Hello!
WOW! What a May.
Polar vortex to summer heat wave. And now hopefully a bit cooler and some rain over the next few days.
We've had a lot on the go these past weeks. You can check out some pictures on instagram -- you don't need an account, just search for @persephonedays on instagram!
The small apple and pear orchard that we started planting 5 years ago has been expanded to include Asian pears, plums, chums, peaches, and shrub cherries. We also added raspberries, blackberries, grapes and more currants and gooseberries (we already had a bunch of those).
Then we raised beds, by hand, and seeded them down with cover crops. So we'll have one more 'block' (1/4 acre) to grow in next year. The cover crops are germinating and we're looking forward to a colourful summer, because the cover crops included lots of flowers.
We are doing some on-farm research with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario and Burdock Grove Farm near Williamsford, about direct seeding in no- till production. It's a great opportunity to learn together and then share our experience with lots of others farmers.
We have one block still covered with landscape fabric to manage quack grass and planting there will commence next week.
Something new for this year is peppino dulce -- it's related to tomatoes and the fruit is a bit like a melon.
Besides all that we have been planting lots of veggies! Yesterday that involved almost 1000 pepper plants and about 200 summer squash!
And we just harvested our first rapini and arugula of the season! Order yours by 10:30 on Friday morning and I'll deliver on Friday afternoon.
