Tonopah Rob's Vegetable Farm

Well well well, summer is now truly over and our Arizona version of fall is here. There will be a posting soon telling the specific date and what I’m likely to have on offer for my grand re-opening in November. For today though, an update how things are going round here.

We’ll start with the photo above. This plot is my east forty and on the far left I have my lettuce mix coming on strong in bright green. The wide dark green column to its right is heirloom spinach, on the right of the spinach is a strip of Swiss chard. Next to the Swiss chard I have a narrow row of combined Osaka purple mustard and green wave mustard, and finally on the far right and a bit out of the photo is my spicy Tonopah salad mix consisting of collard greens, turnips greens, arugula, and my secret Tonopah lettuce mix.

In the south forty I am furiously battling weeds. I swear, if it’s not a pest it’s weeds. Where the beets used to be and the ground was turned over for replanting, the weeds are winning. At least we are making headway against the weeds that are trying to choke out the carrots and it looks like we might win that fight. Over in the okra plot I have already harvested more than 15 pounds of tender okra and the plants are nearing four foot tall while the zinnias are even taller than that.

My first planting of tomatoes looked shaky and so it seemed appropriate to do a second planting – good thing, those first plants just never really went anywhere while the other plot is doing fine. The broccoli and cauliflower are both looking fantastic. Started to get nervous about some of my garlic but after some deep watering the sides of the plot are finally sprouting garlic, the center column had sprouted two weeks earlier – who can be certain how this thing called mother nature really works?

I’ve got potatoes in the ground, the green beans are nearly mature – I could easily pick them now for a meal of savory beans but will not indulge myself as I save them for the market opening. Onions are everywhere and the peppers are holding on. All the dates are long out of the trees, bagged up, and in cold storage waiting for that special Saturday. And just because I haven’t mentioned them, don’t worry, radishes and turnips are looking good. Now lets just hope the weeds stay away and let them sweet little roots grow to maturity. Well that’s about it for this brief update, like I said, keep your eye open for an update soon announcing the re-opening of Tonopah Rob’s Vegetable Farm Stand out here in Tonopah, Arizona, where you will find better than organic locally grown all natural fruits and vegetables.