Preparing For Fall
August 18th, 2021
Fall preparations are underway on the farm! Though it’s still pretty warm out, we’re beginning to plant brassica seeds to get a jumpstart on the next season. We direct-seeded a mix of arugula, Wasabina mustard greens, and mizuna into one of our beds. We are pleasantly surprised at how quickly this mix germinated! If all goes well, we should be harvesting this delicious mix of leafy greens in no time.
The first succession of brassica seeds were planted in the greenhouse as well. This first succession is focused on varieties that are meant to be more heat tolerant. Among the varieties planted were Monty broccoli and Green Glaze collard greens. Monty produces well-domed, bright green heads of broccoli and is purported to have excellent heat tolerance. Green Glaze is a collard variety with smooth, bright green leaves. It is recommended for warm coastal states so we’re hopeful it will do incredibly well in this first planting!
Each crop comes with a list of potential pests and when it comes to summer and winter squashes, squash vine borers are right at the top. Adult squash vine borers are black and orange moths that lay their eggs at the base of susceptible plants, i.e. squash plants. Once the larvae hatch, they bore into the center of the stems which ends up preventing the flow of water to the rest of the plant. Eventually, the plant wilts and dies. Our recent succession of zucchini seems to be the most affected by squash vine borers. They appear to be leaving our JWS butternut squashes alone, most likely due to the fact that Cucurbita moschata (their species) stems are woodier and less hollow. These plants are covered in fruit and are doing very well. You can see a baby butternut in the photo below.
