Tiny farming: Veggies
Beets and competition
In the real world of this organic field, it’s not all close-up beauty shots of picture-perfect seedlings growing into pristine vegetables all in a row. Competition is the order of the day. Here, a couple of beet seedlings are surrounded by grass, dandelion, and round-leaf mallow (peeking out from behind the grass in the top right corner). It’s a motley assortment of weeds competing for water, food and even the sun (observe the grass shading out the baby beets). It can be a pitched battle out there when you don’t exactly want Nature to take its course!
Grass…
Grass is the worst weed, once it takes hold. It depends on the bed, what was in before, and how well it was cleaned up. The runners take off all over the place, and simply chopping off the blades is no guarantee that it’s gone. Pulling up longer runners works, but that can also dislodge tiny seedlings, and is incredibly time-consuming, labor-intensive. Oh well…
Parsley and sage
Curly and flat-leaf parsley and some sage in the greenhouse.
Early lettuce expands
Lettuce started indoors weeks ago, transplanted to the unheated greenhouse (hot days, cold nights), and now finally kicking in with expansive growth. It’s Simpson Elite upfront, Granada (red) and Sierra in the middle, and Two Stars in back (and Optima just out of sight).
Thin green lines
Notice those lovely, hazy green lines. The first signs of direct seeded crops is always on your mind. You can’t cultivate the soil for weeds until you know where your veggies are. If germination is slow—because of cool weather, dry conditions, or both—the weeds can easily get ahead of you before you’ve seen anything at all.
