Harvest and growth
We had our first harvest 3 weeks after planting. Radishes were the first to be ready, and we were able to harvest about half of the radishes planted, a total of 1.9kg (including green tops).
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- This morning’s harvest
The lettuces are looking good. We had some issues with bugs which have affected the rocket and bok choi. We added flowers to the rows in week 2, but they don’t seem to have taken very well, and are looking dry. There are some weeds starting to poke through the mulch, but they are manageable at this stage.
Watering and weather
We have been watering daily, the first week for about 3 hours a day (1.5 in the morning and 1.5 in the early evening), week 2 and 3 for 2 hours in the early evening. We water with overhead sprinklers with wobblers, watering around 5mm per hour. The soil feels moist to touch during the day. Tom digs the trench for the irrigation while digging the beds. The sprinklers are strategically placed so that they water all areas of the beds. There are 2 sprinklers per section. To be able to save water, every section of the sprinklers has their individual tap so that we can adjust the amount of water used for that section and turn it off if not needed.
We have had extremely warm weather for this time of the year, with temperatures going up to 35C. We had a slightly cooler period for a few days, but predictions are for mid 30’s again this week, so we will have to keep a close eye on lettuces, rockets and corianders as they are prone to bolt when it gets too hot.
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- The produce is starting to take off!
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- Looking good!
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- Tree row, slower growing
