The Maple Hill Hop 139

Welcome to 

The Maple Hill Hop.

This is a hop for folks who love the outdoors.

Feel free to post about anything that's going on

OUTSIDE

in your neck of the woods,
no matter the season.

(Please share only outdoor posts.)

*Grab the button above to link back to Maple Hill 101.*

Today we pay another visit to 
Farm School
to see what we've been up to 
on our weekend visits to The Hill.

Last week, we showed you how we worked on sowing
two new crops.
One was pigeon peas,
and the other was Malabar Spinach.
These pots represent some of the hundreds of seeds planted
in anticipation of this addition to the garden.

While germination was good at almost 90%,
we reseeded where a few hadn't come up in the pots.
Since we aren't familiar with this particular crop,
we hedged our bets and decided to reseed every single spot that hadn't come up.

Any small seeds sown are planted using tweezers,
to ensure seed depth is consistent.

I'd be willing to bet that these 15 or so seeds we replanted on Sunday,
come up readily by the end of the week.
What a blast getting to try a new crop.



We also tackled the job of transplanting
a couple of varieties of lettuce to larger pots.
Lynn is working on getting lettuce to grow year-round.
It's a daunting task, considering our high heat and humidity all summer long.
We're presently working on a new variety 
that is said to be able to withstand our harsh conditions.
We hope to have an update on that in the next few weeks.

Our final garden chore of the morning 
was to transplant these lemongrass cuttings into pots.
I have a couple of these plants in my garden at home and absolutely love 'em!
They grow like weeds, have no bug trouble,
and smell fantastic when they get clipped.
I often trim some and leave them on the grass 
just before Big K cuts the lawn.
Aromatherapy in a big way!

lemongrass in our garden

This lil' guy was busy wetting his whistle
while we were occupied with potting up the cuttings.

I'll bet that's some mighty good lemongrass tea he's gettin'.
So many wonders of nature surround us
as we do our work.

Some of the orchids here are savoring the summer weather.
They sure look a lot better than I do
after a full day in the heat!

That's what we've been up to.
What's happening where you are?
HOP to it!

  

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