I may be slacking, but the seedlings aren't

Exciting times here around the farm! Unfortunately, the Farm Dog is too exhausted from being tricked by squirrels to blog, and now we're behind over here. So without further ado, a brief update of how things are growing by area...


The back garden, called the triangle
Garlic is up and tall! So are the shallots, green onions, and garlic chives. Peas, chard, and spinach were experimentally direct seeded REALLY early because of the early spring, but they just came up and are looking great!
These photos were taken about a week apart. In the last one, from 4/22, you can see the cauliflower, broccoli, and beet seedlings in trays in the foreground. Radish, lettuce, and onions (below ground) planted out next to the garlic. Plus, the richer dirt where compost was added.

The seedlings! Of course, this has been the most exciting part. I was a little slow in getting heat to the summer seeds, so the sprouting was not ideal. As you can see early on, things progressed evenly. But very quickly, an overachiever emerged... Luckily, by the time that zucchini lost its mind, the cold weather seedlings were ready to check out life outside the house, so the zucchini has ventured out as well. Otherwise, the grow lights are just too far away from the tomatoes...

More room for the tomatoes now that the cold weather seedlings live outside 24/7...

Speaking of grow lights, WOW are they great! The last couple of years I have started my seeds in a sunny window, and the difference in growth is just amazing. Hopefully this will also avoid the two week halt in growth that has typically happened while the plants figure out what exactly they were thinking growing so tall once the wind arrives...

So that about sums it up.

More to come on a few riveting topics including:
1) How I listened to the wrong hay/straw guy and am now forced to hang all my hopes on a weird little bag of corn gluten meal.
2) Massive Flea Beetle Infestation, and how [I hope] the farm gets saved by insecticidal soap
3) The Very Exciting reused lumber effort to make the raised beds. And...the hilarity that ensued once we made what we drew up on the plans. [Teaser: Veggies do not require bathtub-sized raised beds to grow.]

So Long, Farewell

Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye...

After just over a year of farming and blogging, I'm hanging up my hat. Turns out that a small family of cocker spaniel-sized woodchucks got the best of my farm, and me. Thanks to all of you--friends, family members, and a surprising number of strangers--for reading about all my (mis)adventures along the way, and for offering up advice, encouragement, and good-natured heckling on a regular basis.

Instead of ending with a photo of the carnage, death, and destruction on the Farm (the family came back for seconds, and thirds, etc., until all that's left are stems), I'll end with what may be the last harvest--a very tiny portion of the strawberries, protected from the woodchuck feast by some especially prickly wire fencing, and picked fresh this morning.

Updates from (and about) the Farm

Well folks, there's been some news. Aside from the fact that the farm is growing (like) weeds faster than anyone can imagine, it turns out the Farm is actually for sale. More specifically, the consumers' house is for sale, and along with it, the farmland. The blog may focus more on my plans to release small rodents into the consumers' house and undo the work of Jim the Critter-Gitter, just at the moment they try to show the house... Okay, seriously. I'll still update the blog until the farm is sold, and I'm still going to do some planting. But the big stuff (tomatoes especially) will find other homes. As you can imagine, I have many Feelings about this situation, but mostly I'm excited for the consumers to get central heat so I can visit them in the winter.

And without further ado, because I have got to get some work done today, here's a whole host of updated photos, including (!!) the salad stuff for my dinner tonight. Last year at this time, we hadn't even had the idea for the Farm yet, and this year dinner is already grown. Amazing.

Peas

Dinner

Broccoli

Chard

The Oak Leaf Head Lettuce, and a few carrots I thought hadn't germinated. Really? I couldn't get those things to grow last year no matter what I tried, and now, NOW, they want to grow in the lettuce. Nice.

Spinach

Strawberry with first blush

More berries

Green beans in one row and a row of surprise seeds for H.


And now for the awesome green onion flowers...

An Important Announcement

Hard to believe there is an important Farm Announcement on a day where the 8am temp was -24F, windchill -40, but there is.

The Farm is making a reappearance next year! As you can imagine, the Farmer is ecstatic about this news. And the Farm Dog is looking forward to lounging in the sun, or at least she will once she remembers what warm weather feels like. As a break from work, I think I'm going to review last year's crop choices and production and start thinking about changes to make for next year. The Farm Consumers have already put in a request for more green beans, and I couldn't agree more. Lots of exciting changes to make, so stay tuned. Seed catalogs have already been ordered, and I've begun consulting the Farmers' and City Folk Almanac.

I'm so happy about all of this that I'm going to post the kind of picture I despise seeing on all the other gardening blogs I read--the Snow Covered Garden Picture. Ugh! This will be the only one though, I promise.

(What kind of farmer leaves the cages and stakes on the Farm. Really, Farmer. Really.)

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: -4F
Yesterday's low: -16F
Warnings: We haven't been above zero since Monday. No, really.