An Early Start to the 2011 Season with Spring Crops, Sweet Corn and Tomatoes

Welcome to the 2011 season blog “from our fields to your table” at Steffen Farms.  Last year, our digital camera quit working in the heart of the season, and unfortunately I dropped the ball on our blog. We have a new camera and I plan to enter several photos and brief commentary each week to document our 2011 season.

 

To start, I would like to show you our field for next year’s vegetable production.  Wheat was planted in the fall and then oversown with clover this spring.  When the wheat is harvested this summer, the clover will start growing, provide the winter cover crop and then supply nitrogen for next year’s vegetable crops.  On March 30, we planted our first bed of spring crops for our small Farm Share (CSA) group.  We hit an early, warm and dry window to get in our first sweet corn planting on April 8.  On April 18, we transplanted our first tomatoes in the ground, under high and low tunnel covers.

 

Legend 1: Wheat on next year’s vegetable field

 

Legend 2:  First Farm Share planting of spring crops in low tunnel

 

Legend 3: First planting of sweet corn

 

Legend 4:  First tomatoes in low tunnel

 

Legend 5:  First tomatoes in high tunnel

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