Corn planting timing, more winter squash, planting gourds, raspberry blooms
I took four days off to go to Ohio to visit both my and Carol’s parents, and also visit my daughter Elisabeth, who had a few days between college finals and the start of her summer research internship. I noticed that corn was up in some of the fields. I was feeling bad about not having even planted our corn yet.
When I got back I noticed that Famai Chang, one of our renters, has corn sprouted in his field. I expect that in the average year the corn would have rotted in the cold damp soil, but this month has been exceptionally warm and dry. In the average May we get 1.8 inches of rain. So far this month we have received less than .1 inch. Quite a contrast from December and January when we received 18.5 inches at SeaTac airport as compared with the average of 10.75 inches. The total for February through April was 8.5 versus the average of 10.5 for the three months, so for now we seem to be in a dry spell. Of course everything could change next week.
While I was away, the crew got a lot of weeding done in the leeks and greens as well as more tilling and some mowing.
On Monday we planted out the winter squash that had escaped the rodent attack.
Planting winter squash. We plant into plastic covered raised beds. Dripline under the plastic is wetting the soil prior to planting. Juan, on the right, is using a tree-planting tool to punch through the plastic and create a planting hole. Luis is following behind and dropping seedlings in the holes. They will then go back and firm the seedling plugs into the soil. You can see the raspberries on the hill in the background are bushing out nicely.
On Tuesday we planted out the gourds. I choose a variety of mixtures of colors & shapes. We grow a lot of gourds with warts, fins, and other projections. Most are small. This year I’ve added a large gourd, the swan.
Planting gourds. Here the crew is using the same technique explained in the other photo. On the far left you can see part of the raspberry field.
Honeybee visiting raspberry flowers. I took this photo last year. The raspberry plants have been filling out rapidly. On Wednesday I first noted that the raspberries are flowering, but they clearly have been flowering for a few days now. The raspberry flower is inconspicuous. The Marionberries and some of the thornless blackberries are also starting to bloom.
Wednesday we planted more winter squash and started in on planting the melons. Today we are planting watermelons. Last year we just planted the watermelons by variety, only making sure that the seedless watermelons were had seeded varieties as neighbors. When the watermelons matured, we found that some varieties are so similar that the only way to tell them apart was to cut them open. This year I carefully worked out a map to make sure to plant sufficiently different varieties side by side. When the watermelons ripen we’ll see if my directions worked.
John has planted the last of the Jack O’ Lantern transplants and has started in on the pie pumpkins. I have high expectations for the Winter Luxury Pie variety we are trying this year. I hope it reaches the buildup its been given.
What’s playing today in the Jeep CD player? The Chieftans– Santiago