Garden in transition

Garden in transition

The weather is warm, the days still feel long (although, at 5:00 a.m. for Saturday market, I’m already waking up in the dark)—summer is in full effect, but you know the season’s soon changing because the field is clearing out. Today, I did some tilling, cleaning up before weeds get too established, and preparing for a last seeding of spinach for fall harvest (a gamble, for sure).

In the pic, a couple more passes to the left of the freshly turned strip and we’ll be at the edge of the previous spinach planting, barely visible, seeded about 3 weeks ago. To the left of that, a half-bed of bok choi, delicious and miraculously untouched by flea beetles, at tiny baby stage from seedlings transplanted at the beginning of the month. Beside the bok choi, beds of broccoli and cauliflower, also set out 4 weeks ago, and looking pretty good for harvest in October.

This section was planted out at the start of the season to snap peas, lettuce, and the first spinach. After adding in some of the handy pelletized alfalfa, it gets to go round again!

In the next section (top right of the photo, which is…east), I’ve started tilling in an overgrowth of grass and vetch, where more peas and the first plot of potatoes used to be. That section is done for the year, and may get a protective cover of fall rye, as a green manure to be turned under in spring.

In the market garden, it’s always one thing after another… :)

Making mulch, part 3

The grass and alfalfa mix spread in the greenhouse a few days ago is drying nicely—it’s almost done! It was a tad touch and go at first, the rows in the field were starting to turn black and decompose, and no sun in sight. So I turned it a couple of times a day for the first couple of days, doors wide open on both ends let through lots of air…and things worked out! Seems like a nice mix, with good bulk, not too fine. Then again, my mulch experience is in its early days, so we’ll see. Rough calculation: there should be enough to spread a fluffy 3″ (7.5 cm) over the new garlic plot. This experiment so far: not too labor-intensive, room for easy improvement to the process, seems like it would scale well (for covering larger areas), and RELAXING (some fieldwork is particularly enjoyable)… Grass-and-alfalfa mulch may have a big tiny farm future!

Making mulch, part 2

Working just ahead of more rain, Conall (fighting a cold that’s knocking people out around here—farmers can’t get sick!) and I raked the mini-windrows of grass and alfalfa into little mounds, piled it on the trailer, and dumped it in the greenhouse to finish drying. In the week since it was mowed, there was enough rain here and there to keep it damp, which wasn’t in the plan. Oh, well. A grass catcher for the riding mower would be the time-saving mechanical approach. This was a lot more fun, quite relaxing, a couple of hours well spent. Now, let’s hope it’ll dry, not rot!

Making mulch

Yet another experiment: making mulch from some of the hay that grows alongside the garden. The hay, originally alfalfa and red clover, is dying out, and what’s left is mainly grass and alfalfa, currently around 10″ (25cm) high. I cut it with the riding mower, which instead of scattering the clippings, leaves a convenient tiny windrow. A couple of days drying in this year’s hot October sun, and it should be good to go. I tried thoroughly dried grass clippings as mulch a couple of years ago on a few tomato plants, and it worked out well, so on to a larger scale. This crop will be used on the garlic, to be planted in a month or so. The mower is sadly in need of new blades, so the cut is rough, but it should work out fine.