This way we have some corn ready to be picked in early July and some corn that's not ready until September. Our goal is to plant once every three days. We plant only a few acres at a time all the way through late June. How do we get a season so long with ripe ears to pick daily? By mid-April we will start planting our sweet corn. Our corn is hand-picked at peak ripeness every morning. But, just because we now grow a LOT of sweet corn, doesn't mean our quality has decreased. After that, well, you can guess what happened! We now grow around 45 acres of sweet corn that supplies our farm and 8 roadside produce stands daily from early July through Labor Day. In 1989, we planted four rows of sweet corn around our house so our family could enjoy fresh sweet corn. For more information on storage tips, click here. The berries we grow are meant to be consumed/processed within 24 hours of picking. We plan our varieties so we have around a three-week harvest period. And some are meant to ripen towards the end of our season, so they tend to be some of the tastiest. Some are meant to be mid-season berries, so they tend to last the longest. Some are meant to be the first ones to ripen, so they tend to be smaller in size. In our fields, we have around 10 different varieties growing that all ripen at different times. That's because in Wisconsin, we grow varieties that are not meant to be shipped across the country, so they really are different! Farmers in the south have a completely different way of growing strawberries (their plants are annuals!), so the size, shape, and texture of our berries are truly unique. We always say that the flavor of our berries is completely different than anything you'll find in the grocery stores. The cover will come off the plants by mid-April so they can start growing for another season of deliciousness! This added layer protects the plants from extremely cold temperatures and mid-winter thaws like we are all used to in Wisconsin winters. By the time the roots are dormant, which normally occurs around late November, we will cover the entire field with a layer of chopped up corn stalks. By August the plants will be back to about their normal height and will continue to grow until the first frost. This helps promote new growth the following season and helps with weed control. The plants are mowed down low to the ground and we will deep till in between the rows. Once the season is finished, we will prepare the field for the next season by completing a renovation process. The first year requires the most work! By the second, third, and fourth year, we will harvest like normal until they are plowed under after the harvest of year four is completed. Since strawberry plants will tend to spread out in every direction, we spend many hours tilling in between the rows to make sure they stay where they need to be. This way by the second year, the plants will be large enough to produce a bountiful harvest. We do this to force the plants to grow larger instead of producing berries. Instead we will go through and cut off all the blossoms before they form berries. We plant a new bed in late April and the plants will grow to produce some berries b y June if we let them. In order to always have enough berries, we will plant new beds every other year. Strawberries are the only crop we grow that is a perennial, which means they keep coming back year after year.
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