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Growing Season Update (hoop-house)

White Pine Farm

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As you know many of our winter crops were lost due to the extreme cold temperatures. We were worried about losing the garlic, but those are popping through the straw nicely. I’m anxiously waiting to see if the asparagus is popping through the earth, not yet, I’m a little concerned, although for all the years my mother grew asparagus I never remember it dying from cold weather. We did loose the rosemary planted inside and all of the sage planted outside. When the warmer weather finally started it was time to plant other crops in the hoop house. Right now tomatoes, green beans, peppers, and other crops are planted inside the houses. Outside the houses we have the onions, kale, peas, garlic (which gets planted in the fall) planted. Normally we have potatoes planted in the middle of April, but because of the cold season we are planting them late. Maybe if we are lucky we will fool the Colorado potato beetle by getting them in late. Those things are pretty smart and they will survive on quack grass until the potatoes start popping through. I wish I could train them to stay on the quack grass which would make them a beneficial rather than a pest. When I do find them on the grass they look like they are starving, it is obviously not their preferred food.
I’m seeing some cabbage butterflies flying around. These critters are one of the reasons we did not have much kale into December. They have a ferocious appetite and reproduce exponentially. This spring I released some microscopic wasp that like to feed on their eggs, they are suppose to reproduce faster than the butterflies. On a sunny day the butterflies may seem picturesque in the garden, but they are really garden demons with pretty wings. For me right now I’m cheering for the wasps.
Until Next Time
Marian Listwak