After a cool spring, the weather turned surprisingly hot with afternoon temps more than 20 degrees higher than the week before. The technique of covering the germinating corn with plastic had helped get the corn up and growing, but we can see in retrospect that as soon as the day time temps moved into the 90's, we should have removed the plastic. The high afternoon temps cooked the young corn seedlings, and we lost most of them. So now, the plastic is strored way to be used next fall, the lost seedlings have been replanted and we'll chalk up another lesson learned.
the baby reds and yukon potatoes rise above the heavy mulch
The Wilber technique of growning tomatos using a heavy hay matt is working well, and we took a few minutes to raise the hay flaks so that the soaker hoses now run under the hay. When plants are watered using sprinklers, the leaves get wet, a condition which exposes plants like potatoes and tomatoes to blight. By getting the water to the roots without getting the leaves wet, we hope to grow healtier plants. So far, so good.
the soaker hose is now under the heavy mulch cover
We're especially delighted to see our first apricots growing. Only one tree from our first planting established itself, but without another tree for pollination, it wouldn't set any fruit. We added some additional apricot trees last year, but there was some question as to whether the two types of trees would syncronize their blooms enough to set fruit. We're delighted to report that this year we'll be adding apricots to our harvest.
