yes, i am talking about the weather again. why? because farming, the business i work for and my job are completely dependent on the weather. no rain, no plant growth. too much rain, mold and fungus issues. rain, no customers at market. too hot, some plants don't grow or go to seed very quickly. too cold, some plants die. the list goes on and on. you need such a balance in weather, just the right amount of heat, sun, rain, wind, cloud cover, etc, to grow produce to it's fullest potential, that it is practically impossible.
last year, we had a dry spring and our root crops showed it. we had a hot and dry summer and our okra did so well, we were cutting it almost every day. then, the fall was cool and wet. cucumbers, summer and winter squash plants molded and died. but we had enough sweet potatoes to sell all winter. this shows you how important it is for a produce farm to be diverse. if we relied solely on pumpkins and winter squash for our income, we might not still be in business this year. but we don't and we are...we had many other crops to fall back on.
the weather in 2012 continues to be odd. we had some warm spells in march that encouraged plants to grow. then we had quite a few cool nights in april. those cool nights told plants to stop growing. it also damaged some plants - like asparagus and strawberry blossoms. the asparagus has been slow to continue growing. peas have been growing well, but slow to blossom. potatoes were taking so long to sprout in the fields that we thought they might have all rotted. (fortunately, the potato plants look really good right now and so far no potato beetles.) when i planted the second planting of spring root crops (turnips, carrots, beets and radishes), the first planting had still not germinated. spring onions were growing better in the house, in a dark room, with no water, than they did when i first planted them out in the field. the dryness and coolness of april was hard on plants.
but now, give plants and seeds a little warmth and sun and some water and BOOM! we have swiss chard, kale, mustard, head lettuce and broccoli raab that we harvested today (for market tomorrow). we pulled spring onions and radishes. we cut mesclun mix and arugula. we cut asparagus. our quantity numbers vary greatly from what they were at this time last year. but we still have nice looking, high quality product to sell.
