Hoed Every Row

A little behind schedule, but every row has been hoed.

The tomatoes are beginning to turn red. The cherry tomatoes have been yellow/orange for a couple weeks now, but I've ate all of them instead of taking them to market.

I have a bunch of broccoli that has been big for a while, but a few of them have only now begun putting on the actually head of broccoli. I don't know what's up with them, but I sure wish they'd hurry up.

I also dug up some potatoes after the last rain. I planted a variety called All Blue, but the potatoes themselves are purple. They're a little hardier than the other varieties. I haven't figured out the best way to prepare them yet, but last night I cut them up and fried them like breakfast potatoes. They were alright that way. I might try them in a stew instead.

When It Rains, Hoe Boy, It Pours!

Five and 3/10ths inches in 36 hours here. After about 2 weeks of no rain. Quite the wash out.

I hoed today and monday, and am 10 rows deep. I plan on going out again this evening and being done with the field by at least Saturday.

The tomatoes are starting to turn, I'm getting a lot of cherry tomatoes but they haven't made it to the market yet because they're just too good eating.

My tomato trellis end-posts aren't quite anchored well enough, and the pulling tension combined with the sudden rains have made a few of them lean. Toads have taken up residence in the ensuing 2 inch gaps created by the leaning posts.

Logo by Hoenest Farmette

Hoes & Spades

After visiting Kansas City for the Honest Farmette's family reunion this weekend, I was looking forward to knocking out the rest of the weeds in the strawberry patch. My Uncle was one step ahead of me, and called for another weeding party. This one featured hoes and spades. I wielded one of the latter for the first time, quite efficiently if I do say so myself. Together we got it all down to three aisles by eight. After breakfast the task was continued, and at noon, the field was weed free. Hooooooooray!

At its worst, it took 2.5 hours to go through a row. Now, with a hoe, it takes 30-45 minutes for a row and aisle together. Four rows a day is the new goal, and that'll put me through the field in 6 days. I think that sounds easy now.

A New Hoep

I had a weed party in my strawberry field on the 5th at 6 am, and seven of the best people I know showed up. We had two hoeing the aisles and six in the rows, pulling by hand. Most just needed a quick tug, but one of the grasses was particularly challenging and required a spade. At one point I joked that the vining morning glory almost made it fun. It was a joke, and only an almost, because it was not fun at all. It was however extremely satisfying to see the field weeded and back within optimal hoe effectiveness. Also encouraging were the high number of runners each of the plants gave off. A few of the most impressive ran a few feet with two rooted nodes and a third stepping out. The party concluded with strawberries from the everbearing rows.