Complimentary Blueberry Juice

Ah, the one force governing agriculture to rule them all: the weather.

Last spring was warm and dry, so I was able to get carrots in the ground by April 15th. This year, tonight on April 18th we’ll be going beyond -10C at night. The beds are frozen and with some snow and freezing rain, there’s a lot of moisture out there. So this is both good and bad: the bad part being that we have to wait and be patient, the good being at least there will be a lot of moisture around. For our potatoes and peas and such, this will be a really positive thing. Hot dry conditions in spring have happened a few times in the last few years and in my opinion, that’s the most stressful way to start the season. I’d rather have freezing rain in mid-April!

I won’t lie, it’s frustrating to wake up every day to this. Yes sure the greenhouse is full of green things…but we’ve also punted planting in the hoop house. So there’s over 500 plants perfectly ready to go, scheduled to go in the ground April 15th. However with a few -10C nights and cloudy days, burning a whole bunch of propane to float the temperature to +5C seemed wasteful. Moreover, there seemed no point with these frost-sensitive crops like tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers to expose them to stressful conditions right after transplanting.

The longer we wait the more things get backed up, which might mean as soon as the weather turns for the better we’ll be busy catching up and firing stuff into the hoop house and out on the field.

Graham

thanks for reading complimentary blueberry juice

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