Yesterday’s special weather advisory about a bunch of rain turning into a bunch of snow left us with this 7 a.m. scene. Wet, mushy ground covered by heavy, wet snow. Neither rain nor snow were particularly intense, just…wet. It won’t last long.
2024 from the start
All the posts from 2024, in Jan to Dec order…
Grass is greener
Yep, the grass is definitely getting greener! It’s the planetary order of things, formerly known as seasons… In the back of my mind, I have this cartoon thought-picture of massive gears slowly turning, an unstoppable, unyielding world machine. That’s what operates above the surface noise of our crazy day-to-day weather. It’s the Earth orbiting, the Sun’s angle changing to bring more or less light and heat, the totality of plants, insects, animals, fungi, bacteria, all of it intertwined, adjusting and adapting to the conditions as best as they can. One big moving picture that we’re part of but overall don’t in the least bit control. Some things are in our control, and others are not. Kind of soothing when you lean into it!
Pepper’s eye view
Here’s what the tiny sweet pepper plants would be seeing if they saw like we do, from under the fluorescent tubes in one of the light racks. It has a bit of an alien spacecraft hovering feel. The seedlings would be more pleased with the zillion times stronger real sun, but considering that it still drops down to freezing outside at night, they have to make do with weak substitute sun and indoor warmth as they get an early start on the growing season. These peppers are about a month old, still with only their seed leaves. Welcome to this season’s tiny farming transplant production!
Tomatoes a month in
Tomato check-in, around a month after germination. On the left, the pair of plain, generic-looking seed leaves that come first—they’re still stuck together at the tip by a tiny bit of the seed shell. On the right, the true tomato leaves are taking over. See the tomato grow! :)
Lettuce under lights
The first round of lettuce, five days from germination, under the lights. I could have started them earlier: two weeks, three, four? It all depends on the weather, when it seems right to transplant, and when you’re hoping for the first harvest. This year, hopefully young harvestable lettuce is ready by late June, so if I can plant them out in mid-May, great! Some years, I’ve started lettuce as early as February, for planting in April in an unheated hoophouse. This time around, it’s straight to the open field. We’ll see how it works out!
Critical garden gear!
As important as any tool around here, the battery for the electric fence is absolutely critical: for several years now, it’s powered the first and last line of defense against…deer! As of last season, and the addition of a low-strung line only a few inches above the ground, it also gives a little jolt to the groundhogs that suddenly appeared in force. Without the e-fence, the market garden would eventually be munched into oblivion. Along with keeping the battery charged and checking that the fence line hasn’t gone down or gotten overrun by weeds, there’s also looking daily for animal tracks and signs of snacking. Doing the inspection rounds first thing every day is mix of low-level stress, anticipation of the worst, and general excitement, until it checks out as all-clear. Which, thankfully, is almost all of the time!
Buds on the trees
The birds and the bees and the buds on the trees… Gazing around the grey outdoors on this drizzly day. I know little about the ways of trees, so I’m not sure whether the buds are early, or late, or just when they’re supposed to be. What I do know is…there they are!