Summer and starting planting for the fall

The tomatoes have been in the spotlight this summer but we can’t ignore the cucumbers which have been thriving.

We are growing three different varieties and each of them is producing very well so far. Our standard slicing cucumber is delicious with less seeds than typical while our Striped Armenian serpent cucumber has a unique appearance with a refreshing, sweet flavor. Suyo Long is a crispy, ribbed heirloom cucumber from China with a sweet and mild flavor with little to no bitterness.

There are four plantings of cucumbers in the field and we are currently harvesting from the first two with the third one starting to flower. Our third and fourth planting each have an extra bed of Striped Armenian since people have really been enjoying them.

While our focus has been on harvesting cucumbers and all of our other summer crops recently we seeded lots of fall crops in the greenhouse yesterday. Our first plantings of chard, kale, collards, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and broccolini were started so that we can plant them in the field in mid-late August.

It is a little early to be starting these crops but we want to begin harvesting some of them by the middle or end of September.

We have spent a good amount of time figuring out where our fall crops will go as we have larger sections of some of them that will be harvest all winter long. We also will need to have space for all the onions and garlic we are planting this fall for harvest next June.

All of the areas we didn’t plant in this spring or summer will have a crop in them this fall and lots of the areas with spring crops will be filled for the fall and winter. We just mowed those areas once again and soon will start preparing them to be planted in.

We also have spent a decent amount of time weeding the winter squash and sweet potatoes which are growing really well and covering more of the soil every week meaning the weeding will be less and less over time. The winter squash has started to flower which is exciting!