Eagerly Awaiting Spring's Arrival

As we inch closer to spring we can definitely feel a shift in the weather! Temperatures are starting to generally trend warmer as we swiftly approach the last frost date for our area. The only downside to warmer temperatures is that weed pressure is beginning to increase. In order to stay on top of weeds for spring and beyond, we’ve been focusing our efforts on removing as many as we can over the past week. That way, we can have a beautiful blank slate for all of our spring crops!

Last week we transplanted an early trial of summer squash in the field. Since squashes are sensitive to cool weather, we’ll be implementing frost cloth for any remaining cool nights. Normally, we would wait until after March 1st to begin planting squashes but we’re eager to see how this early trial goes. Best case scenario, we’ll have the first zucchini and crookneck squashes for you a few weeks earlier than normal! If the trial doesn’t doesn’t pan out, we’ll still be planting summer squashes for you on our regular schedule.

Remember the flower patch we mentioned in this post? We’ll be transplanting 8 prepared beds on the north side of our field with a mix of spring flowers this week! Since we’re planting a wide variety of flowers, our main goal is to see which ones work well for the spring season in our climate. And, if all goes well, the patch will lend some beauty to the farm. Here are some of the varieties going in the ground this week: bachelor’s buttons, marigolds, cosmos, feverfew, celosia, poppies, and forget-me-nots.