Rain, Rain, Go Away!
At first we were thrilled to get some rain in the garden to reinvigorate our plants and germinate some freshly planted seeds, but too much rain can be as bad for plants as too little! Plant roots require air in addition water in the soil and right now our clayey soil is quite saturated.
This weekend we finally got some sun and had a couple very productive workdays in the garden. We planted cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers and lettuce, as well as mulched our young squash and zucchini plants and performed some major beetle squishing on the potato plants. Our tomato plants are growing quickly, so we have been adding twine about once a week to our “Florida Weave” supported by bamboo from Morven’s own Japanese Garden.
We’re hoping to plant sweet potatoes and corn this weekend with a plant propagation class from PVCC, but it is very important that the soil dry out before we plow up those rows with the rototiller. In this Virginia clay, tilling a wet soil creates clods that dry in the sun to form bricks! Not a great medium for plant growth.
Our first summer CSA session is in full swing. So far CSA members have enjoyed lettuce mix, kale, Swiss chard, onions, cabbage, broccoli, turnips, carrots, and an assortment of herbs. They can look forward to the addition of garlic and maybe even some beets this week!
Our Carpet of Lettuce Mix!
Searching for potato beetles
The kale is happy as can be.
The Florida Weave!