I think back to the stress I had about staying on top of weeds, building the farmstand and making sure that there was enough product to offer for our summer season, and I can’t help but laugh a little. Our summer season was anything but ordinary but somehow, I still managed to pull things through.
I relied on my two favorite pairs of Muck boots this summer to get me through the wet and muddy days after torrential rains and the excessively hot and humid days that would follow.
(women’s Chore Mid in Veggie print)
The vegetable garden wasn’t an entire bust, however the past few years our harvest season has extended well into October so we are still waiting on a few of our summer crops to be harvested.
When it comes to our tomatoes our season tends to begin late summer and extends into the fall. I can’t complain because who doesn’t love a fresh jersey tomato sandwich, especially in the fall and pests pose less of a threat during the growing season. Over the past few years, I have experimented with tomato cages and staking them to T-posts and always fell short of managing to tame the jungle they became come the end of summer. Last year I trellised the tomatoes using the Florida weave method and wasn’t a big fan but I had a feeling it was determinant on the variety of tomatoes I had planted. This year different varieties were planted and they trellised and vined beautifully using the Florida weave.
Last year our cucumber season was cut short due to excessive rain early on in the summer and very few were harvested before the plants died shortly there after. This year thanks to our weather, I was able to harvest cucumbers for the majority of the summer providing us with a few pickling varieties, perfect salad toppers and snacking slices.
(women’s Muck Original’s Lace Up boot)
Now, when it comes to the flowers I think that’s where I have the most to learn as controlling the weeds proved nearly impossible in some areas. Compared to last year, the blooming season was much later for certain flowers this year and that’s if they even bloomed at all. The torrential rains and strong winds that we had for consecutive days for the last few weeks of July and extending into August wrecked havoc on the majority of the dahlias, proving that certain varieties will indefinitely require stake support next growing season.
I never got around to running the drip irrigation in the field across the street from the barn but I lucked out with the rain we had at the time I planted the sunflowers so I know that next year I’ll be preparing for a more reliable method to keep plants watered all season long.
For my first year growing cut flowers and produce for market production it was an amazing experience in terms of learning what I need to plant more of, less of, when I should plant and which varieties I no longer wish to use. We aren’t even halfway through September and plans for next spring and summer are already underway and I can’t wait to share everything with you along the way!
Best,
Liz
This post is sponsored by Muck Boot Company.
