foxlinecityfarm

Another big week in the gardens.  A HOT! one too.  We plugged along in the thick muggy days and got the work done.  The plants love this weather and even though we wilt a little in the heat and the humidity it makes us very happy to see the gardens thriving.  Our focus for the week was harvest.  With the high temperatures, bright sunshine and a few perfect rains many crops need to be harvested daily.  Zucchini, cucumbers and beans all need to be picked every morning now.  The harvests have been huge and we spent many hours crawling down long rows wondering when we would reach the end.  Our tomato plants are thriving too.  Scott spent 16 hours over several days in the tomato patch securing the new growth to the trellises.  It looked like a jungle over there!  Nice and neat now and the vines are loaded with fruit and supported well.  We have started picking the cherry tomatoes and a few heirloom slicers are just starting to show some color.

Cherry Tomatoes ripening on the vines.

look what we found this morning!

The watermelon patch seems to double in size in this hot weather and we peeked and found a few tiny beauties.

The melon patch.

A watermelon growing in the sun.

Scott weeded and prepared new beds in the evenings when the heat was not so oppressive-often times with a head lamp on.  Small transplants of cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower fill the rows growing strong for late summer harvests.

New seeds are started weekly in the greenhouse to ensure a steady supply of new crops from the gardens and hoop house…..

This week’s seed starting.

And germinating quickly in the heat.

SUMMER SHARE #7

632 pounds from the garden this week.  Another fantastic share of great produce.  Enjoy.

SNACK PACK

Romaine head lettuce, beta mix (combination of baby beet tops and colorful swiss chard), green beans, zucchini, patty pan, cucumber mixed bag, sweet pepper,  garlic, small cabbage and basil plant.

Romaine Head Lettuce-Another great harvest of Romaine this week.  We way over plant lettuce in the hoop house at this time of year to ensure a steady supply.  It often times suffers in the heat and a few lettuce crops may fail.  Not this year!  An over abundance of fresh perfect greens this week.  Enjoy!

Gorgeous Romaine at harvest.

Beta Mix-A surprise to us.  With heavy shade to protect from the heat and ample watering we were able to get a great harvest off this difficult summer crop.  Baby beet tops and assorted colorful baby swiss chard.  Great for fresh eating or saute.

Beta Mix at harvest.

Green Beans!-A huge bag.  We had a great harvest off our first bean planting rotation this week.

Morning Bean pick.

Scott making his way down the bean row.

Zucchini-Several of these tender summer squashes picked small.

Pretty Zucchini flowers in the morning.

Patty Pan Summer Squash-A couple of these little gems in every snack pack share this week.

This week’s patty pan harvest.

Cucumbers-A nice big assorted bag in every share.  The vines are just starting to really kick in.

Cucumbers on the trellis.

Peppers-We have started our pepper harvest!  1 in every snack pack share. All Sweet peppers.

1st pepper harvest of the season.

Garlic-1st garlic of the season too.  1 head in each snack pack share.

Scott hand digging this week’s garlic.

Gorgeous!

Mini Cabbage Head-The perfect size for fresh eating, slaw or added to stir fry.

Basil Plant-We were hoping to have these with the 1st tomatoes of the season but with all this heat they are ready now!  Big beautiful plants.  Enjoy.

FULL SHARE

Romaine head lettuce, Lime green Buttercrisp Lettuce head, Beta Mix (combination of baby beet tops and colorful swiss chard), Green Beans, Zucchini, Eggplant, Cucumber mixed bag, Long English cucumbers, Sweet Peppers, Jalapeno peppers, garlic, medium head garlic, cherry tomatoes and basil plant.

Romaine head lettuce AND a beautiful head of a summer buttercrisp.

Summer buttercrisp lettuce chilling in the wash tanks after harvest.

Beta Mix-A combination of baby beet greens and colorful swiss chard.  Enjoy fresh in salads or saute.

Beta patch after harvest.

Green Beans! A super huge bag for all the Full Shares this week.  A bounty harvest.

I finished my side of the bean row.

Zucchini-Another great harvest this week and several assorted beauties in the shares.

Zucchini ready to go in this week’s shares.

Cucumbers-A nice big bag of assorted snackers.

The cucumber bagging team.

Long English Slicing Cucumbers-2 in each full share.

Peppers!-Our crop looks great this year and the first pick of the season. 2 sweet peppers in each share.

Jalapeno Peppers-We snuck a few off the plants for each Full Share.

Jalapeno Peppers at harvest.

Garlic-Fresh dug and delicious. 2 heads in each share.

Cabbage-A medium sized head.

Scott making his way down the cabbage bed.

I follow behind and pick up the heads and remove the outer leaves before they go in the wash tank to chill.

Basil Plant-A beautiful plant we were hoping to add to the shares with the 1st slice tomato harvest.  With this heat they are ready a week or 2 early.

Eggplant-2 for each full share this week.

Just picked and ready for the shares…..

Cherry Tomatoes-A few for all full shares!  Enjoy!

1st Cherry Tomato harvest of the season. 

BEST GUESS FOR NEXT WEEK-fennel, beans, cucumbers, summer squash, potatoes, carrots, cherry tomatoes, summer onions!!! and kale-really! (we held off this week due to the over abundance of lettuce from the hoop house.)

Beautiful Onions for next week’s harvest.