Trying to plant before the big rain tomorrow

After an almost dry January the rainstorm last week brought the farm six and a half inches of rain in less than seven days.

That brings the amount of rain we’ve got to around 17 inches for the season with more on the way tonight and tomorrow.

With all the weather services forecasting there to be around two inches of rain in this upcoming rainstorm we are trying to get as many field tasks done today before the soil gets too muddy to work in.

The main task we have for today is planting all our spring bunching greens along with lettuce, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.

Testing the soil the past couple days it has been a pleasant surprise how much it has dried out after getting so much rain. The wind we got over the weekend helped dry out the top of the soil and allow us to get the tractor in to finish preparing the areas for planting.

It is not ideal to be planting right before a big storm but it is way better to plant rather than waiting until after the storm and having the plant stay in the trays for another week or more.

The roots of the plants are filling up the cells of the trays and are asking for more space to grow in. Everything we are planting can handle the weather so they shouldn’t get damaged too much.

Planting season is definitely beginning and will be picking up in the next couple of weeks with the full greenhouse we have. Additionally, we picked up our seed potatoes yesterday and we would like to get them planted next week.

We still have to compost and prepare the area for the potatoes after this rainstorm so that may be delayed depending on how wet the soil is. The forecast shows very little rain after this storm but it could pop up unexpectedly.

The last of our melogold grapefruit will be at market on Saturday and then we will move into the other white flesh grapefruit we have, Oro Blanco. Last weekend we brought the first of our Rio Red grapefruit which is a delicious smaller variety and has a pink flesh.

Pruning the olives continued this week and at the same time we set up an online store so you can order our olive oil and we will ship it to you or send it as a gift to family and friends.