Farm School Summer Series-Week Seven

Think it's too hot to farm?

Not around here.

Farm School rocks on through the summer heat.

The fall crops are being started and transplants 

will be moved to their permanent homes.

 The okra hasn't been fairing well.

Each season is different,

and from year to year crops have various succession rates.

 Rather than try to nurse these along,

Lynn decided to pull them out of the pots and start over.

With one tug, he lifts the tall stem out of the dirt 

and shakes it right in the pot,

leaving the soil neatly in place under the plastic ring 

for the next planting.

Can't get much easier than that!

Here's some okra planted a bit later.

Lookin' good.

Although at this stage, 

the okra is being bothered by something,

by the time it reaches this size, the bugs are no longer an issue.

Lynn thinks it's the texture of the leaves that repel them,

not necessarily the taste that changes.

I'm so happy that the beans are lookin' mighty fine.

These have been planted in a shady area.

 I've been taking these home for a couple of weeks now.

We are all surprised at the production, 

considering the weather conditions.

So tender, so yummy.

Basil not started long ago is growing strong.

The edamame is harvested for seed when it gets to looking like this.
Keep in mind, everything planted here is non-GMO.

When harvested fresh, it's an excellent addition to salads.

 One of the tasks for today was to transplant some of these stray 

New Zealand spinach plants.

They popped up in these pots,

and Lynn wants to give them their own space to flourish.

First, the receiving pot is prepared 

by scratching up the soil a few inches deep.

This claw-like device does the trick quickly.

Then the hole is dug using this method.

The transplant is gingerly placed in the prepared hole.

The top of the plant should be just above the surrounding surface.

One smart trick is placing the brick 

on the newly transplanted crops upright,

so he can distinguish them from the pots 

which were directly sown.

This will help provide valuable information for future planting. 

Some lil' guys might need a bit of support.

Lynn uses straight metal rods 

and wraps wire around the stem ever so gently.

Here's just a small portion of seed harvested 

from a past NZ spinach crop.

We also sowed two kinds of lettuces.

This time, three seeds were placed in each cell.

Somethin's bound to come up!

These will be covered with a clear top

and placed in sun for a portion of the day.

The banana tree is making progress since last week.

 Yeah, things are heatin' up in the garden alright!

A few steps closer to the fall harvest.

It never ends, this quest.

And in the end,

it's all worth it.

Enjoy the journey.

You can read all about the beginning of Farm School here.