A sloppy start
It has been a rough start to the season, my friends. Since mid-April we have yet to see three days in a row without rain. And much of the time, it’s been significant rain – usually over an inch at a time.
Luckily, I got the first round of transplants in the ground before the monsoon season began. They are doing alright, although they’d prefer to dry out a little more before more precipitation. The most recent crops I’ve been working to get in the ground, things like summer squash, cucumbers and tomatoes, are not so happy about the constant wet. A decent percentage probably won’t make it, although it looks like hopefully we are headed for a drier weather pattern this next week.
There are sections of standing water in the fields and in some spots, your boots will get sucked right off your feet. Half of our greenhouse is still too wet to plant – this should be the space that’s ready to go when the outside fields aren’t. Heavy soils and poor drainage have had me thinking about tunneling moats around the property. We will definitely need to trench around the outside of the greenhouse to help next spring with the water issues. And every year we will have to add more compost and soil in there to help build up the low ground.
I’m at least a week or two behind on planting out some crops and others will be stunted for a bit before they resume growth due to the soggy ground. I’m anxiously awaiting my first crops like lettuce, kohlrabi and radishes to be ready for market. Until then, with the backlog of work to do and the lack of items to bring for sale, I will be taking time off from attending market, which not only makes me upset, but also hits the farm’s bank account at a time when the last big supply orders and other costs are due.
The stark comparison between last season and this year is jarring. Last year it was so dry, I couldn’t keep up with watering. I lost the first round of many crops because they just didn’t get enough water while they were getting established. This year is a sloppy, wet mess, with me having to either cram transplants into mud puddles or hold off until a drier time arrives, hoping they will still have enough time to mature. The whiplash is unnerving.
Despite these big challenges, I’m happy to report that plant sales were very good this spring, especially at our Northwoods pop-up sale. It brought me so much joy to have huge support in Lake Tomahawk, a place so near to my heart. While I always wish I could have sold more overall, for my first year selling seedlings, I’d say it was a success.
Along with the planting mania, we have been working to install a vegetable cooler room in our garage, which will be necessary for my CSA program and wholesale orders this season. I’m so grateful to have Tyler take the lead on bigger projects like that – he knows way more about construction than I do. We hope to have everything all set up by the end of this month before CSA kicks off in early July.
The days will continue to get busier, as it’s already time to start seeding and planting fall crops. There’s also a huge flush of weeds coming on after all this rain. Soon there will be plenty to be harvested and washed for sale. Next week we have to get our summer cover crop section planted, too.
This season has already brought so many pollinators to the farm, which I’m ecstatic to see. I’ve seen loads of bumblebees, swallowtail butterflies and monarchs around already, plus a handful of dragonflies. There’s also been lots of frogs and toads, who are happy with our swamp farm this year. Along with those good guys comes the bad guys, too, though – the cucumber beetles, which are a very hard pest to control, have already arrived, almost a month earlier than I saw them last year. I’ve had some cutworm pressure, too, but thankfully this year I deployed beneficial nematodes earlier to help. Once the potatoes pop up in a week or two, I’m sure it won’t be long before the first potato beetle sighting. When it rains, it pours.
Trying to stay positive and work through this crazy weather has been hard. It’s already difficult not to burn out during this time of year, but when things get tough because of matters out of your control, it’s all the more challenging to remain calm and rested. As Tyler reminds me, “If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.” We’ll make it work.