Well, we blew by the 1st day of spring and surprise, it still looks & feels like winter! Though it's hard to ignore the oodles of snow on the ground, we can at least appreciate the longer days and warming of the sun.
Our weekend was spent tending to plants, seeding trays of flowers, and beginning to prep the first high tunnel for planting. This meant measuring, staking, and shoveling walkways to create raised beds. Though labor intensive, we've found the added benefits of looser/deeper soil for root crops, better drainage, and soil warming quicker is worth it.
While we have created a nice planting schedule on paper, Mother Nature always has the final word. We watch the weather so closely this time of year and try to shift plans as best we can to accommodate changes. The tunnels give us a lot of wiggle room for dealing with fluctuating weather, but even with heaters we still hope for night temperatures to moderate at least a little bit before planting. We try to heat as minimally as possible to conserve energy resources and avoid exorbitant heating bills. The day temps aren't as crucial because it doesn't take much for the tunnels to heat up when the sun is shining.
We can push back planting a little bit to wait for warmer temps, but the plants get impatient! We have to start seeds weeks, if not months, ahead of time for them to be ready to transplant. If our planned schedule gets off course too much the ideal planting window is passed. This means the seedlings become more stressed in their small pots and take longer to recover after transplanting.
The lettuce, kale, broccoli, kohlrabi, and chard is all looking great and sizing up nicely to be ready to transplant. In the background are trays filled with of thousands of baby herbs and flowers.
Farm Fresh Eggs are available for ordering with pick up on Wednesday, 11-2pm.
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