We had some of the coldest stretches in decades back in January. Though February was cold there was little snow so we were able to get a lot accomplished in pruning the fruit trees, blueberries and raspberries. It seems that March has had a snow pack almost all month. We have had to put on hold our plans to install new drip irrigation lines and spread new wood chips in the blueberries until the snow disappears. It is nice to spread the wood chips with our spreader when the ground is frozen but without snow. We missed our window of opportunity in February so now we will need to wait for a dry stretch in April. March and April are traditionally mud season in New England and I do not want to leave tire ruts in the blueberries so the ground needs to be either dry or frozen. If we do not have the right conditions before bloom later in the spring, then the new bed of wood chips may need to wait until next winter. The wood chips help to keep down the weeds around the blueberry bushes and slightly lowers the humidity in the blueberry plant reducing disease problems. As the wood chips decompose they lower the acidity of the soil, which blueberries love. Later the decomposed wood will lead to more root growth and more blueberries. As long as conditions are right, I like to give the blueberries a new bed of wood chips every two or three years.
Most years we are plowing the soil in the first fields by now. This year, we can only plow snow! This might delay the planting of the first peas, but the early maturity of the first peas is more determined by the weather in May than how early they are planted in April. So, so far this wintry weather will not delay the first harvests. As you have seen by the CSA shares, the greenhouse greens are growing just fine in spite of the wintry weather. And with our building more greenhouses, more harvests ahead are guaranteed in spite of the weather.
Happy Spring?
Farmer Dave
NH Community Seafood CSF: Dracut
Registration is open for the spring and summer sessions of the NH Community Seafood CSF with pick up at Farmer Dave's. The new session begins on April 17th.
This is what we are planning and hoping to harvest this week. Ultimately Mother Nature has the last word so the actual contents of your share will vary.
Thanks to generous donations by you (our CSA Members) to the Groundwork Share-a-Share fund, we were able to subsidize the cost of shares in 2017 for over 30 individuals and families, as well as shares for local food pantries.
Please consider helping us in our efforts to make the CSA accessible to more families by donating to Groundwork Share-a-Share.
