Hand tools
The quick hand tool reorganization in May has worked out well, with everything staying sorted and easy to find. Oddly this year, the hand tools themselves seem to be getting less of a workout than in the past. It only … Read the rest
Tools
Equipment for large-scale agriculture is too big or too expensive, and many home gardening tools don’t work efficiently on larger jobs or break easily. Tiny farming on plots up to two or three acres requires its own special gear…
Row cover mystery
Odd bits of strange, unexplained phenomena turn up in the field from time to time, nothing to get overly excited about, but definitely weird stuff, like this case of mysteriously removed row cover. Earlier in the day, I noticed the … Read the rest
More on the carrot-burlap method
From the last carrot planting of the year, a new development in the burlap method! The variety is Nelson, and germination in less than a week was so vigorous, the seedlings came right up through the fabric, where in all … Read the rest
Making stakes
In the building and fixing department, there’s always a queue. Jobs are usually one of three degrees of urgency: Right Away (fix it or we can’t go on!), It Would Be Really Good To Have This Done Soon, and When … Read the rest
Pounding stakes
Jo pounds in wooden stakes for a somewhat catch-up version of tomato staking. I think of it as the Modified Sprawl. There are about 600 plants, with maybe 250 in home-style tomato cages. The rest are so far on their … Read the rest
Burlap method strikes again!
The carrots-under-burlap germination method is now 3 for 4, with this fine performance: solid rows and almost no weeds! The third attempt failed miserably with three different varieties, mainly due to underwatering (the extra drying effect of a very windy … Read the rest
Water work
We’ve been watering heavily (well, as heavily as our gear allows) for what seems like weeks. Rain has been teasing us, 5mm a few days ago after an impressive, all-day cloud build-up; last night, 2mm following a brilliant extended lightning … Read the rest