Intense focus...get plants in the ground!

It was the week of planting. Emptying the Greenhouse. Getting things in the ground. One week ago, all the plants were in flats, protected from the wind, in a warm climate, becoming root bound.

Monday we kicked off the week by putting two rows of tomatoes and four rows of basil in the high tunnels. It was (at last!) a warm day. In the tunnels, 90 degrees, no breeze, and protection from the sun.

Tuesday we met Dan at the field north of the barn. Got the game plan. Loaded potatoes on the trailer, brought them to the field, pulled the quack grass, saturated the onions, loaded those on the trailer, brought them to a different field. Ready. Got introduced to the transplanter, the implement we will become quite familiar with. Planted one field of potatoes. 12 rows. Each row was 200 feet. 10 inch spacing. Thats nearly 3,000 potatoes we planted. Potential yield, 20,000 potatoes. Next up, bunching onions. 1,960 plants to be exact. For these, Margaret joined us on the 3 seater transplanter. As we are putting the plants in, we are so focused on not missing a beat that we are not able to look back on our row. When the pass is done, we look up and see a 200 foot row of little green onion tops poking up through the dark rich soil. To finish the day, we seeded peas and returned the empty flats to the greenhouse.

Introducing the transplanter

1 1/2 of these baskets will be used used for each row

If you look close you can see the little onion tops!

Seeding the peas

Wednesday. More potatoes. Total, one entire acre of spuds. More onions. Another 1,960 plants. Back to the tunnel. Two rows of eggplant. Two rows of cucumbers.

Thursday. It was cold and rainy. A great tunnel day. Beets. Four inches apart, two rows in one. So  really, four 200 foot rows. 2,000 beets.

To finish out the work week, Friday we put in 800 cabbage plants, 1,600 broccoli plants, and 800 lettuce plants. And to prepare for the upcoming cold weekend, we put row cover over the heat loving basil and cucumbers.

A satisfying week. Swinging between extremes. Monday, no plants in the ground. Friday, two tunnels and five fields full. Preparation for that first CSA box. Now, pray for steady temps and consistent moisture.