Most of the seedlings are in the greenhouse now. The next couple of nights forecast for rather unseasonable 32°F (0°C) lows means going for the emergency heating measures!
seedlings
To the greenhouse
Tomato, eggplant and pepper seedlings heading out from the Milkhouse (seedling room) to the unheated hoophouse for some real sunlight and a taste of the harsher field conditions, before transplant time in a couple of weeks. The small riding mower does double duty, mowing the paths and ferrying around seedlings, tools, harvests.
Compost tea
Here’s something easy that could come as a kit: a compost tea maker. One 55-gallon barrel, one strong, porous bag (this one’s a woven plastic grain sack) full of compost, some heavy twine, a strong stick, and water. Tie the sack to the stick, place the stick across the top of the barrel so that the sack is suspended, and add water. In a couple of days, a natural, healthy snack for selected seedlings. Apply by watering can.
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). We call them weeds when we don’t want them to be there, yet they’re the ones perfectly suited to the conditions and able to grow fast. It can be a pitched battle when you’re not rooting for Nature to take its course!
Hundreds of seedlings
Some of over a thousand little tomatoes, eggplant and peppers living it up, warm, well-watered and basking under the fluorescent light, in the comfort of the seedling room. Fluorescents as a plant light source don’t hold a candle to the Sun, but in the cold of early Spring, they do the trick.