Cucurbit, from Cucurbitaceae, is a useful word! How else would you refer to the large squash-and-melon family that includes winter squash like acorn and butternut, summer squash like zucchini, pumpkins, gourds, melons (cantaloupe, watermelon, and so on), cucumbers, even the fruit that dries out to become loofah sponges. All the same plant family, all with similar-looking leaves and sprawling vined growth. I’ve on and off wanted to learn the scientific Latin-word plant classification system. I’ve even semi-memorized the basics more than once, then soon forgotten, because there’s no actual use for it in my day to day. But some terms, like cucurbits, do come in handy…
Spring
Spinach in the field
Yay, spinach! Seeing direct seeded crops germinate is one of the most satisfying things in the field. Here, it’s spinach, Reflect variety, seeded a few days ago, coming up nicely. In general, seeds do germinate, that’s a good starting point. But there are lots of variables, and the unpredictable weather extremes that have become the new normal don’t help. Is the seed new this year, or has it been around for a year or more? What conditions does the particular veg like: ground always wet until germination, soil temperature not too low or too high, seed not too deep or too shallow, and so on. It sounds more complicated than it is, only because, as a tiny farmer, you have little control over any of it. You lay seed down at a reasonable depth, water it in, watch, hope for the best, and prepare to reseed if things don’t go your way!
Looking tiny by comparison, you can also see redroot pigweed seedlings popping up. They’re easy to handle if weeded early. Otherwise, a no-joke garden invader!
Sundown on another cloudy day
Mainly cloudy seems to be the theme of this stretch of weather. It’s been about a week of mostly overcast and grey, with some rain here and there. The forecast calls for at least a week more of the same. At this point, not the worst. It’s been nice and warm, day and night, with not so much rain that the field stays soggy. Lots of growers with various things already in the field are no doubt wishing for a lot more sun, but here…it’s fine as is for now. :)
Tomato seedlings compared
The Big Beef tomatoes on the left look so much bigger, healthier, greener, than the ones right, and they were planted a couple of weeks later. Both are in the same sized plug sheets. Both get the same time under the lights and out in the sun. Hmm…
This year, I’ve been planting smaller quantities more often, to see how a small batch approach works in our unpredictable weather. Instead of putting in four rows of carrots now, I’ll put in two now and two more in a week or so. It’s an experiment. The hard part is actually keeping track of the observations over time, so that later, there’s…data. More to come!
Lettuce pops!
“Pop” isn’t the most elegant, poetic word, but that’s what I thought the first time I noticed how plants can suddenly shoot up overnight. It’s feels like magic, especially when you’ve been obsessively focused practically hour by hour on their progress, as I was in my first year of farming. Crops are growing slow and steady, then you turn around for a minute and they’re suddenly transformed: bigger, more vibrant colors, next level! As if they POPPED into a new form, like in a cartoon. Plants can pop right through their growth, from when they’re tiny seedlings (some, like corn and pole beans, grow so fast in the field that you can imagine staring at them for a while and being able to actually see them grow). It might not seem like much to look at, but to the watchful eye, these lettuces just popped. Nice!
Garlic: the bug’s eye view
Another cloudy day. The garlic is still the only thing to see as far as crops in the field. It’s looking quite happy and healthy. That’s good!
The rain and the sun
Today was rained out. Too wet to do fieldwork. A few hours of heavy clouds and on-and-off rain followed by brief periods of semi-blue skies, followed by more clouds and rain. The free irrigation is excellent, as I’ve already started to water in new seedings in the field. But—there’s almost always a “but”—a lot of cloudy weather, not enough sunlight, slows things down. A week of mainly clouds, which is what the forecast predicts right now, means noticeably slower germination and growth. It’s not complaining, it’s just observing the balance between sunlight, water and temperature, hoping for the right mix for the vegetables that’s pretty hard to come by!