Farm School Fall Series Week Twelve

Farm School is a busy place this autumn.
It was a gorgeous day for workin' outside.

The garden is overflowing with gifts.

These beets will soon be ready for harvest.

Lynn's vigilance with his frequent "worm roundup" is paying off.

Can't wait!

Broccoli is coming along quickly.

This fresh head will be picked for a customer today.

The cucumber seeds we planted a couple of weeks ago are showing themselves.

Did you know cucumber could be grown this time of year?

I sure didn't.

Sugar snap peas in all their glory are growing in a few areas,

with more slated for the other part of the garden

where tomatoes now reside.

I love planting this stuff!

Wish you could taste how juicy and sweet these babies are. 

The tomatoes are suffering from some problems,

as can be seen here on the lower portion of the plants.

They're bearing fruit and so far, the birds haven't found them.

These delicious morsels are so succulent, sweet and have very low acid.

I love making tomato and mayo sandwiches with 'em.

The Romas seem to be faring better.

They do not seem to be plagued with the same problems found on the Celebrity crops.

And are they loaded!

These two rows of Romas were planted on the same day,

but you'll notice the one on the left is taller and more vigorous.

Lynn thinks it's because they are in 25-gallon pots,

while the ones on the right are in 20-gallon.

We were able to take a few starfruit home with us.

The lettuce has been divine!

It's doing well, even when the temps climbed over the past two weeks.

Plenty more seedlings are being pampered for future harvest.

The leeks are getting some size on them now.

The New Zealand spinach is starting to explode!

Our major task for today was to plant onion sets.

Lynn uses these two tools to do the job efficiently.

He's measured out a line on the metal poker (where his thumb is)
where he wants the onions to be under the soil.
The extra-long tweezers aid in getting them right where he wants them.

He inserts the poker in the center of the pot and moves it around just enough

to enable the sets to fit right in there.

He bought these lovelies at Doty's, our local feed store,

which we featured on the blog a while back.

The root end goes down.

Starting with the center hole, each pot is planted.

Then Lynn makes successive holes around the starting point,

2 inches apart.

We used a beet stem to mark the starting point.

This task requires mindfulness so that only one set is planted per hole.

It's easy to lose one's place while completing this activity.

You can see how handy the tweezers come in when you need to get down 7 inches.

It really pays to have the right tools.

Here's how the pot looks when all the sets are in.

I really should be paying an entrance fee to have this much fun.

Can't wait to see how these beauties look when they come up!

No need to cover 'em with soil,

Lynn just gives them a spray with the hose and they are good to go.

They won't be watered again until the crops pop up through the soil.

We also seeded some kohlrabi to supplement the crops already started.

It does well in the cooler months.

The garden is buzzin' with excitement.
I feel so blessed to be a part of it all.

Our three-season series on Farm School starts here.



Remember to check in with Sue, who's been tagged "IT" today for our
Christmas Cookie Tag Series.