Puttin' in the peas

On Presidents day it was decided that to commemorate the past great leaders of our nation that peas would be planted. This is the process for spring planting.

Spread compost on the beds.


Then you get the rototiller out and mix it all up. The worms make this out to be a dance of some sort!




Then the beds needed to be hilled up on both sides. This allows a bed that will dry up a bit and warm up for the peas to grow better in.



Then you sow the seeds with a seeder. Ours is made by Earthway. Its all a mystical process and the peas refused to allow their photos to be taken while in the naked state. They assured me that they earnestly want to do their best and spooking them with a camera would not help.
And then you cover the beds with a spun fiber cloth, ours is Agribon, to protect them from the marauding crows and the frosts that hit when you least expect.

And you wait, and wait, and wait. Its been two weeks now and they are not out of the ground yet. I have faith though. It got a bit colder and it rained. They want warm and dry weather to get going. I peeked in on one seed and there is a radical forming. They just need the humans to be patient.

Getting ready for the growth

The day I got here I started to fill plug trays with soil mix in anticipation of spring growth.
Here is the "filling station".

Once I sat calmly to fill each little square with one seed, I load them up in "the console". This is a table with a covering of plastic which lives inside the greenhouse. It is heated from below with space heaters to keep the soil and air warm. I put plastic over the console to keep the precious warmth in a smaller area than the whole greenhouse.

Some of the plug flats are started in the hot sand console. A very squat greenhouse filled with sand and resistance cable to warm the sand and thus the soil in the flats. This is a very effective way to start the flats without heating a whole greenhouse.


Then they pop right out of their trays and start growing.



And then they need to be watered.


Carrots Overwinter

We had an apprentice applicant out to the farm a few weeks ago to check us out and we decided to dig up the rest of the carrots that were in the ground from last fall. We have them in the fridge now, safe and cozy.