June 8, 2017

Good morning, it sure is nice to be getting the rain of late. IN the garden, we are a little under 3 inches for the year. Both NOAA and Weather Underground keep having rain chances daily, we can only hope that more rain is in the future. This time of year, there is also the prospect of hard water falling from the sky with the more severe storms. I have been covering even it if the chances are low. This is prudent. Like with any hail storm it is not necessarily the size of the hail but the duration. So far, we have not seen any hail this year. We do have the rest of this month to go yet.

In any event the paths and borders are starting to get a “greening look” to them. With the use of a hoe this is the best time to reduce what WILL be a real problem in very short time. I like to use a Hula hoe. This hoe has a double edge and cuts both pushing and pulling. Warm dry afternoons are the best time to do this. This “greening” disappears and no follow up like discarding the debris is needed.

Last August was a wet month and there never was a chance to hula hoe. With no drying in the afternoons any hoeing would always reroot. This meant that hand pulling was the only weed abatement. Needless to say, I did not get ahead of the weeds and this year the bill is coming due. Weed seed can remain viable for many years.

So, with any luck and we do not have another very extended wet period, I plan to keep ahead of the weed thingy this year.

This is important for no other reason than to have disrupted spaces to help thwart insects. Tall weeds give great habitat and protection. If anything, I am noticing this to be a “good” bug year since we had no real extended cold periods. I have seen several large adult grasshoppers that over wintered.

As for that weed thingy, the sooner you realize that you have a  “weed problem”, the easier it will be to keep them in control. Once they get much past 6 inches there becomes the added labor of raking and disposing. This is why I like to nuke them at the greening stage.

This week I harvested chard, kale, green onions, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes. Please email for availability and quantities