After a Wet Spring

After a Wet Spring
Black and yellow banana spider found in our field
Black and yellow banana spider found in our field

If we don’t get more rain in the next day or so I’ll have to start irrigating the field.   This is notable because I haven’t yet had to use the irrigation.  Here it is, well into July, and I haven’t had to water the garden.  Our wet spring has turned into a wet summer.   Rain is a good thing.  But it is possible to have too much of a good thing.  Weeds love the rain, and we are having a banner year for weeds (do I say that every year?).  The rain has made it hard to keep up with mowing.  For better or for worse, it is green everywhere you look.

My buckwheat living mulch experiment seemed to be going pretty well.  Until the weeds got serious.  And all the grass growing up in the pathways wouldn’t be that bad, but it does make a lovely space for snakes to hang out.  In the past two days we’ve spotted three copperheads in the squash patch.  Or we have spotted the same copperhead three times.  Either way, snakes aren’t my favorite surprise when I’m reaching down into the tall grass.

It is amazing the difference a little hot weather makes.  The sweet potatoes vines have been running.  They have grown into the pathways and have formed a dense ground cover.  The cantaloupe and watermelon vines are taking off, too.  Thanks the my mom’s patient work, the butternut squash are climbing their trellis.  I have even seen a few okra flowers.

It feels like time has sped up.   I have not sped up.  The heat slows us down.  The at-full-tilt-since-April slows us down.  I need to accept that not everything I want to do will get done.  It is hard to prioritize when everything on the list seems equally important.

The rain has started.  Maybe I wont have to turn on the irrigation this week after all.

Small Shares

  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Bell Pepper
  • Onion
  • Squash
  • Potatoes

Full Shares

  • Cherry Tomatoes
  • Heirloom Tomatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Bell Pepper
  • Onion
  • Squash
  • Potatoes
  • Carrots
  • Basil