Here We Go Again (Hot Weather)

It looks like the weather is about to continue being strange.  After a week of incessant and destructive winds, Accuweather is calling for 80's or greater this weekend, with a warmer long-range forecast through the beginning of May.  While I can't say this is horrible from the standpoint that I don't have to heat anything, I just know that somewhere in there will be another cold snap, so it's way too early to set anything outside.  Which is a problem because the starter house is getting really crowded.  My idea to start some warm weather crops about two weeks ago during the last warm spell is coming back to haunt me.  I have about eight flats of zucchini that are now begging to be transplanted, and I don't really have anywhere for them to go yet.  So I'm popping them into coco pots and setting them into nutrient to hold them over until I can get some buckets together and build a drip irrigated system for them.  Same goes for the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.

The other problem is the dry weather.  I have about 2,000 cabbages and 1,000 broccoli that were supposed to go out to the farm soon but it has been so dry I don't think they would survive.  There is very little rain the forecast too.  We still don't have irrigation out there, and might not now since the cost of the irrigation system would be similar to putting 1/4 of the plants into a hydroponic system.  And judging by the results so far, I'm willing to bet 1/4 of the plants would make the same amount of produce.  It makes winter squash and watermelons a bit of a challenge because only so many arise on each plant, unlike cucumbers and zucchini, tomatoes and peppers which seem to produce like crazy. 

A new hydroponic nutrient mix is here and went into the systems today for the first time.  It's much cheaper than anything sold retail and it has the ability to be tailored to the needs of different crops by varying the amount of CaNO3 added to the mix.  Found a new supplier for our net pots that will make buying them in bulk about 75% less expensive.  Really streamlining the hydroponics end of things, and with a few systems on order from customers, things are looking good.

Indigo Rose tomatoes are pictured below.  This is a new release from Oregon State University, and is a dark purple tomato high in antioxidants.   If the color of the seedlings is any indication, I think this one is going to be interesting.