Planting and field work before the rain

After a couple of weeks of sunny weather and dry conditions it is good to see some rain coming even if that means that there is lots of work to do.

The forecasted amount of rain has been changing constantly so we aren’t sure how much we will get starting today. At one point it said it was going to rain two inches today but that is what is forecasted now.

Any tasks that we can do during the rain we have pushed back so we can focus on what the rain will delay.

We have been busy getting as much work done in the field with the tractor the last few days to stay ahead with lots of planting happening and much more to come.

One of the key tasks we did yesterday was transplanting lettuce, broccoli, cabbage and bok choy.

All of these plants were ready to be planted and will handle the rain we get while also getting a slight head start to grow after the rain than sitting in the greenhouse for the next week.

Since the last rain we have been preparing the area for our first tomatoes to be planted in. It takes some time for the cover crop to break down after we mow it and incorporate it into the soil.

The plan is to plant our first planting on tomatoes next Tuesday but that is completely dependent on the amount of rain we get. Fortunately we don’t need to wait until the soil is dry enough to plant since we plant by hand.

The shovels attached to the tractor that we used to cover up the potatoes we also used to make a couple of raised beds for some of the tomatoes. By raising the beds, instead of being flat like normal, they should be warmer and dry out a little quicker after the rain.

They will need to get a little more water during the season but this is an experiment that we are trialing this year.

After the last rain there has been so much growth in the veggies on the farm with lots of our November and December planted lettuce getting close to being harvested.

The next few weeks we will be harvesting those and then hopefully smoothly transition to harvesting what we began planting in early February.

This time of the year there are not many new crops that are coming in but the kumquats are ready and we started harvesting them last Friday. They have a great orange skin that is sweet and the flesh that is tart and juicy which brings a delicious balance when eaten whole.

Many of the citrus trees that we have already harvested have started to flower in the last week with the warmer weather and sunny days.

It is very exciting to see lots of flowers on the trees with the hope that most of them turn into citrus we can harvest next Winter.