Some Nova Scotia veggies ready for harvest
Hankering for some hodgepodge?
You'll soon be in luck.
New potatoes, carrots and peas are being harvested now, says Horticulture Nova Scotia president Josh Oulton.
"I think we're just waiting on the beans."
They're all part of a vegetable crop that is coming along nicely despite the late, wet spring this year, Oulton says.
"We seem to be getting on track," he said. "Some farmers are pulling baby carrots and bunch beets, and I think there are peas available too. It's all coming."
He dug some new potatoes from his own crop at TapRoot Farms in Port Williams two nights ago for supper.
"They were amazing. The difference between a potato harvested last September and five minutes before (cooking) is quite amazing. You can forget how good potatoes are this time of year."
Oulton said in driving around looking at crops and talking to other farmers, there are no signs or word of losses caused by late snow on the fields and the wet ground in April.
"It's just that it took so long to complete the task. Things were slow getting in the ground, and then it was a slow process to get them started, but now everything is going well."
He said there have been good cycles of rain and heat the past month or so, providing the inch or so of rain per week that most crops need. But he expects some farmers will start irrigating because the wet ground from the spring is more compacted, so the roots of plants may have more trouble penetrating the soil as it dries out and bakes hard.