Our summer crops have been plentiful at the garden and we are steadily harvesting. We are also beginning our seeds for fall crops.
I hope you had a fun filled and safe 4th of July weekend and were able to spend time with family and friends. Many areas in the Southeast were somewhat overcast and rainy, but overall it was a great holiday weekend.
The farm is running full steam ahead these days and the workload will remain heavy until November starts to roll around. All of our summer crops are bearing nicely and we have been steadily harvesting tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, squash, zucchini and peppers. We have also started picking butter beans and pink eyed purple hull peas. The silts on our heirloom corn are starting to darken up and now we will let them to dry down on the stalk before we harvest.
We were able to dig all of our Irish potatoes this past month, and although it wasn’t exactly a bumper crop, we were not disappointed by the overall production. The sweet potato slips that we set out look wonderful and have really started to spread their lush green vines. We planted a variety of pumpkin transplants last week along with a nice plot of butternut squash. Several trays of squash and zucchini have been planted as well.
We are starting to fill seed trays with broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and collards. These fall crops in particular have relatively long growth cycles and should generally be planted well before things like lettuces, chards, and other greens.
That’s all for this month, I hope you all are enjoying your summer. Remember to stay hydrated while you’re out in the garden!
Brad Kelly
Business Development Manager
Kelly Products, Inc.