This week at Farm School,
things were fast and furious.
Each undertaking is a lesson in mindfulness,
prodding me toward focus and bliss.
Our check on the garden found it full, lush
and enjoying the past week's weather.
A sea of lettuce is a tempting sight.
The kale is sprouting new growth and just keeps going...
These eggplant are healthy and doing very well, thank you.
They will soon be caged.
Get the skillet ready, it won't be long!
Lynn spied a leaf rolled over like this and immediately knew,
trouble wasn't far away.
Yup, he found this worm in that tiny next leaf over
and it was duly dismissed.
Ya gotta wake up pretty early in the mornin',
to fool this farmer!
One of our tasks today was to transplant these lovely
Sweet Millions (tomatoes) into bigger pots.
They are just about hoppin' out of their containers.
As you can see, they aren't waiting for their new homes,
and have already started to bear fruit.
Isn't that just amazing? It always floors me!
We used the coring technique to put these babies in.
We first showed you how to do this here.
Lynn plants his tomatoes deep.
As you can see here, this particular transplant
has even outgrown the depth of the coring pipe.
The pipe leaves a tidy hole in which to place the seedling.
The entire stem up to the first leaves will be planted.
Because this stem was so long,
this plant may not be as strong as others
which have been buried deeper.
It won't affect the taste one bit!
Task one-complete!
This variety of cherry tomato is one of the few crops
that can grow in our summer heat and humidity.
And are they a welcome taste of freshness!
We also had these luscious eggplant to transplant.
They're just screamin' for more room!
We aim to please.
We've showed this planting technique before.
Lynn grows one eggplant per pot.
The nail is placed in the center of the liner hole.
We dig around the nail.
The little gem is gingerly placed in the hole
just below the top of the soil.
The leaves are gathered,
then guided through that center hole.
The liner is secured with stainless steel nails,
and she's ready to take off!
One thing I realized today is that
it's much easier for me to identify crops on sight.
That really ices my cupcake.
I don't know about you,
but I'm gonna stock up on some parmesan cheese and homemade gravy!
We planted a third row of scallions as well.
This is a real hoot!
Here's how it's done on The Hill.
Here's what the first two rows look like now.
They'll be ready for harvest in about another 2 weeks.
Hot dog!
Lynn's trying a little experiment with the papaya plants.
They are a hermaphroditic.
He's identified and separated the males.
The flowers will be removed whenever they form
so we can see if it develops into a female plant.
He comes up with these things all the time.
There's always something new to learn.
A cascade of color...
It was a productive and fruitful day.
Having witnessed our efforts
manifest from seed to table
is by far one of the most rewarding experiences
this farmer-in-training has ever had.
See ya next time on The Hill.
Wanna see how Farm School got started?
Read this.
Daisy, looks like the Farm is off to a good year's start. Aren't you going to miss the farm when you move? There's so much activity happening there. Will you use the same pot techniques when to get a place of your own?
ReplyDeleteI'm getting the itch to be outside digging in the dirt as well but here in Nebraska, the garden is still frozen solid. No outside work for at least another three to four weeks. I'm hoping to get the composter cranked up by mid March. The pile of yard waste from last fall needs to be finished off with the barrel composter. A friend donated the composter to my gardening endeavor and it will hold about 20 gallons of composting material at a time. I try to collect a big pile of yard waste in the fall and finished it off in the Spring. A couple batches of compost in the Spring is a great way to get things started.
I'm trying a new experiment this year by growing plants in five gallon buckets. It's not that my soil is lacking but the growing method is a self watering one that will work well with my already in place rain water collection system. My rain water collection system holds about 400 gallons of water when full. Two inches of Spring rain will fill the tank. It is shocking just how much water can be collected from one house roof. I really didn't have to water much with city water last year.
Have a great Spring garden day.
I will SO miss the farm and especially the farmers!
DeleteI hope you have a good time readying your garden!
It was so much fun looking at all of your digging in the dirt pictures! Lots of activity going on at the farm, wow! Just so nice to see green when we are still covered in snow and ice. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI hope this holds you over until spring shows itself where you are! ;0)
DeleteAll this green just looks so mouthwatering! I found it interesting how he plants the tomatoes so deep. I'll have to keep that in mind for this year's garden!
ReplyDeleteIt really does make the plants stronger and you just can't deny the taste! His tomatoes are the best I've ever eaten.
DeleteMy goodness - always something to learn during farm school!! Oh how I can't wait for the first cherry tomatoes here - only 4 more months!! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThey will be worth the wait!
DeleteThank you! I like following your farm school series. So much to learn! I see what ices your cupcake now. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou know it! ;0D
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