Lots of happenings here on the farm this week. The season is moving along, and things have been super busy for us. I don’t even know where the Spring went. I don’t feel like we had much a a Spring anyway. It went …. Winter. Winter. Winter. Boom! Summer.
But that certainly didn’t stop us from growing (in more ways than one) this season. So our biggest and newest (and let’s be honest – most AWE-SOME!) addition to the farm is our Hoop House! This is one of the major happenings here on the farm.
Our New Hoop-House
We put it up in about 3.5 hours with the help of my husband and my sister’s boyfriend. None of which believed me that those ten, 24-foot steel square tubes would turn into the gloriousness that is now our brand-spanky-new 50 foot hoop house.
Isn’t she beautiful?!
And we dressed her up with some fancy landscape fabric.
Which I promptly burnt holes into so I could sow seed and transplant my seedlings and plant my dahlia tubers. And I will share this with you because we are so close – I really should have burned the holes before I laid the fabric down flat … as it appears the torch goes out when you point it down. Making that a much more time consuming step.
Next went down the drip line – which again, I will lay down first before I lay the fabric next year. It’s all working out okay since the fabric is permeable and the plants seem to really be loving the cool slow drink from the tubing. And before long … voilá! Big happy plants! All 350 of them in the greenhouse.
The Bustling Prop House
And the propagation house has also been humming with activity since March.
For which I have learned the very, very, very important task of crop scheduling. I know this sounds like a boring activity, but without it our market table would look quite sad. So there is an never-ending weekly dance of sowing, propagating, transplanting, planting, pruning, fertilizing and then … repeat. All the while keeping in mind how many plants are headed to the field or greenhouse for harvesting, and those to market for sale.
The planning may not be the most fun job, but it gets me to the best part of the job … the growing!
Propagation
My favorite way to pass the time in the greenhouse vacillates between sowing and taking cuttings. I love to start things from scratch, but I also love making scented geranium babies from the mommy plant. I find it very cathartic and peaceful. Sometimes I save this task for the end if I can so I have something to motivate me to move faster. Which is always helpful since I have more of a sedentary personality.
When I look at my scented geranium table I feel so ridiculously happy that everyone’s growing and healthy.
And that doesn’t even take into account the raised beds and field of herbs ready for harvest.
Zinnias and I didn’t see eye to eye initially. Over the years though, we’ve formed a bond. Now I look forward to all the zinnia happenings on the farm.
