The 2024 garden season is off to a tough start at Hickok Farms, but things are improving. We don’t have any hoop tunnels or a greenhouse, and plants are started in our office. The weather in central Wyoming went from 26 degree nights to the high 80s in the period of a few days, and we are now in the nineties.
That sort of extreme winter to summer transition didn’t allow us to plant out until day times were really hot, which shocked some plants. However, we have some serious irrigation challenges behind us, and we are able to give plants deep waterings late in the evening or early in the morning. We may have lost a pepper or two, and maybe the same for a couple tomato plants, but we are seeing 99% of the 5000 square feet of fenced garden we planted and direct sowed doing well.
We are also seeing all of our fenced beans, peas, corn, and barley germinating and growing nicely. Beyond our food production for our family, and the derivative products that we sell, we are looking forward to being able to potentially give friends and neighbors some fresh goods.