watered the seed starts in the front room and the flats of lettuce and other salad greens in the greenhouse
planted outside in field 1 flat (72 plants) of red russian kale and 1 flat gypsy broccoli, and 5 thornless blackberry plants
continued cleaning out trays from last year for reuse this year
started seeds for landis valley plant sale - 146 tomato plants consisting of 7 varieties
left early to deliver meat to the caterer for a fundraising event on saturday
wednesday -
watered front room and greenhouse
moved flats around in the front room to make room for more seed starts
started seeds for landis valley - 320 tomato plants consisting of 17 varieties (all different from tuesday), 40 tomatillo plants consisting of 2 varieties, parsley, genovese basil, bravo cabbage, de cicco broccoli, graffiti cauliflower (purple variety), snow crown cauliflower, red russian, lacinato and vates kales
seed starts to be planted on farm - green wave and red giant mustards, green magic broccoli, violet queen cauliflower (purple broccoli), savoy and bravo cabbages, pac choi and escarole (1 flat each), 157 tomato plants consisting of 20 varieties
thursday -
watered front room and greenhouse
picked, washed and packed greens for fundraising event on saturday
salad mix - consisting of lettuce blend, mesculin mix and baby swiss chard (from greenhouse), baby spinach and baby lacinato kale (from back garden) - 12lbs
red russian kale (from back garden) - 2lbs
savannah mustard greens (from back garden) - just under 8lbs
cut 100lbs of red norland potatoes to be planted next week (we, and most farms, grow potatoes from potatoes, not seed. we buy potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces, about the size of an egg. each piece must have at least one sprout. the seed potatoes are cut several days before planting so the cut sides can dry out a bit making it less likely for them to rot in the field once planted.)
friday -
watered front room and greenhouse
delivered greens from yesterday to caterer
picked, washed and packed 2lbs of arugula from the greenhouse for a different fundraising event on saturday
sprayed the washed trays with bleach to disinfect them for use this year (lots of diseases and fungus can survive in the plastic pots and trays. we do not reuse pots or the 72 cell flats, but we do try to reuse the trays the pots and cells sit in. to help reduce the risk of disease, we wash them out to get rid of any debris (old soil, leaves, etc) and then spray them with bleach and let them dry in the sun.)
the plants that have been growing outside all winter and the plants that have been planted so far this year, are covered with clear plastic to protect them from wind, cold, frost, etc. we hold down the plastic with plastic milk or iced tea jugs that we fill with water. this works fairly well, but if it is really windy or the ground is too uneven for the jugs to rest in place well, it doesn't work. we discussed ways of fixing this problem and for now have decided to tie the jugs together. we'll see how well this works.
we still have an aphid problem in the greenhouse and this is becoming more and more of a problem because i need the space to put the new sprouting seed starts. after cutting everything for the events on saturday, i went through all the flats in the greenhouse. i got rid of the ones that were too infected with bugs. (the chickens got those flats because they like to scratch around in the dirt and peck at the plants.) i sprayed the mildly infected flats with an insecticidal soap (made from plant oils and animal fats, harmless to the plant, people and beneficial insects, like our ladybugs). i moved all the flats that i thought were worth keeping, outside the greenhouse under plastic. i took everything out of the greenhouse that didn't need to be there (fans, extension cords, cardboard, etc), turned off the heat and opened up the door and sides. i am hoping the colder temperatures over the weekend will help kill whatever is left in there.
cut 50 more pounds of red norland potatoes and 50lbs of superior potatoes
that was my week in a nutshell.
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