We are currently in the midst of one of the coldest and wettest springs in my 14 years of farming. As such we have been behind on a number of field tasks.
Here are some of the strategies that I’ve found helpful:
ENSURE ADEQUATE SOIL PREPARATION
Some ground preparation is better than none. Minor problems can always be smoothed over later.
MINIMIZE FIELD WORK WHEN GROUND IS WET
A boot sinking 4″ into the soil is borderline dry for this year.
AVOID PLANTING INTO WEEDY AREAS
Under wet conditions, you should properly identify weed pressure. Under current conditions, the following is not considered weed pressure:
This qualifies:
In fact, can you identify what is crop and what is not?
In such situations, some form of intervention may be warranted.
That’s right, it was a tiny tomatillo plant!
BE PRECISE
USE APPROPRIATE TOOLS
BE SATISFIED WITH A JOB WELL DONE
And with that, the last of our seed tomatoes and tomatillos are planted. Only a few more peppers to go!
I hope you too have found ways to cope with your spring calamities.
Your post makes me feel much better about our mucky fields and tiny plants, which look exactly like yours. MERCI mille fois!
Ça me fait plaisir!
Sounds like you’re even wetter than here; good luck!
Hopefully we get the 4 days of sun that is supposed to start on Tuesday!
(and just maybe the 60% chance of showers tomorrow won’t actually hit)
Thanks for luck,
Dan
I’m only thanking the rain for washing most of the aphids off my kale (actually that might have been the ladybugs, of which I have seen tons of larvae this year) but I think our raised beds saved us as well! Three sunny days in a row so far, is that a new record? In any case, we’re in it with you for better or worse, but I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to see hard work washed away and to have to keep out of the field for so long.
We’re pretty flat so nothing’s washed away – the worst is how little crops are growing in the overcast cold water.
May your aphids stay gone!
Dan
What a difference from last year! Should have put down the holding pond last year… would have filled up for sure… At least cruciferous flea beetle damage was short lived. Onward to the solanaceous one.
And the rain just doesn’t give up.
Maybe we can hold over some of this precipitation till the next drought!