Monday’s cold and rainy weather was really no joke! Nonetheless, we still set out to get some work done and seeded a few different herbs, including lavender and thyme, in 500 cell flats. Before Monday, I’ve always wondered why it’s always so dang hard to grow herbs from seed.. but we learned that sometimes herbs need cold stratification for germination! So if you’re like me, hopefully this will make you feel a little less insane when trying to grow herbs.
On Wednesday, we took advantage of a nice warm day and continued to knock out tasks in preparation for the upcoming CSA season. Last week, we seeded arugula, kale, radishes, and salad mix. We covered them with clear plastic to heat things up and encourage germination, and sure enough they’ve started popping up! We started the day off by pulling back the row cover and letting them see the sun.
As groups set off to start working on their tasks, some of us headed to the amendments to prepare beds for peas and onions. We also top dressed our garlic that was planted over the fall with blood meal for a boost of nitrogen. Blood meal was the nitrogen source of choice for this because it breaks down quicker compared to feather meal. This is important because by the time the spring equinox rolls around, we want the garlic to start sending its energy into bulb production as opposed to growing leaves.
It was a busy week! Everyone’s working really hard and looking forward to a great CSA!
By: Rio Kizis
The Student Farm at CCCC 