Hello Everyone:
Time goes by too quickly. There is so much to write about I don’t know
where to start.
The nursery seems to have stabilised. I lost most celeriac, onions and leeks in the
early spring to damping off, probably from running the nursery a little too
cool. The first celery, parsley, and
lettuces did not do well either but their replacements are on the way and starting
to harden off.
The other crops – tomatoes, peppers, chard, kale, and
kohlrabi are growing well.
Out in the field of the Stittsville farm, the garlic is
back to my usual emergence rate of 98 to 99 per cent. The snow peas were a sown a week later than I
wanted to due to the field being too wet.
The sorrel is very patchy and does not seem to have self seeded very
well.
I’m very glad that I took the time to aerate the new
portion of field last fall as I assume that has allowed the water percolate
deep into the soil and allow the beds to dry uniformly. This time last year, this same location had standing
water on the surface.
The main portion of the growing field is cultivated and
soon ready for the seeds and transplants.
The Lanark farm is where most of my efforts are focussed
right now.
The melting snow revealed a great mess of winter debris
– a season’s worth of work has thawed out.
The herbs look like they have plenty of potential, but it seems that
some fall preparation was missed; none of the plants were mulched.
The brush along the electric fence needed a lot of
trimming back, the tool shed a complete re-organising, and livestock hutches a though
cleaning out.
Old equipment from the previous farm here, inventoried
back in the winter, is now being set out and examined closely. There is hundreds of feet of hose – some useful,
some requiring repair, and some not meeting our needs. All the buckets and containers are getting a sterilising. Fencing for the livestock is going up and
plots of ground are being surveyed.
June is going to be busier, with the arrival of chicks,
pigs, mushrooms and seed potatoes.
I haven’t seen much activity in the asparagus bed, but
the rhubarb is growing very well. The
number of plants that have come up are much more than I recall being told
about. There will be no shortage of this
crop.
There will be more news and photos to follow...
Bob