• Starting to See Green

    No, not outside yet. Though the highs this week in the 30’s & 40’s will sure be a welcome change from the frigid temps we’ve had. The green I see is in the form of baby onions. The flats planted in February have sprouted and are starting to stretch their legs. They will have several “hair cuts” before they get planted out in early May. This keeps them controllable when raised indoors & under lights & also helps build up stocky leaves.

    Things are still moving pretty slow around here yet. In two weeks we’ll start our tomatoes & peppers under lights and then in April will be more planting of seedlings like cabbage, kohlrabi, lots of herbs like chives, mint & parsley and even seeding the hoop house for summer production.

    For now, I’ll just enjoy the slower time, while planning out the Summer’s work. Oh don’t get me wrong, there’s not a lot sitting around here…oil needs to be changed on all the engines we use, knives sharpened, tools readied, but ya we’re itchin’ for Spring and ready to play in the dirt.

    Onion Seedlings

  • It Smells Like Dirt

    Onion Trays

    This weekend I got to play in dirt for the first time in a long time. We start all our own seedlings, this way we can control the variety we grow, what they’re grown in (organic seed starter) and how they’re started. We don’t have a greenhouse (yet), but what we use is the walkin cooler. I bring a heater in there, attached to a thermometer, and shelves with lights that are on a timer. It’s not perfect, but it works well enough for now.

    Onions were what I started this weekend – we’re doing them a little different this year too. Instead of just sowing them in flats, we’re planting about 5 seeds per plug & then the whole plug will be transplanted. It took a little more work on the seeding end, but transplanting should go quicker now.

    After I moved all the planted trays up to the cooler, with the heater on, it was a balmy 75 degrees in there…and it smelled like dirt.

    Onion Trays