Whitsend Market Garden

So we have a new development to report...read on for this weeks post...




Folks ask me at this time of year if I am enjoying my time off.

Since the onions were started, I've been at the barn every day, doing the nursery routine.

As with any beyond busy workplace, nothing gets done on time (or at all) without a routine.


First task is to check temperature readings and soil moisture.  Temperature of the barn,  the coldest part of the nursery (bookshelf) and the warmest part (seedling shelves).



The next task is the watering.

Too much water and the seeds drown, too little and they dry out.  So each tray gets a moderate amount every say.  Which means a trip to the barn every day for about fifteen minutes.

A dry seed tray at the wrong time can greatly reduce the germination rate.  With the fan  blowing across the seed bed and the heat coming up from the propagation mats, the soil can dry out within 24 hours.



Some crops are more dependent than others for light to germinate.  As the nursery lights are not nearly as strong as sunlight, some crops need to be sown by pressing them to the soil surface.  This leaves them very vulnerable to drying out.

I use two trays for each seed bed.  The top tray is perforated, allowing the water from the reservoir tray below to wick up.  This ensures that the roots are wet and the rest of the plant is dry, preventing the fungal condition called damping off.

With the temperature and watering routine complete, I can turn to work on nay tasks required for the day.

In this case, checking to see what has started to grow, and estimate what my germination percentage will be.

The onions are appearing.  These should be ready to promote to their cell packs in a week or two, then sent out to the field in another couple of months.

White bulb onions, Sturon variety.

With long season crops like onions, it is really important to make sure that i have enough started on time.

The germination rate of the second tray (the first tray failed for some reason) looks good, but I don't want to take any chances that there won't be enough, as there is very little time left to start another round of onions.  So another tray is prepared.

I believe I mentioned I follow a model of agriculture generally referred to as 'small scale' farming.  You can't get smaller than this!

Chamomile solution is misted onto the soil surface; this is another trick I use to prevent to prevent damping off.

Air circulation also prevents damping off, so I have a fan on in the nursery.  The fan also helps circulate the warmth throughout the nursery interior.  The drawback is that it causes the soil to dry quicker.

Most soil molds are beneficial, so I do not want to suppress all of the fungal activity.  My theory is that by misting the surface, I preserve the molds within the soil; the water wicks up from the reservoir, keeping the chamomile residue at the surface.

Keeping track of which onions are coming up.

The green onions are going to look exactly like the bulb onions for the next few weeks, so each seed bed is marked with type and variety.

I am always amazed that such a big plant comes from such a small seed - and these are huge compared to celery seeds!

The next seeds to plant are the eggplant and the first round of green onions.  These start next week.
Peppers and Tomatoes not long after that...

Everything slows down, time stops.  One seed at a time are rolled out from between thumb and forefinger and fall into the furrows in the tray.  After doing this hundreds of times over the past couple of years, getting the seeds to land right in the furrows is more common than it used to be.

It helps when the barn temperature is only minus two or three.  Even when I squeeze as close to the interior of the nursery as I can, the hands still get very cold when he barn temperature is in the lower teens...this is not a task where I can move around to keep warm.

The routine finishes with the note taking.  
What was planted, how much and how many, what year was the seed and which seed house was it from.

Anything that will help me interpret results later in the season, and plan for the coming seasons.











Speaking of warmth, the ground is appearing!  

We are getting a little closer to re-opening the field.

Still some small building projects to do and a lot of paperwork....

...and still a lot of snow to melt.