Wheel hoe vs weeds
A tool in its element! Wheel hoes are great, and this particular one* is fantastic. Unchecked, you can see what weeds get up to given a week or two. This stretch of dirt was protected under the edge of the … Read the rest
Fieldwork
Potato spotting
When you spend a lot of time scanning the ground for the very first sign of germination, you get pretty good at spotting new seedlings as they emerge. This new potato plant is easy, it’s quite large, with a rosette … Read the rest
Seeding potatoes
Place seed potatoes in a hand-dug trench at about 12″ spacing. Cover with a couple of inches of soil. Wait for stems to grow a few inches. Start hilling: pile on soil to bury the stems so there’s more underground … Read the rest
Thin white lines
Two lines of electric fence rope, one for deer, one for groundhogs, running through the so-very-healthy grass, perfectly illustrates the nature of the war on weeds. Maybe I should use less militaristic terms, but that’s what comes naturally—guess it’s my … Read the rest
Zukes in the field
Zucchini, transplanted into the field a couple of weeks ago, don’t seem to be doing much so far. Don’t be fooled! Once they get settled—I imagine a lot of root action, spreading wide and down—they will explode. Pop! They’ve been … Read the rest
Spinach in the field
Yay, spinach! Seeing direct seeded crops germinate is one of the most satisfying things in the field. Here, it’s spinach, Reflect variety, seeded a few days ago, coming up nicely. In general, seeds do germinate, that’s a good starting point. … Read the rest
A day in the sun
I’ve been hardening off trays of seedlings over the last few days, a few at a time, taking them out from the under the lights. Today, they were all outdoors, some for their first taste of the sun. It’s a … Read the rest