Since it is so warm, we went down to the farm to open the high tunnel. The first photo shows a view of the high tunnel with the sides open. See the plants inside? They look great! The second photo gives you a better view of the growth inside the tunnel. We took off the low tunnel that you saw in the pictures last week.

Here is a look at the pea field.

The beans don’t look like much right now but just wait. This warm weather should be encouraging growth.

Because of the freeze on Mother’s Day weekend, the potatoes were set back a bit. They sure look good now. The bags you see in the photo were used to mark the rows; we don’t need them anymore but haven’t taken them out yet.

Have a guess what this might be? A tent city perhaps? Actually each one of those tents houses a giant pumpkin plant. We used agribon fabric over hoops to make the tent. This will protect the pumpkin plant from all sorts of things and give them a good headstart. Hopefully we will get some giants out of these plants. Hopefully one will set a new record for us.

That’s all for now; check back next week for our latest photo tour.

This past week or so has seen some good news and bad news, The worst news was the frost that occurred over Mother’s Day weekend. Freeze warnings were issued and of course, because everything got an early start this year, lots of stuff was at risk. Some fruits and vegetables were affected; see the details below.

We have also been busy planting, plowing and planning this year’s planting scheme for the farm. So let’s just cut to the chase and tell you the good, the bad and the just plain ugly news from Magicland Farms.

The Good

• The strawberries survived the frost on Mother’s Day weekend due to the use of sprinklers. So it looks promising that we will have a strawberry crop this year.
• The peas, onions and garlic also survived the frost due to the fact that these crops are cold hardy. They can take a lot of cold and still keep on going.
• The tomatoes in the high tunnel sustained no damage.
• Most of the sweet corn plantings are okay because the early plantings were small and the growing point was still beneath the soil.
• The green beans were just coming up so they sustained no damage. Tom was amazed the other day with how well they are growing. At the rate they are going, it looks like a super early bean year for us.
• We have planted three different varieties of sweet potatoes: Beauregard, Carolina Ruby and Vardaman.  Here is a photo of our sweet potato planting: The row at the right is a row of tomatoes; the rows to the left are the sweet potatoes.

The Bad

• The potatoes sustained some minor damage. On Sunday, Tom and I went to look at things at the farm and you could see new green growth coming from the potatoes so while they might have suffered a setback, the plants are starting to make a comeback.
• The tomato plants we had in the low tunnels out in the field were about half damaged. Interestingly, the side of the low tunnel that received some of the sprinkler water meant for the strawberries survived; the side that didn’t was a loss. Those tomatoes that died have been replaced with new transplants.

The Ugly

• The pawpaws sustained heavy damage from the frost.
• The apples sustained moderate to heavy damage depending on the variety and the location in the orchard.
• Tom looked at the peaches the other day and thinks that there might be moderate damage to the crop. However, we should still have some peaches.

Overall things are looking good. We all wish the frost hadn’t happened but we know that everything happens for a reason. Planting is continuing, we still have lots more to go. Keep on checking back for updates. You can see some more photos at my previous post: Sunday Stroll Around The Farm.

Okay, it’s not really a stroll since we took the truck but we did get out and walk around!  Here are some pictures of how things look at the farm.

A view of the tomatoes in the high tunnel.  We planted them earlier than we have in the past,  so we added the extra protection of the low tunnels in case it frosted (which it did with no ill effects inside the high tunnel.) Below is a look inside the low tunnel – you can see the tomatoes growing under the fabric.

And look at the next photo. Some blossoms appear on the plants! I cannot wait for the taste of a fresh tomato. We go many months with any slicing tomatoes since we don’t buy any from the grocery store. I would love a nice tomato sandwich right about now.

The following picture shows a low tunnel with more tomatoes, a raised bed with radishes and part of the strawberry field behind the radishes.

After leaving the high tunnel, we went to check on the peas. Here is a view of the field. The plants look so nice and isn’t that a beautiful sky?

Finally here are a few photos of the electric fence we have surrounding most of the fields. The first picture is a long view of the fence, followed by one of the gates we use and our warning signs.

Hope you enjoyed our little tour! I plan on doing this most Sundays but you know how that goes. The best laid plans ……

Today marked an important event–we planted tomatoes in the high tunnel. Planting in the high tunnel allows us to get ripe tomatoes earlier than we would by just planting them in the field. We planted Mountain Glory, Mountain Spring, BHN 189 and our ever popular SunGold cherry tomatoes.

We can’t wait to have that first taste of vine ripened tomatoes!