POTTING SOIL AND WINTER WEEDS

We just completed mixing potting soil and filling all 1,100 trays needed for seeding cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. For our scale of farm, it is most economical to purchase the materials for potting soil in bulk and mix it ourselves. This mix is made up of compost, vermiculite, and inoculant. Compost is the main component and provides the main growing medium. Vermiculite looks like small white pearls of minerals that aerate the soil and increase water and nutrient retention. The inoculant, the smallest component in the potting mix, adds a range of microbiology that builds the immune system of the roots, which are very susceptible to fungus when grown in a greenhouse.

Some time in the next month we will be seeding these trays with our new vacuum seeder, a nifty tool which turns hours of work into minutes. We were able to pull it out this week and test it so we are ready to go when the conditions are right!

Cold season crops are beginning to mature. After patiently waiting, peas have filled out with flowers and we should be seeing pods soon.

Kelly has made several calls ordering and planning elements of our upcoming events including the market on January 21st and Chef’s fest February 25th.

Our market on Wednesday was a huge hit. Each pop up market is a bigger success than the last. So successful, actually, that we ran out of cauliflower in the first hour!

As you may have picked up by now, weeding and thinning was a large component of our week again. It is the never ending battle of farming. In fact, winter is the time with the least aggressive weed populations. We will be posting regular volunteer hours later in the season when weed populations boom. Look for these hours as volunteers will leave with a free share of farm produce!