Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

Small Shares

• Adrianna Bibb Lettuce
• Kohlrabi
• Napa Cabbage
• Hakurei Turnip
• French Breakfast Radish
• Arugula

Full Shares

• Adrianna Bibb Lettuce
• Kiribati Oakleaf Lettuce
• Kohlrabi
• Green Presto Cabbage
• Hakurei Turnip
• French Breakfast Radish
• Arugula

The garden keeps shouting “summer is here, summer is here!” even though it is only early May.  Last week we harvested almost all of the Napa cabbages as they were getting ready to send up flower stalks and bloom (called “bolting” in farmer-speak).  And although I am sure that would lovely, and make lots of flowers to keep the bees happy, it would also leave us without any Napa cabbage.  This is why we typically only grow Napa cabbage in the fall.  It has a reputation for being a bolter.  But I thought, hey, why not give spring a try?  Little did I know it would be the Year Without A Spring.

I know, I know, it seems we go straight from winter to summer every year, but this year has been more dramatic than most.  The squash and zucchini are blooming (Hooray!) but only female flowers (Booo!).  This is a response to stress, and has only happened one other time since we started farming out here eight years ago.  If we are patient, the male flowers will catch up and the plants will make lots of tasty yellow squash and zucchini for us to enjoy.  That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway.

Spring is exciting because everything is new.  Just a month ago we were still in the long winter of kale and sweet potatoes left over from fall.  The kohlrabi, which was just starting to be ready last week, is now demanding to be harvested this instant.  The radishes and turnips are practically jumping out of the ground.  Despite my careful planting plan, the lettuce has all come ready at once (of course).  Tuesday we picked the very first cabbages.  I am sure that in about three days ALL the cabbages will need to be picked AT ONCE because that is what May does.

I can’t spent too much time dwelling on the spring garden because we are also super busy planting for summer and even fall.  The whole team rallied to get more garden beds prepared last week.  With Randy on the tractor, Candice and Patrick spread fertilizer and help lay down irrigation.  The next day, Sunshine and I helped Randy wrap the beds with biodegradable black plastic.  We are already seeded eight of those new beds with okra and five of them with butternut and spaghetti squash.  Four more are destined for more tomatoes, our third planting of the year thus far.  Even with all this, we are just over halfway through preparing our summer garden beds.