Squash and Melons

We just transplanted about 900 row feet of summer squash and cucumbers. All beds were covered with white floating row cover, which acts as a physical barrier against pests. The main pest here is the striped cucumber beetle, which is devastating when plants are small, but once plants are large with blooming flowers, the beetles actually help with pollination. Obviously, we as an organic farm don't use chemical or synthetic pesticides, and that's one reason why. The row cover will stay on until first female flowers start to open, and then we’ll take the covers off. We also planted the first part of the potato planting. We take the spud and cut them into smaller pieces with eyes on them, and plant those. As for potato varieties, so far, we're doing Sangre red potato, Yukon Gold, and an heirloom variety called Green Mountain.  We will be getting in a variety call All Blue (which is true to name, all blue), and more Yukon Gold.

We’ve started to move warm weather stuff, such as peppers, to the unheated part of greenhouse. That’s the first stage of their being prepped for transplanting out to the field. We have a ton of winter squash that needs to be seeded, and we would welcome help getting that started. To schedule your visit, call or email the member work coordinators Larry and Pat Bassett at 508-879-6768 or email us at padoo1-AT-rcn.com. (Please replace "-AT-" with "@" when you use this email address.) Canteloupe and watermelons are in the greenhouse.

The first watermelon variety is Blacktail Mountain - on the germination pad right now. That's an heirloom variety made for growing in more shorter seasons with a cooler climate. And I just seeded Brussels sprouts yesterday.