Rain & new transplants loving the sun

In between two big rainstorms we only had last Wednesday to transplant many trays of spring veggies that needed to go out and we were able to make it happen.

Wednesday morning the soil dried out enough from the previous rain so we were able to transplant chard, kale, collards, broccolini, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower. We also direct seeded our second succession of carrots, turnips, beets and radishes.

If we didn’t get them planted we would of had to wait another week as late Wednesday and early Thursday we got 2.5 inches of rain.

Those transplanted veggies were slightly protected as we put a row cover over them mainly to stop birds from eating their leaves but it also helps the plants not get damaged by the rain.

The rain has kept us out of the field except to harvest while the soil dries out. We have been able to continue pruning olives which we are close to finishing up and get lots of office work done to get tasks done before it gets very busy.

Over the last couple of weeks the farm has received around nine inches of rain which doubled the season total to 18 inches. Since the last day of January there has been over half a million gallons of water that have soaked into the soil from the rain storms.

After such a dry January, it is nice to see the rain come even if it is a lot at once and fortunately all the water soaked into the ground with only a couple of low spots being flooded for a few hours

Following the two rain storms that we had the weather is warming up with temperatures in the high-60s meaning everything will be growing much faster.

All the plants we have got in the ground will love the temperatures as it is almost perfect for the spring veggies to grow in. They will be able to grow without having to put any of their energy towards the stress of cold weather where they are solely focused on staying alive.

While the soil is still drying out so that we can use the tractor and a little muddy to weed this week we cut back the tarragon and oregano.

All the stems left at the end of the season die back with the cold weather and then new stems will grow from other parts of the roots. The new growth has been poking out the last couple of weeks and is ready to start growing so hopefully by the end of March or early April the tarragon is ready to start harvesting.

In the greenhouse we didn’t seed much this week but still have a full greenhouse with everything we have seeded so far which are growing very well.

The brassicas and lettuces are growing quickly and more of them will be transplanted next week after we prep the soil for them.