Farm Update

Here are a few updates on what we have been busy with lately at Real Veggies Farm.

Inside seed planting has started just over a month ago.  Right now I have started in my basement: cabbage, swiss chard, kohlrabi, eggplant, rhubarb, asparagus, onions, sweet peppers, basil, some other herbs, and a few other things.  Over the next couple of days I need to start my kale, mustard greens, some lettuce, and a few other things.

Right now I should be planting my lettuce outside.  Unfortunately due to the weather it does not look like I will be able to get that done within the next week.  So I am planning on starting some of my lettuce in my hoophouse and transplanting it outside, that way I may have some lettuce for some of my shows in May.  Everything outside right now is like a very cold swamp, not what it is normally like this time in April.  Hopefully some time soon our weather gets a little warmer.  I am getting a little tired of seeing snow in the weather forecast.

I made a trip out to the farm last weekend to see how my garlic is doing, and it seems to be doing quite well.  You can not see the garlic very well, but it is there.

 

 I have some good news to tell everyone.  Starting this coming weekend we will now begin accepting credit cards!  A few weeks ago I decided that I was going to get a smart phone, so that I could begin accepting credit cards.  Tomorrow I am going to be retiring my flip phone for good, and switching over to my new smart phone!  Everything has been tested and ready to go, all I have to do is switch over my phone and we will be ready to accept credit cards this weekend.

Also on another happy note, this year will be our 10 year anniversary of selling at Valley City Farmers Market.  Last year 2017 was Valley City Farmers Market's 10 year anniversary.   

 

Seed Starting Time!

Seed starting time is finally starting to get into full swing.  Yesterday I finally got around to starting my first round of hot pepper seeds.  In about a week I will be starting the next round of pepper seeds, those will be sweet peppers.  I can only start so many flats at a time because in order to get a good germination they need to be nice and warm.  As you can see in the below picture one of my seed starting racks I have covered in plastic, the plastic keeps the heat, that the lights give off, inside with my plants.  It can be between 15 and 20 degrees warmer inside the plastic than it is in the rest of my basement.

Whenever I start seeds I try to keep the newly planted, not yet sprouted flats on the top two shelves of my this stand, these are the warmest shelves, heat rises.  Once they sprout I can then move them down to the lower shelves.  After the seedling get a little bit larger I can then move them to one of the lights outside my plastic covered shelf.  Since I only have room to start 8 flats of seeds at a time I have to plant my seeds in rounds.

So yesterday I started 3 flats of hot peppers, one flat of rhubarb, and a flat of cabbage and kohlrabi.

A flat of mixed herbs (oregano, thyme, marjoram, peppermint, and some others) and a flat of celery, both were planted around 2 weeks ago.

 

Whenever I start some seeds I keep track of all important dates, and information.  Here is my clipboard where I write down the plant, if I started it inside or outside, date started, date sprouted, date transplanted inside, date transplanted outside, date harvested, and date finished.

Seed Starting

This is a post that I did in 2010 and I copied it from my old blog.  Just figured since it is going to be seed starting time, I would refresh this post for anyone who many be learning how to start their own seeds.

So here is how I start all my seeds. I pretty much start all my seeds the same way. The only exceptions would be things like vines which I start in pots instead of flats, certain types of seeds that do not need to be covered with dirt, and a few other exceptions.

Below is a list of some things you may need:

Seed Starting Dirt

Warm Water

Popsicle Sticks - for marking

Gloves (if you don't want to get your hands dirty, I don't use gloves for anything but that's just me.)

Container to plant in - I use flats, but you can use just about anything, just poke some holes in the bottom for drainage.

Seeds (of coarse!)

Spray bottle

Sphagnum Moss

Cling Wrap

Tiny hair clips (come in handy for keeping the cling wrap from touching the dirt.)

1. First thing I do is wet my dirt, before planting, with warm water. Just be sure not to get too wet.

2. Once dirt is wet I transfer the dirt into the flat I will be planting in, you can use whatever you wish to plant in some people use styrofoam cups, any kind of used food containers, you can use your imagination. I am not a fan of peat pots or pellets, to me they seem to be difficult to keep from getting too wet and too dry. If you do use peat pots or pellets be sure to tear off some of the pot or netting before planting because you could end up with a problem like this.

3. Then I pat down the dirt.

4. I use popsicle sticks to mark my rows and varieties planted.

5. After I place the popsicle sticks where my rows will be, I use another popsicle stick to make my rows. For seeds that do not need to be covered, I sometimes just scatter the seeds in their area without making rows, and mark the section with a popsicle stick in the dirt as a divider.

6. Place the seeds in the rows.

7. Cover the seeds, by pushing extra dirt on sides of rows over seeds. If you are unsure of how much to cover the seeds it is always better to not over cover the seeds. For most of my seeds I either just barely cover (1/4" on package) or do not cover at all (1/8" on package). If the package states to cover with a 1/8" of dirt I do not cover with dirt at all and just cover with sphagnum moss. If it states to not cover at all I do not cover with dirt or sphagnum moss.

8. Pat down the dirt after covering the seeds.

9. Once I have all my seeds planted, I then cover with a layer of sphagnum moss.

10. Spray with a spray bottle to wet sphagnum moss, spray slowly at first the sphagnum moss will fly everywhere if you don't.

11. I then cover with cling wrap, and use tiny hair clips to keep the cling wrap form touching the dirt. Check every day some seeds will come up within a couple of days. When the seedlings begin to pop up I remove the cling wrap. If some varieties come up and others have not I will sometimes put a plastic dome on the flat for a couple of days to give the unsprouted seeds some more time with extra warmth. You do not want the seedlings to be touching the plastic, so remove once they get to tall.

I place my flats under lights right away. Most seeds do not need light to sprout but the lights give them extra warmth that can greatly speed up the germination process. If the instructions on the package say do not cover the seeds chances are those seeds need light to germinate.

The seeds that I planted in the above flat were cherry tomato seeds. I will be sure to post a picture once they have sprouted and as they grow.


There are so many different methods to start seeds. Everyone has there own way that works best for them. If you are going to be starting seeds of your own, happy seed starting!
Now back to work, planting more seeds.