Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 13 Entries. Thursday, March 20 View Page Welcome to Spring!! Have a great growing year everyone.   Sunday, March 23 View Page The cover crop is doing well, garlic is growing nicely which is a sign to me to get the hoophouses covered and ready. We have an extended period of rain coming up, but I’ll get in there and get a soil sample to send in. I always do a sample in the fall and spring just to see what happens during the winter.   Saturday, March 29 View Page We got some great seeds in the SOGPG Silent Auction this year and because they were only shipping inside the USA, we had to do some thinking outside the box. This is when friendships kick in with this fantastic growing community. I asked my buddy in California if I could get the SOGPG seeds mailed to him, would he please forward them to me all the way down the coast to Canada. Chris stepped up and made it happen, thanks buddy I really appreciate it.   Tuesday, April 1 View Page Teamwork makes the dreams work. I left the cover crop to get too long (great problem to have) and couldn’t use the mower to chop it down before we have it all tilled under. Andrea got in there today with the big weed-wacker and got it done while I cut all the lawns. This should add copious quantities of organic matter (which dropped down this year) and also add a bunch of early nitrogen which is also by now almost certainly depleted. Soil test, ammend and plant is the plan. Oh, I guess I better start some seeds too.   Wednesday, April 9 View Page Looks like we will grow these two seeds for sure, and maybe one other. If we don’t grow a third giant, then I will toss in a couple prizewinner plants for giveaway porch pumpkins. Ned, I don’t think I got the best out of your seed last year, although it did win us a Howard Dill Award. We didn’t surpass our goal of over 1K, so will give it another try.   Thursday, April 10 View Page Last year we had a nice, mild, dry early spring which allowed us to rototill and get the patch ready by the middle of March and I planted by April 3rd. This year has been coastal storm after coastal storm and rapidly changing weather day to day with just wet and cooler than normal and super windy. So, I’ve not amended or rototilled the patch yet and have not installed heating cables or put up my hoophouses. By starting seeds today, I’ve got 10 days to 2 weeks to be in the patch and ready, I better get going!   Sunday, April 20 View Page Maybe I’ll grow no-till this year…? Likely not but at this point I can see that I’ll prolly rototill in stages as I need to. I’ll install the larger hoophouse over this hooptie hut where we have new heat cables, small heater, fan and grow lights ready to go.   Sunday, April 20 View Page 839 Sandercock on the left front with 2404 Barron right front and 2 prizewinners at the back. I really like these new LED adjustable full spectrum grow lights and like how the plants are staying short and stocky for now. These plants will continue inside under lights for a few more days and get planted soon.   Thursday, April 24 View Page 3 days growth from the previous picture, amazing how these plants grow. The prizewinners are the same size and vigor so far as the giants. We bought more lights this year and I’ll be hanging them inside the hoophouses because I like what I see so far and in case we get back to cloudy and cool. Amazing weather right now, still frost on some mornings and overnight lows are cold so we will be using some more hydro power in the next month with multiple heat cables and small heaters running.   Friday, April 25 View Page 2404 Barron is the first outside and into the hoophouse, soil at 8 inches down is around 79 degrees with the soil heat cables and around 65 degrees without. The Sandercock plant will get another day or 2 under lights while we put the skin on the next hoophouse and get it more ready for a transplant. The prizewinners will also have to wait awhile longer, but they will be nice large plants at transplant when we are ready.   Sunday, April 27 View Page Lower patch getting a final mow (I think) before we rototill and put the larger hoophouse over the little one with the Barron plant in it.   Sunday, April 27 View Page Second hoophouses got its skin put on today, this is for the Sandercock plant. A few bales of Promix HP will be turned in and I’ll transplant today. The other hoophouse behind the green one will also get its plastic put on soon and will have 2 nice prizewinners put inside.   Sunday, April 27 View Page The prizewinners are enjoying real sunshine for the first time. They will also get planted soon, but no soil heat cables so we might have to wait a little longer.