The Weblog

Athens Locally Grown has closed.



 
View the Complete Weblog

Availability for April 12


Our availability is in turmoil this week, as three days of temperatures in the low 20s have done a number on all of our crops. We expect freezes this time of year (my own last frost date isn’t until the second week of May), but the previous warm weather caused the greens to grow too fast and the fruit to bud out early. It’s too early to tell for sure, but at least one grower has reported the loss of the year’s fig and blueberry crops, because the frozen buds won’t reform.

The spring greens didn’t get killed, but they did get bit back pretty hard. The young turnips are wilted, and the radish tops and lettuces are too. The potato plants were several inches tall last week, but are now back down to the dirt today. They all will recover, but it will just take some more time.

In the meantime, it’s nearly time to put out the summer plants and seeds. The farms near town have a last frost date in a couple weeks, and as I mentioned earlier, the outlying farms have a date several weeks later. Those of us that start our own seedlings have all of our cold protection (cold frames, hoop houses, and even heated greenhouses) focused on keeping them going through this late chill. The stuff already planted will make it through, but if those seedlings were to freeze, that’d be the end for them.

Anyway, we’ve all taken a guess what we’ll have this week. We’ve all been very conservative (what looks terrible today may turn out to be recovered by Thursday morning), so if you see quantities in the negatives, order anyway. If it turns out we can’t fill your order, I’ll call you as soon as I know (about 4pm on Thursday) so you don’t drive out for nothing.

Thanks for all your support, and remember—the warm season is nearly here! We’ll see you on Thursday from 4:30 to 7pm at Gosford Wine.