Dan came over this morning and we started by tilling some beds. He tilled his half, which had some long grass starting to come up, and I tilled a few of my beds that didn't have anything growing in them (yet). I took the chance to destroy most of the grape hyacinths. I don't expect they'll come back up for a while.
Then we carefully screened a long bed and planted it with a mix of spring/micro greens. We tightly seeded chard, spinach, mustards, arugula, carrots and green onions and will be selling this harvest in about two or three weeks. Our plan is to do some experimenting with this bed, trying to sell baby greens throughout the season to local restaurants and at farmers markets. Most "micro greens" consist of these and other varieties, but instead of being grown in the ground, they're grown in flats with special soil. We're seeing if we can grow a comparable product with less investment. The goal is to sell tiny little greens, with a variety of colors, textures and tastes, used for super-fresh salads and garnishes. If they grow big, then they turn into "braising mix", which is generally cooked, being too tough and spicy to eat raw.
While we were doing all this work, Lily stayed busy eating pea shoots and throwing rocks. I told her it's okay to eat only one leaf from the very tallest plants - I hope any stunting will be minor. Then again, we do have 5 beds of peas - far and away the most of any crop.
Finally, I planted the first radishes of the season (I'll be planting them once a month), some more spinach (the batch planted on March 22 look great), the one planting of joi choi, as well as cilantro and parsley. I also planted a little round carrot called parmex, as well as two kinds of purple carrots, which we really enjoyed last year. And finally, I planted four more rows of lettuce - butter, green leafy, red leafy and romaine, right next to the bed I planted identically on March 22. The succession planting begins!
2 comments:
I need to suck up my pride and borrow my neighbor's tiller. I spent the day breaking new ground (turning more lawn into garden) by hand, and my back is killing me.
Are you growing your own transplants (tomatoes, peppers, etc) or buying them somewhere? Just curious. This is my first year starting my own, and I'm wondering if it will be worth the effort. They look so tiny!
I'm a big believer in tillers. I rented one a couple days ago for a two-hour rental which was about $25. It's totally worth the money, and you can till a lot in a short amount of time if you prepare well and work quickly.
If you have a good lighting system, transplants are well worth it. I'll be transplanting some melons and winter squash only. I'm getting my tomatoes from my lot-partner Dan, and he's growing peppers for me. I'm not doing eggplant or broccoli or cauliflower.
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