between spring and fall crops is also a time of managing crop clean up and dealing with residue. It's best to mow and incorporate any spring crops that we also grow in the fall to thwart pests and diseases by getting rid of any hosts. Last season this didn't work out too well and we suffered pretty significant loss in some of our early planted fall crops so we're going to make sure we get in right this year. Another technique for dealing with this issue is having a good distance between spring and fall crop locations, which we aim to do.

Happy holiday week and lovely weather!