Lynea Petty, food production manager, shares Bloom Community Farm progress and how to prepare for the summer ahead.

Hopefully you are enjoying a few fresh veggies from your gardens; we are! Arugula, mixed lettuce, baby turnips, radishes, baby bok choy, and green onions should all be complimenting your still sprouting asparagus right now. And if not, no worries – there is still plenty of time to plant these items and keep enjoying them

We have begun swapping out our cover cloth and replacing it with insect netting, especially on the cabbages and broccoli. Also, we’re making sure to keep freshly seeded beds watered plenty – the heat and wind combination out Quigley canyon make germination quite difficult.
Here is what we are up to this month: (see resource list below)
*DS = directly seeding into the soil; TP – transplanting from a tray begun in the greenhouse

Week of June 1: Greenhouse/Indoor seeding: head lettuce, green onions, summer squash
Outdoor seeding and transplanting: Arugula DS, LettuceTP, Potatoes DS, bush beans DS, fava beans DS, carrots DS, cucumbers* TP or DS, winter and summer squash varieties* TP or DS

Week of June 8: Greenhouse/indoor seeding: cabbage, chard, kale, beets
Outdoor seeding and transplanting: radish DS, cilantro DS, head lettuce TP, green onions TP

Week of June 15: continue preparing soil where you will plant next
Greenhouse/indoor seeding: beets, green onions
Outdoor seeding and transplanting: arugula DS, lettuce DS, bok choy DS, basil TP, cucumbers DS or TP, fennel TP

Week of June 22: continue preparing soil where you will plant next
Greenhouse/indoor seeding: cilantro
Outdoor seeding and transplanting: radish DS, cilantro DS, carrots DS, beets TP, beans DS, summer squash TP or DS, green onions TP

Week of June 29: continue preparing soil where you will plant next Greenhouse/indoor seeding: kohlrabi, head lettuce
Outdoor seeding and transplanting: arugula DS, lettuce TP, green onions TP, beets TP, basil TP

Looking ahead to July: have these seeds ready to start: radish, turnips, bok choy, green onions, cilantro, carrots, head lettuce, radish, spinach, kohlrabi

*these are items that we plant into a plastic mulch. This keeps the soil warmer around these plants which prefer a more consistent temperature than our Idaho day/night temps naturally do.

Where to find resources:
Compost – Winn’s Compost. Sun Valley Garden Center. We buy in bulk
Fertilizer – all can be ordered online, some can be purchased locally at garden stores; and garden stores are also happy to order it in for you specifically.

Organic pelleted chicken manure: https://www.therichlawncompany.com/richlawn-5-3-2-organic/

Bat Guano: https://concentratesnw.com/catalog/soil-amendments/ferts/44-8-3-1-planb-hi-n-bat-guano/

Alfalfa meal: https://concentratesnw.com/catalog/soil-amendments/ferts/40-org-alfalfa-meal/