Hot summer

It’s hot! In fact, we might have gone from spring to summer a little too fast for some plants; the peas are not making much progress. They’re stuck at about one foot tall. We’ll keep watching them and see what happens.

More red beets are up (did you know they’re really good for you?), some butterhead lettuce that we planted outdoors might be ready by next week, and we may see carrots from the tunnel next week as well.

We saw some rot in the potatoes yesterday, but it’s too late to prevent it with an application of copper (Organic Materials Review Institute-approved for fungicide (http://www.omri.org/simple-opl-search/results/fungicide) ). Hopefully it dries up and stays dry for a while and that will help.

Another sure sign of summer is the cucumber beetle, which we dealt with yesterday on the zucchini plants. The peppers and eggplant are starting to recuperate from standing in water about three weeks ago; the ground is just dry enough now to begin to work it to continue seeding. Lots to look forward to!

— John Wesselius