A load of poop!

A load of manure before and after spreading.

Today it was 35 degrees F. when I woke up. We closed down the houses but I left the transplants outside. I will see the damage later when I do my evening walk through. It had been upper 70F. earlier in the week.

This week we have been busy planting seeds in trays and getting our fertilizers in the ground for our spring/summer crop. We have planted lettuce, and dandelion. We got our first load of horse manure dumped in our garden area. It was an interesting experience both visually and aromatically to get our fertilizer in this way. I was trying not to get too squeamish when the smell was burning my eyes and nose and white maggots were moving through the pile after being disturbed from there meal. My Dad and I took loads to all the fruit trees and blueberry bushes. Then I spread it out over the area with the front end loader and tilled it with the other side of the tractor. It was a tight squeeze and will definitely need new ground for next year.

I thinned some of the peaches this week. I am doing an experiment on thinning on side of the tree to see how that works out compared to no thinning in terms of number and sizes of fruits.

We have been harvesting awesome looking carrots. They are still growing and getting larger by the day. Our radishes have been splitting so I don't think that I can sell them. Too much variation in temperatures and rainfall I believe is the cause. The seven potato plants are all dead. I think that it may have been ants. When I pulled them up there were tunnels in the stems and ants crawling through them. I at first thought that it was fungus but I have changed my mind. We are running out of lettuce that has been selling well to one customer and I am trying to catch a late harvest keep the revenue coming in.

I ate the first beets this week. They were very good. Jenn didn't like them. She said they tasted like dirt to her. I think they have a sweet and earthy taste. I like them except for the red dye they ooze out on everything including my teeth. I roasted them in a pan with some carrots in the oven and they came out really good. I also pan fried the leaves with olive oil and garlic and they were excellent. I have never cooked beets before but enjoyed them. I will grow them again for myself. They took terribly long for a sales item to plant. If you have any receipies please share them with us.

Next week I hope to get my seeds we have been waiting on for three weeks. I read their catalog again and they mention allow 3-4 weeks during the busy time which is now. Bad planning on my part, weak service on their part. Live and learn!