The rain just can’t seem to leave us be. Last night we received another dousing of several inches in just a few hours. As we’re in the midst of fall planting, this excessive moisture and heavy rain is a concern in a way it wasn’t in the spring, when the crops were much more established and the diseases that prey on crops in the late summer had not yet arrived. Many of the seedlings newly planted in the field were flattened by the downpour, although they will in all likelihood recover. More concerning is the appearance of mildew-type diseases on crops like the fall kale and cabbage on which I have honestly never seen experienced diseases of this type in nearly a decade of farming. These younger plants are more susceptible and less likely to grow past any damage, so we’re doing a bit of breath-holding as to what will actually make it to harvest.
Still, some of the fall crops are doing well enough. This weekend, we’ll be welcoming back head lettuce for the first time in several months. We spent some time looking through our beds of hard squash this week, which include Delicata, Acorn, and Butternut, and should start having these at market in the coming weeks. The scallions, broccoli, and chard continue to grow beautifully and I know many of you will be excited to hear that the first of the fall radishes were seeded last week! Look below for our full harvest list for this weekend’s markets!
Farmers Katie & Mike
This week at the market:
- Salad mix
- Arugula
- Head Lettuce
- Eggplant
- Sweet peppers
- String beans
- Garlic
- Onions
- Potatoes
- Carrots
- Beets
- Rainbow chard
- Slicing tomatoes
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cucumber
Comments
lynn brownell
August 23, 2018Too bad some of that rain can’t make it to Duluth; nothing here since the very start of Aug. I’m very excited about
the fall lettuce heads. I’ll bet lots of folks will be excited to see radishes again, me too. Hope that mildew doesn’t
do a lot of damage. The chard photo is very nice; doesn’t look too smooshed.
Barbara Grogan
August 23, 2018So happy that rain has left for a few days—the mildew experience must be time-consuming and frustrating, although having it under your farmer’s “belt” has to be good for the future. Really looking forward to your radishes and more this fall!