Thursday 9 May 2019


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